Midas
“Do you think it was Dante?”
No.
“Could be,” I replied, but the words are hollow.
Zeus looks lost as he mulls over my words. Odin glares down at his phone again. His face goes from anger to contemplating if it could be Dante. Zeus stares at the hole in the wall he put there before storming out of the room.
Odin and I both watch as he stomps down the hallway.
“I’ll go get him,” I mutter.
I walk behind Zeus as he storms out of the hospital. He isn’t running or anything, but I’m not chasing him. He needs time to cool off and to let himself process what is happening. I walk through the hospital doors as he rides off. I wait until his taillights have vanished before making sure no one else is near. When the coast is clear, I take my burner phone out and dial a number I wish I didn’t have to.
“?” His panicked voice whispers down the line.
“You stupid motherfucker.” I seethe. Rage is the only thing I feel right now. “You were just supposed to scare her, not hurt her. Now she is lying in a hospital bed because of you. Why the fuck did you shoot her?”
“I… I… I don’t know, man. I got freaked out, and I just reacted. Man, I am so fucking sorry dude.”
“I should kill you myself for this. You are lucky that it would cause too many questions, so you will get to live another day. If you ever fuck up again, I won’t be so kind.” I hung up my phone, not waiting for a response.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was just supposed to scare her so she would come running to us. That was the plan.
I throw the phone as far as I can. The sound of it smashing in the distance is the only thing I can hear over the ringing in my ears. I raked my fingers through my hair and started pulling hard. I need to figure out a way to fix this and stay on track with my original plan. This is just a bump in the road, a huge bump , but I can fix this. My plan is still solid, I just need to make a few minor tweaks.
I pace back and forth in front of the door until I can come up with the perfect plan. If I can keep them thinking it’s Dante, that will get me off the hook. Getting the guys to believe it won’t be hard. Serena will be a different story. I know she is starting to have feelings for the bastard, but if she thinks he is behind this, then she will walk away.
Maybe I should just tell her about our past with him. I’ll leave out all the sappy shit and just give her a rundown of the last five years. That should be enough evidence for her to leave him. If that doesn’t work, I can just tell her about Valerie’s little deal with Dante. The day I learnt that little nugget of shit still burns in my brain. That was the day I made the guys pull away from Serena to protect her until I could figure out a plan.
“!” Valerie’s shrill voice yells from down the hall.
The last thing I want to do is deal with her, but I know if I don’t, it will be harder in the long run for all of us. She starts to approach us. Odin and Zeus block Serena from her sight. I give Odin a look, telling him to take her away from this. He nods his head, placing his hand on her back, and walks towards Evie with Zeus in tow.
“What the fuck do you want, Valerie?” I couldn’t keep the annoyance out of my tone even if I wanted to.
“I have a proposition for you,” She starts.
“Not fucking interested.” I cut her off.
“You might want to listen to me. Leave Serena, or I will send Dante Lupo to kill her.” She places her hands on her hips. A smug grin on her face like she thinks she just won something.
I know Dante Lupo well enough to know that he won’t do anything he doesn’t want to do. He also would never take orders from anyone, let alone a bitch like Valerie. But if he knew how attached we have become to her, I wouldn’t put it past him to use her against us. He has had an unknown vendetta against us for the last five years.
There has been more than one occurrence where he has tried to kill us. I don’t know what changed between us, but one day it was like a switch flipped in his brain, and we were the enemy. I get that his dad dying fucked with him, but the hatred towards us feels extreme.
“Your threats don’t work against me. There is no way Dante would go after her.”
“That’s what you think. He owes me a favor, and I was planning on cashing it in. Leave Serena. Come back to me, and the skank lives.” Her eyes dart to Serena. If looks could kill, Serena would be dead in a second. I scoff at her ridiculousness. She turns her attention to me. “My uncle works his Dante. He and I… know each other very well. All I have to do is give him a name, and she will be killed.”
I grind my teeth at that information. I never knew that her uncle worked for Lupo. If I had, I never would have stuck my dick into her. For all I know, she could be leaking information to Dante about us. Not that we let her know anything. She is a parasite that leached onto us long ago, against our will.
Odin and Zeus stand beside me. “Everything alright over here?”
“Yeah.” I grind my teeth, not wanting the following words to leave my mouth. But they have to. If there is even the slightest chance that what Valerie said is true, I have to keep Serena safe. “Stay away from Serena. She is off limits.”
I wrap my arm around Valerie and watch my best friend's jaws drop. With certainty, I knew they would follow orders even if they didn’t like it. A winning smile on Valerie’s face makes me want to slap it off. Let her think that she won for now. In the end, I will win. I always do.
They both look over their shoulders at Serena. She is watching us. Sadness coats her face as she sees my arm around Valerie. In that moment, I wanted to push Valerie away and run to Serena. Reassure her that this means nothing, but I can’t. I don’t believe Valerie has the power to get Dante to do anything, but I refuse to take the chance.
I turn on my heel, walking away from the girl who has gotten under my skin. Away from what I truly want and down the path that I may never be able to come back from.
I walked back into the hospital to find Odin in the same place I left him. Emma hasn’t come back, not that I thought she would. She is by her daughter’s side, and nothing would be able to pull her away from that. The two of them have such a close bond between them that is so foreign to me, but they are inseparable. Must be nice to have a parent care about you that much.
I walk over to Odin and clap him on the shoulder to get his attention. He looks up at me with such somber eyes, his cheeks wet with tears. I keep my face stoic, but I am so surprised right now. I have never seen him cry before. Or at least not since we were kids.
“Come on, man, we should head home. It’s two in the morning. We need some sleep. We can come back first thing in the morning.” I grab Odin’s hand and pull him up. He reluctantly gets up and follows me outside.
