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Chapter Fourteen
Old Wounds
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‘I asked what the fuck happened! Are you all just going to stand there without speaking?!’ Kalevi demanded.
‘I think we all need to take a moment,’ Ben said but it was already too late.
‘I told you he would react this way,’ Eli grumbled.
‘Oh, did you now!’ Kalevi snapped. ‘And how am I supposed to react?’
Eli walked over to the bin and disposed of a bloody tissue that he’d been using for his lip. He threw it in the trash. Unfortunately, this meant seeing inside the trash bin. He paused, staring down and Kalevi knew he’d seen the empty whiskey bottle. He wasn’t going to let it distract him though.
You’ve been drinking?’ Eli snarled.
‘You’ve been fighting?’ Kal barked back.
‘I wasn’t fighting! We were mugged.’
‘You were what?!’ The volume of Kalevi’s shriek made everyone flinch.
‘It’s not a big deal!’
‘Not a big deal! You have a black eye! And why are you hunched over like that?’
‘It’s nothing,’ Eli lied. It was amazing how his brother somehow managed to tower over Eli despite being nearly a foot shorter.
‘Bullshit, it’s nothing! Stand up straight then. Lift your shirt.’
‘Kal, no! For fucks sake, it’s not a big deal.’ Eli had to shove his brother’s grasping hands away.
‘Kalevi, I think this conversation might be a bit more productive if it was had at a lower volume,’ Ben said, trying to interject. Brave man. The cat turned blazing eyes not on him, but on Sarah.
‘And you, what the fuck happened to doing your job? Aren’t you supposed to be keeping him out of trouble, keeping him safe?’
Eli snarled, showing rapidly sharpening teeth. ‘Don’t you yell at her! She did protect me. She wanted to run.’
‘Then why didn’t you?’ Kalevi shouted back. The other shifters in the room looked nervously at one another. This was not going well. Sarah stepped closer to Eli as Vano edged towards Kal.
‘Because you wouldn’t have run away! You would have held your ground and fought!’
‘I only fought because I had to, to protect you!’
‘I don’t need your protection anymore!’ Eli roared.
‘That is enough!’ Sarah’s voice cut through the match like a whip crack. ‘How dare you speak to your brother like that! Sit down. Both of you!’
Kalevi sneered but a large hand came down on his shoulder. ‘You will not run from this conversation little cat. You will sit down.’ Kal tried to shake himself free but Vano’s grip was immovable. Trapped between a rock and hard place, the cat had no choice but to be led over to the lumpy couch. He flopped down on it, seething.
‘I think it’s time you both had a proper, honest conversation. About everything.’ Ben gave Kalevi a hard look.
‘Mind your own business,’ Kalevi hissed.
‘You are our business. Your health, your safety and your family. How do you expect your brother to confide in you when you won’t confide in him?’ Ben asked, his voice annoyingly calm.
‘He’s still a kid…’
‘I’m nearly eighteen! You were already working two jobs every night at my age,’ Ben snapped. His frustration towards his brother was palpable.
‘Because I had to. I didn’t want that life for you, you idiot! You’re supposed to be better, have a better start. Get a better life away from this shit box.’
‘And what, abandon you? How much of a piece of shit do you think I am?!’ Eli retorted, his face red.
‘Language,’ rumbled Vano.
Kalevi was spluttering. ‘That’s not-’
‘Alright, stop. This isn’t getting us anywhere,’ Sarah said, her hands on her hips. ‘Ben, boil the kettle. We need tea. Then, each person is going to get a chance to tell their side of the story. We are going to wait until each person is done. No interrupting.’ The boys were glaring at each other.
Ben sighed and nudged Vano toward the couch. ‘Sit with him,’ he said quietly into his companion’s ear.
‘We will go first,’ Vano rumbled.
‘Oh, will we?’ Kal said waspishly. That large warm hand rested on the back of his neck, rubbing. Kalevi shivered but visibly settled back against the couch, grumpy but detained.
‘Wait, why are you going first? Is this about the drinking?’ Eli asked, eyes flicking to the trash can.
‘To begin with,’ Ben chimed from the kitchen. Kal bit his tongue. This was not how he wanted Eli to find out. Eli met his eyes. He wished he wouldn’t. Seeing his brother staring at him. There was a look on his face that made Kal wanted to scream. Disappointment. Eli was disappointed in him.
‘It….’ Fuck, this was hard. Vano continued to gently rub the back of his neck, his form a giant wall of warmth and support. Kal sighed, feeling suddenly a hundred years old. ‘I got fired.’
Eli blinked. ‘From where? Why?’
