Caden's POV

"You think I wrote that?" Blake seemed to be frowning at me like I had personally thrown his ass under a bus. Which I would. I really really would, the first chance I get. "You think I would want to have a go at you while I'm behind the fucking bars?"

"Yeah," I said. "Wouldn't you?"

He laughed and I curled my right hand into a fist, wanting to hurt him, feel his lip splitting under the punch that I'll be throwing at his face.

"Well, I would." He replied. And that bastard would've shrugged if he wasn't still tied up under those ropes. "But at the same time, brother, I think that you may have mistaken me for someone who gives a shit about your life. I don't. I never did."

I sat down across from him, placing my forearms on my pulled-up knees. The same spot, I realised a bit belatedly, where I'd found Skylar just days ago. Days ago. Bloody fucking days.

"Fuck." I gritted out and then glared at Blake. "You think I don't know what shit you've been pulling behind those same bars, just so you could somehow get your hands on that metal disk?"

Nothing made sense. I hadn't planned on keeping Blake here for weeks. I'd only wanted answers that he wasn't willing to give. Being a stubborn fuck all over again and ruining things.

God, when would I stop ruining things?

Blake rolled his eyes, wrists experimentally rolling under the ropes as if he was still hoping they'd loosen by themselves.

"I do still want my hands on that metal disk." He said. "Gee, you got me there. But, this sure as fuck wasn't me so can you open these damned ropes and let me breathe?"

"I can see you're breathing just fine."

He tugged on the ropes and it was rather satisfying--the anger. "I don't understand the point of kidnapping me!"

"I still can tighten them a little more, Blake." I leaned a little forward, gesturing at his rather filthy state. "Make breathing a little harder, if that's what you prefer."

He glared, jaw working furiously and I knew, just knew whatever he'd be saying next would piss me the fuck off.

"It's sad, isn't it?" He sneered. "I can count at least seven people that left you, just because of how messed up your life is. Did Skylar finally finish things off with you too?"

I dragged a hand down my face, slowly breathing in. This wasn't it, I told myself. He just wanted me to stand up and fight. I knew Blake. Sometimes I knew him more than the bastard knew himself.

"How many more people before you learn, Caden?" He hissed. "How many more before you realise that your sorry excuse of a father ruined any chance of you having a decent life?"

"He was your father too." I shrugged.

He ignored me but I could see the way he clenched his fists. "Don't you get nightmares, thinking of all those times someone got shot right in between their eyes just because they made a mistake of knowing you?"

I would've laughed if I wasn't so tired. Exhausted. It has been hours, hours since I'd been wasting my time here, watching Blake twisting his way around my words just to rile me up. Not giving me the fucking answers I needed.

Nightmares, I thought. Why were we talking about nightmares?

"I do, and I can tell you all about them when you are behind the bars again," I said. "Does that make a fair deal?"

"You sickfuck--"

"Cut it out, Blake." I interrupted him. "Just tell me what you know about the paper I showed you and I'll let you go."

He went silent. Dead silent.

"Blake." I urged, feeling my patience wearing thin.

He shifted a little in the chair. "What if it's Skylar next?" His voice had lowered to a deadly whisper. "What if when you see her the next time, you find her dead with her brains blown out. Everywhere. What if--"

It wasn't like I waited for a second to think twice. I didn't. I didn't even pay much attention to what I was doing, just felt it--the bone-deep anger--and then I was there, gripping the back of his head by the hair, giving a harsh tug so he'd see me and the anger I felt, and pressed the sharp edge of a knife right there to his throat.

"You say one more word about her, Blake, and I promise," I seethed, "I fucking promise that'll be the last word you ever say."

I watched him swallow as he held himself deadly still, before huffing out a short laugh.

"Yeah. Fine." He said. "Back off."

"I don't take orders." I pressed the knife a little closer and he glared.

"I didn't send you that letter." He said. Finally speaking something that mattered. "The one you just showed me."

"Then who did?" I demanded.

"How the fuck am I supposed to know?" He growled. "You think I haven't been receiving them too? Folded papers and secret messages that always seem to be threatening me, one way or another?"

I calmly pulled the knife away. "In the prison?"

"Of course, in the prison!" He exclaimed. "It wasn't just one person. Plenty of them. We've had enemies for years. Enemies of your fucking father who seem to love the idea of his stepson being chained behind bars."

I waved him off. "What did the letters say? The ones that you got?"

Blake huffed angrily, eyes scanning around the room like he'd been doing for the past few days. Looking for a way out. Planning for a way out. I wish I was polite enough to tell him that there wasn't any. Quite literally.

