My brothers weren’t happy that they’d handled the majority of the cleanup but it got done. We ended up mailing the fingers Cashlynn chopped off to his dad then burning the body in the furnace in the back of the barn.
Now that we were home, Cashlynn went to her room while I went down the hall into my game room. Just like I expected, Carson was here. I noticed he spent most of his time in here or on his computer. We had yet to have a real conversation, but after learning what I had, I wanted to touch bases with him.
I stepped in the room and closed the door behind me. Carson was playing the latest 2K game. He was sitting in one of the beanbag chairs. When he noticed he wasn’t alone, I noticed his body tensed. I went to the TV stand that held the controllers and picked one up.
“Let’s run a game.” Video games weren’t my specialty but Cashlynn had bought Carson a bunch of games for my system when she went crazy spending to “punish me”. The large, eighty-inch TV was set up on one side of the room, while the other had a foosball table, air hockey table, and a couple of arcade games.
He side eyed me with hesitancy on his face, but didn’t protest. I turned the controller on and waited for him to get the game set up.
We selected our teams and the game started.
At first we didn’t speak. I didn’t know what I was doing, but Carson was a pro, easily scoring and taking the ball when my team had it.
I finally spoke. “Your sister told me why you guys were on the run.” I noticed him flinch and blink hard a couple times, but he stayed quiet. He didn’t talk much, unless it was to his sister. I paused the game for a second then turned to face him. “I want you to know you don’t have to worry about Maddox anymore. He’s been handled.”
At first Carson didn’t say anything. He twisted his body and stared at me. It was comical how much he looked like his sister when he had an emotionless expression on his face. He broke eye contact and looked down at the ground.
“You killed him?” he finally asked.
I smirked. Carson might be quiet and introverted but he wasn’t dumb. He knew what went on around him. In a lot of ways, he reminded me of Emmet; he just lacked confidence.
“Nah, your sister did.” He snapped his head up and his eyes lit up. How much he looked up to his sister was clear.
When he didn’t speak again, I went to start the game but his voice stopped me. “Cashlynn is always protecting me. It’s because of me so much bad stuff happens to us.” He laid the controller on his lap. I didn’t speak, not wanting him to stop talking. “I’m too weak to protect myself. My parents knew it and Maddox knew it. I hate it.” He clenched his hands into fists. Carson lifted his head and looked me in the eye. “I don’t want to be weak anymore,” he voiced tightly.
“Then stop being weak,” I commented. He looked at me confused. “Carson, in this world you have to demand respect to get respect. If people know they can fuck with you, then they will.”
“My parents told me I was too weak to be in the family business and they wanted to—” He snapped his mouth shut and shifted his eyes away. My brows furrowed. Curiosity filled me at what he was about to say. “And Maddox told me I was a pussy so he was gonna treat me like one.” His lips pressed into a straight line and hands clenched again.
“So what are you telling me this for, Carson? Tell me what you want.”
“I want you to teach me to be tough. I want you to train me so no one ever picks on me again. I don’t want to keep having my sister defend me. Cashlynn is so strong and she does everything for me, but I’m her brother. I should be the tough one standing up for her.”
I didn’t point out that he was years younger than Cashlynn, and that regardless, if I taught him anything, his sister would never stop defending him.
“A’right.” I nodded. “You want to be toughened up. We can do that.”
His eyes lit up. “Really?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, why not. We’ll teach you some self-defense, get you out to the shooting range. It’s not hard.”
“Thanks.”
A silent understanding passed between us. We turned to start the game again, but Carson paused it again.
“Nazai, I think my sister really likes you,” he expressed. “She’s never had anyone to look out for her and have her back before. I think it’s different with you.”
He didn’t wait for me to comment back before he started the game again. I smirked and faced the TV. I too noticed the difference slowly happening in Cashlynn from when I first met her until now. She was still a hard ass and guarded, but each day I was around, it seemed that guard slowly lowered.
CHAPTER 20
CASHLYNN
Isat on the couch, sipping my apple juice, scrolling through The Shadow of Silver Stone latest blog post when my name was called, gaining my attention.
Confusion hit me and my face balled up seeing my brother dressed and standing next to Nazai.
“What’s going on here?” I asked, bouncing my eyes between the two. Both were dressed in dress pants and short-sleeved button ups.
