Conspicuous Secrets

Chapter Thirty-Eight

I closed the door of the fridge and was unscrewing the cap on my water bottle when the front door opened. My brother stumbled in, tripping and falling onto his knees immediately. I rolled my eyes at him as Marla walked in and helped him to his feet. "I told you to watch your step," she said.

I grinned once he was on his feet again. "I swear you could trip on your own shadow."

He dusted his hands off on his knees. My eyes scanned him from head to toe after I noticed a splotch of blood on his brow bone. There was a little bit of blood wiped across his cheek and a couple smears on the back of his hands. It seemed that someone had already tried to clean him up and wipe away most of the blood. I couldn't see many injuries, but by this time, his fight would have been hours ago so I figured Marla had already helped him with his wounds. "My shadow is a tricky little dude. He likes to see me fall to his level," he replied.

I took a drink of water and shook my head. "You're so weird," I told him.

Jaxon expressed a wild grin, making Marla laugh at him. I could tell they made each other happy. Now, I was thankful that Marla had come into my brother's life. At first, I was scared, but I now realized how much she always lifted his mood.

Marla closed the front door, locked it, and then helped Jaxon limp over to the kitchen table where he could sit down. "Did you win?" I asked him.

Marla frowned and Gavin gave me a grim look. "No...Miles beat me."

My heart dropped. Great. Now Miles was going to remind him of his failure for all eternity. "Are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'll be as good as new in a couple days."

"You'll beat him next time," I assured him.

A sigh escaped his lips and Marla placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I sure hope so. I'm going to tell Kason to be tougher on me during training."

#

I placed my books in my locker then closed the door. After kneeling down to re-tie my black combat boots, I stood and came face to face with Miles. "Your brother isn't as tough as everyone plays him out to be," he said immediately. His blonde hair held the usual excessive amount of hair gel and his green held a cocky glint. "I won that fight so easily yesterday. You guys can't defeat me. How is he supposed to defend you against Charles if he can't even fight an eighteen-year-old boy?"

Sighing, I looked at him in annoyance. I didn't feel like dealing with him today. "Go away, Miles." Turning around, I started walking away from him.

"I know you told Daniel." His words made me stop immediately and turn back to face him. "And Charles knows, too."

I minimized the space between us with large dangerous steps. "How would you know? Are you stalking me? Are you taking note of every little step I take? Are you reporting all of your findings to Charles?" I got up in his face and gave him the hardest glare I could muster. "You say you want me to tell Kason and the rest of the group, but you aren't on my side. So why are you interested in us? Why do you want everyone to know the truth so badly?"

His green eyes darkened. 'I'm just making sure that your life is playing out the way it should be."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "And how's that? Are you trying to make sure that I die before I graduate high school? Making sure that my life is taken by the hands of my own father?" I ranted, filled with a sudden rage. "If you want us dead, why do you want everyone to know the truth? The more people I tell, the more people who will know how much of a monster Charles is."