Huge Working Hero (Hard Working Hero 3)

Seth hisses and squints his eyes as she wipes the blood away with an alcohol pad. “Ahh, Kel! Shit that stings.”

“I warned you. It's just a small cut, but since it's on your eyebrow, it's bleeding pretty good.” She smears some antibiotic ointment on the wound and uses a butterfly bandage to seal it shut. “Dad's going to fucking kill you. What the hell were you thinking, Seth?”

“I was thinking no one was around and the keys were in the car. I was only going to go for a little ride. I didn't mean to crash it.”

“Yeah, well, you did fucking crash it.” Kelsie closes the kit and stands up. “Get up, let’s go.”

“Hold on, Kelsie, we need to call a tow truck and get this out of here.”

I take out my phone and call for a tow. The two siblings banter back and forth. She's angry with him, then she's crying about how scared she is, then she's mad again.

“I'm fine, Kel, stop treating me like I'm a little kid or something.”

“Then stop acting like one. I mean, what the hell, Seth? You did something really, really stupid. Do even understand that you could have fucking killed yourself?”

“It's not my fault, Kelsie! The road was wet or something.”

“Wet. . .” she says, looking down and running her foot back and forth across the street. “Uh, looks pretty dry if you ask me.”

“No one asked you,” he snaps. “And what the hell do you know anyway? It's not like you'd have any idea how to handle a car like that.”

Kelsie scoffs, her mouth dropping open as she's about to give him hell, when the tow truck shows up.

She tells him to bring it back to the car show. Her eyes jerk to her brother as she says, “Let dad see what you've done.”

Seth growls, his fists balling at his sides. “Yeah, well what do you think he's going to say when he finds out about you and Brand? You think he's going to give two shits about this car?”

My ears perk and my eyes widen. “What?”

“That's right. I know all about you two. I saw you leaving my sister's room last night. The deal was I won't say anything about you guys, if she doesn't say anything about me taking the car. So, now the deals off.”

“You can't do that,” she barks. “It's not my fault you're a shitty driver.”

“And it's not my fault you screwed around with some dirty mechanic. Let dad decide which one of us he's going to kill. I can guarantee it won't be me.”

My insides start to fill with rage. Who the hell does this little shit think he is?

This son of a bitch has the audacity to trash me right here as if I'm either too stupid to understand what he's saying or ignorant to the fact that I can't hold a candle to the flame that is his family.

I know I'm not some rich uppity prick who owns multiple homes and can wipe my ass with hundred-dollar bills. I know that in reality there's nothing I can offer her that she doesn't already have. What Seth doesn't know is that it doesn't matter if you’re rich or poor, an ass kicking can come from any direction, and I'm happy to give him one.

He's just a kid. I remind myself that he's still so young. He probably doesn't even understand what he's saying, he's just regurgitating the shit he's heard over the years from the adults around him. It's not his fault entirely.

A part of me actually feels bad for him. He's being raised to see things through the value of the dollar and not the value of what they can mean in your life. Life isn't about how much stuff you have. It's not about the zeros in your bank account. Life isn't about your status or where you buy your clothes.

Life is about surrounding yourself with what makes you happy and being there for others when they need you. Because in the end, it's how you live your life that defines you, not the possessions you have.

I grab Seth by the arm, gritting my teeth and biting my tongue as I drag him to the SUV. He tries to struggle against me, attempting to break free, but he's doesn't stand a chance. I can knock him out cold with one well placed punch and he knows it.

Seth gives up trying, shrinking in size. His shoulders roll forward and his chin dips down. He isn't going to challenge me. This time he's using his head and making the right choice.

Kelsie is staring at me with wide eyes. I can see the pain and fear in her gaze. She doesn't want anything to happen to her little brother, no matter how much of a pain in the ass he is.