by Evie Harper
Mack looks at me strangely, so I quickly turn and walk down the porch steps toward the front gate.
“I’ll fetch you that water, let you get a head start,” Mack calls out and while I’m not looking at him as I only have eyes for his Skyline parked out the front of the house, I can however, hear the laughter in his voice.
My palms begin to sweat from anticipation as I approach the car. So close to finally seeing my brother after our longest time apart, and also being able to show Mackson up. Not sure which one is more important to me right now.
The familiar sound of the screen door hitting the frame lets me know Mackson has walked inside. Glancing over my shoulder, it’s confirmed. He’s no longer in sight. With a pounding heart, I race to the red Nissan and pull the keys from my back pocket. I get to the driver’s side, push the key in and unlock the door.
I jump inside and start Fang. A laugh bubbles up at the nickname Mack has for his car. What is it with guys and nicknaming their cars? I have a beat up Nissan Altima, and while she has been around for a long time and been good to me, I’ve never felt the need to name it anything other than ‘she’ or ‘her.’
I reach across and buckle myself in while the engine continues to growl to life. The vibration of the powerful motor flows through me and it feels fucking fantastic. I press down on two buttons on the center console, which lowers both front windows. The instant breeze from outside is heaven compared to the stuffy heat inside the car and the blistering hot leather seats.
From the corner of my eye, I notice a large figure come out through the front door. A quick glance shows me it’s Mack and he’s running straight for me and his precious Fang.
I release the handbrake, glide the stick into first and push down on the accelerator. The wheels spin as I’m taking off. Mack jumps his front fence and attempts to get to the car, but he’s too late, I’m gone. And as I’m going, I raise my left hand and wiggle my fingers as a goodbye with a wide smile gracing my face. I’ve always wanted to do that.
Autumn’s cool, crisp air blows in through my window, tousling my hair and relaxing my tense body. Gliding through the gears, I push the car faster, but stay close to the speed limit.
I know I don’t have long before Mack gets to one of his brothers’ cars and comes after me. I love him for taking care of me and trying to protect me, but this is something that I have to do, something that has been coming for a long time now. I hope I have enough time to talk to my brother alone before the chaos ensues. And I pray Rex has seen the error of his ways and sees me for what I am. The sister who loves him more than anything else in this world and will do anything to save his life.
Chapter Eleven
Lana
Parking behind Corey’s blue Mazda I jump out of Fang, keys in hand. I slam her door closed and take swift steps toward my home. I’m approaching the front screen as it flies open and Corey appears. His eyes are wide and his mouth hangs open. The same surprise flashes through me quickly before I straighten my posture and change my expression to stony.
“Is Rex home?”
Corey’s features soften, but he still doesn’t let go of the screen’s door handle or move aside so I can walk into my own house.
“It’s good to see you, Lana.” His voice is welcoming and pleading all at the same time.
“I don’t have time for this Corey. Is my brother home or not?” I demand, stepping from foot to foot trying to look around Corey’s big body.
“Yeah, but Lana, right now is not a good time.”
I stop fidgeting and freeze. “This is my home Corey and that’s my brother. I’ll decide for myself if I’ll stay or go. Now move your ass before I get a run-up and move you myself.”
Corey grimaces, glances over his shoulder into the house and then back to me. “Seriously, Lana, he’s not having a good day.”
Done with this conversation, and knowing Mack will be here any minute, I search for a weak spot on Corey so I can push my way past him. Using all my strength, and with two hands, I shove Corey’s right shoulder and he stumbles back a step and when he does I slip straight past him into the living room.
“Fuck, Lana,” Corey bellows.
I spin on my heel, point my finger at Corey and glare. “If you ever try to keep me out of my own home again, my boot will end up your ass. Got it.”
Corey’s face falls. “You’re gonna wish I tried harder.” He gestures to the right. “He’s in there.”
My chest tightens as I stare toward Rex’s bedroom door.
“Lana,” Corey calls and the sadness in his voice compels me to look his way. “I swear, I tried. Kodi, Reed and I, we thought we could help him.”
I swallow roughly. “What am I going to see, Corey?”
Exhausted and anguished, Corey rubs his hands up and down his face. “I don’t know, but I can tell you, you’re not going to see your brother.” Breathing becomes difficult and I grasp onto the sofa for support. “Kodi and Reed are on their way over. We’re taking him to the hospital today, he needs more help than we can give him.”
My chin trembles. I’m scared. My first reaction is to wait for Mack. I need his warmth and the feeling that comes with being near him, the sense of knowing everything will be okay. But I know that’s a terrible idea. No matter Rex’s state, he’s never going to like seeing his sister with a King.
“Mackson is on his way. I don’t want any trouble when he gets here.”
Corey’s eyes widen and he goes to speak, but I beat him to it.
“I mean it, Corey. Mack’s only coming to make sure I’m safe. No fighting or accusations. Peace… even if it’s only this once, I will have it today.”
Corey reluctantly nods. “I’ll let the other guys know.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that,” I reply softly.
“You’re really one of them now?” Corey questions with a frown and a bitter tone.
