Page 59 of Eternal Pieces
“Wait!”
Aaron stops mid-swing and looks at me.
“Break me instead,” I quickly say, holding my hands out in front of me. “I’m opening up my own garage, it’s my life’s dream to work on cars with these hands. But I’m telling you to break them. Leave Max alone, and we’ll leave for good, just like you said to Violet.”
Aaron frowns. He doesn’t believe me.
I move to the table and lay my hands flat on the wood. “Just fucking do it already! It can be payback for getting James sent down. You can have your revenge, and we’ll stay out of your way after this.”
“Mad,” Max warns me to stop. His eyes lock with mine. Fear and pain flickering in and out of them.
Trust me, I try to tell him through that unspoken bond that’s always been between us.
Aaron steps to my side and hovers the bat over my hands. “I’d heard about your reputation from James. The fact that you made him lose his balls should have had me believing it, but damn you really are crazy.”
He rolls his shoulders and lifts the bat above his head.
“There’s only one thing that makes me truly crazy,” I tell him with a wide smirk that has me baring my teeth. The bat comes down. I slide my hands out of the way with less than a second to spare. “Violet.”
“Shit!” Aaron hisses. He’s off balance from his swing, so I ram my shoulder into his side and topple him. He knocks into the table, sprawling face-first into it and losing the bat. I grab it, and without thinking, I swing it at his back. His body arches, a howl of pain forced out of him from the sudden impact. I hit him again.
“You really believe my life’s dream is a fucking garage? Sure, I love it, but Violet, she’s my dream. Always has been. Always will be. My love for her is fucking eternal which is why it makes this so easy.”
In the background, I hear a fight. Max and Theodore are at each other’s throats. My brother can handle himself. I’m not letting Aaron get away with this.
I hit him again and again. Vertebrae crumble under the metal. For good measure, I bring the end down on his back and grind it into the bottom of his spine. His legs spasm out before falling limp. He slides off the table into a crumpled mess on the floor, sobbing quiet tears of agony.
“M-my legs. I-I can’t move them—” I swing the bat at his jaw, breaking it and silencing him.
When I turn to help Max, I find he doesn’t need me. He’s a bit roughed up, nothing serious.
Theodore has his hands in the air and his back pressed to the kitchen cabinets, as Max points the bat at his face.
“What are we breaking on this one?” I ask.
“Nothing! Please! I didn’t do anything to her, just went along with Aaron and called her a slut. That’s it, I swear! I didn’t do anything to-to earn t-that.” His terror-filled eyes are on Aaron, who’s sobbing on the ground.
“Where’s your phone?” Max asks coldly.
“There’s a pocket on the inside of the costume.”
“Mad.”
“Oh sure, I’ll be the one to put my hands on sweaty man chest,” I mumble as I reach inside the toga for Theodore’s phone.
Holding it up to his face, I unlock it.
“Check his texts,” Max commands. I don’t mind him taking his anger out on me right now by ordering me around. I get it. It has to go somewhere.
I scroll through Theodore’s texts.
“There’s nothing that’s been sent to Vi. Did you use a burner?” I ask Theodore, and he just looks confused.
“For what?”
I keep scrolling and check through his photos as well.
Holy shit.
