Chapter 23: Chapter 23

I stared into the deep depths of those startling blue eyes, fully aware that he was stepping closer.

Unconsciously, I got off my bike and leaned on it, trying to calm myself while taking the helmet off.

He left a huge impression on me from the last time that I saw him. Trust me when I say it was not the good kind.

“What are you doing here, Case?” He asked me softly and without realizing it, anger was bubbling up in me and I felt my insides boil with fury.

“What am I doing here is none of your business. What are you doing here?” I snapped. I didn’t know why I was so enraged but I didn’t have it in me to care.

He shook his head. “You’re standing on dangerous grounds right now, Case. Are you mad? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” He sneered at me and I regarded his taunt with a scowl. He’s being irrational right now. He knows that I can kick ass.

“What are you implying here, Dom?” I seethed. No one insults my fighting skills and gets away with it. It enrages me almost as much as when Bryant decided it was funny to take a scoop of my ice cream from the tub itself in front of me.

But this time it was different. Dom’s eyes flashed with something strange as he looked past me. His eyes now focused on the person breathing down my neck.

My muscles tensed when I felt a hot breath fanning the back of my neck.

“Ah, Casey... What a pleasant surprise.” I squeezed my eyes shut. You have got to be shitting me. Who the fuck is it this time, a demon clown?

I took a step forward, towards Dom. After several steps away, I spun around and faced what I hope was a man that I have never met before.

“Do I know you?” I tried keeping my voice firm but all I got in return was a crooked smile. I furrowed my eyebrows.

Please don’t be some psycho dude who used to be my friend and is reappearing to take vengeance on me. I prayed silently and as if God was listening, he granted me my wish; The dude standing before me rewarded me with a slow shake of his head, his dark brown locks that was gelled up to the side didn’t waver.

I breathed a sigh of relief through my nose, oh thank my lucky stars.

“No but I know you.”

The sigh of relief was cut short as I tensed up once again, everything in me screaming for me to beat this guy to pulp.

I eyed him warily before asking him the sentence that caused a wry smile to be etched on his annoying face, showing the side dimples he had.

“I knew Bryant. I was friends with him once upon a time,” he sighed, as if reliving the memory once more and I shuddered. The dude was giving me the creeps.

“He told me a few things about you, Casey; and I was, to say the least, intrigued. If you are anything like the girl he described you to be, you’re a very interesting specimen, now aren’t you.”

I snorted at him. If this is what flirting has been reduced to, I’ll pass.

“You tell me,” I muttered briskly but was cut short by him, apparently not done with his speech and moment of truth.

“Bryant mentioned having a sister and after a year of friendship with him blabbering about how amazing his baby sister is, the fascination gets rather, influential.”

I shivered. The dude’s a pedophile. I don’t care who you are, don’t even dare pull out the ‘technically, he’s not 10 years older than you’ shit on me.

He’s a pedophile. End of discussion.

Of course, the things he was saying didn’t make sense.

Why would Bryant hide something like this from me? Why have I never met the guy?

“Don’t look so trusting, now, Casey.”

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t know which was more annoying; his heavy sarcasm or the fact that he was calling me Casey.

“It’s Cassandra. Get that through your pea-sized brain!” I snapped at him.

“Whatever. You can ask Dom here. He knows everything about it.”

I was stunned into silence.

During our moment of bickering with each other, I momentarily forgot that my about-to-be-ex-best friend was standing a few feet away. I pivoted on my heel to face Dom. I was sure betrayal was plainly written on my face.

I was hoping that I’ll see something, anything that will fight against that statement but was faced by guilt instead. I was desperate by then.

I knew you shouldn’t turn your back to the enemy; it was one of the most basic rules of street fighting. You can’t know when they’ll start stabbing you from behind but right now, I didn’t know who my enemy and who my friend was.

‘Cause Dom’s sure as hell isn’t a friend. He’s not even going to defend himself. He’s fucking pathetic.

“What the fuck is he talking about Dom?” I whispered, my was voice was being carried away by the wind but I knew he heard me.

“Bryant didn’t want me to tell you, Case, I’m sorry. He was trying to protect you. People were going after him and he thought that this was going to be the best way to protect you.” Dom whispered.

I was beyond the point of listening to his reasons. Fuck him.

I marched up to him, muttering curses and unlady-like shits elderlies would disapprove of. If Bryant was here right now, he would’ve cleansed my mouth with holy soap.

“What in the actual fuck?” I muttered. I looked at Dom in disbelief and betrayal.

“What in the actual fuck?” I repeated once more, just so that everything would sink in.

Nope, nothing sank; just a whole bucket of shitload.

I turned to face the nameless dude I have yet to punch. He was standing there, looking amused of the situation.

“Who are you?” I asked him softly but with an edge in my tone.

“Quentin Yelton, head of the gang your brother joined in.”

I didn’t know if he did that on purpose but I’m pretty sure he did. He wanted to rub salt into the wound that’s slowly but surely opening.

“Bryant would never do that. He’s a good kid, top grades, intelligent, a fucking genius even! Why the fuck would he do such a thing? Throwing away his whole life to some- some- some dickhead?!” I was raising my voice and insulting the head of a possibly dangerous gang. Sue me.

A muscle in Quentin’s jaw ticked and I felt like I was about to shit bricks but I was too stubborn to cave in to the fear. “Well, this dickhead has been protecting you.”

