The Callahan Dynasty

Break Away

I got a grunt in response from him. "Gee that's a good speech and all Jason but will you shut up and look at me?" He groaned.

I furrowed my brows and turned around.

My eyes widened at his torso area where he held open his jacket.

Blood seeped through a very badly tied makeshift bandage.

"You got shot?" I exclaimed as I quickly got out of the drivers seat and moved to the back. "When you were upstairs?" I assumed furrowing my brows as I slowly peeled back the shirt he used to stop the bleeding. It didn't do a very good job and I frowned at the amount of blood he must have lost the whole time we were on the move.

How did I not notice? I wrote off the strange smell to the station wagon we had stolen.
And he did do a very good job at concealing it.

"How bad is it?" He asked seeming to be fearful of the answer.

I looked at his face now just noticing how pale he had gotten.

"We can fix you up." I responded even though I knew a wound this bad needed immediate professional medical attention.

"Don't lie to me." He spoke

I shook my head and let out a sigh. "Why didn't you say anything earlier, Harry?"

"I didn't want Kate to freak out." He muttered. "There's enough she has to worry about."

"I understand but she's kind of handling this like a pro. You should have just said something."

"No. I know Kate. She might look like she's holding it together but she's only pretending for my - I mean, our benefit. But at some point all this is going to get too much for her." He told me.

I scowled not helping the feeling of jealousy I couldn't help but feel. It took but a few hours after her reunion with Alex to tell him about Archibald but she didn't trust me enough to tell me until weeks later.

"Jason, you did hear what I said, right? You know what it means." He continued.

"Yeah, I get it. You know Kate better than I do." I grumbled.

Harry looked at me in confusion. "No. It means you have to get her out of here as soon as you can."

I looked at him thinking I had heard wrong.

"Jason. Think about it. The Boss is after her and you know he won't stop until he gets to her. The fact that you, Bella and I are with her doesn't help in any way. When he gets to us, he will be mad at us. But not her. He will kill her." He spoke voicing my greatest fear.

"Dean is after her too and he has her family friends behind him. They won't hurt her but they will kill us. She won't want to go back to Seattle. Especially not after that. There's a reason she left in the first place. The only way to keep her safe mentally and physically is by taking her far away where no one will ever find her."

I furrowed my brows at Harry. "We can't just send her away and expect her to survive on her own."

He gave me a look that made me feel like I had lost my mind.

"I know. I'm not saying she should go alone. I'm saying you should take her." He sighed and said the next part in a small, disappointed voice. "Run away with her, Jason. Start a new life somewhere. Help her grow a vegetable garden... be normal."

I knew at that moment that he was voicing his own dreams and desires.

"You want me to leave with Kate?" I asked in disbelief. "What about you? You can't go back to the Boss. I know you don't want that life."

Harry shook his head. "I can't come with you... I'm still in love with Kate and I can try as hard as I want to but I will never be okay with seeing her with someone else. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be with her. I'm just -" he struggled to find the words. "I just know that the three of us together is a bad idea."

I sank back on the seat and let out an exhausted sigh trying to absorb just how messed up this whole situation was.

A year ago, my soul mission in life was to track down Bella and Harry and bring them back so that things could go back to normal.

I didn't expect all this chaos to happen.

"Bella told me something..." I started to confess. "She told me that I would only 'break' Kate the way I had 'broken' her. The worst part is that I actually believe her. What if I ruin Kate?"
I shuddered at the thought of actually doing that to her.

"Remember how your mother signed all of us up for therapy by the time we were seven?" Harry asked me.

I nodded remembering how much I had loathed Dr Rowan because she wouldn't let me eat during our sessions.

"It's because she knew and understood what would come in our lives. Say what you want about your mother, Jason but you can never deny that she loves her children to death. Even Tony. All parents ruin their kids in one way or another. But you can't blame them. They're only human, not God. The Boss was ruined by his father and in turn ruined us. But we both know that deep down inside, he's still our father and he still loves us. He just had a complicated life." Harry explained.

"Bella went through a lot with you, Jason. And yes, your relationship was toxic. You hurt her in many ways, sure and Ethan's death was the hardest thing for her but she will find healing some day. Another reason I want to stay behind is to help her do that. Your focus shouldn't be constant worrying that you're going to hurt Kate the way you did Bella. If you keep pondering on that, you will most definitely end up hurting her. And I'd kick your ass for that." He chuckled uneasily, flinching slightly at the pain.

My burner phone buzzed. I looked at the text message Bella had sent me.

Booked our room. Taking a shower, then hitting the buffet. Are you guys about to murder each other?

I just typed back;

We're right behind you.

I looked at Harry, then his wound.

"Lets get you inside so that we can get that cleaned up and patch it up properly." I told him as I moved to help him out of the car.

He gripped my arm.

"I mean it, Jason. You need to be gone by tomorrow. It's okay if you don't say goodbye. I'll explain everything to Bella."

"I don't want to talk about leaving you right now" I told him gesturing to his wound.
He tried to shrug it off.

"It's just a scratch."

I rolled my eyes and was about to say something but he interrupted me.

"I know you don't like to use this word but you're scared and you know it. Scared of actually being alone with Kate. Scared of walking away from your parents and the life you've always known... but believe me when I say... sometimes you just have to walk away from the things that are constantly causing you pain."

I fought the urge to let a tear escape my eye.

He was right. This was all flipping scary. But how much I wanted to be with Kate and to keep her safe was worth over coming all the fear in the world.

"When did you get so wise?" I spoke with a chuckle.

He shrugged and smiled at me. "I always have been. You just refused to acknowledge it."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, wise guy? Tell me this. Did you know Santiago and your mum were screwing?"

Harry gave me a smug look in return.

"Oh please, I figured it out when I was twelve."