Page 73 of Raise 'Em Up

Colt is quiet, which is understandable, but I hope this helps, even if it's just in a small way. If it was up to me, I'd dig the bastard up and let the wolves have him.

But I won't do that to my cousin. With our family’s luck, someone would find his carcass.

Angelo is already asking questions. We may need to deal with him next. If I find out he knew about Colton’s sister, I will kill him.

That side of the Russo name is not my family anymore.

Rylee holds Colt’s hand as they walk ahead of us up the mountain. My ribs are aching, but I'm fine.

When we get back to school, I have to start practice again, so I’m just counting this as my gym workout.

“Did Link say how far up the mountain he is?” Donny asks me, panting. I’m not the only one that’s been slacking in the gym.

“No, just that it’s in between the trees. He said we’d know when we saw it.”

“That’s not helpful at all,” he whines and I laugh.

Len moves closer and hands me a water bottle. I give him a smirk. “Am I really that pathetic?” I ask him quietly, noticing I’m out of breath and he scoffs.

“If you’d listened to me, you would be back at the hotel. This isn’t the best idea, Teo. You’re still healing. What if you fall and end up adding more time to your healing?”

“I’m fine. Really. It looks worse than it is,” I assure him, but he rolls his eyes.

“Hey, I think I found it!” Donny shouts, his voice echoing around the clearing, sending a ton of birds flying over our heads.

We head over to where he is pointing and I can’t stop myself from laughing. I don’t know who did it, probably my other cousin, Hunter, but there is a sign staked into the ground that has us all chuckling.

Nothing to see here… This is just the perfect spot to pop a squat.

“Did they come back and put this sign here for us?” Donny asks, trying to catch his breath, and I shake my head, smirking.

“Probably. My cousins have always had a twisted sense of humor.”

Rylee takes a photo of the sign, then leads Colt over to the disturbed ground. We all follow and stand alongside the rectangle shape.

Donny whips out his dick and begins pissing. Rylee pouts, then turns around and pulls her shorts down, squatting.

“I can’t believe we are doing this,” I mutter, but proceed with today’s activities.

“I hope you rot in Hell, motherfucker,” Colt shouts while pissing on his grave.

“I feel like we all need a shower now,” Rylee suggests when we've all finished, and I nod.

“Yeah, this asshole doesn’t deserve another moment of our time, but he was good for one thing in his disgusting life,” Len says, then sighs. “I’m back on the team, and now we can kick ass at Regionals.”

The last few weeks have been rough, and everyone is feeling it. Between the constant practices and little sleep, we are all ready to get this weekend over and done with. Not that I can blame them. It's been Hell on Earth.

Colton has had to, once again, redo his choreography. Hopefully, for the last time. Felicia sprained her pinky, of all things, and now can’t do any of the stunts, so she is strictly dancing.

Yeah, it’s been rough, but I also feel like it's made our little family stronger, and has brought us closer together.

Now if only I could stop looking over my shoulder for my dad or Missi to sneak attack me, that would be great.

So far, the restraining order seems to be working, but who knows how long that'll last.

Missi seems determined about marrying me. I don’t see her giving up, despite having a restraining order. But right now, I need to focus on Regionals, so we'll have to deal with that later.

Moving around campus at this hour is quiet, there is no one around. The sun is just rising, and it’s peaceful. The Cheer house is in chaos, so I volunteered to meet the bus driver.

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