Behind

Chapter 40

My back stiffened and I hobbled over to the porch swing. "They used to be Thirds? For Magcon, right?"

Gilinsky walked towards me and leaned against a column that held the roof above the porch. "I want to say yes, but I don't know for sure. No one really knows anything about either of them prior to Magcon."

"But Hayes is so young," I started. "He couldn't have been in this for too long."

"Kendra knew his parents. It was an at-birth thing."

I widened my eyes. "His parents just gave him up?"

Gilinsky nodded his head.

"That's disgusting." I spat. "Did they know what Magcon was at the time?"

"Oh of course." Gilinsky spoke matter-of-factly. "His father was a member."

I couldn't wrap my head around the concept of a father giving up his son to be in a gang when he was already accustomed to the various dangers of membership.

"Does that mean that Nash was-"

"The same applied for Nash."

I shook my head. There's so much more to Nash that I'm clueless about. "Wait," I tried standing up. I realized that it took too much effort to balance on one side of my body and sat back down on the wooden swing. "Does their dad still work for Magcon?"

Gilinsky stared at something in the distance and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." He walked closer and sat on the swing next to me, causing the swing to shudder forward and backward abruptly. "We used to have a lot of strong members in Magcon, back before you and I were born."

"Yeah," I urged. "And?"

"Well, one day they just, disappeared."

I squinted my eyes and stared skeptically at Gilinsky. "How could some of the most top notch gangsters leave without a trace?"

"I'm telling you Teal, no one knows what happened." 

I let his words sink in and tried to believe him. Somehow I felt that there was more to his words than he was trying to portray. If one thing's for sure, it's that I was interested and determined to find out the truth sooner or later. 

"Okay." I stood up from the swing. "Well I'm going to go get some rest. I have school tomorrow."

"Education is key." Gilinsky nodded as he walked towards the steps and stepped down them slowly. "Keep your eyes open."

I nodded my head back to him as I walked in the door. He's one mysterious guy, but he gives some killer advice that usually makes more confusion than sense.

I achily kicked off my sandals and limped further into my house. "Mooom, I'm home."

I put less pressure on my injured foot as I walked. Maybe crutches would suffice for now. 

I skidded into the kitchen. "Mom?"

Nick was sitting at the kitchen table reading part of the local newspaper. His normal habitat. "Hey sport, your mom will  be right back."

I walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. Nick stood up abruptly and fast paced over to me. "Woah, woah. What happened to your leg?"

Gilinsky's words replayed in my mind. "If you want them to be safe for a bit longer and to lessen the worry they'll have for you, you'll tell them what I ordered you to."

I rolled my eyes. "We were screwing around and I stepped on a nail."

Nick stared at my face for a few moments and I felt sweat bead on my forehead. I don't know if Nick knows anything about the true Magcon or the Shawn situation or anything that's been going on in my life. I haven't really talked to Nick in a while. As a matter of fact, I've never really talked to him much at all. It's always been small talk. 

His hard stare left my face and looked at my leg. "Well you're bandaged up. Anything I can get you?"

I released a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding and craned my body to rub my calf muscle. "Yeah, I could really use some chocolate ice cream."

"What does that have to do with your injury?" He asked skeptically.

I smirked. "Absolutely nothing."

Nick chuckled and placed his hands on the island. "Well there's vanilla ice cream in the freezer and there's chocolate syrup. Think you'll survive?"

I shrugged. "I guess I'll manage."

He walked into the living room and I heard the sound of the audio system turning on. How great it must be to just be able to relax at the end of the day. I haven't been able to do that in what seems like ages.

I grabbed the gallon of ice cream from the freezer and slid the bottle of chocolate syrup out of the fridge. There was only a small amount of ice cream left in the carton so I swirled brown drops of chocolate directly into the container. I hopped over to the kitchen table with a spoon and the carton and felt relieved to sit.

After a few bites of ice cream, I heard a door slam outside. Mom's home.

I nibbled on some more tooth sensitive dairy as I waited for mom to walk in. I flashed a bright, awkward smile in the direction of the door and my mom entered. 

I let my smile fade when even after a few moments, she didn't smile back what so ever. 

My faded smile twisted into confusion instantly when I noticed that my mom wasn't the only one walking inside my house.

I squinted my eyes as I watched Shawn walk inside, followed by Nash.

Shawn walked directly over to the table and pressed his palms to the wood. "Why'd you tell him?"

I shook my head. "What are you talking about?"

My mom stood next to Shawn and crossed her arms. "One thing, Teal."

I set my spoon down and put my full focus into the situation. "What the heck do you mean?"

Nash stood quietly at the door. 

"One of the most important secrets of our family," Shawn pressed his left hand to his forehead. "Why did you tell him that I'm your brother?" 

I widened my eyes and looked anxiously at Nash. How the hell did he find out?