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I didn’t know where he was staying these days, but wherever it was, he must have been leaving his car there because I never saw it anymore. He was rarely at school either, but instead of pushing him about it, I left him alone.
I wanted to yell and scream—rage against him for screwing up his life so severely, but we had yet to make up from the incident with the pills in Daddy’s urn, and I was too stubborn to make the first move.
He was laughing with a group of guys I had never seen before. They looked older and strung out. Erik had lost weight. His face looked slimmer, and his clothes hung from his body. I hoped it was because he was staying busy and not because he was doing hard drugs with the strange biker men.
I watched his every move, and when the group he was with began to move toward the Sons of Sinister, my shoulders grew tight.
At first, the two groups were talking, but even then, I could see Aiken and his boys growing tense with anger. Joker, the wildest of Aiken’s crew, moved closer to the other guys, pointing his finger and saying something heated and angry. Aiken laughed at whatever he was saying, and then things got crazy.
A guy from Erik’s group stepped forward and pushed Joker, making him laugh with what I knew was a maniacal sound. I had heard his laugh before, and it was creepy.
Erik stood with his arms crossed as if he was an experienced brawler.
He wasn’t.
It was then I saw the new tattoo on his arm. I shook my head, knowing he wasn’t my twin brother anymore. He was some other person, and it hurt to see that the brother I grew up with was no longer the same person.
His crew moved in closer to the Sons, pointing and pushing for a fight I wasn’t sure they would win. Erik moved right along with them, involving himself in a mess I was sure he wasn’t prepared for. Even though I was angry with him, I couldn’t let him do this to himself.
I started walking toward the two crews knowing I was stepping into the center of a war that had nothing to do with me.
“Hey, where are you going?” Zada asked from behind me.
I held my hand up, telling her I would be right back without saying it. Just as I reached their side, Erik spoke up, shocking me with his sick words.
“Fuck you, Crow. You’re just mad because I let your mom suck my dick.”
My eyes grew wide, and I knew things were about to go downhill fast.
I didn’t know much about Crow, but I knew his mother was dead, and she was his hot button. I had once seen him almost choke a guy to death for saying something similar about his mom. It wasn’t pretty.
Crow moved across the space fast, but I was faster. I jumped in front of him, stopping him before he could do anything to Erik. He blinked down at me, his nostrils flaring as if he was seconds away from knocking me out of the way. I held my ground and put my hands up to show him I wasn’t trying to start anything with him.
When his shoulders dropped, I turned and faced Erik.
“Are you crazy, Erik? This is a good way to get yourself killed.”
He reached out and pushed at my chest, putting his hands on me for the first time in our lives. My brother was no longer himself. I knew that for sure. His eyes were glassy, his face scarred with pockmarks. He looked terrible, and I felt the pressure of tears forming in my eyes just looking at him.
“Go home, Ev. You don’t belong here,” he spat.
His eyes were empty and red without a hint of recognition. We were strangers with the same DNA.
“Don’t do this, Erik. Please. Just go home. I hate seeing you like this.”
A large guy behind Erik stepped forward, glaring down at me through his drug-fueled rage. He was large, towering over me like a beast. I stiffened my spine, refusing to back down but knowing I was no match.
“Mind your fucking business, bitch,” he yelled in my face. Then he reached out and shoved me so hard I slammed into the car behind me.
My head popped back, smashing into the window with a loud thump. The world around me shifted, and a sharp pain slashed through my brain.
“You’re dead, motherfucker!” I heard Aiken snarl.
I looked up just in time to see him move, slamming his shoulder into the guy’s stomach and taking him down to the ground. The rest of the crew members from each side jumped in, and it became a full-fledged riot as the surrounding people moved in to help on both sides.
Zada tugged me to the side, yelling something I couldn’t hear over the ruckus of the fighting and screams. I moved back with her, letting her pull me to her car and push me inside. As soon as I hit the seat, gunshots went off.
I screamed, knowing my brother and Aiken were in the group, but just as I tried to climb back out of the car, Reggie shoved me back and slammed the door behind me. Zada peeled out of the parking lot along with other cars and bikes, and just as we reached the dark road leading away from The Strip, we were met with six police cars, their blue lights flashing along the dark highway like a strobe.
