Page 134 of Breaker

Terrible things. Things I don’t think Nanny would want to know, even if I did them for her.

“Hey.”

I blink away the water in my eyes, lifting my eyes from the grimy tiles.

“You ran out of hot water, brother.” Hunter’s face moves into my line of sight.

A shiver runs through my shoulders. The water turns off.

“Why are you in the shower with your clothes on?” Hunter asks, crouching in the shower with me. I lift my hands. Inspect them. They look clean, but they don’t feel clean. All of me feels dirty. Bad inside and out. Stained.

“Is that blood?” His voice drops. “What happened, brother?”

“Breaker,” I tell him.

His brows knit. It takes him a second to realize what I’ve said. He gives a subtle nod. “Breaker.”

My eyes drop. I’ve wanted a name for so long. But that was before I knew how heavy the weight of carrying my name felt. This twisted, poisonous feeling doesn’t feel like I thought it would. I don’t feel better. I feel even darker inside. Like my bones are stained with the shadows that watched me hurt that man.

Hunter stands, walking to the door of the bathroom. He leans out and screams, “Viper!”

I shake my head. I don’t want Viper to know. I don’t want him to see me for what I am.

When Hunter pulls me up, I let him, my soaking wet uniform making it hard to move. Making me feel even heavier.

“What happened?” he asks, cupping my cheeks and forcing me to look at him. My eyes drop again. “What did that fucking psychopath make you do?”

“Break things.” I say, my knees weak.

“I understand,” Hunter says, then curses softly under his breath. “You feel bad because you’re not monster like Father.”He shakes me until I look at him. “Do you hear me? Do you feel bad?”

I nod.

“Then that means you have a conscience unlike him. Remember that okay?” Hunter shakes me a little like he can shake the words to make them settle in my head the way he wants. “You’re not bad. You’re a sweet, loving boy. You are so good and deserve better than this life. Don’t let him break you. Don’t believe him if he tells you that you’re only good for destroying things. Even if you do, even if you have to, even if you hurt people, you’re not bad inside, okay?”

I nod even though I don’t agree.

“What the fuck are you guys doing?” Viper says from behind Hunter.

My insides squirm. I take a step away from Hunter and find Viper glaring at him, those pretty eyes I love clouded with anger.

“Meet Breaker,” Hunter says, flashing a smile. I don’t feel like smiling so I don’t.

Viper’s laugh echoes in the room. “Fitting.” He loops an arm over my shoulder, eyeing my wet clothes, then his gaze snags on the obvious blood staining my shirt. His jaw pops but he says nothing.

Water drips from my clothes, trailing a wet path down the corridor to our rooms. We stop in front of my door and Hunter disappears, then reappears with a bundle of clothes. Viper guides me into his room. Hunter comes in behind us, tossing my dry clothes on Viper’s bunk.

The two exchange a look and Hunter leaves, shutting the door quietly behind him.

“Change, then lie down,” Viper says, dropping to his bottom bunk and turning his back to me.

I change, draping my wet clothes on the metal chair in the corner holding Viper’s books, then crawl onto the top bunk.

“Down here,” Viper says. “Come down here.”

I climb down, and lie next to him, him on his side me on my back. I’m halfway off the bed it’s so small and he’s so big, so I turn over, pressing my back to his.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks quietly after a while.

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