Randall
Randall moved out from in front of the door. He wasn't very quick though, too many parts of his body were broken to pretend like it wasn't. He saw his brother standing there and since he hadn’t come to visit, Randall wondered why he was showing his face now.
“So, brother, have you finally been talked into letting Ethan finish me off?”
“You act like this is my fault,” Ben started.
Randall didn’t want to hear it. “While I would have never believed it, I think finishing me off sounds pretty damn good. I cannot stay here any longer. Whatever needs to happen, just needs to happen. I’m tired of these games, Ben. If you ever were my brother, let’s end this.”
Ben agreed and told him that it was time for it to end and that he could leave. Randall had not expected that, and he wanted to know why. He learned months ago that Ben didn’t change his mind or give anything if it wasn’t warranted. There was a reason and Randall had no idea what that reason was. He was suspicious though, knowing that Ben hadn’t done it out of the kindness of his heart.
Ben sighed. “I am telling you that you can go, and you really want to fight me on it?”
Randall agreed that was exactly what he was doing. “I am not trying to fight you, but I want to know what the hell is different to make you change your mind. You kept me locked up in this damn cell for way too long and now all of a sudden you decided that I've been here long enough? Excuse me if I don't believe you. What has happened?” Randall demanded, even though he was not in the position to do so. He still hadn’t learned his lesson apparently.
Ben looked away after a little bit. It was pretty obvious that he had something on his mind. “Things have changed and I am no longer worried about Ethan. Okay? Why can't that just be the answer?”
Randall felt like he was missing something and when he asked what it was, he didn't get an answer, though he likely didn't expect one. “Tell me what the hell is going on!” Randall boomed.
Ben looked like he was going to say something to his little brother, possibly that he needed to show him respect but then he stopped. It was the hesitation that made Randall worried. His brother didn't hesitate, and he didn't feel guilty. The way he was acting made Randall believe that he was both, which was so unlike him, he wanted to know what sort of bad news Ben had that kept him from saying what he wanted to say. Where was the hesitation coming from?
“Just don’t ask questions. I want to get you out of here, Randall. I want you to be free. You need to be gone and free somewhere else. Ethan will be leaving the clan, but let us give it some time.”
Randall nodded his head and then asked the question that he had been dying to ask. “Do you know where Page is?”
Ben said that he didn’t, adding in the word honestly. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew that there was something going on and he was supposed to take advantage of it. He wasn’t supposed to ask questions. He knew where Page was, or he knew something. When pressed, Ben’s face turned red. It always did when he was trying to lie, and he failed miserably at the task.
“What has happened?” Randall asked again, this time with a little more command of his voice.
“I am your Alpha, Randall. Don’t forget your place.”
Randall scoffed loudly and with bitterness that he couldn’t help. “You have locked me up for months on end and gave away the woman I loved. I couldn’t have asked for more from an enemy. I want you to know that.”
Ben was taken aback. “I had to, or he was going to kill you. I told you to leave, but you insisted on staying. I had to pay a lot and give up a lot of pride to keep you safe.”
Randall told him that he didn’t ask for any of it. Sometimes, he wondered if it would have been better if he would have died instead of going on. He felt like a shell of a man. Even now, as his brother was going to release him, Randall didn’t feel like he should go. Where to? If Page wasn’t waiting for him, what was the point?
That thought kept coming back to him and it was hard to focus on much of anything else. Randall asked again everything that Ben knew about Page and waited for the answer.
“Just tell me dammit!” Randall was losing his cool and wondering if he should physically hurt his brother. Would itchange anything? Randall felt like he wouldn’t win though, not as battered as he still was. Ethan had weapons and he hadn’t. It hadn’t worked out in his favor and though he hadn’t fought fairly, Randall had been warned that he wouldn’t.
“Ethan has her,” Ben started to say. He couldn’t hear it and before too long, there was a part of him that really needed something more to happen. He tried his best to hold in his anger, but he called out loudly, unable to hold any of it in. He was so worked up, it was unbelievable. “What?!”
Ben tried to calm him down, but that wasn’t going to happen. Randall was sick to his stomach. The idea of him and her… He couldn’t stand it and he wanted to know every damn detail that had made it happen. He was so worked up he couldn’t think or see straight. Page was gone and to him, the man that had wiped the floor with him. Randall was ill and he actually retched on the floor of the cell. He walked out of the cell now. He had somewhere to go, and he said as much to his brother. “You don’t have to worry about me sticking around here; I have nothing to stay around for. I won’t come back.”
Ben tried to say that it wasn’t what he wanted, but Randall felt like it was. His brother was too into what he had to do because of who he was. Randall didn’t have to worry about what others thought. He had to find Ethan and kill him. That was the only way that he was ever going to be able to live without looking over his shoulder. Randall didn’t want to live without Page, so her being with him really was a slap in the face. It felt like everything he had done was for nothing.
“Have you seen her?”
Ben said that he hadn’t, and Randall just waved him off. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I will have her back with me soon enough,” he told him.
Ben looked alarmed. “You are going to get killed if you go after Ethan again. Have you not learned your damn lesson?”
Randall wasn’t going to say that he had one way or another. Both of them had a lot to say to each other, but Randall didn’t want to hear it. He felt betrayed and like his own brother didn’t have any faith. That was hard to realize, even though Randall always thought of his brother as the role model he wanted to be. Now though, he just saw how cold and calculating everything had become. His brother wasn’t worried about him, only his reputation. Why hadn’t he seen it sooner?
“Don’t worry about me, brother. You don’t have to ever again. I know that you thought of yourself as our guardian, and you were. You helped take care of us all, but now it is time to move on.”
Ben tried to stop the words that were coming from Randall, but he now saw that he was only going to be controlled by Ben and he couldn’t let it stand. There was seriously something wrong with how it all went down. His own brother had locked him up and their relationship was never going to be the same again. It was likely never going to be a relationship again. Randall wasn’t going to forgive; he wasn’t going to be able to. Because of Ben, Page had fallen into the arms of Ethan. How could he ever forgive that?