We get on our bikes and ride back to our street. I was hoping that the thrill of a ride would help heal some of the guilt and anger in me, but not even this could take it away. Riding has always been my favorite thing to do, but it feels different tonight.
I pull into my laneway and look over at the dark house next door. Police are all gone, probably on their way to the hospital to question Serena. The neon yellow police tape is still blocking off the entrance to the house. Odin walks up next to me, and we just stare into the abyss. I duck my head, shame filling me that this is all my fault. A growl escapes me. Guilt is not an emotion I have ever dealt with before. I don’t like it.
Odin and I tear our eyes away from Serena’s house and finally take steps towards mine. I expect the house to be quiet. That my dad would still be at the clubhouse banging some poor girl. So, when I open the door and see my dad, Ryker, and Axel sitting on the couch with beers in their hands, laughing at something, I am beyond surprised. They were pissed with us earlier, but the way they are smiling now you wouldn’t be able to tell.
“Where have you guys been?” My dad asks, but still not looking at us.
“Probably went to go fuck that Valerie chick.” Ryker chuckles to himself, earning a smile from the other two.
Axel turns around, confusion in his eyes. “Where is Zeus? Is he still getting lucky with that girl?”
I internally groan, wishing they weren’t here. I just wanted to come home, have a shower, and collapse into bed. Instead, I have to deal with these three -probably drunk- assholes. I ran my hand through my hair, trying to figure out what to say. I don’t want to tell them the truth about where we were. That would just cause too many questions. I still haven’t figured out their interest in Serena or her mom, but they are definitely interested in both.
They start laughing with each other, talking about us sleeping with Valerie and Melanie. One thing a father should never do is fist-bump his friends while talking about their sons having sex.
I glanced over at Odin. He looks just as annoyed and exhausted as I feel. I turn back to our fathers and open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. My father stops laughing and finally turns around. His smile drops when he sees the blood on my hands.
“What the fuck happened? Did the Brotherhood attack?” My dad asks, causing the other two to turn to us too. They finally take in our appearances. I have the most blood on my hands, but Odin looks shell-shocked and is zoned out completely.
I turn back to our dads and sigh. I have to tell them something. When they saw us a couple of hours ago, we had already cleaned up from torturing that would-be rapist, so I can’t blame it on that. If I lie and tell them the Brotherhood attacked, that will raise too many questions. I have no choice but to tell them the truth.
“Serena was attacked tonight.” I sigh. All three of them got to their feet and started rapidly firing questions at me. “Someone broke into her house and shot her. She is in the hospital right now.”
I can feel tears welling in my eyes, guilt consuming me from the inside out. I never meant for any of this to happen. I just wanted her to be scared so she would come running to us. I wanted her to need our help so she would have no choice but to spend time with us. I knew if she spent time with us, she would eventually fall into my bed.
I made that stupid plan when this was just a bet, but things have changed for me. I like the girl. More than I have ever liked anyone before. I always told myself I could never love someone, but I know I could with Serena. She is everything I have ever wanted and more. She is a queen that I would gladly get on my knees for.
Our dads were still shouting, but I tuned them out. Odin isn’t saying anything either. He is trying to stay strong, but I can see him breaking. I hate that I hurt my brothers. They are everything to me, and I did something to hurt them. I have never done that before.
I hear the door slam shut and see that our dads are gone. I have no clue where they went, but I am glad they are gone. I don’t want to deal with them right now.
I storm off to my room, Odin following behind. I turn the lights on and can’t help but look out my window into Serena’s room. The lights are still on, and the window is still open. Guilt is consuming me again.
Odin falls on my bed, his head buried in the pillow. I don’t know what to do, so I stand awkwardly by my door. I should be able to comfort my friend. I have always been able to before, but knowing I caused this pain is unbearable. I hear the faint sound of Odin crying into my pillow. Fuck.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I have fucked everything up.
I push off the door frame and walk over to my desk and grab the bottle of Jack. I plop down on the bed beside Odin and take a massive swig. The alcohol burns, but it is nothing compared to everything else going on. I drink until my head starts to feel fuzzy and lightness courses through me. Odin is still silently crying next to me. I look down at my friend and wish I could fix everything.
I place the bottle on my bedside table and lie down next to him. I turn to my side and stare at my broken friend. I don’t think. I just pull his body into mine and hold him.
We stayed like that for a while. I let him get everything out that he needs to. When his body stops shaking from his tears, Odin looks up at me. I kiss his forehead and hold him tightly. I don’t know what to do right now, which is something I have never felt before, but I will make this better.
“Do you think this was Dante?” Odin’s voice is small. The sadness is still evident in his voice.
“I don’t know. It makes some sense. The best way to hurt us would be to hurt the ones we care about.” The lie tastes like poison on my tongue. I never wanted to lie to my friends. I never wanted her to get hurt. I screwed up. “I promise that we will find the fucker that shot her, and we will kill him, even if it is Dante. I promise everything is going to be all right.”
“I want to be the one to kill him,” Odin says, his voice full of anger.
I nodded my head. I know I am the reason that this all happened, but no one can ever know. I just need to find the real stalker and make sure he is dead before anyone else finds him. If he is dead, the secret dies with me. I will never let my boys find out the truth. This secret will go to the grave with me.
That’s why I have to frame Dante or find the real stalker before anyone can figure out what I did.
Thoughts and plans race through my mind, trying to pick the best one to get me to my end goal. Keep my brothers and get the girl.
Once I have her, I am going to change. I am going to become the man that Serena deserves. I don’t want anyone to find out what I did, but I will make this up to her.
That I promise.