“You trying to kill yourself, baby brother? Huh?” He grinned. “Do you think I’ll let you go that easily? I promise, even in death, I’ll still find a way to get to you.”
“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Shiloh heard himself ask.
“Where’s the fun in that? Besides, I made a promise to our mother. Right before she died, I promised her that I’d take her weakness out on you and Malachi. If you’re going to be mad at anyone, be mad at her. She’s the one who bailed and left you guys holding the bag. It’s a shame, really. If she was still here, maybe we’d be friends, you and I. Maybe the three of us could have held a united front—tortured our mother together, like real brothers. But I guess we’ll never know.”
“You’re fucking insane,” Shiloh whispered, head lolling on his shoulders.
“Now you’re just being hurtful,” Micah quipped mockingly. “I do so much for you. Do you not have a roof over your head? Food? Nice clothes? You’re so selfish, Shiloh. You think you’re entitled to everything?”
Shiloh didn’t have it in him to fight, but that clearly wasn’t good enough for Micah. He slapped Shiloh again, but it barely registered; the frigid water had inadvertently numbed his skin. There was something weirdly funny about that. He couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face or the laughter that bubbled out without his permission.
Usually, this would have sent Micah into a blind rage, but he was clearly feeling benevolent today. He sat down right under the spray, pulling Shiloh forward with a palm around the back of his neck. “Do you even realize how fucking crazyyouare? Maybe I should tell you. Malachi has coddled you too much. I don’t think it's good for you. You deserve to know just how dangerous you are.”
Shiloh schooled his features into something like concern before it slipped away and his laughter took over once more. “If I was truly dangerous, you would have killed me.”
Micah gave him a look that was as close to sincere as Shiloh had ever seen, so much so it stole the near manic giggles falling from his bruised lips. “See, that’s just not true. If I could have killed you or Mal, I would have by now. But I did the next best thing. I cast you in the role of victim instead of villain.”
When the silence stretched between them, Shiloh thunked his head against the tiles. “Are you waiting for a thank you?”
“No, I didn’t do it to be thanked. I did it to protect you.”
Shiloh scoffed. “Oh, you’re so benevolent.”
Micah reached back and wrenched the handle, turning off the water, but made no move to leave. “Consider this your coming to Jesus moment, Shi. Listen carefully. If it wasn’t for my vigilance, my protection,youwould have been in prison long before Malachi.”
Shiloh’s mind reeled. None of this was real. Micah was just trying to get in his head, play more mind games with him, creating a false narrative to lure Shiloh back into blind obedience. “Whatever you say.”
The empathy bleeding from his psychotic brother’s eyes almost made it believable, almost made it seem real. But psychopaths had no empathy. Micah was just an empty vessel, a human birthed into the world minus a soul. A small oversight on someone’s part, surely, but they all suffered the consequences.
“Whatever I say? I say you’re an ungrateful little shit. You sit on your high horse looking down on me…on Mal, even…because we embrace our crazy. We acknowledge how fucked up our desires truly are. But you’re only up there because that’s where we put you. If you knew…if you truly knew…if you couldjust…remember how alike we really are,”—he drove his pointer finger into Shiloh’s temple—“you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself.”
“Are we done?” Shiloh asked, head pounding, heart racing, hating how much he believed Micah.
It was all bullshit. Micah was a master manipulator. This was what he did. But something…something about his words rang true in a way Shiloh couldn’t quite put his finger on. It made his skin crawl. Or maybe Micah had just gotten in his head…again.
“No, we’re not done,” Micah said. When Shiloh sighed, his gaze sliding towards the door, Micah gripped him by his chin, yanking his head until their eyes met once more. “I’m trying to be patient with you. I really am. I don’t think you understand how much I hold back. How hard it is for me to not beat you until your face caves in.”
“Gee, thanks,” Shiloh said, words muffled with the intensity of Micah’s fingers digging into his jaw.
Pain exploded in the back of his head as Micah slammed him into the tile. “Stop trying to antagonize me.”
Right. It was Shiloh who was truly at fault in their current scenario. Still, Shiloh heard himself say, “Sorry.”
Micah’s fingers were no longer pinching his face but massaging it. “I know you can’t help yourself. That’s why you have me here to remind you. To take care of you.”
Shiloh’s vision doubled, partially from being shoved into the tiles, but most likely from whatever he’d swallowed the night before. “Thank you,” he said, words a bit slurred.
“That’s better,” Micah said, beaming at Shiloh with a smile that didn’t reach his reptilian eyes. “Today, you’re going to go back to your new boyfriend and play house. Got it? He needs to trust you, he needs to want to introduce you to his friends, his family, his boss.”
Shiloh closed his eyes. “I doubt he’ll want to see me. I…snuck out on him last night. He didn’t want me to leave. He said it was too dangerous.”
“Even better. You’ll go back, apologize in whatever way you have to, and tell him you changed your mind, that you want to stay with him. That you’re afraid of your big, bad brother and you need him to protect you. His type eats that shit up. Then you’ll just report your findings.”
“I-I don’t get what I’m looking for.”
“You’re looking for a way for me to get rid of Jericho that doesn’t involve me killing him. Nobody gives a fuck about some vigilante mechanic and his little group of lost boys, unless of course that mechanic is married to a billionaire’s son. I can’t afford the entire Mulvaney family gunning for me. I’m good, but I’m not that good.”
“What kind of thing? I don’t understand. Why would someone who wants to punish bad people have anything to hide?” Shiloh asked, desperately wishing for caffeine and something in his stomach.
