Page 13 of Fu*kboys in Flannel
No one leaves the Ravens.
The girls may not be part of the seedier side of what our parents started, but they are Ravens, nonetheless.
There is no escaping for any of us.
“You should have pulled the trigger.” I hear my brother grunt out at me and I roll my eyes. If I had pulled the damn trigger, the next bullet would have either gone into one or both of us.
Either by our hands or by a Bishop.
“You and I both know why I didn’t. We need to come to some kind of decision on what we are going to do about Tessa. We can’t keep playing this same game, over and over. It’s tiresome and neither of us are satisfied. Think about it, Mase.”
“Are we really doing this? Having a little brother chat as we stomp through vegetation? I have fuck all to say. I’m tired of everything and sometimes I wish Dad had just thrown me off Violent Peak years ago.” I should be horrified by what he’s saying, asking if he needs help, but my brother isn’t suicidal. We’re both experiencing that bone-deep fatigue of having to deal with Eric Slade and we are just biding our time until Rhett green lights us to take out the trash.
Patricide?
Not the worst thing on my list of sins.
Tessa Clarke. She may not carry the Bishop name but nonetheless she has Bishop blood. Rhett’s sister was the first female born in the family in three generations, and she left.
She got off this mountain and started a family with some regular-ass man in Arbor Ridge.
Never straying too far from Hollow Hill and her family in case she ever needed them.
She’s why no one is allowed to leave again.
Like mother, like daughter.
Except now, a different Slade is hunting a Raven woman.
“Wanna make a bet, brother? I know Tessa better than you. I know how she thinks, how she feels. I can predict what she’s going to do and when. First one to find her gets to claim the first fuck. I already know I’ll win, but getting to rub the victory in your face makes it that much sweeter.” Mason is fucking delusional if he thinks any of this is actually true.
“Did Dad hit you one too many times in the head because you’re spewing bullshit left and right, and that’s the only way to rationalize it?”
“Think about it, Bennett. You all think I’m reckless and unhinged… to be fair, that is accurate, but what none of you seem to understand is that I’ve been gathering information left and right for years. Do you know that late at night she sneaks out and goes to the old-ass treehouse and journals?” I hate that he knows something I don’t. My anger is simmering, and I don’t know how I missed this about her, and how the fuck he found out?
“What are you doing, being a creeper peeping into her windows and shit hoping to catch her naked? We’re fucked up, but that’s a new level reached, Mase.” I bite out in anger, but there’s no disgust in my tone. I fucking wish I had been the one to do it instead.
He stops abruptly, throwing an arm out, catching me in the chest, “Ummpphhh. The fuck?”
“No, you fucking can of Natty Ice. You know I don’t fucking sleep. I would see her most nights as I sat out on the balcony. She’d skulk out like Grey didn’t always know where she was going. He’s got more eyes on everything than his dad. And you dick, I don’t need to creep to see Tessa naked.” He huffs out at me, but I’m already annoyed by him catching me off guard.
Throwing an arm around his neck, I lock it with my other arm and wrestle him to the ground.
“Stop talking about my bitch like that.”
“Your bitch? You still fucking think she’s going to choose you. A literal gun to her head and she wouldn’t choose. Just how the fuck do you think you’ll convince her you’re the better choice?” He bucks up and catches me in the stomach and I guess we’re going for round fucking two of the Slade Showdown tonight.
“You hit like you’re still twelve. I’m not convinced your balls have dropped.” My words infuriate him, and I let out a bark of laughter.
I thrive on being the one to needle at his nerves and this is exactly the thing I need to burn off this excess energy that is building. If I don’t burn it off, I’ll be the next one to snap. I’ve been threadbare for so long that I need to control how I release. Secretly, I think Mason knows this. It wouldn’t surprise me, as my brother knows me just as well as I know myself.
He throws me down and I feel rocks poking my back and my head catches the edge of one. My vision blurs out of focus for just a moment, and I relish it. I enjoy the mind-numbing distraction before I kick out and catch him in the thigh. I watch him crumble to the ground, cursing my ass out.
“Low blow, you dick.”
“No. A low blow would be if I aimed for your dick.” I roll my eyes, staring right into his ice blue ones. Both of us laying on our backs, side by side.
All you can hear in the quiet of the night is our labored breaths and nature.