Page 43 of These Jagged Edges

Merc reaches over and gently takes the stuffed lion from my hands. He traces the stitching back and forth. “I lost a good friend over there, served the last three years together.” He doesn’t have to tell me where, I know.

Mercy leans his head back against the filing cabinet and closes his eyes. “He shoved me out of the way and took the full force of the blast. Some nights, I dream that his charred body is lying next to me in bed. He doesn’t say a word; he just stares at me with this haunted expression. I scream "why" over and over at him. Demanding he tell me why he’d do that, but he never fucking answers me. I should have been the one that died that day, not him.”

As his voice cracks, I pull my baby brother into my arms, wrapping him in a tight embrace as he breaks down in tears. I can feel his body shaking against mine, the rawness of his emotions flooding the space between us. Soon enough, my own tears begin to spill, mirroring his sorrow. We're both adrift in a vast sea of loss and devastation, swallowed by a grief that feels too heavy to bear.

In that moment, I realize this is Merc’s way of reaching out—his quiet invitation for me to join him in his pain. He’s letting me in, allowing me to share the burden that’s been weighing him down, and I understand how desperately he needs this connection.Together, we navigate the turbulent waters of our hearts, intertwined in our shared grief.

I hold him tighter, feeling the weight of our collective sadness, and I wish I could shield him from it all. But as I wipe away his tears, I know that facing this together, side by side, is the only way we can begin to heal. In this embrace, I find solace, knowing that he doesn’t have to drown in his sorrow alone; I’m here, and together, we’ll find a way through the darkness.

Later he helps me clean up my office.

“I’m glad you moved back home, even if it took me damn near dying to get you here,” he says with a lopsided grin as he sweeps up the broken glass from earlier.

“Well, I’m not going nowhere so don’t fucking do it again.”

“No shit.”

He starts singing some God-awful rendition of some pop song and I almost plug my damn ears.

“What the hell happened in here?” I didn’t even notice Henry had walked in thanks to Merc’s can’t carry a tune ass. Henry looks at my desk propped against the wall, then at the glass Mercy’s sweeping up, before quirking an eyebrow at me.

“He fucked up, big time,” Mercy sings.

I growl at my baby brother to shut his damn mouth.

Henry levels me with a stare I’m sure he uses on the local teens that sneak into Bangers with a fake ID. Too bad that shit doesn’t work on me, he may be the big brother, but I’m bigger and can take him.

“What brings you by?” I ask him like a chicken shit, hoping to deflect the question.

“Well, I came by to work out and check on you.” He looks around my office. “I know how hard this day is for you and I didn’t want you to be alone. Guess I was right.” He’s right, Livvy’s birthday is one of the worst days of the year for me, he just doesn’t know how much worse I made today.

All that aside I really have the best fucking family. How I’vewent the last few years without them I don’t know. “Thank you,” I tell him earnestly.

Henry gives me a slight nod. “So, how’d you fuck up?”

I run a hand through my hair. “Well, I?—"

“Well, he was in here getting shit faced when Sugar stopped by, and he lost it on her.” Damn Mercy! The man really can’t hold water.

Henry’s eyes turn to slits. “Lost it on her how, Maddox?”

“Threw his desk across the room, backed her in the corner, and then threaten her with a belt. I’m sure she was just trying to comfort the big grouchy bitch.”

“MERCY!”

“Maddox, please tell me you didn’t,” Henry says looking at the ceiling before leveling me with his big brother is disappointed look. That always unnerves me. Maybe because our daddy died when we were so young and he took that responsibility on, but it fucking gets to me. Doesn’t matter if I’m bigger than him or not.

I look at the ground refusing to look him in the eye.

“What the hell is wrong with you Maddox Cole? Is that what you do now? Hurt women? After everything you watched mama go through?”

“No! I would never. I just wanted to be left alone to drink my whiskey and miss my daughter. I never meant to frighten her.”

I’m abruptly reminded of our first kiss—how she recoiled in fear, her eyes wide as she begged me not to hit her with a damn belt. The memory cuts deep and I struggle to find the words to capture the weight of my regret for ever threatening her like that. It gnaws at me, knowing I crossed a line I should never have. I never wanted to be that man, yet here I am.

“Don’t worry Henny, Sugar slapped those glasses clean off his face,” Mercy says with a sense of pride.

“If she decides to press charges, brother or not, I’ll make sure your ass is locked up,” Henry warns.

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