The Blackwell Brothers ✓

Unraveling

Chapter 27:

"I fucked up," Dakota traced the lines on her palms, avoiding eye contact with her friends.

"Tell them how you fucked up, Kota," Zeke crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently.

"I missed," Dakota lowered her head even further, afraid of what was to come.

"No you didn't," Zeke narrowed his eyes at Dakota.

"What do you mean?" Colton tilted his head.

"The bullet hit the wall," Dakota squeezed the sides of her head anxiously, knowing Colton had probably caught on.

"Dakota, tell them or I will," Zeke growled.

"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on here before I lose my mind?" Colton's eyes jumped back and forth between Zeke and Dakota, his forehead creasing out of frustration.

Zeke waited for Dakota to speak, but when he noticed tears dripping from the edge of her nose onto the floor, he turned to Colton.

"She let him go, Colt," Zeke revealed.

By this point, Dakota's whole body was noticeably shaking, and she was no longer holding in her cries.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." she chanted.

"You're a traitor," Colton snarled.

"No, Colt, I-I swear, I d-didn't --"

"—Didn't mean to? I'm not doing this again, Dakota. You don't get to play both sides. If you want to fuck my brother, go ahead. What do I care? But what you won't do is show your face around here ever again," Colton turned to leave, and as he opened the door, he turned back toward Dakota once more, "You should know, though. He never loved you."

Dakota winced as he delivered his parting words, slamming the door behind him.

"Colton?" Ava peered out her open bedroom window, surprised to see Colton standing in front of her house.

"Ava," he called, "I need someone to talk to. I-I just..." he ran a hand through his hair, and that's when Ava noticed his knuckles were bruised and splattered with dried blood.

"Hold on," she told him before she disappeared from his view.

A moment later, Ava appeared from the side of the house, and Colton realized she must have gone out the back door.

"Still under house arrest?" he teased, but his voice was heavy and tired.

"My parents are inside. Come here," she whispered, grabbing a handful of his shirt and tugging him toward the backyard.

As Colton sat next to Ava on an old, wooden bench underneath a large oak tree, she took his bloodied hand in hers.

"What happened, Colt?" her blue eyes moved from his knuckles to his face.

"I'm not really sure how to tell you this. Everything is just fucked up, Ava. Everything is falling apart," Colton clenched his teeth.

Ava placed a soothing hand on his knee and lifted his chin with her other hand.

"Colton –" Ava hardly began to speak when Colton spat out the truth.

"Cade is alive. I left Dakota to finish the job. But she..." he squeezed his fists tighter, "She let him go. She fucking let him walk out the door like nothing had happened."

"Oh, God. Colton, I... Look, I'm furious and I'm worried, don't get me wrong. But Dakota, she's my friend, and I know I don't know her as well as you do, but – "

"—Then let me tell you about the Dakota I know," Colton folded his arms over his chest and leaned back, "This isn't the first time since our parents' death that Cade has returned. The first time was three years ago. Dakota was only twelve, but she was already part of the gang. She told us she'd met a guy, the first guy she ever really liked. We let her go out with him, so long as she kept quiet about the gang."

"And this guy... It was Cade?" Ava tilted her head.

"Yeah. But at the time, we didn't know that. He told Dakota his name was Samuel," he scoffed, "About a month later, I found something on my doorstep."

"A card?" Ava asked.

"A chess piece," Colton smirked, "It was a pawn. At the time, the group consisted of just me, Quentin, Dakota, and a guy named Reed."

Ava gasped, knowing he was referring to the Reed she had met at Cade's hideout.

"A few weeks later, I got another chess piece, a knight. After that, no one had seen or heard from Reed. But one night, Dakota invited me to meet this mysterious boyfriend of hers. So I went. And there they were, Cade and Reed. They beat the shit out of me and then left. I have no fucking clue why he didn't just kill me then."

"So that's why you didn't trust Dakota with Cade? Because she's still in love with him?"

Colton nodded. "I left her to deal with Cade because I needed to get you out of there. So much was happening, I just wasn't thinking clearly."

Ava placed a light peck on Colton's scraped up hand.

"I understand now, Colt. But... Dakota, she's your family. Everybody makes mistakes, and while not everyone can be redeemed, I think Kota can be. I think, Colton, that you need to sit down and talk with her. No yelling, no accusations, no insults – Just an honest talk," Ava lifted Colton's injured fist up in front of his own eyes, "None of this."

"Ava! What the hell is this?" Ava's parents slammed the back door of the house, storming toward the couple on the bench.

"Ava, now would be a good time for at least a half-truth," Colton whispered.