"Shut up, all of you!" Macy yelled.
"Sorry, this whole thing started with me making fun of how Eli acts when he's talking to Javier. His voice gets high-pitched, and he talks like a little baby." he taunted.
"No, I don't." He was lying, I didnottalk to Javi in a baby voice. "You're just upset that I've found someone who makes living with you a little less shitty. Sorry that you don't have someone that can put up with your anger issues."
"You think he's going to stay when he sees all of the crap you got in your life?" Easton laughed incredulously. "Wait till he gets a real taste of the crazy. He won't come back."
My fists clenched by my sides. "He's already seen some and he's stayed. You don't know anything about him, but I do. All he's done is prove to me that he cares, unlike you."
"Keep believing that and when he eventually turns on you, you'll be in shambles," he spat. "That man doesn't care, baby bro. He thinks he does right now but give it time."
"I'm walking away." And I tried, but he put his hand on my chest to keep me in place. I felt the heat rise inside of me at his refusal to let me pass.
"Actually, I can see why you two work out. You both think that you're better than everyone else just because you're smart. News flash: being smart does not make you important. You are massively annoying and Javier's so damn cocky that it pisses me off. He acts like—”
Easton finally shut the hell up when I swung at him.
For the first time in my eighteen years of living on the planet, I punched my brother square in the jaw.
My fist came into contact with his jaw, and his face whipped to the right at the forceful impact. Easton’s right hand shot upto hold the hurt area as his jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe I dared to hit him.
There were lots of feelings coursing through my veins. Anger, adrenaline, rebellion, fear, it was all terribly overwhelming. I usually never fought back. Sometimes I’d speak up, but I would usually take the insults and threats and move on with life. I couldn't this time, though. He talked badly about my Javi, and no one would speak ill about him if I had anything to say about it.
I felt proud of myself after the initial blow. I heard sharp gasps from my sister and aunt because they too never thought I would have the guts to throw my fist in his face. It felt empowering to see that I could stand up to the bully that was my brother if I truly wanted to.
Though, in just a few short seconds Easton showed me why I tended to forgive and forget in the first place.
When the initial shock wore off a wave a fury ran through his eyes. Before I could comprehend what was happening, he was lunging forward and swinging right at my head with full force. Damn, did it hurt. No doubt I would have a killer headache after this.
I stumbled backward but still managed to keep my balance. I wanted to retreat and avoid the pain I knew was coming, but I started it, and I was not going to be a coward and back down. When he swung again, I managed to dodge it and throw my own punch that made contact with his arm. Proud of myself for hitting himtwice, I raised my arms to brace myself for his punch to my face. Of course that wasn't where his fist went.
It was a smart move on his part to send his punch flying to my gut. Getting punched in the stomach sends anyone crumbling to the ground in an instant and I was no exception. The wind was knocked out of me brutally. I hunched over and clutched my stomach, my knees buckling to the ground. I wasn’tlooking at his face, but I could feel his taunting presence linger over me.
Not wanting to seem pathetic, I tried to stand back up. Easton barely tapped my shoulder to send me right back to the ground with a whimper. His fists were clenched by his sides as he seethed with anger, but he didn't touch me again.
He began to pace around me. "Don't be mad at me, Emerson!Hehitme, not the other way around."
Emerson was in clear distress, battling between wanting to help and keeping her distance. She chose distance, most likely not wanting to get hit by her brother because anyone that was in his way when he was angry got what they got. If she got in the crossfire, then that was on her.
Actually, scratch that. That would be true if it was anyone else, but not her. Easton would freak out if he accidentally hit his sister.
Now that the chaos had come to a stop she was kneeling by my side. She side-eyed Easton as she inspected me to see exactly how much damage was done. It wasn’t like he beat me up, he just hit me a couple of times, but my sister was worried.
"I could be beating the living hell out of you right now, but I'm not going to!" Easton yelled furiously. "I don't want to hurt you, Elias. It doesn't make me happy to hurt you."
"I can't tell."
His eyes were practically bulging out of his head. "Now there's going to be a bruise on my chin and it's your fault. But because I'm genuinely the best brother in the world, I'm going to let you run away."
It was quiet as he waited for me to stand up. Macy was watching intuitively like we were in a damn reality TV show. Emerson was being very compassionate, and it felt odd to me. Her loyalty to Easton was strong so to see her keep close to me was unusual.
“When you make it to wherever you're going, text me,” she whispered as she helped me up by my arm. “We have no clue how the weed is going to hit you, and I want to make sure you stay alive.”
“How kind of you,” I grumbled.
Easton flicked his wrists to urge me to move along. He was very adamant about me leaving and I believed it was because he was trying to restrain himself. My brother had serious anger issues.
I was over it. I was done entertaining his witty remarks and bad humor and giving him the time of day. If I would have continued to ignore him, let him push me around a bit but show no emotion, he would have left me alone and my head wouldn't be pounding right now. I always gave into what he wanted and that was what made the situation worse.
