Relentless (Book 3)

Chapter 31: Bethany - The Ninth Day

No! I wasn't able to stop Acer from going into Benjamin's cell. I couldn't even lift my arm up long enough to grab ahold of his ankle. And I hated myself for being too weak to protect Benjamin from his monster of a brother. 

I used all of the strength I had to lift my head up off of the floor to see if Benjamin was protecting himself from his brother, or if he was falling back into old habits drilled into him through years of abuse. I looked up just in time to see Benjamin charge Acer. Acer clearly did not see it coming. His face was an expression of pure shock. Benjamin had never, in his entire life, fought back. And Acer didn't expect him to this time either. 

Benjamin hit him the face, the side, the ribs, the solar plexus, so fast that I barely saw his fists connect before he moved on to his next target. Acer dropped to his knees but that didn't stop Benjamin's assault on him. He hit his brother again in the jaw, easily knocking him onto his back.

Benjamin spent seventeen years of his life being tormented and assaulted by this man, without so much as lifting a finger to defend himself. And I don't think that he ever would have laid a finger on his brother if his brother hadn't first laid a finger on me.

I was so proud of him for finally fighting back, even though I was pretty sure I was the reason he was finally fighting back after all these years. He finally defended himself. Finally fought back. Finally showed his brother that he was not going to tolerate the abuse any longer. But while I was proud, I was also afraid of how he would punished by the guards for doing so.

Benjamin brought his foot back and kicked him. Again and again. Acer had curled into the fetal position and was screaming, crying, begging Benjamin to stop. As Benjamin probably had done countless times in his childhood. I'm sure he too screamed and cried and begged his brother to stop. But Benjamin didn't let up. Instead, he dropped to his knees, pinning Acer's shoulders down with his them, exactly as Acer had done to me the day I had denied him. Benjamin lifted his fist and slammed it into his brother's face again and again. Until about half a dozen guards burst into the cell and charged Benjamin.

The first guard to get to Benjamin tried to pull him off of his brother, but he didn't get a chance to. Benjamin threw an elbow back at him, knocking him aside, and then he continued attacking Acer. The other guards got to him and grabbed his arms, but Benjamin overpowered them, slipping quickly out of their grasp.

It wasn't until a guard pulled out a baton and cracked him hard across the back and shoulder, that he slowed his assault enough for four other guards to grab ahold of him and bring him to the restraint wall. Benjamin fought tooth and nail to get back to Acer. He slipped out of the grasp of two guards. A guard hit him hard across the knees and they buckled, giving the guards he had escaped an opportunity to restrain him.

Two other guards tried to help Acer to his feet, but he crumpled, unable to stand up. So instead, the guards each looped an arm under his arms and half carried, half dragged a bloodied and battered Acer out of the cell.

"What should we do with him?" One of the guards asked after both of Benjamin's wrists were manacled. They had backed away from him because he was still attacking, trying to kick them, bite them, whatever he could do to get back to his brother, even after they had dragged Acer out of his cell. 

"We'll have to ask Roberts what he wants done to him." Another guard replied, throwing an elbow into Benjamin's diaphragm before exiting the cell.

I stared at Benjamin. His shirt was covered in blood spatter, but for once, the blood that coated his clothes, didn't belong to him. His knuckles were cracked and bleeding from the force of his blows against Acer. He kept his head down so that I couldn't see his face, but from what I could see of his forehead, his face was a deep red. His was livid.