Chapter Four

Kellum puked up the nachos from earlier with a savage sound into the kitchen trash and groaned before he rinsed his mouth in the sink. He sank to his ass on the tile, wiping water from his mouth on his sleeve.

“Kell?” His younger brother’s voice wobbled and he rolled his head to gaze at Aaron standing barefoot in the doorway.

“I’m okay.” He lifted his arm and Aaron ran to him, knees hitting the cold floor, and Kellum crushed his brother’s trembling body to his. He held him tightly and rocked back and forth, quieting the boy’s sobs and choking back his own.

“It’s okay, you’re safe. I got you,” he murmured over and over, rubbing Aaron’s shaking form.

After several minutes, Aaron drew back and wiped at his nose with the sleeve of his dirty t-shirt.

“Where’s Dylan?” Kellum pushed back the damp hair from Aaron’s forehead.

“He’s sleeping. I put him in the bottom twin bed with the rolled-up blankets so he wouldn’t fall out.”

“That’s really good. You hungry?”

When Aaron nodded, Kellum stood and pulled open the fridge. He grabbed the leftover plate from within and heated it a bit in the microwave. Aaron hadn’t moved from his spot on the floor and Kellum returned there and sank down again.

Without a word, Aaron ate the nachos like a ravenous animal, stuffing his mouth so full at times that his cheeks puffed out—the desperation brought tears to Kellum’s eyes.

“Did Chip touch you?”

Aaron swallowed, nodded, and ducked his head.

Cold ice filled Kellum’s veins. “Where?” he choked out.

His baby brother lifted his shirt and touched his belly before dropping it and returning to eating.

“Did he touch you lower? Or…” Kellum swallowed. “Try to kiss you?”

Aaron lifted his head and stared at him. “No, why?”

“I just need to know. Did he ever touch you before?”

“No never.”

Kellum started to cry, he couldn’t stop the gut-wrenching sound no matter how much he tried to hold it back. Aaron scooted closer and placed the empty plate aside. Kellum yanked his brother close and held him until he could get his shit together on the cold floor.

“He’s a very bad man,” he said in a shaking voice. Holding Aaron, he drew back and combed through his brother’s overly long blond hair where it had fallen into the boy’s face.

He still couldn’t believe that Percy had tried to prevent him from going into the bedroom where Aaron had been.

“Hey man, I didn’t expect you back so soon,” Percy had said nervously, lingering at the entrance of the hallway.

Suspecting something, Kellum had knocked Percy out of his way and slammed open the bedroom door to find Chip, the fucking neighbor, cornering a very scared Aaron on the bed.

Kellum launched across the room, shoved Chip, and snatched up Aaron from the bed. Turning, he’d pulled the gun from the waistband of his pants and aimed it at Chip’s chest.

“I’m an expert marksman, I will kill you,” Kellum said, his voice flat and ugly.

Chip stopped dead and Kellum pulled Aaron out of the room and scooped up a crying Dylan, who was standing in the hallway.

Kellum backed up out of the hallway, keeping Chip in his sights—he still had to get across the living room to the front door.

“What the fuck, Daniel? Pulling a fucking gun?” Percy said, coming toward him.

Kellum stopped in the kitchen doorway. He positioned himself so he could aim the gun at both Percy and Chip while trying to keep Aaron behind him.

“Get out of my way,” Kellum snapped.

“You’re fucking dead,” Percy snarled, taking a step closer.

With his back to the kitchen, Kellum handed Dylan to Aaron and kept himself between them and the threat. Percy kept walking toward him and Kellum kept backing up, crowding Aaron back. When Percy swung his arm out, Kellum ducked and moved around the counter. Aaron backed up as well. If they could get to the other side of the island, there was a clear path to the front door.

Kellum glared at Percy. “I can’t believe we used to be friends.”

“We still are,” his old-time school friend said, stopping his advance.

“No. You’ve become something else. Thanks for taking us in, but we need to go.”

“Listen…” Percy rubbed at his hairy face. “Just give me the gun and we can talk.”

Chip had come out from the hall, but instead of continuing the way Percy had by crowding them, Chip went toward the front door. Good, the bastard was leaving.

“Back the fuck off,” Kellum hissed. Behind him, he heard Aaron putting Dylan down and wanted to cry, but he held it together. Percy took another slow step.

“Kellum, we can work this out,” Percy said.

Kellum lifted the gun, but Aaron had gone around the counter and was up behind Percy to hit him in the back with a wooden cutting board.

Fuck!

“Why you little shit!” Percy shouted and swung around, fist raised at Aaron. Kellum moved in quickly and hit Percy in the back of the head with the gun.

He swung as hard as he fucking could, with every ounce of pent-up rage, and Percy went down hard.

Snatching up Dylan, Kellum gave the toddler to Aaron again and they left the kitchen.

Across the living room, Chip stood blocking the front door.

“Move or I will shoot you.”

“Yeah, like you shot Percy,” Chip sneered. Not believing him was the man’s first mistake.

Chip snapped open a knife and slid his smarmy eyes over Aaron. “I don’t see why we can’t all just have a little fun.”

The second mistake was looking at his brother like he was a piece of meat.

“Turn away,” he told his brother, and Aaron spun around, cupping Dylan’s ears with one hand, pressing the toddler’s face to his chest.

Kellum didn’t hesitate and shot Chip twice—once in the chest and when Chip stumbled and fell to the floor with a surprised look on his face, Kellum stepped closer and shot the guy in the fucking forehead.

Aaron didn’t look nor let go of Dylan as they ran from the apartment.

“Kel?”

Aaron’s voice snapped him back to the present and he jumped. When Aaron gasped, Kellum hugged his brother tight, feeling how thin he was. His hands ghosted over the bones that shouldn’t be so prominent in a twelve-year-old boy or any child for that matter. Damn, he so wished his mom was still alive and he shoved back the hot tears that threatened to spill over. He missed her so fucking much, the ache refused to go away.

“Kel?”

“I’m good,” he rasped.

“I’m still hungry,” Aaron whispered in a small voice as if wanting food was something to be guilty about.

Percy had been eating or fuck, maybe giving the food Kellum had brought into the house away. The fucker deserved to die and if he ever got the chance, he wouldn’t hesitate next time.

He and his brothers weren’t out of the woods yet, though. He’d heard sirens as they’d made their escape after exiting the elevator with the crowd.

He needed to plan, but when Aaron sniffled, Kellum forced himself to snap the fuck out of it and take care of his brothers.

Easing away, he brushed the hair out of Aaron’s eyes. “Let’s finish off the cheese and chips.”

From the other room, Dylan started to cry and Kellum launched to his feet. Striding through the small apartment, he entered the room.

Dylan lifted his arms and Kellum picked up the three-year-old from the bed. His brother stopped crying immediately and laid his head against his shoulder. Carrying Dylan back to the kitchen, he found Aaron already with another can of beans opened and placing spoonfuls on plates with chips. Kellum placed Dylan on one of the chairs and helped Aaron finish fixing the plates.

“I have to go out tomorrow and get food, but for now, we’ll just eat what’s here.” He sat the plates at the rickety table and picked up Dylan to sit on his knee because there were only two chairs.

Tired didn’t begin to describe his state of mind and he had much more to plan before this was all over. He wasn’t sure how he was going to figure it out, but he had to.

Their very lives depended on it.