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Father punches him as I keep whipping his back. That one throw splits his lip, and my whip has broken skin. My inner voice tells me to lick his back, but father would have a conniption fit.
Father is of the old school way of doing things. Brass knuckles.
Haydes can’t seem to help but get a word in to mock father. “Can’t hack it like your sons, huh? Have to bring out toys to help you?”
“You need to watch your mouth, young man. My sons and I brought you into our family. We clothed you. Fed you. And this is how you repay us? Almost killing Ayres?”
I wasn’t expecting father to hit him in the balls. Haydes bows and dances in his chains as we take turns beating on him.
Once we give him a smidgen of a break, he starts talking again. Fuck, how the hell can he keep going? “If Ayres wasn’t such a little bitch, he would have been out of that building when I fucking told him to be. Instead, he had to go in there to taunt them. He’syourloose cannon.”
I grab his hair and yank his head back, forcing him to look at Father.
“Consider this your excommunication.” With a sharp knife, he glides it along the side of Haydes's neck.
“Timberland PD!”
The ruckus in the house shakes the walls as tear gas cans are thrown in the halls. You can tell where they are by the clanking noise they make as the cans echo down the halls of this palatial house.
“What the fuck? Kronos, go handle it,” my father demands as he slaps a hand over Haydes's mouth. “You say one fucking word and I’ll kill you.”
Of course my father sends me out to smooth things over. This isn’t about Haydes. Or at least not completely. Something else is up, and frankly, I should let our deadbeat father take the fall. But I know I won’t.
Chapter Five
The Next Day
Ourfatherstandsbesidethe fireplace looking at us. Cool and cryptic as ever. He thinks things are going to be alright, but dread settles within me. Something is going to happen.
“Son, why don’t you just calm down? We will be fine.” His eyes twinkle at our on-edge stances. Why does he think everything is going to be fine? Does he know something we don’t?
“No, we won’t. Someone knows about Dr. Forsythe. They know you tried to kill a kid you took under your wing. Because of you, we must fucking cover more shit up.” Hypnos raises his voice in rage. I stare at him in surprise. This is abnormal for him. It puts me on a deeper edge.
Hypnos bangs his hand against the table between us, and our father chuckles. The son of a bitch has the audacity to laugh. God, I want to stick my gun in his mouth and blow him to hell. “If you would have just gotten rid of Haydes weeks ago, you’d not be in this mess.”
“Of course, bring him in. Make him family. Then kill him. Just like you did with my mother?” I scream at him. My last little straw of keeping calm slithers away.
“Enough, you ungrateful son of a bitch!” Our father spits the words out. I stand there like a stone, trying to get myself under control. That tiny voice in my head tells me to kill him. To just take the mother fucking gun out and pull the trigger.
“You’re right, father. Look, we all need to calm down,” Hypnos says with a tremble in his voice. “We all just need to calm the fuck down.”
The sorry son of a bitch grabs the firewood poker and sticks it into the fire. “I’ll show youcalm down,you sacks of shit.”
My father has gone nuts. His pupils are wide and dilated. There’s an insane look about him that worries me.
“What…” Hypnos doesn’t hesitate as father brings the poker out and jumps in front of me. He pushes me out of the way as the poker comes down on Hypnos’s forearm.
The scream that comes from Hypnos is deafening as blood squirts every which way. Blinding hate has me aiming my gun and pulling the trigger. I look at my father, who now has a bullet hole in his forehead. His mouth is open in a crooked smile and his eyes are wide as he drops to the floor. Dead. He’s finally fucking dead.
Lowering my gun, I holster it and turn to my brother. A man I would die for, and guilt eats me. “Fuck, Hypnos. I’m sorry. I should have ended him sooner.”
“No. It’s… fuck, it’s fine. Let’s just get some aloe on it. We gotta get this taken care of before we get Ayres back home.” Hypnos drops to the floor, cradling his arm. I’m to blame. Why the fuck didn’t I stop it?
I get on my knees in front of him and watch him. I’m not sure what to say at the moment. All I can do is stare at thePthat’s now branded into Hypnos’s arm. My stomach rolls and I swallow down the bile coming up. I can handle being the one beaten on. That’s what I’ve known all my life. Seeing Hypnos hurt makes me angry. Shit, it makes me sad. I can’t let him be the only one branded. Who cares if my back is riddled with scars and my chest looks like a Goddamn road map.
There’s only one thing to do. I must make it right. “I’ll brand myself, too.”
“It’s fine. Let’s just do what we need to do.” He rests his head on my shoulder, and I hold him for a moment. I’m a cold-hearted bastard to everyone. There’s no denying that. But when it comes to my brothers, I’ll stop at nothing to keep them safe.
