The Space Between

Chapter 12

————————Daxton————————
"You better run now!" Carter yelled as he chased Connor down the track, a water bottle opened in his outstretched hand. I slowed my speed to a light jog as I shook out my arms and took some slow deep breaths. After three miles on the indoor track in the public YMCA, I was a bit out of breath but it was a good burn in my lungs and legs. The distraction helpful in calming my tormented mind.
Ignoring the boys screams and the yells of the other runners as they were accidentally sprayed in the midst of the twins water bottle fight, I made my way to the benches where Declan was lifting. Sitting next to him I watched the weights move up and down in a steady motion as I drank from my water bottle.
"How much you pressing?"
"About 250."
"Not bad man," I responded as he focused on his exercise.
"Eh, just a warm up really... were leaving in a half an hour."
Nodding with a muttered, "True," I wiped some sweat off my forehead only to jump at a loud thump behind me.
On the floor of the workout mats layed a ripped punching bag with sand streaming out of its open seams. Weston stood above it with icy eyes and bruised knuckles. Declan set the weights on the rack and sat up with a sigh, scoffing at his brother.
"Better a punching bag than Daddy Warbucks face." A dry laugh followed, one I didn't return as I left the benches and went to where Weston was hanging a new bag.
"Sir that bag cost..."
"Put it on our tab." Weston stiffly responded to the frantic employee.
"Sir we only have a limited supply of bags and you have already broken two..."
The employee froze as Weston stared him down as he wrapped his knuckles. "So?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. I could only laugh as the employee ran off, mumbling something about either climbing or resigning, I'm guessing the second.
As his punches began to fly I moved to brace the bag for him with two hands. "Sorry about your car man."
He didn't stop hitting though he did mutter out a brief, "Thanks."
Silence followed minus the background noise of Weston's punches and ragged breathing.
"I get the whole... working your way up and the whole being independent thing." He paused his punches and stole my water bottle, his eyes on me as he drank. "It's not easy, and the fact that you do it anyway... Nice job man."
"Sure I guess... I don't know Dax I just, I wanna do something right... you know?"
"Yeah," I told him with a soft smile. "Just make sure you're doing it for you, not to prove yourself to someone else."
Weston nodded slowly as he took in my words. "Are you doing it for you?"
"It's never for me." Glancing out the window at the sunshine streaming through the glass all I could think of was the precious angel I left sleeping in her new room.
He clapped me on the back, shocking me out of my daydream. "How does a hot tub sound?"
"Ama-"
"Pool!" I jumped as Connor's voice boomed in my ear from behind me. How he snuck up on me I don't know; however, I do know Connor is lucky Weston had fast enough reflexes to stop my fist from breaking his nose.
"How did..." Before I could ask he ran off yelling something about calling dibs on Carter's swimming trunks.
Me and Weston laughed hard at this as we began to follow Connor's lead to the pool. I briefly glanced back to see Declan and Carter deadlifting some weights together.
"Bloody idiot, how he's so good at sneaking up on us when he's so dang loud all the time is truly a mystery."
"Good point West, thanks for stopping me from ramming him in the face." Pushing open the locker room door we grabbed out our suits as we continued talking.
"Please if you had punched him he would have never stopped whining."
"You're probably right." We changed quickly, before walking out to the pool to see Connor belly flop into the deep end. Seeing this Weston took off running. I ran after him, slipping on the wet floor as I called out, "What's the rush?"
"The numbskull can't swim!" At this all I could do was roll my eyes before diving into the water after Connor's limp form with Weston right behind me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Briella~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The skillet sizzled as I added in the peppers, onions, and mushrooms. I hummed to myself quietly as I moved about pulling bags of chips out of the pantry. Stirring the coleslaw with one hand I could only laugh at the boys outside. Alexander was standing at the grill "watching" the burgers and hot dogs. By watching I mean emailing on his laptop for a few minutes before remembering the food. Let's just say I've heard quite a few curse words fly as he sees the state of some of the meat.
