Page 85 of Monsters

“What’s the matter, little brother?” Mason mocked, taking another step closer, his trademark malevolent smile etched on his face. “Worried I’ll hurt your precious girlfriend?”

“It’s not like you haven’t in the past. How could you do those things to her, Mason?” Lucas couldn’t disguise his disgust and hurt. “How could you do that to a sixteen-year-old girl? Our friend.”

This time he gave a small laugh, head lowering as he kicked at the loose stones at his feet. “It’s not like she put up much of a fight, brother. Besides… you weren’t giving her anything.”

Lucas advanced on his brother, unleashing his rage. “You think fucking molesting her was okay?” he bellowed, pushing hard against Mason’s chest. Mason took a few steps back with every push but made no attempt to thwart his brother’s aggression. “You think she fucking asked for that?”

Push.

“You think she fucking wanted you to carve into her skin?”

Push.

“You think by doing that you fucking own her?”

“Lucas,” I pleaded, reaching desperately for his arm. We didn’t know what Mason was capable of and the last thing I wanted was for them to disappear into the darkness.

“You’re my fucking brother, Mason,” Lucas growled.

“And I fucking did everything to protect you,” Mason finally snapped from his apathy to raging within a second. He pushed back against Lucas’s chest sending him colliding into me. “I fucking did everything to protect you when dad left, and you’re just gonna let this bitch bring down our family?”

“Gemma has kept her mouth shut this whole time, and yet you have it in your fucked-up head that you would terrorize her anyway? You think she didn’t have enough of that shit back home?”

“She…” Mason spat, pointing an accusatory finger at me. “She is about to put us all behind bars, and you just fucking welcome her into your home all because you want some pussy.”

“They’re already investigating, brother. It’s over! It was always only a matter of time before they pieced it all together. You think they’ll just dust their hands off and move on? Guess what? They’re not going anywhere, and it’s all because of you harassing Gemma that brought it all to the front.”

“All because of me?” Mason snarled. “You think this mess is all because of me?”

“Yeah,” Lucas’s voice sounded resigned, croaky. “Yeah, I do. And now Gemma is leaving.” Lucas grabbed my arm and marched me through the darkness toward the house.

“Lucas, come with me,” I begged.

“I can’t.”

“Please. Let’s just get in my car and—” A strong arm hooked around my neck violently yanking me away. Lucas spun around, gun pointed at Mason who held the blade of his carving knife against my throat. It started to tear through the skin the further he dragged me away from Lucas.

“Give me the gun, brother,” Mason demanded.

“You don’t need to be here. Just leave us alone.”

“Not gonna happen. I can’t let this go on. We’ve come this far, Lucas. We’ve come this far without being caught.”

“Let her go.”

The knife pressed harder, blood beginning to trickle down my neck.

“Give me the gun, and you can have her.”

There was silence as Lucas weighed the risk of giving Mason the Glock.

Could he be trusted enough to let us go?

“Fine.” Lucas reasoned. “But this war… it’s between us.”

“I’ll tell you what…” Mason chimed happily, “… I’ll give her a head start. Now…” He jerked me to the side, and I cried out against the pain of the knife tearing the skin. Lucas stepped forward wanting to help me but stopped when Mason raged. “Now, hand over the fucking gun and let’s sort this out, shall we?”

“Fine!” Lucas placated. “Here.” The Glock dangled from his finger awaiting collection.

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