Fighting Family

26

Weylyn's POV

We all sat on the couch, mostly doing our own things. Liam, Ryder, Carter, and Callum were all watching some show that I wasn't paying any attention to. Axel was putting together a new Lego set now that our grounding was over and I was reading the book that Ryder had bought me. Axel was on the floor, his legs crossed while tiny Legos covered the floor in front of him. I was sitting on the couch with Callum and his husbands, leaning against my brother's side while Jax's arm wrapped around his shoulders.

It felt nice to be like this. All of us sitting together, enjoying each other's company in silence. After yesterday, Axel could use a day where nothing bad happened.

We had been minding our own business, pulling books out of our lockers so we could get ready to meet Jax in the parking lot. With our lockers being so close together, we were huddled pretty close together but for us, that was normal. The guy had come out of nowhere. I vaguely recognized him from our homeroom class but I didn't have time to think of his name before he opened his mouth.

"What's up faggots," he asked with a dumb grin on his face. Axel turned around fast, a harsh glare already on his face as he pushed me farther into the row of lockers behind us.

I had never really liked that word. After everything that Rowan had done, everything he said after, and while he was denying the accusations Axel made, that word just made me feel dirty.

I shrank into the wall farther and his eyes followed me. We held each other's eyes for only seconds before Axel blocked him out.

"Leave us alone before you sign up for something you have no chance of winning," Axel spat. The guy was bigger than him but so was Rowan and Axel always seemed to do well with him, but I couldn't help but be nervous.

Callum would kill us if we started fighting within the first few month of school and on the off chance that Axel couldn't take him, I didn't want my brother to get hurt.

"I'm not scared of some brother fucking faggots," he scoffed before shoving Axel out of the way. Axel only stumbled but it was enough for the boy to push me farther into the wall. His hands caged my head between his arms as he leaned closer. I forced myself as far away from him as I could, the locks and handles of the lockers behind me dug into my back.

The boy gave me a sick smirk as he leaned into my ear. Axel was already getting ready to punch when he backed away, his hands raised in surrender.

"Chill out," he soothed, backing away from my brother, his smile kind now. "I didn't do anything. How about you go comfort the baby, he's crying. You should probably do something about that."

Axel looked torn between going after the asshole or staying here with me. In the end, he came to me, his hands holding my face gently as he looked for any injury he might not have seen happen.

"What did he say to you," Axel seethed when he saw I was fine. His thumbs wiped the tears off my cheeks that I didn't even know were there.

"Nothing," I sighed with a shake of my head as I pushed his hands away from me. "We need to go. I'm sure Jax is already waiting. I don't want to make him mad." Axel didn't look convinced but wrapped his arm around my shoulders regardless, leading me out the door as I tried to collect myself. I relied on him to guide me as I tried to wipe the rest of the tears out of my eyes.

My hands shook as I followed him, those words echoing in my ears as I looked over my shoulder, praying he wasn't hiding around the corner somewhere.

For the first time since knowing him, seeing Jax leaning against the car with a glare on his face and his arms crossed with the mountain of muscles on display, I relaxed and all but ran to him.

If Jax was surprised, he didn't show it. He simply opened the door for me and closed it as I got settled in.

"How was school," he asked as he turned the key over and pulled out of the parking lot. Axel scoffed at the question and I only shrugged, hoping my red face didn't give us away.

"It was fine. As good as school can be I guess."

The rest of the ride home had been done in silence and the second we walked through the door, Jax stole Axel so I was left behind. I didn't want him to leave, not after what just happened but I knew Axel needed it. He was all but shaking in anger and doing homework like that wouldn't have helped. The entire time he was gone, those words repeated in my head. It was only a few words. A few words that he could squeeze out before Axel could have heard him but they meant so much.

"Let me know if you ever get tired of fucking your twin. You and I could have some fun. I'll be watching you."

I had felt sick hearing those words. I was trapped between his arms, his body literally inches away from mine, and Axel couldn't help without getting in trouble.

No one would believe us. If Axel had hit him after his last trip to the principal's office, he would be suspended in seconds. It wouldn't matter what the boy had said or done, all that would matter was that the 'problem children' had made two mistakes in less than two months. Callum would be pissed. He'd probably give up on us; just ship us off to the next foster home on the list.

It wasn't worth it. Axel didn't hear him and he walked away. No one needed to know anything. All I had to do was stick by Axel for the rest of the year and it would be fine. And hell, foster care would be worth it if it meant that the boy didn't have the chance to lay a finger on me.

I shook my head from the thought as I leaned closer to Callum. He smiled down at me before hugging me close.

"What do you two want to do this weekend," Callum asked as he turned the volume down on the TV.

"Don't all of you have to work," Axel asked, barely looking up from his legos.

"We're going to try and start taking one weekend a month off," Jax said as he placed a kiss on Liam's cheek.

"Why," I asked before I fully thought it through. "You own a small business, you can't afford to stray from your scheduled hours. Liam has clients that might only be able to meet on weekends. Most people only have time to get tattoed on weekends. It doesn't seem like a good financial decision."

"We can handle one weekend a month," Liam shrugged. "Setting up time for personal reasons is a good thing. We all deserve a break every now and then. We usually work 7 days a week. It'll be good for us to take time off."

"Besides," Ryder added. "We're a family now and families spend time together. Ideally, we'd take every weekend off but that's sadly not sustainable for us. You'll still have at least one of us home all day on weekends but we all decided we wanted to be able to all hang out together instead of separately. We don't have to do something big, but if there's a restaurant you want to try out or a movie you want to see, let us know."

"We never did that at home," I whispered to Callum.

"I know," he sighed with a guilty frown. "But I want to change that. We deserve to have fun, don't you think?"

"I think it would be nice." Callum smiled and pulled me closer to him.

I didn't tell him that I knew it wouldn't last long. Lily tried to do the same a few times in the beginning. After Callum left and Mom started working late, before she started dating Rowan, we would have weekly family days. Every Sunday would go to the park or playground, get some ice cream if there was enough money, and hang around the house all day if there wasn't. We'd laugh and forget about how awful we all were at school.

After a few months of that, we'd stop. Lily would say she was too tired to walk us to the park. She'd claim there wasn't enough money for ice cream when Mom left some on the counter for us. She'd refuse to come out of her room until it was too late to do anything. Eventually, we stopped asking and Axel and I would just hang out together in our room.

Every now and then Lily would randomly start the tradition again but it never lasted for more than a few weeks before she gave up again. Then she started dating Rowan and all of her free time went to him. We never had family day again after that and soon after Lily started acting differently. We became a chore to her, a couple of dogs that she didn't want but couldn't seem to get rid of.

I expected Callum to do the same but there wasn't a reason to tell him that. For now, I would cherish the time he gave us.

"I don't know what there is to do around here," Axel shrugged, still not really paying attention, probably thinking the same thing as me.

"How about we make it a surprise then," Ryder said, far too excitedly. "We'll all brainstorm tonight and we'll tell you what to dress for tomorrow."

"That sounds fun," I said, hoping my smile didn't look as fake as it felt.

I glance at Axel and he lightly shakes his head. We have been together for so long that I understood the words he was thinking clear as day.

I could all but hear the words "Don't get your hopes up, it's not happening."

I frowned and leaned farther to my brother before turning back to my book. Callum turned the volume up to the normal level and held me close. Even if we didn't start the family day up again, at least we still got to have little moments like this, and this could be enough.