If he goes down and Hazel wins, then so do you. If Mathers wins, then you’ll regret it until the day you die, which may be sooner than you think.
Tick tock, Knowles.
Time to make your choice.
“What’s up? You look like you’re about to throw up?” Brandon stubbed his cigarette out on the foil ashtray on the table and glared at me.
I shook my head, feeling beads of sweat start to trickle down the side of my face, and I clutched my phone like it was a grenade that I was about to detonate.
What the hell was I supposed to say to him?
Every one of my nightmares was coming true. My whole life unravelling in front of my eyes. Brandon fighting was one thing. But losing? How the hell was I supposed to do that to my best friend?
Brandon stayed calm, quiet, and studied me for a few seconds. Then his jaw clenched with irritation.
“That’s them, isn’t it?” He nodded to my phone. “What are they saying to you? What have they got on you to make you react like this? Talk to me, goddamn it.” He smashed his fist down on the cheap plastic table and made Effy and me flinch. His eyes burned with fury and my shame made it difficult to look him in the eye. “What the fuck is going on, Finn?”
“You’ve gotta throw the fight,” I blurted out, not stopping to think how best to word it. What was the point?
“What?” His face screwed up as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His expression was a picture of disbelief laced with fury, and he crossed his arms over his chest as if he was trying to stop himself from lashing out.
“They said you’ve got to throw the fight.” I stared at the floor, wishing the words coming out of my mouth could’ve been different. Anything but this. “They want you to go down and let Hazel win. If you don’t––”
“If I don’t what happens?” Brandon shot up, standing tall as if to show me how powerful and in control he was. “Are they gonna throw their weight around? Act like the big men they think they are? I’d like to see them try. I’ll fucking knock the shit out of every one of them.”
Typical Brandon, thinking his fists could solve everything. But that wasn’t the case this time.
“It’s not that simple.” I sighed.
“Isn’t it? They’re bullying you, Finn, because they think they’re hard. But guess what, they haven’t met me yet. Send them to me. I’ll show them what a real hard man looks like.” I knew he meant it too, but even Brandon couldn’t compete against five psychos like the soldiers.
“They play dirty. This isn’t about fighting and––”
“Well, what is it about then?” Brandon snapped, stepping forward and willing me to spill my guts.
“They have stuff. Stuff they’re gonna tell––”
“They don’t have shit on you, mate.”
“They do. They’ve got Tony.”
Hearing me say that name, Brandon’s back went up.
“And?” He furrowed his brow, not really getting what the soldiers having my uncle meant for me. What effects it could have on my life.
“And if I don’t get you to throw the fight, they’re gonna tell everyone what he did. They’ll make it go viral. I can’t let that happen.”
That was my truth, and I thought it’d help to explain things, but the water was still as clear as mud to Brandon.
“It doesn’t matter what they say. No one will listen,” he shouted, his face growing redder and angrier by the second. “If anything, they’ll support Alice. It wasn’t her fault.”
“I can’t do that to her…” I shook my head furiously. “I won’t let her down again.”
“You’ve never let her down and she wouldn’t want you going through this.” He pointed right at me, willing me to hear what he was saying, but he didn’t know what he was talking about.
“I have to do this. I have to see it through,” I stated firmly, even though I knew that by me seeing this through it meant him losing everything he’d worked so hard for. I was stuck in a catch twenty-two and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.
“Why do you have to see it through? So that five bellends with a devil complex don’t tell the world your sister was abused by your uncle?” I heard Effy gasp from behind me at Brandon’s admission, but I didn’t look her way. I couldn’t.