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“No, I’m ten now. I don’t get scared,” she lied.
I didn’t say anything for a moment, just watched with her, until the lion roared and she jumped beside me.
“Amelia?”
“Huh?”
“I can’t help you all the time now,” I said. And I hated it. “But when I’m older, when I’m an adult, I promise I will. No matter what, okay? I’ll even fight that lion.”
She giggled, shaking her head. “He’d eat you.”
“That’s okay. As long as he doesn’t eat you…I mean it. When I’m older, you can count on me.”
I’d fight the adults as an adult.
“Noah.”
“Noah?”
When I faced her, she kissed my cheek. Her face was super red, but she did it anyway.
“I count on you now,” she said.
“Okay,” I muttered, rubbing the back of my head. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I said nothing and watched with her.
Everything would be easier when we became adults.
Present
“Hello, little brother,” Bodean said, standing head to head with me, his green eyes piercing into mine when I cracked open the door. Like a snake, he slithered inside, and I shut the door quickly behind him. “What, you ain’t even gonna say hello? I heard you’d be comin’ to Chicago. Has Frank visited you…?”
He stopped speaking when he saw the body still lying on the living room floor. A normal reaction, for a normal person, would be to panic, scream, or go into shock like Amelia. But Bo and I were anything but normal.
“Just like old times,” he smirked, taking off his shirt. He had even more tattoos than the last time I saw him. They covered his right arm and part of his chest now. When he took off his baseball cap, I saw that he had even cut his blonde hair into a buzz cut.
“She can’t just disappear, Bo.” Austin stepped out from the kitchen. I had called him right after I had called Bo. He was wearing a bowtie and suspenders, and from the look Bo was giving me, I knew he thought I had lost my goddamn mind.
“You still have this fucking clown around you?” he hollered at me.
“As his manager—”
“Well, that’s nice. Why don’t you get me a coffee or—” Bo started.
Before he could finish his statement, Austin grabbed him by the neck, pushing him up against the wall.
“I have a Hollywood legend on my floor. I do not have time to deal with your pathetic display of testosterone. The only reason why you are here is because Noah says you can keep your mouth shut. Can you do that? Can you keep your mouth shut?”
“Austin,” I called, and he let him go. Everyone thought Austin was a teddy bear, but in reality, he was an actual bear. He wasn’t above doing anything if it was in my best interest. He knew where all my skeletons were buried because he was the one who buried them.
“Bo.” I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to calm the rage that was ready to explode. “It can’t be like old times. This isn’t Frank’s mess. It’s mine. I’m begging you. As my brother, do what he says.”
He glared at Austin, tensing his jaw before facing me. “Fine. Only ‘cause you’re family.”
“Thank you,” I said, moving so that we could face our problem. “Like Austin said, she can’t just vanish.”
“But with the recent scandal, she can’t appear right now,” Austin replied.
The ‘recent scandal’ being me coming out of jail and the downfall of Ray Mallory. I glanced to Austin, motioning to the bedroom. I didn’t want Amelia to be alone for too much longer.