‘From the fishmonger. Chester said I turned up late one too many times. The bus didn’t turn up when it was supposed to so I had to wait for the next.’
‘That fucking asshole!’ Eli exploded.
It was Kal’s turn to stare and blink. ‘Huh?’
‘How the hell are you supposed to control the buses? That’s not fair!’ Eli shook his head. ‘Well, screw that guy. We don’t need his shitty money.’
‘You see?’ Vano said softly. Kalevi squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Kal, is that why you slipped?’ Eli still had that look on his face.
‘I never wanted to fail you. I always wanted to give you what I couldn’t have. How could I do that when I couldn’t even keep the lights on?’ Kalevi’s voice choked inside his throat, strangling him. Now that he started, he had to finish. Eli opened his mouth, but Sarah shot him a hard look until he closed it again. Ben came over and handed around several chipped mugs.
‘I didn’t want to tell because I didn’t want you to worry. We didn’t redecorate to clean the place up. We had to throw out the broken furniture.’ He couldn’t look at Eli’s face, so he stared down at the floor instead. ‘Some people broke in. They didn’t take anything, just trashed the place. We figured they were looking for something.’ He waited for the explosion. He wasn’t disappointed.
‘Someone broke in!? What if you’d been home at the time? What if you’d been hurt? How worthless do you think I am?’
Kal’s head snapped up. ‘I don’t think you’re worthless. I just wanted to keep you safe.’
‘By lying to me about people breaking into our home? How does that keep me safe?!’
‘I don’t know. No one ever gave me a rule book on how to parent. I’m sorry.’ Kalevi’s quiet sentence cut through Eli’s tirade.
‘You’re what?’ Eli spluttered. The room had gone very quiet. Kalevi could feel everyone’s eyes on him. He might have leapt up off the couch if not for Vano’s warm hand keeping him grounded.
‘I’m sorry.’
He waited for Eli to start yelling again. He felt cold and slightly empty inside. His own failures were stacked up in front of him like stones. He felt like a rope was tied around his legs and at any moment those stones would be pushed off into the abyss and Kal would get dragged down with them. He couldn’t look at any of them. His hands were shaking. There was nothing else to be said. He closed his eyes and waited for the blade to fall but instead yelped as something large and heavy threw itself on him.
‘You’re a fucking idiot,’ Eli sobbing, hugging his brother with enough force to nearly break him. Kalevi wheezed as his ribs were constricted.
‘Language,’ Vani rumbled again, but moved over to give the brothers more room. Eli laughed wetly, burying his face in Kal’s neck. Kal was limp with shock for a few seconds before he managed to react. He wrapped his arms around his little brother and held on. No one broke them apart. They just stayed, clutching at each other. Kal could hear his brother sniffling and yet the slight prick of claws on the ends of Eli’s fingers but at that the moment he couldn’t have cared less. Everyone else sat politely and drank their tea. At some point, Vano stood and refilled everyone’s cups. Eli and Kal finally eased apart, Kal with a very sore throat and Eli with red eyes.
‘I think it’s only fair that we explained what happened on our end. Then we can come up with up plan on how to act next,’ Sarah said.
‘Right,’ Eli said nervously.
Sarah have him a little encouraging nod. ‘Go on.’
‘Well, we finished studying at the library. It was getting kind of late, so we wanted to grab something to eat. We left the library, but we’d hardly made it to the next street when these two meatheads appeared out of nowhere,’ Eli began.
‘Shifters?’ Ben asked.
Sarah shook her head. ‘No, human.’
Suddenly Eli looked round at Ben. ‘Wait, were the people that broke in shifters?’
‘Yes,’ Kalevi admitted.
‘Wait, wha-’
‘Let’s finish our side of the story first,’ Sarah said gently. Eli huffed but obeyed.
‘Anyway, they said they wanted to talk to me specifically. I had never seen either of them before in my life. They said dad owes their boss money.’
Kalevi cursed quietly. ‘Did they say how much or who their boss was?’
Eli shuffled on the seat, looking slightly embarrassed. ‘No. Mr. Superhero here was a little quick to the punch,’ Sarah said with something like amusement and exasperation in her voice.
‘Sorry,’ Eli grumbled.
Kal snorted. ‘I probably would have punched first too.’
‘Did you report the attack?’ Ben asked Sarah.
She scoffed. ‘Of course I did. I bit one of them for starters. That’s going to leave a mark.’
‘Well, this is a fine mess,’ Ben sighed.
‘It cannot be a coincidence,’ Vani said in his deep voice. ‘An attack here and in the street?’
‘Yes, but why now?’ Kalevi asked. ‘We’ve never moved. Dad’s old buddies stopped showing up years ago. Most of them either took a bullet in some gang related shit or they got arrested themselves.’
