Shattered

Chapter 34: What Could Go Wrong

Chase's POV:

"Why should I apologize for the monster I've become? No one ever apologized for making me this way."- The Joker

Trigger warning: This chapter contains torture and gore

Three years earlier...

"Come on, please." My little sister looked up at me with big eyes, her hands together in a plea. She mastered the art of puppy dog eyes, I could give her that. "Please, Chasey? You're my favorite brother."

"I'm your only brother," I pointed out, taking a drag of my cigarette.

"You're my favorite sibling," she added with a cheeky grin.

"Competition barely exists."

It was true. Jackie was a coldhearted bitch. We rarely saw each other and when we did, it rarely went anything but awkward. Jackie wasn't a sister to me, not really. She was much more interested in her own shit than keeping up with us. Well, me at least. She gave more time to Ariel but she wasn't exactly nice to her either, just more tolerant.

"Okay, of all the brothers in the entire world, you're still the best one," Ariel tried, lifting her shoulders in an innocent shrug and smiling at me with the smile that got us both in trouble. It got her in trouble because no one, and I mean no one, could resist Ariel's charm. It got me into trouble because that smile was one of the reasons I had so many motherfuckers I had to keep track off while she wasted her time dating them when she deserved much better.

The beach was loud and the boardwalk was crowded but it was where Ariel wanted to be tonight. The almost sunset on the beach, the families and couples walking around and multiple vendors selling street food wasn't really my scene but I wasn't here for me.

"Thanks, Ariel, that's sweet of you to say," I said, putting out my cigarette and flicking it into a trashcan. "Now let's get some ice cream or something, huh?"

"Chase, I'm not thirteen anymore," she said, setting her hands on her hips, her long blonde hair swaying with her movements to add to the sassiness that was my baby sister. "I don't want ice cream."

"In what world do you get too old for ice cream?" I asked, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and leading her down the boardwalk with me. "I like how you say thirteen as if it was that long ago. You barely turned sixteen, you're still a baby, deal with it."

"Ugh, come on!" She groaned, moving in front of me and stopping us. "You don't even want to do this with me, I know you don't. You want to go to that party and instead you're stuck babysitting me."

I stared at her blankly, trying not to give anything away. Of course I didn't want to be here. The last thing I wanted to do was babysit a bunch of fucking sixteen year old's while they celebrated the weather getting warmer with a beach party, but our dad was paranoid as fuck and didn't really let Ariel do anything without someone watching after her. The only way Ariel could go to her stupid teenage party was if I or Jackie came too and we both knew there was no point in asking Jackie. I was Ariel's only hope and it normally didn't bother me except I did want to go to that fucking party tonight.

Declan was going to be at that party and he was going to help me prep for the meeting at the bank for my loan so I could finally get the welding thing going and get a place Ariel could come to as soon as she turned eighteen. She was tired of being under dad's unfaltering iron rule and I didn't blame her. I was tired of it too, he just let me off a lot easier than he did her. She's my baby, he would say and I'd get a slap in the face when I'd counter with, you're the one acting like a baby, let her live her life.