My head feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton, and my throat is stupidly dry. God, that was theworstnightmare. I hate it when I have bad dreams. They make me feel all panicked and weepy when I wake up. My vision slowly comes into focus, and I see my brother slouched back in an uncomfortable-looking chair, napping with his mouth wide open, catching flies, as our dad would say. The fuck is he doing here?
“Isaac?”
His head lifts as he startles out of sleep. He reaches forward to gently pat my arm. “How’s it going there, bud?” His scratchy voice is thick with affection, and it’s not like him to be so tender. Our relationship is more the rough-housing type.
“Where are we?” I glance around at what is surely a hospital room. My memories come flooding back in a deluge of what the fuck happened? And I realize it wasn’t a nightmare at all. Panic claws at my chest as I try to sit up in bed. “Where’s Cassius?”
“Hey there, take it easy, champ. He’s at the police station sorting this mess out. There’s a lawyer outside. He wants to talk to you when your head clears up a bit.”
“A lawyer? What’s his name?”
“Dunno. He’s an Asian-looking guy. Says Cassius sent him.”
“He did?” I ask with a wobble in my voice. One wrong move and all this will come tumbling down. I lift my hand to touch the bandages covering my face. I’m numb underneath. Then I remember what Cassius said about having to make it look convincing.
Fuck, does this mean I’m ugly now?
“Isaac, what happened?” I ask, hoping I’m wrong and I haven’t been mutilated.
“That maniac sliced up your face,” he says soberly. “Good fucking riddance.”
“He… what?” I’m not shocked by the news, but my terror is real.
“Don’t worry, bud. The doctor did a great job. Says you’ll barely have a scar.”
“How bad is it? Did you see it? Or the doctor?”
“Nah, but that’s what the nurse said. And you can trust nurses.” He glances around the room suspiciously. “At least more than the doctors.”
I’ll probably never land another pretty boy role for as long as I live, and that was my best hand.
“How’d you get here so fast?” I ask, not wanting to dwell on my ruined hopes and dreams.
“Cassius told me there’d been an emergency and to come to the airport. There was a ticket waiting for me at check-in and a driver when I landed.” Isaac shakes his head. “I’m so sorry, bud. That guy gave off major creeper vibes. What anasshole.I should have handled him myself while I was here. Lucky your man came to your rescue when he did. Who knows what that psycho might have done?”
“And is Elliot, um?” I ask tentatively. Isaac nods. I killed him. IkilledElliot. It was an accident but still… I’m definitely going to hell for this, or wherever murderers go when they die. But hopefully not to prison. My stomach is way too sensitive for that. “Why’d he cut me?” I ask Isaac, feigning ignorance to save both Cassius and my asses from getting gang-raped, repeatedly.
“Who knows? He was a crazy-ass sonuvabitch.”
“Does Dad know what happened?”
Isaac’s eyes veer away from my face, which tells me whatever my dad had to say about it, it wasn’t good.
“He thinks I deserve it?” I ask weakly.
“Fuck Dad, bro. He’s as backwards as they get. No one deserves to have their face slashed, especially not you.”
Tears burn at the backs of my eyes when a smart-looking man in a slick three-piece suit taps lightly on the open door and strolls into the room. I’d put him in his mid-thirties except that his shiny black hair has streaks of gray at the temple. That and his designer glasses give him a look of elder authority. This must be Cassius’s lawyer. My brother stands to greet him, then offers him his seat.
“Good evening, Adam,” the man says, holding out his manicured hand to shake. “I’m Len Takeda from Lachlan, Takeda, and Howe. How are you feeling?”
“Not great,” I say with a pathetic waver in my voice.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Where’s Cassius? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” the man says with a warm smile. “I just spoke with him down at the police station. He’s resting comfortably until I return. He wanted me to be here when the police arrive to question you, as your support person and your advocate.”