“I’m not with them and I’m not with you guys. I’m me, Lana, sister to Rex, daughter to… a monster. If you or my brother had taken one-second in all these years to truly know me, then you’d both realize this war was never mine. That I would never fight for a man who treated me so badly. The fact that you guys have fought so hard for him has broken my heart a million times.”
Corey’s face turns ashen, but I don’t stay to work it out. Our friendship died years ago when all the lies began.
I reach Rex’s bedroom door and place my hand on the handle. As I twist it and open the door slowly, I hear the familiar rumble of Chevy pull up out the front. He’s here. My body relaxes all on its own knowing Mack has arrived.
And then I freeze. My mind is screaming. My heart is breaking. I’m unable to move my body past the entrance to the room.
There lies a man, but he isn’t my brother.
He’s too thin to be Rex.
He’s too scarred to be Rex.
His skin is too yellow to be Rex.
My healthy, strong brother is gone.
My world spins. Nothing could have ever prepared me to see my big brother lying helpless on his bed. Face, arms and legs covered in bloodied, scabbed sores. Dark circles under his eyes, and hollowed cheeks with yellowing skin.
God, is his body bruised?
Moving slowly toward my brother, I’m too frightened to touch him in case I’ll hurt his fragile body. I cover my mouth trying not to wake him with my heartache.
Muffled voices come from the living room and then Mack appears in the doorway. However, I can’t rip my eyes from my worst nightmare. So I don’t see the stunned look on his face, but I hear it as Mack sucks in a big breath and then in a pained voice says, “Christ.”
I gesture to Rex with my hands and try to quietly say, “What’s wrong with him?” However, my words come out unclear and high pitched.
“Dove,” Mack says softly and then stops speaking suddenly.
I know what he was going to say, what he’s thinking. He tried to warn me. He attempted to stop me and protect me from seeing my brother this way.
“Mack what happened to him?” I plead for answers. He wasn’t this way when I lived here.
He wasn’t this way two months ago.
“Don’t let his peaceful expression and ravaged body fool you. It took myself, Kodi and Reed to wrestle Rex to the ground yesterday,” Corey interrupts.
My eyes widen. “You need to explain what the fuck has been going on Corey because he was not like this two months ago. Not even close.”
“After learning it was Della who killed Jae, Rex grew distant and started pushing everyone away. The guys assume it’s because you chose not to come back, Lana. Kodi and Reed are the only ones who know the truth.”
“That information wasn’t for you to share.” Mack’s deep, angry voice rumbles throughout the bedroom.
“Yeah, well, fuck you, Mack,” Corey spits back. “Kodi and Reed deserved to know the truth. None of us wanted this war, but we supported our friend. I know and you should too, they wouldn’t do anything to harm Della.”
“You mean like ordering a drive-by that almost killed her. That was supposed to kill another woman?” Mack steps forward in an intimating manner.
Corey doesn’t budge. He stands his ground. “We didn’t know about that. Rex said he had plans, but none of us knew how far he’d gone to get back at Slater. He didn’t tell us for a reason, because he knew we’d try to talk him out of it. You might think we’re your enemies, Mack. But truthfully we’re the real reason he’s stuck to some semblance of rules and honor throughout the years. Honestly, Rex hasn’t had a sane thought on his own in five years.”
I lower my chin and stare at the ground ashamed, because I know Corey’s right. My brother has been teetering on the edge of that cliff for longer than the past two months.
“Anyway, we decided to give him a week to get his head around what we’d learned. Except, he never called us after a week or even after two. Reed and I stopped in to see him and we found him passed out on the sofa with a needle in his arm and a bag of ice on the coffee table. We’ve spent the last six weeks trying to get him clean. Even trying to get him on something less damaging like Ecstasy. But it’s been fucking hard, he’s unreasonable and paranoid all the fucking time and when he’s coming down he’s downright dangerous. He’d kill one of us to get his next hit. I have no doubt. When he tried to kill Kodi with a knife yesterday, he was calling him the devil, because he refused to drive him to get on. He’s been asleep ever since. That’s been his typical comedown symptoms which we’ve been experiencing on repeat for the past few weeks.”
“He’s hallucinating,” Mack states calmly as if it’s a normal part of the process.
Corey nods. “He thinks he has bugs under his skin, hence why he has so many sores from scratching his skin and he mutters to himself a lot about moving on to another life. Ending this one and getting a clean slate for the next.”
“I don’t understand,” I grate out in frustration.
Mack walks over and embraces me. I don’t hug him back. I only want answers. I push away from him and focus on Corey.
“If you’ve known about this for six weeks, why didn’t you call me? Why is he still so bad if you’ve kept him here to get him clean?”
“Look around, Lana. The window behind you is boarded up with cardboard because he smashed through the glass with his bare hands to get out. All the locks and glass on the entry doors have been smashed or broken with your steel meat hammer. We’ve managed to keep him clean for a few days here and there, but it never lasts, he manages to find a way out and then he’s gone. By the time we find him, usually near the train tracks we used to drink at, it’s too late, he’s already taken the shit. And there was no way we were calling you. Rex would never want you to see him this way.”
