Chapter 28

CHAPTER28

“Why don’t you bring Braxton upstairs and get him settled in Mathew’s room? We’ll talk in the morning,” Trevor said as he tightened his grip around the edge of the kitchen counter until the back of his knuckles turned white and-

“That sounds like a good idea,” Mikey said with a firm nod as she climbed onto the kitchen counter next to him. That was followed by her shifting to get comfortable, clearing her throat, and then gesturing for him to get on with it.

“Sebastian?” Trevor said, sighing heavily as he pushed away from the counter and turned around so that he could lean back against it.

When Sebastian grabbed her so that he could throw her over his shoulder, Mikey shook her head in disgust as she muttered, “Sending your henchmen to do your dirty work? Shameful,” making his lips twitch despite the fact that he was struggling to keep it together.

He couldn’t get the image of that kitchen out of his head, he just…

“Tell me what happened,” Zoe said as he watched Sebastian leave with Mikey grumbling over his shoulder and Braxton reluctantly following them.

“He’s not going back to that house,” Trevor said, shaking his head firmly as he reached for his wife, needing to wrap his arms around her to stop himself from doing something that he knew damn well that he wouldn’t regret.

“That bad?” Zoe asked as she wrapped her arms around him and laid her head against his chest.

“Yeah,” Trevor said hoarsely as he kissed the top of her head.

“I got your text about Braxton. What the hell happened?” Jason asked as he walked in through the back door with Haley’s grandmother in his arms while Reese pulled up the rear with her wheelchair.

“Where’s my grandson?” Mrs. Blaine demanded as soon as they set her wheelchair down by the kitchen table and carefully placed her in it.

“He’s upstairs,” Zoe murmured against his chest.

“What the hell happened?” Reese demanded as he closed the door behind him.

“Braxton’s been home alone since July,” Trevor said, watching as Jason and Reese’s expressions turned furious while Mrs. Blaine sat there, looking lost in thought. “They’ve been punishing him since then by taking everything away, his phone, internet, video games, everything, and making sure that he didn’t leave the house unless it was for school. They call him once a month just to tell him that he’s still grounded. The staff was supposed to look after him, but it seems that they couldn’t be bothered with him.”

“How did you find out?” Reese asked.

“He had to let himself into a twenty-million-dollar mansion,” Trevor said dryly.

“The Blaines are all about appearances,” Jason said, sighing heavily as he dropped down in a chair.

“I was told that his brother and sisters were taking turns staying with him. His parents decided to retire early and allowed Braxton to stay home at my request instead of sending him back to boarding school. I never thought they would…” Mrs. Blaine began to say only to shake her head with a quietly mumbled, “I should have known better.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jason said, looking exhausted as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face. “What else?”

“His parents forgot they gave the staff the month off for Christmas and left him on his own,” Trevor said before he bit out, “There wasn’t any goddamn food in the house.”

“What’s the next step?” Reese asked, looking close to killing someone.

“He’s not going back to that house,” Trevor said as he met Jason’s gaze head-on.

“No, he’s not.”

* * *

“Areyou still not talking to me?” the teenage boy who was currently kidnapping her asked as he made his way through the living room and headed for the stairs.

“I think that really went without saying,” Mikey said with a sniffle as she pointedly looked away, expressing her displeasure with having her interrogation once again interrupted and not really caring that there was no chance in hell of him seeing it with her hanging over his shoulder at the moment.

“You do realize that’s not a punishment, right?” Sebastian asked, chuckling when she released a grumble against his back.

“Why are you kidnapping me?” Mikey couldn’t help but wonder as he carried her upstairs.

“Does it really count as kidnapping if this is your preferred method of transportation?” Sebastian asked, sounding curious.

“It does when you’re keeping me from finding out what’s going on,” Mikey said with a sniffle as she gestured for him to bring her back downstairs.

“I think they can handle it,” Sebastian said as he made his way down the long hallway towards his room.

“I bring a very unique skill set to the table,” Mikey reminded him as he paused by the bathroom and turned around. “Last door on the right,” to Braxton before he carried her into the bathroom that he shared with Jonathan and set her down on the bathroom counter.

“What’s that?” Sebastian asked as he grabbed the first-aid kit from underneath the sink.

“My glare,” Mikey said, deciding that a demonstration of her skills was in order as she slowly narrowed her eyes on the large teenage boy who was seconds away from quaking in fear and-

“You really are too damn adorable to pull that off,” Sebastian said with a chuckle as his lips pulled up into one of those devastating smiles that always made it difficult to think straight when she was around him.

“My adorableness keeps you from seeing the truth,” Mikey said, watching Sebastian as he opened the first-aid kit and took his time selecting gauze pads, tape, and first-aid ointment.

