Fallen Crest Home(80)

“I would’ve thought you’d get tired of this, Caldron.”

“What do you mean?” His eyes twitched, just briefly.

“This. You. Me. Fighting.” I grinned, knowing it didn’t reach my eyes. “You losing.”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “That’s what you think is going to happen?”

Logan and Nate shifted. They were ready to fight.

I stepped away from the Escalade. “I know that’s what’s going to happen. I always beat you, Caldron. I always will; no matter how many guys you bring with you.”

He moved back, as did his guys. It was like I had an invisible force protecting me. But if I’d heard the sirens, they must’ve, too.

“What?” I asked. “You know you can’t finish this fight before those cops show up?”

“Who says they’re coming here?” He tossed the bat up, catching it like he was going to swing at a baseball. He held it above his head.

I narrowed my eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“They have to prioritize their calls,” he said. “It’s a small police department. I’d think a burning nursing home would take priority over a text about brawling from someone’s cell phone.” He looked right at Nate. “I saw that, you know.”

“You set the nursing home on fire?” Nate paled slightly.

“They’ll get everyone out, I’m sure.” Caldron didn’t sound like he cared. “But that leaves us to our merry selves.” He dropped the bat and caught it again, right around the handle. He hefted it back up. “How about we get this show on the road?”

And he swung.

I blacked out after that.

The bat swung down. I saw my hand catching it, saw Caldron on the ground. His face was bleeding. His eyes were swollen shut. There were hands at my shoulders, and I was swinging.

Time skipped.

Two guys were on me. I ducked down, ramming my shoulder into one of them. Someone’s arm cracked, and he screamed in pain as it bent at an indecent angle.

More lapses in time.

Nate was on the ground. Three guys kicked him.

I pulled one away, slamming him into the pavement.

Time jumped again.

Logan threw a punch, and a guy’s head snapped backward from the blow. Another guy swung a bat, about to hit Logan in the back of the head—another blackout. I came to again, and that same guy was unconscious.

I was holding his bat.

More blackness.

“Mason.” I heard Logan’s voice in the distance.

There was a buzzing sound. I looked around. What was that?

“Mason.” Suddenly, the buzzing sound vanished, and Logan was right there. His voice was too loud, and he was clawing at my hands. “Mason, stop!” He sounded panicked. My brother never panicked. He kept pulling at my hands, and I looked—they were wrapped around a guy’s throat.

Logan reared back and rammed his shoulder into me. He knocked me backward, but I’d let go of the throat already.

What had I…?

I didn’t want to know.

I shook my head. There was a cloud there, a haze settling over everything. I didn’t feel like myself, and I surveyed the parking lot and felt sick.

There were bodies everywhere.

Nate sat on the ground, his face covered in blood and only one eye open. He was holding his shirt to his head. The end was soaked in blood.

I looked for Logan. He was right in front of me, and he was bleeding all over, too. He fell into me, and he began to slip to the ground, but I caught him. Wrapping an arm around his back, I eased him down and sat next to him.

My hands were already bruising. They were covered in blood, but there was blood everywhere. Even the Escalade had blood on it.

“Logan.” My voice was hoarse. “What did we do?”

He grunted from pain as he tried to stretch a leg out. “We fought. That’s what we did.”

The sound of someone walking over broken glass came from behind us. I didn’t look. My body was beginning to scream in agony. Everything hurt.

James stepped in front of us, taking everything in. He sucked in a breath. “What happened?”

I wasn’t sure. I kept quiet.

Logan glanced to me, then said, “Quinn knew you sicced Mason on his son. He sicced Caldron on us. We were supposed to be distracted.” He had to stop to spit out blood. “He failed at his job.” He looked up at our dad, his face misshapen and bruised. “You still have that copy, right? We didn’t do all of this for nothing.”

James held up the flash drive. “It’s here.” At that moment, a squad car lit up the parking lot in red and blue. “I was going to use it as leverage against him, get him to back down, but it looks like it’s going to the district attorney instead.”