The Lies He Spoke

FIFTEEN

He waited until after she had hugged him and was safely behind the door to the prison to glare at his brother. "Logan, stop being so harsh with her-"

"Why are there a ton of bandages under your arm?" Logan interrupted in a voice no louder than a breath. "And don't give me bullshit or I swear I will strangle you."

Elijah's mouth went dry. He'd been so sure that neither of them had seen them. "What bandages?"

He scowled and pointed to the ever so slight bump on his bicep, where the badges were that were covering the stitches. "Stop playing dumb. It looks exactly like it did when you came home on Olivia's birthday."

"It's nothing," Elijah said. "Just a work injury."

Logan's dark eyes flashed angrily. "You see, that was what I meant by bullshit," he hissed. "Now the truth."

"That was the truth," he insisted.

"Were you fighting? Did someone hurt you? Why didn't they tell me? I thought I was listed as the emergency contact!"

"It's not important-"

Logan leaned over and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "The hell it's not important!" he cried, his face turning red. "What the actual fuck is wrong with you?

Elijah growled in equal frustration and grasped his fingers and wrestled with his hand, pulling it from the fabric. He only had so long to see his brother and Logan always spent it fighting with him. "Logan, shut up and sit down right now," he said, eyeing the security guard in the corner who'd stood to attention and was now making his way to them. "Or you'll get thrown out again."

Logan sat down hard in his chair and faced forward. Elijah could practically see the steam rising from his ears. The security guard slowly walked over and stood directly behind Logan and folded his hands over his stomach and leaned back against the wall. He didn't take his eyes off the two of them.

But Logan was not deterred. "You know what, Elijah?" he said in a suddenly calm, eerie voice. His dark eyes were unreadable, his thin face showing no emotion.

Before Elijah could speak, Logan said, "I'm going to get you out of here. I don't care what the fuck you say. I don't care what shit you try to pull on me and all of these people. I'm going to find out."

A cold feeling suddenly engulfed Elijah's lungs and chest. If Logan decided to do something, he didn't do it half heartedly. He didn't stop until the job was done. He gave it his one hundred and ten percent or he didn't do it all. And if he started chasing down why he was in prison, there was no knowing what could happen to his little brother.

"Don't do it," he pleaded. "Just leave it alone."

"Well I'm not the one behind bars!" Logan stood up, chest heaving, fingers clenched into such tight fists that his whole hand was white. "You are and you can't tell me what the fuck to do anymore, can you?"

He slammed his hands down on the table and as Elijah tried to tell him to please calm down, he jabbed his finger right up against Elijah's chest, poking his shirt above his heart. "I will get you out of here you complete idiot," he growled. "Because we're brothers, and brothers don't give up on each other!"

He was panting slightly, his eyes crazed, his nose inches from his. Elijah saw the brother who had begged and quarreled and argued with their mom to keep Olivia with them, who had fought their father tooth and nail for fourteen years, who had been his every confidant ever since they were young - and for just a fraction of a second, he was desperate to tell him everything.

But when Elijah realized the danger it would put him in, he gritted his teeth and stayed silent. Logan seemed to sense the change in him and his face grew hard and cold again. He took a step back, roughly yanked his arm away from the security guard who meant to restrain him, and stomped off to where Olivia waited without a glance back.