“And what’s that?” Sebastian asked, setting everything that he’d selected next to her on the bathroom sink.

“My dark side,” Mikey said with a sniffle as she gave up glaring to watch him as he worked.

“It’s terrifying,” Sebastian drawled as he opened the gauze pads.

“I know, which is why I only use it on special occasions,” Mikey assured him with a solemn nod as she watched him carefully apply first-aid ointment to the gauze pads.

“And we truly appreciate that,” Sebastian said dryly as he grabbed a clean facecloth off the shelf.

“It’s the least that I can do,” Mikey murmured absently as she watched him turn on the water and get the facecloth wet. “What exactly are you doing?”

“Wondering why you’re a pain in my ass,” Sebastian said, adding soap to the facecloth.

“I believe you were briefed about that when we first met,” Mikey said, watching as Sebastian turned the water off before he reached over and took her hand in his and-

Tore a hiss of pain from her when he pressed the wet cloth against the scrape on her hand.

“Sorry,” Sebastian murmured softly as he leaned down and pressed his lips against her palm, making her breath catch. “Better?” Sebastian asked softly as intense blue eyes met hers.

Swallowing hard, Mikey silently raised her other hand, watching as Sebastian’s lips twitched as he released her hand and reached for the other one so that he could press his lips against her scraped palm. “Better?”

She opened her mouth to ask him to do it again only to find herself muttering, “What do you think will happen now?”

“With Braxton?” Sebastian asked, his gaze flickering to her as he finished wiping her hands clean and reached for the gauze pads.

“What do you think will happen to him?” Mikey asked, watching as he carefully applied the gauze pads to her palms.

“I honestly don’t know, but I can’t see Dad letting him go back there,” Sebastian said, making quick work of putting everything back before grabbing her off the bathroom counter and threw her back over his shoulder.

“We should hobble them,” Mikey suggested, more than willing to hobble Braxton’s parents for the way they’d treated him.

“We should really look into anger management classes for you,” Sebastian said as he carefully dropped her on his bed.

“Not until it’s court-mandated,” Mikey said, keeping her eyes locked on the teenage boy who had a lot of explaining to do.

“It’s only a matter of time,” Sebastian drawled as he dropped down on the bed next to her as she glared at Braxton, hoping the move would be enough to make him talk.

“Shhhh, not while I’m glaring,” Mikey said, moving to reach over to slap her hand over Sebastian’s face only to rethink that decision when the slight movement caused pain to tear through her palm.

“You really are a pain in my ass,” Sebastian said as he reached over and grabbed her wrist so that he could turn her hand over and double-check the gauze pad covering her palm.

“You knew this,” Mikey pointed out as she kept her gaze locked on Braxton and thought about everything that she’d learned over the past hour. She couldn’t believe that they just left him like that. They didn’t even make sure that he had enough food. They just…

They just left him.

“True,” Sebastian said as he gently ran his fingertips over her palm and-

“Ouch!” Mikey gasped with a pained wince.

“I’m sorry,” Sebastian murmured softly as he released her hand and reached for the other one. He gently took her hand in his and ran his fingertips along the side of her palm in a featherlight touch that had her breath catching.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Sebastian asked Braxton, completely oblivious to the way that his touch affected her and-

She really needed to stay focused.

“There was nothing to tell,” Braxton said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal as he glanced around the room, taking in the Yankees posters, framed photos of Sebastian and Jonathan throughout the years, the bookcases overflowing with books before moving onto the stacks of books on the bureaus, nightstands, and on the floor.

“It’s like you want me to hurt you,” Mikey said, angry that she didn’t realize that there was something wrong sooner. It turned her stomach thinking about Braxton stuck in that house all alone.

“Dad’s pissed,” Jonathan announced as he walked into the room and dropped his bag on the floor.

“I have that effect on people,” Mikey said, nodding solemnly.

“What happened to your hands?” Jonathan asked, absently gesturing to her hands as he dropped down on his bed.

“I was forced to take matters into my own hands and the pavement got in the way,” Mikey said, still wondering how Braxton managed to get out of that chokehold.

“I can see that,” Jonathan said before shifting his focus to Braxton.

“What are they saying downstairs?” Braxton asked as he sat down on the desk chair.

“Besides calling your father a prick?” Jonathan asked, only to follow that up with a heavy sigh. “They’re trying to figure out what to do with you.”

After a slight hesitation, Braxton asked, “What did they decide?”

“No clue, but we’re supposed to set you up in Mathew’s room for the night,” Jonathan said, throwing Braxton a pitying look.

“We can’t do that to him,” Sebastian said, chuckling as he met his brother’s amused gaze.

“No, we really can’t.”