"Your sister is alive." He spat out. "That's what it said. The first letter. And the fifth. And the seventh."

I frowned. "Rena."

"Well, yes. I don't fucking remember having any other sisters." He retorted.

I turned away and ran a hand up my face, thinking, thinking.

Then I faced Blake again.

"And you paid it no attention," I said.

"Yeah." He was back at trying to loosen the ropes. "You'd be surprised but prison is kind of a nice place. Just have to know the right people and the right corners. I was pretty safe in there."

"While your sister's fucking alive!"

He gave me a look. "That's not possible. You know that. I know it too. Why are you wasting your time on stuff that'll get you nowhere, brother?"

I started pacing, clenching and unclenching my fists, thinking.

"Look, I know we've had some mishaps in the beginning." Blake started. "But if you just loosen these godforsaken ropes and let me go, I might even buy you a ticket or two to a grand vacation."

There was someone out there, I thought. Someone who knew stuff. Dad's enemies. Which enemy?

"You seem like you need it." He added. "Isn't that very gracious of me, considering you've kept me here in this dungeon for weeks?"

Rena died in the fire. She'd died in the fire. But what if she hadn't? What if I've been onto all kinds of useless stuff when I could've been--

"There's someone out there who wants something from us," I spoke up, then pointed the knife in my hand at him. "Both of us."

Blake scoffed. "Might be the metal disk. How about you go over to Skylars', apologise for being an asshole, and somehow convince her to hand it back over to you? To me?"

I furrowed my brows, and I couldn't, for the life of me, understand why I was still here and talking to him.

"I was thinking of letting you go," I said, then headed for the only exit behind Blake, a heavily locked door hidden in the darkness. "But on second thought, I think I'll only let you out once I figure this shit out."

I could hear Blake's coherent curses being directed at me.

"Unless you rot out here first." I shrugged and left.

•••••

Stuffing my hands in my jacket pockets, I leaned against the motorcycle, tipping my head up to look at the big, full moon.

Nighttime. Pitch dark. It was cold out here.

My gaze drifted over to the tall apartment building ahead of me. At one of the windows in particular. Skylar's.

Wouldn't it have been easier if she was in there, asleep and out of reach? No, I thought. That was just me making excuses. I was here now and I needed her back. I wasn't going to leave. I hadn't, even when her apartment door was locked, even when I could see from down here how dark and empty her room seemed.

Where was she?

Scraping the dirty old pavement with the bottom of my boot, I heaved a sigh and straightened up, wanting to pace but not wanting to at the same time.

God, I needed her. Sky. My Skylar. Because I can't, I tried but I couldn't escape this. All of this. And fuck it if I'd end up pulling her between all of this mess. At least she'd be here.

At least there will be little bits of normalcy in my life again. Normal. Something my life was hell-bent on convincing me that I couldn't be.

But she was. Real. Normal. A breath of fresh air. And I hadn't ever been more aware of it than I was at this moment. I needed it. I would've long ago gone insane if she had chosen not to bother with me. Give me all those bloody chances that I kept wasting. Ruining. Fucking up.

I can count at least seven people that left you, just because of how messed up your life is.

"Fuck." I whispered into the dark night. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

Did Skylar finish things off with you too?

"No." I exhaled, wanting to wipe off Blake's smug voice from my head.

But doesn't she deserve better? Another voice, one that still seemed so fucking similar to Blake's, spoke in my head. Better than my shit life? Better than all the things I hide and keep hiding because I can't say them out loud?

Because they make me feel like a sick monster?

Sliding my hands out of my pockets, I took out my phone and switched it on, scrolling through my contacts. All until I found her name. Skylar.

"Explain," I told myself. "Tell her why." Tell her the truth.

There are things that you need, I remembered those words. I remembered them all too well. And then there are things that you want.

Dad's words. That foolish bastard.

Those are the things you need to earn, my boy. Because those are the ones that matter the most.

I stared down at my phone, gritting my teeth. And those are also the ones you're scared to lose. Wouldn't you know all about it, Dad?

Before I could've pressed Skylar's name on the screen, I heard voices along the corner of the apartment building. Near the entrance. Instinctively, I looked up from my phone and saw three silhouettes making their way inside. I straightened up, pocketing back my phone.

Skylar was one of them.

And Kyle, I frowned when I noticed. With his arm around her waist. 

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everytime i write caden and blake together you all should know it's just me fantasizing about fighting with my own siblings.