I shook my head, deep in denial.

“No way in hell,” I snapped stubbornly at him. “Why would Bryant-”

“Bryant wouldn’t do it because ‘YOLO’ but he would if it concerns where his sister’s wellbeing and safety lies.” Dom mumbled sarcastically but I caught each and every word.

Okay, well when he put it like that, that did sound like Bryant. Trying to do something heroic and ending up dead because of it.

Speaking of death...

“Was it really an accident?” The second it slipped out of my mouth, Quentin’s eyes grew cold. A shadow passed his expression.

“No,” he admitted blatantly and I staggered a few small steps back. I didn’t know what I was expecting but-

“Who?” I asked in a broken voice, I can’t be bothered to nurture my ego by now.

“Me.” Quentin said simply, like he was telling me how lovely the weather is instead of telling me that he basically murdered my brother.

No, even worse. He was too much of a cocky prick to even do it. He hired some motherfucking bastard to do it.

The reality of that statement hadn’t fully sunk in so I remained somewhat calm while he took a few steps forward.

“Why?” I asked once more.

“Why?” A scoff came from my right and I turned to the source, “because Bryant was an idiotic, cocky son of a bitch.”

This time, it was Dom and I looked at him in pure disbelief. Bryant was his best friend. He took Dom under his wing. He raised Dom and sat him on his shoulders.

“What?” I sputtered out. My eyes felt like it would pop out any second now.

“He was a prick, Case. He- he- he wouldn’t- you wouldn’t- you won’t understand. He was a fucking cocky asshole that thinks he’s the shit.” Dom stuttered in pure anger and I looked at him in betrayal.

This guy owed Bryant everything. He owed Bryant his life.

I watched him as he paced back and forth, trying to form a coherent sentence to explain to me why he murdered my brother.

Yeah, right. Like that’s possible.

I couldn’t help but agree with my conscience this time. This whole time, all I could do was grieve and mourn and wallow in my own self-pity because I was led to believe that the crash was an accident. I couldn’t blame anyone. Not even the truck driver because he was too, now dead. He supposedly died out of the guilt but I was questioning everything in my life.

How can I be sure that this asshole didn’t kill that low life bastard too?

“Why did you do it? He cared for you as much as he did for me.” I was beyond conflicted and my voice reflecting how wounded I was inside.

“He forbade us to be together. Don’t you remember Case?! He was in the way of what could’ve possibly been the best thing that had happened to us. Couldn’t you see? It was for the best!” His eyes were wide and pleading, begging even for me to understand.

Of course I remembered that day.

When I said Dom and I had a past, it was very complicated. He, apparently, had some weird infatuation on me and I, on the other hand, looked to him as nothing more than a brother.

I told Bryant how uncomfortable I was when Dom confessed his ‘undying love’ for me that day and he promised me that I would never have to go through that again.

Funny enough, he kept his promise and it never happened again. No more mushy confessions and all that shit. Back then, I was too selfish, so content with how it was that I didn’t even bother asking him how he did it.

I was regretting it now.

“Oh sure sweetie, I understand, you killed my brother because you were a psycho. My brother died because of some sick dude had feelings for me and he forbade that psycho, ending up killed because of it. Yep, of course I understand,” I stated, faking any casualty. His eyes lightened up with hope.

“Bitch, please! Catch my sarcasm would you, you ass-butt with a brain of a donkey and a face of a toad! You murdered my brother; as in Bryant; as in the dude who spent his life caring for you like his own brother; as in the guy who TAUGHT YOU EVERY FUCKING SINGLE THING IN YOUR LIFE!” I started soft but then I was just fuelled up by the pure anger and hatred coursing through me towards the guy. I can’t believe I greeted him with a hug.

I felt like an idiot for thinking he was grieving when he left, to think that he was mourning and needed some space. Screw him and his bullshit. He could be the president for all I care, I’d still decapitate his head and shove it up so far up his ass that he wouldn’t be able to crap for a month.

Marching up to Dom, I started yelling at his face while shoving his chest with my pointer finger.

“YOU UNGRATEFUL MOTHERFUCKER!” I tried throwing a punch at him but he was too quick.

“Ah, Casey, Casey, Casey,” he tut, waggling his pointer finger, “you were always the slower one between us.”

I spat at his face and he released my hand to wipe it off in disgust. “And you were always the one without the brains between us,” with that said, I brought my knee up and towards his crotch. “That’s for being a fraud.” Before he could cover his nether areas, I brought my knee up again, hitting it twice in a row.

“That’s for murdering my brother.” I stepped back half a step, letting him tend to his nuts while hunching his shoulders and bending forward.

I took the chance and raised my hand up to his neck, locking my fingers together at the nape of it before bringing my knee up, this time to meet with his face. A sickening crack filled my ears. Music to my ears. Although it was not enough to put the fire out, it was still enough to calm my inner monster.

When I turned to rush towards my bike, Quentin was nowhere to be seen, as if he never stood there in the first place. The only thing that could’ve possibly tipped anyone off of him presence a second ago was the imprint of his shoes on the damp ground.

I have no time to dwell on it because my mind was focused on getting out of there.

So as much as I wanted to stick around and kick Dom in the balls some more, I grabbed my helmet, got on my bike and hightailed it out of there.