‘Maybe it’s someone who’s only just got out of jail?’ Eli guessed. The group looked at him thoughtfully.
‘That’s reasonable…’ Ben said thoughtfully. ‘Do you think the two of you could put your heads together and make a list? Anyone you can think of. Names, descriptions.’
‘That that sounds like a fun way to spend the evening,’ Kalevi said grumpily.
‘Would it help if Vano and I made the beef burgers with all the trimmings?’ Ben purred, bending down into Kal’s personal space.
‘I suppose,’ Kal muttered, breathing in the warm scent of the larger cat.
Ben pulled away. ‘Right. We’ll get the ingredients. Sarah can supervise the children,’ he said brightly.
‘Hey!’ Eli and Kal shouted together.
Eli watched the two men go. Sarah started clearing the table. ‘So, um, you and them,’ Eli murmured to his brother. ‘Are you guys… like, together?’ He watched his brother’s cheeks flush.
‘It’s complicated. I mean we’re not screwing around or anything,’ Kal spluttered.
‘Damn. You should. They’re clearly into you and I’ve never seen you be so calm around other people,’ Eli said thoughtfully.
‘Eli!’ Kal squeaked.
‘Plus they’re pretty good looking. I’m not really into males but Vano has that rugged mountain man vibe and Ben is pretty cute.’
‘Dude, shut up,’ Kalevi whined.
‘They both have an excellent reputation in bed, no personal experience of course but I’ve heard tales,’ Sarah called from the other side of the room.
Kalevi buried his face in his hands. ‘Oh my god.’ Eli’s laughed was still music to his ears. Vano and Ben returned only half an hour later, bags of groceries in their hands. It didn’t escape his notice that Ben seemed to have bought extras like another bottle of milk and Eli’s favourite ramen. Ben caught him looking and gave him a wink. Kalevi felt his heart warm, just a little.
‘I got something a bit special too,’ Ben called as he and Vano unpacked.
‘We’ll get cooking. After all this mess, I’m starving,’ Sarah groaned as she set out paper and pens. ‘Alright boys, to work.’ Eli and Kalevi groaned as they sat themselves at the table. Eli did the writing and the two spoke. They got a few names down easily.
‘Remember Petey? He wasn’t the worst. He’d leave those bags of liquorice for us,’ Eli mused.
Kal snorted. ‘I hate liquorice. Plus, he got arrested after he glassed that guy in the face with a broken beer bottle. He was really dumb too. After all the weed he smoked he only had two braincells left and they were both fighting for third place,’ Kalevi said sniffily.
Eli chuckled and scribbled the name down in the “arrested” column. ‘Then there was Deacan…’
‘The wolf shifter?’
‘Yeah, pretty sure he was gunned down though.’
Sarah, Ben and Vano listened in with mounting concern. These boys seemed to have spent their lives on the precipice of a warzone. They took a short break when the food was finished. It was squashy with five at the table, so Vano moved himself to the couch. Ben grabbed out his surprise and held it out to Kalevi.
‘Here.’
Kalevi stared at the beer bottle with trepidation. Beside him, Eli gave a low inhuman growl.
‘It’s nonalcoholic,’ Ben said, holding out the bottle for Eli to read.
Eli’s expression remained sour. ‘We promised each other we wouldn’t drink. Not after him.’ He spat the last word out, sounding remarkably like his older brother.
Kalevi bowed his head. ‘I know. I screwed up.’
‘And he apologized. With sincerity. We all make mistakes Eli. It’s how we grow,’ Ben said gently.
Eli sighed. ‘Yeah, I know.’ He looked less angry, but Kal didn’t open the beer. He knew he’d screwed up. That look of mistrust was warranted even if it hurt.
They finished up dinner with speed. Turns out it wasn’t just Sarah who was famished. Kal got up to help Ben with the dishes.
‘Thank you,’ Kal said quietly.
‘There is nothing to thank me for. I’m sorry about the beer. In hindsight it was pretty tasteless.’
‘I’ve lost his trust,’ Kal said sadly.
Ben gently cupped his chin. ‘Only for now. Let him absorb and reflect. He’s a good kid.’
Kalevi smiled weakly. ‘Yeah, he is.’
‘And so are you.’ Before Kalevi could argue, Ben kissed him. It was a gentle, warm thing, with only a little pressure and a surge of emotion. Ben drew back first and pressed their foreheads together.
‘You’re ours, little cat, and we have no intention of letting you be lonely or unstable again.’
‘Those are some big words,’ Kalevi choked. Ben gave him another wink and left him to put the rest of the dishes in the drying rack.
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END
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