Page 106 of At the Edge of Surrender

It was never different. Never, ever different.

Shouts and clatters echoed from down the hall.

“I came right home. I promise.”

“Such a liar.”

“No.”

A heavy thud then the cry of his mother.

And Kane was tossing off his covers and jumping from his bed, fury pumping through his veins and tightening every muscle in his body.

Rage burning a hole through his being.

He wouldn’t stand for it.

Not any longer. He’d remained a coward, locked in his room ever since his mother had made him promise never to intervene again after he’d hit Paul.

But you took care of the ones you loved most.

In the dark of the night, he hurtled down the hall, hastening with the slap he heard smack across her cheek, and he barreled into the living room where Justin had his mother backed against the wall.

He didn’t hesitate.

Years of pent-up anger busted out of where he’d kept it trapped.

He rushed forward and slammed into Justin from the side, ramming his shoulder into his ribs and sending the bastard stumbling.

“Stay the fuck away from my mom!” It raked out of him, the words trembling, but not out of fear. It was purely out of hate.

Justin fumbled three steps, nearly falling onto the ground, but he managed to steady himself. Rebounding. Rising high and wide, the man a fucking giant.

Kane didn’t care.

He wouldn’t cower.

Wouldn’t back down.

“Oh my God, Kane, go back to your room,” his mother begged from behind.

“I’m not standing aside anymore.” He’d said it before, had wanted to mean it, but he’d been too young and small and naïve to actually make it fact.

But now he could feel the shift inside himself.

The crack that had been carved inside him the first time he’d witnessed someone hurt his mother fracturing wide.

Justin laughed a menacing sound. “Think you’d better listen to your mother before you regret that statement.”

Regret.

They were always threatening regret.

But Kane would never regret standing up for his mother.

“Get the fuck out of our house,” Kane spat through clenched teeth, trying to keep his cool when he felt himself splintering apart.

His mother gasped and Justin laughed again, and his voice took on the same condescending tone he always used with Kane. “Or what are you gonna do about it?”

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