ELLIOT
I watched as a pack of kids pushed and chanted mean shit at the scrawny kid with the blond hair I had seen around school. He just stood there and took it, letting them call him stupid, unimaginative names and push him around the circle. A final hard shove sent him falling to the ground, his pack that he was holding to his chest colliding with his face.
“Hey,” I said, shoving off the brick wall of the school and making my way over to them. They all turned their heads towards me, including the kid on the ground, who looked more terrified of me than he did of the ones actually bullying him.
Not that I could blame him. I was only fourteen and already bigger than any other kid in our class. Having a father that ran a very organized drug ring made you toughen up as a kid, and quick. I had to make sure I was able to take on a fully grown adult by the age of ten in case any of dad’s business partners went rogue.
“What’s up, Phan?” one of the guys asked as they saw me approach. They all backed up, letting the blond kid stand up and collect himself.
“Leave him alone,” I said to them and nodded my head, letting them know it was time for them to leave. They scattered like roaches.
“Didn’t ask for your help, mate,” he said as he swung his pack over his shoulder.
“You’re new here. Tristan, right?”
“Yeah, just transferred,” he said, looking around nervously.
“Foster system?” I asked. His eyes swiveled back to me and narrowed.
“What do you want?”
“Why don’t you come home with me? Mom is making a big dinner because we have family visiting, so there would be more than enough.” He looked up at me, and I could tell he was wary and confused as to why I was being nice to him. There was something in the way he looked at each of those guys, like he was plotting his revenge, that got to me. There was a calculated evil in his eyes that my dad would go nuts for.
“Why?” he asked me.
“Because you are in desperate need of real food, and I need someone to talk to that isn’t over forty. Come on,” I said, nudging his arm. “Let’s go. You can call your foster parents when we get to mine, and then we can take you home after dinner.”
He sighed and looked like he wanted to bolt, but he followed me anyway. I held a small amount of guilt for bringing someone into the mess that was my family. They’d welcome him with open arms once they saw the type of person he was capable of being deep down. Dad was going to make that shit come to the surface kicking and screaming.
“Elliot,” Tristan said, knocking me back to the present as he came out of Scarlet’s room. I looked up at him. His hair was still wet, and he had a towel wrapped around his waist. What was it with him and Seb that they thought she couldn’t fucking bathe herself?
Jealous?I pushed that thought out of my head and rolled my eyes at him.
“Get your turn in?” I asked him, pushing off the wall and following him down the hall to his room.
“What did you want, El?” he asked in an irritated tone. Everyone was irritated with me lately, and I couldn’t blame them. I was irritated with myself. I knew that I was acting like an out-of-control moody teenager, but I couldn’t help myself. My anger was on full blast ever since she had been taken. And now that she was back, it didn’t seem to help anything. Part of me wanted her gone, and the other part of me wanted to go in there, carry her to my room, and tie her up, screwing her until she blacked out.
I wanted my fucking turn.
“When do you two leave?”
He disappeared into his closet as I leaned against his doorway.
“We hadn’t really gotten that far in the discussion,” he answered. “But I think we need to leave sooner rather than later.”
“You think Seb is going to be okay leaving her so soon?”
“At this point, it doesn’t really matter. We need to get back there and get our ducks in a row before we lose control. Are you going to be able to keep her alive while we’re gone?” he asked as he walked back out of his closet, his lower half thankfully dressed.
“I just want to have a talk with her.” I shrugged. I wanted to have a talk with her, and I wanted to get the truth out. I needed to believe her if this was ever going to work between all four of us.
“You know if we come back and you’ve hurt her, Seb will probably try to kill you.” He paused. “I don’t think I’d stop him.” That stupid all-knowing smirk was back on his face, and he seemed so relaxed compared to the Tristan of the past weeks.
“Let him try. I need to go through my own process to trust her. You know this.”
“I’ve experienced it,” he said, shooting me a death glare before pulling a sweater over his head. “Remember, she isn’t at full strength yet. She can barely walk from the bed to the toilet without help. There’s no way she could survive what your family put me through.”
“I’m not my father,” I growled. I may have used a lot of the tactics my dad taught me growing up, but I wasn’t anywhere near as unhinged as he was. The shit he did to me and Tristan to teach us lessons was beyond sadistic.
“You might not be him, but you are a trained interrogator, and even though I think Scarlet could maybe handle it at her best, she definitely can’t at her worst.”
“Is that an order, oh fearless leader?” He rolled his eyes at me again. I wasn’t sure when I had decided to become this person—the grumpy kid that everyone had to put up with because they couldn’t get rid of them. I’m sure they were wondering the same thing.