Page 1 of Our Blood, Our Pain

Prologue

KAI

18 YEARS OLD

“Kai, you remember my brother, Zac. These are his asshole friends, Dean and Tex,” my best friend Jez says. We’re currently standing in his brother’s apartment, which stinks of weed and body odor. To say this place is a dump would be putting it mildly.

“Hey,” I say, nodding in acknowledgment to the three dudes sitting on the most obnoxious green sofa, which is covered in cigarette burns and stains that I don’t even want to know about.

Jez was the first friend I made when me and my mom moved to the area when I was fifteen. School has been a complete failure, as I’ve spent most of my time hanging around with Jez and a few others at school, where learning is not as important as it may be in other schools. The teachers couldn’t give a shit, the school is on its last legs, and every student runs with the attitude of ‘what’s the point.’ Jez and I, along with a lot of others, didn’t graduate. My mom wants me to retake a year, but I’m not gonna do that. Jez assured me that now we’re eighteen, his brother will have work for us. I’ve only met Zac a handful of times, but I’m not under the impression that what he wants from us will be anything good, based on the vibe that I’m getting from him and his friends.

Zac and Jez look nothing alike. Jez has shoulder-length brown hair, hazel eyes and is tall and thin. He dresses like a skater boy and takes nothing seriously. His brother is also tall and has a little more muscle but is bald and edgy. He has large gauges in his ears, dull brown eyes, and dresses like he’s in a biker gang. He also has a hygiene problem, but I sure as shit ain’t gonna say anything.

The other two dudes don’t say anything other than to give us a chin up in greeting. They are similar to Zac in height and build, Dean is blond and Tex a brunet. Nothing to write home about in the looks department. I’m bi, and a hot guy never passes my notice. Which never happens in this small town because finding another guy that likes dick and is semi-attractive is as likely as finding a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow.

“So, you ready to work with us, Kai? Jez says you’re up to the task,” Zac says.

I quickly glance at Jez, who smiles in reassurance. He hasn’t told me what we would be doing, only that we can earn some money working with his brother.

“I think so, although I’m not sure what work it is,” I say. Zac smiles at me, and it makes me fucking uncomfortable. It’s predatory, shark-like, all teeth and grit before it goes in for the kill.

“Don’t worry about it. Just go along with it and all will be good. Besides, it’s not as if you both have many options, and college will never happen. You still living with your mom?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, won’t it be nice for you to be able to pay your way and help her out?”

“I suppose. Hadn't really thought about it.”

“We got this, Kai. Don’t worry, Zac has our back,” Jez says to me as he rubs my shoulder.

I take a moment to study him. His eyes plead with me to go along with this. But when I look at Zac and the other guys, my internal panic alarm goes off, telling me that this is a bad idea. Then I think of my mom and how tired she is, working all hours with our heads barely above water. Maybe this is a good thing. That I can finally help my mom and take some of the responsibility, because Zac is right, what the fuck else am I going to do?

“Okay.”

1

KAI

PRESENT DAY

A swift blow hits me in the gut, forcing me to my knees, landing on the sticky, dirty floor of this shitty bar. Fuck, it hurts when your stomach feels like it's been repositioned into your chest. Clutching my stomach, I curl over, coughing, trying to get my breath back before slowly rising to my feet, grabbing onto the chair beside me to gain my balance. This always happens. Trouble follows us everywhere we go. Actually, that's a lie. My best friend, Jez, along with his brother Zac and his gang are always the ones to find trouble wherever we go. I've lost count of the amount of times I've been arrested and thrown into a cell for the night, only for my mother to have to come and collect me and read me the riot act. I’m lucky I haven’t ended up in prison. The only reason I haven’t is because of Officer Tim Lovell, who has known my mom for years and has the most obvious crush on her. I refuse to allow myself to like him, even though he’s a nice guy and he’s saved my ass more times than I could mention. He just makes me feel worse. He’s the good guy, Mr. Fucking Perfect, and I’m the screw up.

Stop with the pity party, dumbass.

Living in a small town like this is double sided. The positives are the good people within the local community who look out for one another. They seem to see good in me that I’m not sure exists anymore. I’m numb to most things in life when it comes to expectations. The negative is that you get stuck in the bubble, staying with the same group of people who influence your routine, and you find yourself landlocked into bad decisions. A huge part of me wants out of here, to find a good path to set my life on, but it's so hard. Hard to push myself. The disappointment I see in my mom’s eyes is a daily thing, and it's easier to live up to that than try to make it better.

Outside of my mom, Jez is all I have, and that’s not a good thing. Over time, his brother, Zac, has had a growing number of cronies that started to hang with us and they now refer to themselves as ‘The Skins’. A small-time gang that steals, deals and causes havoc with anyone who even looks at them in the wrong way. Like tonight. Same old shit, we have a few drinks, play some pool and start a bar fight with another group who accused Zac of stealing drugs from one of his guys. I’m so fucking over this life that all the energy in my body I had to try and change has been sapped out.

“Kai, we gotta go, cops are here!” Jez shouts back at me as he lands his fist into one of the guys that lunged over at us, when Zac was goading him.

My feet don’t move. I just stand and watch Jez beat the shit out of these guys like it’s nothing. His long ratty brown hair, tied into a small scraggly bun, looks like it’s about to come undone. He has blood on the corner of his mouth where someone must have got a hit in, his hazel eyes are like slits, what you’d imagine everything evil in the world to look like in human form. As I stand here, zoned out from the shouts and crashes of broken glass, it dawns on me that he isn’t my friend, or even someone I particularly care about. He is my routine. To be honest, he’s kinda like a boss. He tells me what we’re doing every day and I follow. Why have I only just caught onto that?

“What the fuck you waiting for, man? Let’s go!” Zac shouts at me and pushes me from behind. I fucking hate him. Not only is he unaware of basic hygiene, his hardened face tells a thousand stories of a fucked up life that’s never gonna change. The guy lives for violence and destroying people’s lives.

I stumble when he pushes me just as the door to the bar flies open and in walks the local cops, guns out and yelling orders that don’t reach my ears. Zac and Jez with the other guys are nowhere to be seen. Did I miss them leaving? All activity around me is happening in slow motion, but my body still doesn’t react. Am I in shock? Or is this an epiphany?

“Kai, get down. Hands behind your back, you know the drill,” one of the officers says to me. I recognize him but I don’t say anything. The familiar look of disappointment is written all over his face, similar to my mom’s. Fuck. My mom. She’s gonna kill me.

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