Deception. Betrayal. Mistrust.
It seems the closer Rayne gets to the truth, the more she finds herself wanting to run away from it. It's complex and terrifying-more than she ever fathomed.
New family members, good and bad, pop out at her like a br...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝗞aedyn slammed the car door shut without looking back as he made his way up the small walkway to his brother's flat. He heard his voice behind him, calling out, but he didn't react or respond to the words he chose to spew—not like he normally would.
He spent the better third of the two-hour car ride ignoring everything he said, his touch, and his efforts to flip the script. It didn't take long for him to shut up, which he was grateful for, but even then—even after an hour and thirty minutes of complete silence, he still didn't have what he needed.
Time like that should've been sufficient for him to collect his thoughts, but he was wrong. Instead of having a clear mind, and the ability to speak, he was stuck choking on his word vomit; he was doing his best to swallow it to not hurt him, but it was getting harder by the second.
He should have let himself breathe—let his thoughts percolate in the air—rather, he found himself standing in the same place he'd begun when the truth came from the enemy and not the person he trusted most in this world. He wanted solace and solitude, but all he got were mind-numbing questions and racing thoughts.
All he could focus on was how his brother's actions affected him, Mason, and Rayne—and it seemed like not a drop of remorse lay awake in his body. It was shameless.
A big piece of him felt as if he should shove him out of his life for this—to pretend that he didn't exist for the rest of their shared lives, but most of him wanted to be a burden on his shoulder. He wanted him to sink under the weight of comparison—to feel the pain of his shortcomings, all for him to turn around on him, randomly, and act as if none of it was ever worth anything.
That his existence was nothing more than a hindrance to his childhood.
That his existence was better spent forgotten.
Because that was how he felt—forgotten.
"Kae—"
"Don't talk to me," he cut him off.
He felt his brother's energy shift back as he grabbed the doorknob and pulled it open; slipping into the main room, he let out a breath and headed for the stairs. There was so much he had to say and not enough words—no time, no effort, no motivation.
"You cannot ignore me," Kai continued to speak, "We have to talk about this!"
"Do we?" he spun, a foot on the first step, "I recall we went five years without a single word!"
"That's not fair."
Kaedyn tipped his head back slightly, letting out a chuckle that reached the back of his throat; as he stepped off the stairs and headed to where he was standing in the center of the living room, all he felt was anger. It was an emotion he usually had a handle on; he always believed that yelling and screaming and acting out of level-headedness was a waste of time.
