Fighting Family

14

Axel's POV

Weylyn held me against his chest as my hands clasped over my ears. His hands were tangled in my hair as I tried to block out the sound of Callum's punches. My heart was racing in my chest and I felt like I couldn't breathe as Weylyn whispered soothing words to try and cover up the other sounds; it didn't work.

Callum was going to beat us. He was angry but Callum was always angry. He was angry even back when he used to live with us at Mom's house but he never took his anger out on anything besides just yelling for a few minutes. I could deal with the yelling. I didn't love it and Weylyn couldn't stand it but yelling was fine; a lecture was nothing.

"It's going to be okay," Weylyn whispered when the sounds finally stopped coming through the walls. "It's going to be okay. Everything is fine. Callum isn't going to do anything." He didn't know that. Our Callum never acted like this. This new Callum is unpredictable, he could come in here and beat us right now and I wouldn't be surprised anymore.

"We're going to be okay. Everything is fine. I won't let him touch you."

"If he comes in here, get behind me," I said as I lifted my head from his chest. He was pale and tears were pooling in his eyes, the threat of violence clearly getting to him as well.

"I can take it," he defended, blinking back his tears.

"If he comes in here, you get behind me. Do you understand?" He looked like he was about to argue when the door opened. Weylyn got behind me, huddled between me and the bed frame.

I glared at Liam as he hovered at the door. He frowned at the two of us for a second before pulling a tight-lipped smile.

"Callum wants to talk to you over dinner so we should head down."

"We aren't hungry," I scoffed while Weylyn put a hand on my shoulder.

"Then you should come talk to him. He wants to talk about what happened at school today."

"Nothing happened at school."

"I know that's not true," Liam said in a voice that was far too calm considering what Callum would have told him.

"We don't want to talk to him right now." He paused for a second before frowning.

"Is there a reason you're trying to avoid this? We all know he's not going to let this go and he shouldn't. You two have caused a lot of trouble for him and the school and for yourselves. Something has to be done about this. He's calmed down now but if you keep trying to put it off then he's going to get mad again."

"We shouldn't make it worse," Weylyn whispered in my ear but I just glared at Liam.

"Tell him we'll be down in a second."

"I will. Thank you for agreeing. I know it was hard." He left without saying another word and shut the door behind him.

"What are the rules," I asked Weylyn as I turned around to face him. His tears were back while I tried to hide the fact that my hands were shaking.

"If anything happens run back here and lock the door. Don't try to stop it or get in the way. If you aren't back in a few hours see if they are still down there, if they left you try and drag up the stairs, if they are still there call the cops." I sighed as I took his head in my hands, brushing away the tears that dripped down his face.

"Good," I said with a smile that I hoped was comforting. "It's going to be okay. We might get lucky this time. It's only the first offense. He might just yell. We'll be more careful next time."

"No next time," Weylyn said with a glare. "It's not worth the risk. Starting right now we are angels. No more picking fights, no more risky shit like this, none of it. I'm done."

"Alright. No more. I'm sorry I dragged you into this. I should have known better."

"It wasn't your fault."

"It was literally all my fault."

"I believe what you told me about what happened. Based on what you said happened you had every right to lash out. Sure, we shouldn't have tried to trade classes, but that does not give her the right to act like that, ever." I only nodded, knowing there was no way I was changing his mind any time soon.

"You ready for this," I asked as I took a deep breath and tried to shake away the steadily increasing heart rate.

"No."