“That’s not my brother,” I state angrily, pointing at the thing lying in my brother’s body.
Unexpectedly an agonizing moan sounds through the room. We all freeze and look at Rex, who begins to groan louder and roll around on the bed as he wraps his arms around his waist as if in pain.
“Shit,” Corey curses.
“Why does he seem like he’s in pain?” My voice shakes as I stare at my brother.
“He hasn’t eaten for two days,” Corey replies while walking over to the other side of the bed next to Rex.
Mack kisses my hair and mutters, “It’s a side effect of the drug. Rex doesn’t feel the hunger pains.”
“It’s why he’s lost weight,” I whisper to myself, but Mack answers me anyway, “Yeah, Dove, that’s why.”
Suddenly, Corey pulls a syringe from his jean’s pocket and removes the plastic cover from the tip.
“What the hell are you doing?” Mack moves toward Corey.
Corey doesn’t even glance at Mack, who’s approaching him, he looks straight at me. “I told you earlier we’re taking Rex to the hospital.” Corey lifts the needle in the air. “This is how we get him there.”
Mack stops and asks, “What’s in the needle?”
Still looking at me, Corey replies, “It’s morphine. It’s going to take away Rex’s body aches and make him feel sleepy, but not pass out. It’s how we get him to the hospital without anyone getting hurt. Doctor Evan Angelos from Clarke Memorial Hospital gave this to me. He’s waiting for us. We’re going to take Rex to Emergency where two security guards will be waiting. They will take Rex up to recovery where Dr. Evan is going to put him on methadone for two days to dry Rex out. Then when he wakes, we’re going to make sure he signs rehab papers. Dr. Evan knows of a good facility in Jefferson Rex can go to for six months.”
My heart’s racing and my mouth is dry. It’s as if there’s a ticking time bomb in the room and everyone’s waiting for it to explode.
“Lana, I don’t need your approval to do this. But I respect you enough to do this with you in the room or wait until you leave if you don’t want to see this,” Corey announces.
“I’m good. I’m all for this plan. It’s something you should have done weeks ago,” I reply in an accusatory tone.
How much can one needle hurt? My brother has been pricking himself for months now.
“Mack, I’m going to need you to go to the other side of the bed. I need to find a vein on his forearm and he’s not going to like anyone touching him, so we’ll need to hold him down.”
Mackson moves to my side of the bed and I shuffle backward to give him room.
“Lana,” Corey calls my name with a firm tone, “if Rex starts flailing, I need you to grab one of his legs and hold him down as best you can, okay?”
I nod.
All at once, Corey and Mack grab a wrist each and turn Rex gently to lay flat on his back.
Rex starts to moan louder and pulls his arms toward himself. Corey searches for a vein while Rex slowly realizes that he’s being held down. The moment between the silence and the furious roar my brother lets out is shocking. My eyes widen and my body goes cold. In mere seconds he went from being sleepy to a bucking bull, thrashing about. His angry and desperate pleas to be let go break my heart.
Mack pushes down on Rex’s shoulder and wrist trying to keep him as still as possible, but it’s not enough to help keep him immobile for Corey to insert the needle. I try to grab his kicking foot, but I’m struggling to catch it.
Abruptly, Kodi and Reed race into the room and I’m pushed out of the way. They have Rex pinned down to the bed and Corey inserting the needle into his vein in no time.
Rex is yelling and cursing us all, red-faced.
I cover my mouth, trying to muffle the heartache desperate to escape. Rex jerks his head in my direction and his body freezes. His eyes grow glassy, and when I thought it could never be possible
his cheeks grow pink. I’m desperate to look away. I don’t want to see my brother so low and now riddled with shame.
A jolt runs through my body as I realize I need to be here for my brother, not be the scared little sister. Rex deserves courage and strength from me, and in order to be there for him I must be strong.
I walk to the side of the bed, looking directly at Rex’s face and drop to my knees. His body relaxes as the morphine takes effect. Kodi and Reed slowly loosen their grip on Rex’s legs and step back from the bed. Mack and Corey remain, holding his wrists down.
Rex is still staring at me as if I’m a wonder to behold and also a curse.
“It’s going to be okay, Rex. I promise. We’re going to get you help. Soon this nightmare will be over.”
He relaxes his head back onto the pillow, his eyes still staring intently at me. “I need to wash away my regrets,” he says with a hoarse voice and mournful tone.
His words slash at my soul as if I’ve just witnessed my brother give up and say his goodbyes.
Chapter Twelve
Lana
My brother’s calm, contented and drugged up body is gently laid down on a hospital bed and taken by two security guards along with two nurses into an elevator, and we’re told to wait in Emergency. As soon as Dr. Evan is done treating and making Rex comfortable, he’ll come down and take us to my brother.
Mack walks us across the room to two blue, beat-up old seats by the doors closest to where the doctors and nurses are coming and leaving through.
That was two hours ago. I’m almost at breaking point.
Sitting on the edge of my seat, bouncing my legs anxiously, I rub my sweaty palms against my jeans to try and relax my body, but it’s not working.
Corey, Kodi, and Reed are sitting in chairs by the automatic front doors.