Elijah stood with Declan and Carter, football and pencil in hand as he showed them his throwing skills by calculating the angle and force he had to use when throwing the ball. Let's just say they were not amused and quickly began to toss the ball around while he wrote away, unaware that his audience had left.
Setting the bowl down I turned to see Daxton, Weston, and Connor walk in. While Connor sat at the island, watching me pull the fresh buns I made out of the oven, Weston rushed outside to join the football throwing debate. Dax quickly came and gave me a light kiss on the forehead before muttering that he needs a shower. His towel was discarded on the stairs, filling the room with the scent of chlorine as he jogged up the stairs in sweatpants and an ill fitting t-shirt. As water dripped down the hardwood steps illuminating his footprints I turned to find Connor staring at me, a rather mischievous glint in his eyes.
"W-what did you do-o?"
His smile grew as he proceeded to slowly state, "We went swimming and I... may or may not have almost drowned," seeing the fear in my eyes he came to stand next to me, one hand creeping out to steal one of the soft spheres of bread on the tray that filled the room with a sweet aroma. "Luckily the boy's saved me."
The hand retracted, prize obtained. That is until I wacked him with the spatula causing the bun to fall back on the tray, his surprise leading to his accidental release of the goodie. "N-no on-e can sa-ave you fr-om my wrath i-if you steal-l my buns." Scared the joking threat was a bit too much when a moment of silence followed, I kept my eyes locked on the floor till I heard his soft chuckle.
"Good one Ella."
We both smiled brightly at each other till Alexander called out, "I think the burgers are done."
"More like overdone!" Carter yelled in response as we turned to see smoke billowing from the grill top.
I giggled softly till I realized I was the only one laughing and looked up to see Connor smiling down at me. "I love your laugh Ella-Dear... Now what can I carry out?" Together we carried out the remainder of the food to the wood table on the patio where the other boys sat. Soon everyone was shoveling food on their plates, I merely watched silently still waiting for Dax to come back and sit by me.
There was one lone plate sitting at the head of the table, a plate covered by Alexander's computer, hiding the absence of James.. Our father. While the boys showed no remorse for eating without his presence, I was worried about how he would react. "Sh-shouldnt we-e wait for your..our fa-father... James?"
Alexander merely shrugged, his mouth currently full from the burger he practically inhaled. Connor's eyes stayed locked on his plate and Elijah was still focused on scribbling away at his throwing calculations while shoveling coleslaw into his mouth with one hand.
"Your funny kid." Declan spoke up as he chuckled while his twin merely huffed in annoyance. "Pops never shows up for dinner, you were lucky he showed up to bail those knuckleheads out of jail."
"R-really?"
"Briella... I would just accept the fact our 'Father' doesn't give a crap about us." At Weston's harsh words Declan frowned, his eyes voicing concerns left unspoken. We fell into an eerie silence as the boys ate and I got lost in my thoughts.
"So... What'd I miss?" Called Dax from behind me as he jumped onto the wooden bench next to me, immediately grabbing food.
"Nothing much, just preping Bri for future disappointment," Carter said. Dax glance at me with a questioning look, one that I returned with an expression that said we would talk later.
"Sorry, I would have been here sooner if someone didn't decide to push me into the pool to look for his phone that mysteriously went missing right after I had gotten a shower."
Connor merely smiled and shrugged at Daxton's words. "How was I supposed to know it had been in my pocket the entire time?"
"How about by, I don't know... LOOKING?" Dax yelled. Connor's wheezing laugh had my clearly annoyed brother muttering, "Shoulda let you drown."
Standing from his seat, pointing his plastic fork straight at Dax, Connor responded, "I take great offense to that."
