would be no more air for him. Ryan would die while not knowing his body was trying frantically to breathe. He would suffocate in oblivion, and meet an end that was still too good for him. If I had my way, I would’ve heard his screaming before he died, but that was a favor I couldn’t ask of Markus. He’d allowed something similar for Travis, another older brother of mine, but that had been three years ago, and Travis had worked hard to pay off that favor.
This? This was a favor, but not quite one like that.
The machine keeping track of his heartbeat went wild, but I remained still, my hand clamped down on his face. I wore no expression, simply staring down at my handiwork and wondering if, deep down, Ryan’s subconsciousness could feel it, if he knew he was dying and couldn’t do anything about it. Such were the wonders of life, weren’t they? To me, and to most of my family, there was nothing sweeter than the embrace of death.
The seconds ticked by, little eternities passing until the heart monitor’s screen beeped with a lessening intensity, and then, eventually, it leveled off completely, a high-pitched, flat sound taking its place when Ryan’s heart no longer beat in his chest.
Underneath my palm, Ryan’s body was motionless, no longer flailing about, trying unconsciously to breathe. He was dead.
He was dead, and I’d killed him.
My first kill. I always imagined it would be something different, in the dark depths of our estate, not here, in a sterile hospital, killing someone I actually knew. I’d never paid much attention to him before, but after what he nearly did to Jaz, he made sure that my dark eyes had been turned to him.
What a fool. If he would’ve known the consequences of his actions, I bet he never would’ve gone after her. I bet Ryan would’ve steered clear of her, given Jaz a wide berth, because he valued his life. Most people did. Me? I wasn’t frightened of death, wasn’t scared to die. When death came for me, I’d welcome it with open arms.
Or, at least, that’s how I thought before.
Before Jaz.
Now, I…I found myself thinking things I never imagined myself thinking, wanting much the same. Jaz was changing me, but I had no idea if she changed me for the better or worse.
I didn’t stand there and waste time; I exited the room, standing beside Markus, who looked, for lack of a better word, bored. Some of my brothers liked what we did, others simply did it because it was our duty. Markus was…something else. There were some days when I thought he enjoyed it, but other times I looked at him and couldn’t read his expression.
“Finished?” Markus asked, his voice practically rumbling inside his chest as he spoke the word.
I nodded.
“Good. Let’s get out of here,” he muttered, and I followed him out. On our way, we passed a nurse who watched us with a knowing but unthreatening gaze. You didn’t fuck with the Scotts; everyone here knew that.
Well, except Jaz, but she would learn, if she hadn’t already.
By the time I snapped back to reality, someone else had sat down at the lunch table. Dante slid in the seat across from me, immediately reaching over to pluck some of the food off my tray. He had a habit of doing that, which irked me, but I let him, seeing as how, otherwise, this food would simply go into the trash.
Who could eat this shit every day? Not me.
Why did I waste time and money buying it? Well, before Jaz, it gave me something to do, and money wasn’t an issue with me.
I watched Dante shovel the food into his mouth like it was his job, frowning to myself. He was a very pushy guy, this Dante. I still had no idea where he came from, though. I’d tried to look him up, to do a bit of research on my own, and it came up severely lacking. Storm was clearly not his last name, but that didn’t stop him from occasionally referring to himself in third person as, you guessed it, Storm.
Yeah. He was weird.
Although, I wasn’t sure if weird was a strong enough word for him, considering.
“Our firecracker of a girl is back today, as you probably already heard,” Dante spoke, giving me a smirk that made me remember our encounter in the limo after the dance. I’d thought it would be strange, infuriating to see the girl