Fighting Family

17

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Callum's POV

"Someone rapped Weylyn," I sighed as I put my head in my hands.

The twins had been asleep for hours now, falling asleep somewhere around season three of the show we had been watching before I carried them to Axel's room for the night. My husbands had all come home late and this was the first thing I had said to them after dragging them into the bedroom to make sure no listening ears could hear what we were talking about.

Ryder went completely stiff at the words the second they left my mouth. Liam frowned, already assuming but still holding out hope that we were all misreading the signs. Jax was glaring at the floor, probably talking with Carter to see if they could get away with murder.

"We've thought this since he came to live with us," Liam started, "What confirmed it?"

"He had his session with Andrew today. Andrew didn't tell me what they were talking about but Weylyn pressed the panic button. When I got in there he was crying and shying away from Andrew. Andrew said he went to close the folder and it must have looked like he was about to grab Weylyn and he panicked. Axel stormed in and demanded to know if he had touched Wey and started getting really defensive. Too many similarities between him and Ryder have happened for it to be a coincidence at this point and I don't know what to do. Any trust he had with Andrew is going to be gone so therapy is out the window now and we can't help him if he doesn't let us. I'm at a complete loss."

The room was tense, the way it always was when we all had things to say but didn't want to risk making the situation worse in any way.

"I could talk to him," Ryder offered after a while. He looked reluctant but still smiled when I met his eyes. It had been 6 years since the last time he sold his body for money yet the scars on his back were still a constant reminder for him. He had gone through therapy, he had put in the work, and most days he didn't even think about what had happened, yet there were still nights he woke up thrashing and screaming trying to get those invisible hands off of him. "One survivor to another. Try to show him it wasn't his fault, that he's around people now that will never allow it to happen again, maybe help him find ways to cope until he's ready to do therapy again."

"It could make it worse though," Liam said, his frown still in place as he worried his bottom lip. "If you bring it up and he's not ready to talk about it he might panic and clam up. It's going to take a while before he's convinced it wasn't his fault so bringing it up randomly might make him think you're trying to shame him or even just negatively trigger him."

"But doing nothing doesn't help either," Jax countered.

"He's your brother," Liam said as he looked up to me. "What do you think will help most?"

"I don't know these kids anymore," I said, trying to keep the tears out of my voice. It didn't work and the bed I was sitting on suddenly dipped with my husbands' weight as they surrounded me. Jax held me tightly from behind, Liam hugged my right side while Ryder hugged the other while playing with my hair gently. "When I left they were 11. They were happy kids who sometimes had an attitude problem but who didn't at that age? Suddenly they're 15. Axel is jumpy and ready to fight god or die trying and Weylyn's been rapped. I don't know what to do anymore."

"None of this is your fault," Ryder whispered as he wiped a tear from my cheek.

"Isn't it though," I asked with a humorless chuckle. "If I hadn't started selling drugs and got sent to camp this wouldn't have happened! Lily wouldn't have had to take care of them and gotten careless, I could have already had custody of them before Mom left, I could have kept Weylyn from getting hurt, I could have stopped Axel from fighting and lashing out at everything. This is entirely my fault!"

I waited for one of them to say that I wouldn't have met them if none of this had happened and prepared myself to stay calm for it. If it meant keeping my baby brothers from getting hurt, saving them from all of this pain, I would do it in a heartbeat; even if it risked the four men I loved, my brothers came first.

Thankfully no one did and I was happy for it. I didn't want to have a fight like that tonight and it warmed my heart to know that they understood how much I cared for the two boys sleeping only three rooms down.

"We can't change the past," Liam said with a sigh. "We all made our own choices because we thought they were good at the time but we can't change them. All we can do now is deal with the aftermath, even if it's hard. This is ultimately your decision and we will support you every step of the way because even if it doesn't feel like it, you do know them. Time changes a lot of things but deep down under all the trauma, they are the same 11-year-olds you know and I know you will make the best decisions for them."

I sighed as I rubbed my hands down my face and looked at Liam. He was smiling at me, that same damn smile I fell in love with all those years ago. He had been threatening me the first time I saw that smile, telling me I better not mess with him or he'd put his gang leader on my ass. Now that same smile stared at me with nothing but love and reassurance.

"I love you," I said to him as I cupped his face and brought his lips to mine softly. His smile widened around my lips while my hand slid up to his hair before backing away. "I think having Ryder talk to him would help. Maybe not as bluntly as you offered," I said turning to my other husband. "That would probably scare him but I think just knowing someone else is on his side and has been through something similar could help him. And if he asks you to go into more detail and you're comfortable doing so, a full-length conversation would go a long way but if he's only ready for a step I won't make him walk a mile."

"I will help him in any way I can," Ryder said before brushing his lips against mine as well. It was soft and sweet and everything I loved about that man.

"Then you and I tackle Axel," I said as I leaned into Jax's chest.

"Like literally?"

"I doubt that would help. He threw a book at a teacher. He's got some sort of anger problems going on and he's not going to step foot in that therapist's office for a while because of today so we're going to have to home remedy this shit. We can't just do nothing and hope for the best. I think we just threw therapy at both of them too soon."

"He seems to have a thing with violence," Jax noted. "And he hates me, I don't know how much help I can be when my go-to is the punching bag. Maybe we could start taking him for runs just to get his anger out somehow? Maybe all three of us go together at first then slowly it could be a me and him thing so we can start getting to know each other. He might not want to open up to you so you don't feel guilty about what happened or because he still doesn't trust you since you had to leave." I frowned at the words but understood where he was coming from.

"I think that could be a good idea. Besides, he's young, he could probably outrun me, you still have good cardio since I've gotten lazy." Jax laughed softly before placing a gentle kiss on my forehead.

"We can do this," Jax said confidently. "This whole situation is shitty and I hate that they had to go through it feeling alone but we're here now and have some of the same traumas under our belt. We can so handle this. It's just going to take a little time and trust."

"I never once thought I would hear those words coming out of your mouth when you first came to camp," Liam teased as he nudged our husband's shoulder.

"I was a different person back then," he said with a shrug. "Plus you hated me so I can see why that would be difficult."

"Well, you shouldn't have been eye fucking my boyfriend," Liam said with a glare.

"You literally offered me to join you mid-make-out session."

"I was mindlessly flirting. You weren't supposed to take it seriously!" Jax rolled his eyes.

"Well, it worked out for me in the end didn't it?" Liam smiled at him, nothing but love in those eyes.

"Yeah, I guess it did."