“He looks just like you,” Maddie voiced from beside me. She’d said aloud what I was thinking. “Lord, Flame, he has your eyes, and he has your color hair… he looks like he is… God! Is he your brother?” Her hand reached down to take mine, and she questioned, “Do you have another brother?”
I stared at the kid, standing between AK and Vike. I stared at his ripped clothes. But his eyes were on me. He never fucking took them off me. Viking put his hand on the kid’s shoulder, but the kid jerked back.
I immediately shot to my feet. “Don’t fucking touch him,” I bit out.
Viking moved back, his hands in the air. “Fuck man, I weren’t gonna hurt him. I was fucking bringing him out to meet y’all, brother. This is Asher Cade. Turns out Daddio had a woman on the side, and after you left, he moved her and his bastard kid into this palace. Asher here is said bastard kid.” Viking pointed at the boy. “You have a fucking little brother, Flame. Asher fucking Cade. Your old man married his mama, and made it all nice and official as soon as he could.”
Feeling like I’d been fucking punched in my stomach with a lead bar, I walked forward. The kid watched me, then he fucking looked over my shoulder. I tensed when I knew what he was seeing, but then a fucking long sigh left his mouth, and his shoulders slumped.
“You good, kid?” AK asked, and he slowly nodded his head.
His dark eyes fixed back on me, and he shyly asked, “You’re Josiah?”
I stopped dead, Maddie’s hand squeezing mine. I shook my head and hissed, “I’m Flame. I used to be Josiah. Now, I’m Flame.”
The kid looked at the body on the floor behind us. “He said I was... like you. Said I was too much like... Josiah. Then he hurt me… he…”
The kid’s voice choked off. He looked down at the ground. His eyes closed. He panted through his nose.
“How old are you?” AK asked, from my left.
“Sixteen,” the kid replied. I closed my eyes.
Opening them again, I asked, “Where’s your mama?” The kid looked up at me. I saw his expression change. His eyes lowered. He swallowed.
Viking pointed at me. “Flame ain’t angry. It’s just how he talks.”
I frowned at Viking. “How did I fucking talk?”
Viking shrugged, and rubbed his hand under his nose. “Like you, brother. Don’t sweat it.” Maddie laid her head on my arm. I breathed normally, hating how I could never fucking speak right to new people.
Asher rocked on his feet, looked real fucking sad, and answered, “Died a few months back. She… she killed herself.” He looked up at me and pointed behind him. “Hung herself on the tree out back.” He sucked in a sharp breath. “I found her. And poppa… he blamed me. Said it was all my fault.” He shook his head. “But he beat her. Made us go to that church he loved so much, and we hated. She killed herself because of him, but he blamed me. Mama was still so young, she was only eighteen when she met him. She couldn’t go on any longer.”
“God…” Maddie whispered, clearly in shock. I closed my eyes and thought, just like my fucking mama. It was all exactly like my fucking life.
When I opened them again, AK was standing in front of me. “Your call, man. This kid’s your blood.” I stared at my… brother… and my heart pounded. I had a brother. I had a fucking kid brother… again.
The kid held my gaze. He stepped forward and asked, “What’ll happen to me now? I can’t…” His breath caught, and he shook. “Don’t take me to that church. Please… Josiah, please… I got no other family, and I hate that church more than anything.”
“It’s Flame,” I corrected, too busy thinking about that fucking church. The kid’s eyes widened.
“Flame,” he pleaded. “Don’t make me go there.”
Maddie squeezed my hand. When I looked down at her, she was staring right back up at me with those huge eyes. Taking a deep breath, I faced Asher and ordered, “You come home with me.”
The kid paused, then choked on a fucking pained sob. Viking moved forward and slung his arm around Asher’s shoulder. The kid tensed, but he relaxed straight away into Viking’s huge chest, fucking curling himself into Vike’s hold. Just then, I knew that Asher wasn’t like me at all. He didn’t have my condition. He