Page 7 of Wrath's Flame
“No,”Blade tells me from across the room as he stands, spinning his knife between his fingers.
Looking down at Flame, who's still in my arms, I lift a brow in question, he just nods his head. He doesn’t have to say anything; I know what he’s saying to me with that head nod.
“Kill him,”I state, my voice emotionless.
I don’t care who does it or how. I just want Flame’s tormenter gone. Just like that, Blade slices across Craig’s throat with no hesitation. We watch him quickly bleed out, his eyes wide withshock. What did he expect was going to happen after what he had done in the past and what he tried tonight? Idiot.
Looking around, I see some of my closest friends, people I consider family, and I know that I can do what I'm about to without an issue because they will ensure everything gets handled in my absence.
“I'm taking Flame home. Get someone to clean up this garbage. And get Tech informed; we've got a new enemy and maybe a mole; see if he can find anything.”
"Sure thing, Prez, you two get out of here. We've got this."It's Eagle who replies, while everyone else is nodding their heads in agreement.
I stand, giving the room one last glance before I leave with Flame directly behind me. We don't say anything to each other; we just quickly leave Inferno's and hop on our Harleys and ride home. I can tell he's still not fully okay, even if he is trying to act like he is. He starts to make his way to his room after we enter the house, but I'm not having it. I know if he goes in there, he won't be sleeping; he'll slip into the past, and I don't want that at all, so I do the only thing I can think of that will prevent that. I grab his hand, dragging him into my room with me.
“Get in my bed. Don't even try to argue with me. I know you; you're not going in that room alone to relive that hell over and over. You're staying right here with me.”
He just nods his head before slipping out of his boots and clothes and climbing into bed in just his boxers. I hate seeing him so withdrawn; it’s not the Flame I know and love. Quickly stripping down to my boxers too, I climb in behind him. Wrapping him in my arms, so he's the little spoon. Quicker than expected, he's falling asleep, knowing he's safe in my arms.
However, I'm wide awake, thinking about the past.
∞∞∞
Wrath - Thirteen Years Old
Sitting in my room at home after another crappy day at school, I'm worried. For some reason, my best friend Hunter hasn't been in school today, which is rather unusual; normally he's one of the first ones there. I hope that he’s okay. Hopefully, he'll be back in school on Monday, and I can see him over the weekend. I've missed having him around today. It was weird just being me and my twin, Alex.
I'm brought out of my thoughts by the tapping sound coming from my bedroom window. What the hell is that? Quickly, I make my way over to the window and open it. That's when I hear Hunter's voice.
“Move back so I can climb in, please."His voice doesn’t sound like it normally does; it sounds like he's struggling to talk.
That immediately makes me more worried. So does the fact that he's climbed up to get through my window instead of knocking on the front door.
Doing as he asks, I move back, and he climbs through. I can't believe what I'm seeing as he steps into the light. His face is black from bruising, and he's struggling to stay standing, swaying on his feet. I grab him to steady him before I guide him towards my bed and help him to sit down gently.
“What the hell happened to you?”I ask worriedly.
He starts to cry, which isn’t normal for Hunter. He doesn't get upset like this. I don’t think I've ever seen him cry before. Gently, I sit down next to him, making sure I don’t makethe bed move and accidentally hurt him. Placing my arm around his shoulder, I carefully pull him towards me to offer him some sort of comfort because he clearly needs some right now.
“Talk to me, please,”I beg.
He’s scaring me. Something's seriously wrong. He takes a deep breath before he starts talking, and once he starts, he can’t seem to stop.
“I can't do it anymore, Jackson. I can't keep taking the beatings. He's gotten so much worse. I couldn't even come to school today because I couldn't get out of bed because of the pain from what he did to me last night. My face isn't even the worst of it this time.”He has tears streaming down his face by the end of what he’s telling me.
“Who has been hurting you, Hunt?”I ask quietly.
Somehow managing to keep my temper in check even though I want to lose my shit at what he's telling me.
“Craig,”he whispers to me.
I feel nothing but utter shock.
What the hell? Craig's his older brother; why would he be hurting Hunter? I know he's an asshole, but I never expected this.
“Can you show me anywhere else that hurts? I need to see if I need to get you some help, okay?”I ask gently, even though I’m mad as fuck about what’s been done to him and scared about what other injuries he might have.
Nodding his head, he slowly moves from under my arm before taking a deep breath and quickly removing his black t-shirt. He cries out as he removes it; for some reason, the top has stuck to parts of his chest. Once it's removed, I see the damage all over his chest and arms. He has bruises down his body, from his neck to his stomach, but that's not what's worrying me; it's the fucking blood streaming down his chest from where he'sremoved his t-shirt, and it's removed what was stopping the bleeding.
