Page 72 of Into Temptation

“Ya think what?” I coax when she pauses.

She merely shakes her head, unable to say the words, but she doesn’t need to.

Walking into Ethan’s bedroom, I notice how bland things are in here. For a young lad, he barely has anything in here to indicate this is a seventeen-year-old boy’s room.

His chest rises and falls listlessly; it looks like he’s in a coma, and that’s because he is, in a sense. Dropping to a crouch by his bed, I gently pull up the sleeve on his hoodie and see what I suspected would be there.

Track marks.

Hannah muffles a cry behind her hand when she too sees what I do. She must have suspected he was using, but to be confronted by the truth is a hard pill to swallow.

A heavy sigh leaves me as I look at my baby brother. He’s been brought into this world because of me. Rory, Cian, and I never touched the shite we dealt as we saw what it did. It turned functioning people into zombies, which is what Sean wanted.

I have no doubt Sean was the one who encouraged Ethan to try heroin because that’s what Ethan is addicted to. I know this because, with heroin, there isn’t simply one time. One taste, and you’re hooked. And judging from these track marks, Ethan has been lost for a very long time.

Vomit rises, but I hold it down.

Reaching out, I brush back the matted hair at his brow. Where has my innocent brother gone?

He stirs, a whimper leaving him. Even in his drug-induced state, the pain still lingers, which is dangerous to any user. They use more to numb the pain, leaving them with an even bigger addiction.

His backpack lays by the foot of the bed, so I reach for it and search through it. I find his stash, as well as some prescription drugs. This is worse than I thought. If he continues this way, he won’t live to see his eighteenth birthday.

Maybe that’s what he wants.

“The fuck,” Ethan slurs, his eyes flickering open as he attempts to gauge where he is.

“Hi, Ethan,” I say gently.

It takes him a moment, but when he realizes where he is and that I’m really here, he springs up onto his knees, pressing his back to the wall. With urgency, he scans the room for a weapon no doubt. He thinks I’m here to hurt him.

Quickly rising to my feet, I raise my hands in surrender, wanting him to know I mean no harm.

“Ethan, I phoned Punky. He’s here to help,” Hannah says from behind me.

Ethan curls his lip in anger. “Always stickin’ yer nose in where it doesn’t belong. Yer nothin’ but a nosy little bitch!”

“Away on! Y’ll speak to yer sister that way? Where are yer manners?” I scold, unbelieving he would speak to Hannah this way.

“Fuck you,” he replies, not interested in anything I have to say as he comes to a shaky stand. When he sees the bag I hold with his drugs, he lunges for me, but I step back. “That’s mine. Give it here.”

I shake my head. “Ye should have killed me when ya had the chance, cub, ’cause I’m about to be yer worst nightmare.”

He reacts how I knew he would.

With a roar, he advances forward, ready to spill blood for the drugs he loves more than me. Hannah yelps while I keep him at arm’s length. He’s scrawny and doesn’t stand a chance, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to take me down.

“Give them back!” he screams, kicking and punching thin air. He’s still strung out, so his blows don’t connect with me.

“I will not,” I firmly state. “This is what I think of yer dope.”

Gripping him by the back of the neck, I drag him out of the room and toss his arse into the bathroom. He slips and slides on the floor as he desperately attempts to get back what’s his, but it’s in vain as there is no way I’ll let him put this filth in his body ever again.

Flipping open the toilet lid with my boot, I dump the pills and the baggie of heroin into the bowl. Ethan cries, fighting me, but he won’t win.

“No! Ya fuckin’ cunt! Naw!”

I ignore him and smash his syringe against the wall. “Ye won’t touch this shite again. A’ll not tell ya again.”

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