Overexposed

Brotherly Love

Chapter 11: Brotherly Love

“How…?” I manage to ask, but it’s more like a raspy sigh.

Tats’ knuckles are white as he holds on the steering wheel, still going about twenty miles per hour faster than the speed limit, “How what?”

I clear my throat, “How did you find me?”

“Romeo called the shop,” Tats continues to glare determinedly ahead.

As I figure out how to react to this new information, my gaze idly drifts to the center console where a bottle of water sits.

Maybe my reactions are slow, but before I even recognize the fact that he’s moved, the bottle hits my chest and falls into my lap. His voice is tight, “Drink.”

“But-”

“Stop asking questions,” Tats cuts me off with a glare. “I’m taking you back to the brewery where you can grill Tommo all you want.”

“Okay,” I hesitantly take a sip of the already open water container. It doesn’t taste off, but the fact that it was open kind of irks me. Well, if it’s poisoned, then whatever. I’m so thirsty I would probably drink sewage.

Wait, ew. Still no sewage.

Despite my initial hesitance, I finish off the remainder of the liquid within a minute and find myself drifting off, forehead pressed against the cold glass of the window, mind at peace for the first time in three days.

I’m awakened only when Tats shakes me, saying my name in a lower octave. It’s still night, I can see that much, but it’s darker than it should be. We must be inside. Inside where? Moonlight coming into the building behind us shows me little to nothing of the area, except a sharp metallic glint. I only have to stare at it for a second to recognize the giant metal cylinders.

Tats gets out of the car, the slamming door as if he’s angry. Lethargically, I attempt to copy his actions, but fail, fingers too shaky to do much of anything, so I glance pleadingly at my companion.

The man with the abundance of tattoos wraps an arm around my shoulders, hauling me out of the vehicle and into the main part of the brewery. As soon as he does, it’s like an explosion goes off.

“Ozzie?” Little Man’s prepubescent voice reaches my ears first, being that he’s the one who opened the double doors.

Tess, who had been walking by, practically shouts over him, “POGs! Get Tommo!”

“Wha’? Why?”

“Tats found Ozzie!”

The moment she replies, I can hear the heavy footsteps of someone sprinting down the stairs. Haz slams through the door at the bottom, the barrier swinging violently backwards and smashing into the wall. Despite the surprising noise and probable damage to the building, he doesn’t even look back.

The curly haired guy DOES, however, stop as his green gaze meets mine and all I can think is: I’m safe. I’m home.

Home. This place? With these people? I almost want to laugh. Less than a month ago I would have thought the idea ludicrous, but here, now, everything in my past simply begins to seem like a really bad nightmare.

It’s hard to imagine being with Liam, having that life I could have lived.

It all seems so far behind me…

Well this is my reality, my green eyed friend and the crazy world he lives in. The crazy world I live in.

Before my mind can even process moving, he rushes forward, scooping me into his arms. Tats seems more than glad to give me over, ridding himself of the burden that is my exhaustion-handicapped person.