" I think that was the whole point, dumbass." The fork flew through the air, coming to land in Carter's hair. Carter stood up from his chair as a lone drop of mustard dripped down his forehead, a result of the fork assault. "Why the hell would you do that?"
Connor's nose rose even higher in the air as he sported a cocky expression. "Cause you called me a dumbass."
I glanced at Dax as we both smiled at each other and watched the twins bash it out.
Carter stepped in front of his brother and calmly picked up a bottle of ketchup and squirted it all over Connors unsuspecting form. As the ketchup dripped down his clothes, Connors face came to match the color of the condiment. Then he lunged. Carter hit the grass as Connor ruthlessly growled and pumled his brother's face. Dax laughed at the two while Alexander merely rolled his eyes. Declan and Weston merely watched the fight, but I didn't miss the muttered bets placed and the subtle exchange of money between the two.
Just as Carter finally got the upper hand in the fist, and Weston lost thirty bucks, Elijah jumped up from his seat pumping his fists victoriously in the air.
"Yesss!" he jumped in a circle in his own little dance, only stopping when he saw Connor and Carter sprawled on the ground covered in ketchup and mustard. "What happened to you guys?"
"Nothing!" the twins yelled as they jumped to their feet looking everywhere but at each other.
"So... why were we doing the world's worst victory dance?" Connor asked as he subtly attempted to rup all the ketchup stains out of his white T-shirt.
"Well I finally put together my algorithm for the best throw ever."
No one moved and I watched as everyone looked sheepishly away until Declan decided to speak up. "Bro we have no clue what the heck your talking about."
"Seriously... none of you remember? You all just didn't know and never even wondered what I've been doing this entire time ?!"
Even my eyes met the floor as I leaned into Dax, my hands shaking slightly. Elijah's eyes scanned across the patio looking for any sign of support. Seeing none he gave a soft sigh as he grabbed the football sitting on the grass from where it had been tossed around earlier.
"Well now there's no fun in this," he muttered before throwing the ball backwards. We all watched in awe as it hit a large oak tree, then falling onto the nearby sheds roof, rolling off to bounce on one of the chairs by a makeshift fire pit, and proceed to land in Declan's lap. I could only laugh as everyone stared at Elijah with wide eyes and gaping mouths.
"H-how did you d-do that?"
"Angles Bri, it's all math my dear."
I smiled shyly and said bashfully, "I-It was awesome E-Eli."
"First off, love the nickname," the newly dubbed Eli stated as he raised his hand for a high five, which I of course gave."Second, I'm glad SOMEONE here appreciates my intelligence. And third, you all look like dying fish." We both laughed as Connor blushed and the boys mouths all snapped shut at once.
"Please, that's not intelligence, just luck." Declan jested as he stood, twirling the football in his hands.
"By all means," Elijah spoke with a wave of his hands, "be my guest... good luck topping that!"
"This I gotta see." Weston taunted as he leaned back against the food covered table. I merely munched on my burger as Daxton pulled out our dingy iPhone to most likely record this failed attempt. Alexander turned to face the show once again as Declan began to toss the ball up and down as if warming up.
"Let's do this," Declan muttered as he got into perfect football form and threw with all his might straight at the tree Eli used in his stunt. The football flew through the air, slammed into the tree, and came flying back towards us.
Declan dove to the side as Alexander pulled Elijah and Weston out of the way. Connor jumped behind his twin, using Carter as a human shield. Daxton wrapped his arms around me, shielding me from possible harm.
With my head firmly pressed against Daxton's chest, I was unable to see what happened next. All I could do was hear a loud crashing noise and the two words that followed.
"Oh shit."
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Yes my dear Wattpad readers I, Black00Star_, was productive and wrote something!!!
Wow!! Scary!!!
Yes it is... but I'm glad to be back!!
Now a long time ago I posted and asked what POVs you all want for some of the next chapters. It has come down to two different characters... so please cast your vote....

James (The Father)

Or

Mikhail

Whoever has the most votes wins and shall be included in my next chapter!!!
Happy commenting!!!
~BS