It's been a week since Nate the Nitwit fucked up, and though Sang Baby is starting to forgive him, it's affecting the rest of us too. I'd beat the shit out of him if it would do any good, but frankly, he's doing a pretty good job of it himself.
Luke's been more off kilter than the rest of us, but I can't seem to find the right way to get him talking. I'm not sure what it is about this whole situation that is eating at him, but I'm fucking worried. I tried to ply him with chocolate, for Christ's sake, and he fucking declined me! In all the time I've known him, I've never seen my brother walk away from his sweets, but he just shook his head and closed himself up in his room.
If we were thirteen, I'd know what he was doing in there, but we're past all of that puberty shit now, and I don't have a fucking clue.
I think he's lost weight too, though it's hard to tell with him wearing long sleeves or sweatshirts all the time. I never thought I'd say it, but I fucking miss the days when he'd walk around half naked with a dopey grin and not a care in the world.
I'd deal with it if it were just me that he was being weird with, but he doesn't return Gabe's calls, and he's withdrawn even around Sang Baby. She looks so sad when she sees him, and it breaks my fucking heart.
I decide to try and get him talking again, and I pick the lock on his door and let myself into his room.
See, Luke. You're not the only one with skills.
I open my mouth to ask what's bugging him, but when I see my brother wrapping gauze around his forearm, the words that come out are, "What the hell is going on?"
Luke jumps up and yanks his sleeve down like it will fucking erase what I've just seen.
"It's nothing, baby brother," he answers coolly, and my hackles go up. We've never kept secrets before.
I stomp toward him and grab his arm before he can dart away from me and I yank his shirt up and see a variety of criss-crossing cuts marring his flesh.
"What is this shit, Lucian?"I thunder.
He twists his arm away from me and steps back. "It's none of your business, North." The frost in his tone and the haunted look in his eyes sets me reeling. This is not my brother. He lowers his voice and points to the door. "Get out!"
I clench my jaw and shake my head. "No. Fuck, Luke. Are you doing this to yourself?"
He folds his arms across his chest and doesn't answer me. The hardness in his expression is terrifying, and I grab my phone and immediately red-line Mr. B. The fact that Luke isn't answering me tells me all that I need to know.
"Shit," I growl and I adjust my position. I don't want my brother to think that he's getting away from talking about this. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what the fuck is going on."
Luke doesn't twitch a muscle, and remains stoic while I stand in front of him, fuming.
We stand in our little showdown for almost fifteen minutes, and my mind is spiraling through all of the scenarios that could have put us here. Have I neglected Luke so much that I didn't notice that he needed help?
The front door slams, and I shout, "Upstairs!"
Luke looks like he's ready to bolt, and I let down my guard and plea, "Don't. I don't want to hit you, but I will if it will keep you here."
His expression flickers for a moment, and I see that the stony facade is masking something much darker than he's let on. Doc and Mr. B enter the room, and I finally let my arms drop.
"Mr. Taylor, what is going on here? You sent out an emergency signal and then nothing." Mr. B looks at Luke and me and raises an eyebrow, asking for an explanation.
I stalk over to my brother and rip his sleeve clean off. "Luke's fucking cutting himself," my voice cracks with emotion and my brother jerks his head up to meet my eyes. "I don't know what to do," I whisper.
Something snaps in Luke and his eyes ignite in fury. "You don't know what to do? YOU don't know?" he rages. He shoves me hard in the shoulder, causing me to stagger backward and into Doc. "YOU don't have to do anything, North! You have no idea what I'm dealing with!" He grabs both me and Doc by the arm and physically throws us out of his room, slamming the door in our faces.
I hear him start shouting and I ease the door open to see what's happening. Luke tears his shirt off and reveals that there are several healing scabs on his other arm, and my heart breaks, seeing my brother like this.
"This is all your fault!" he shouts at Mr. B, surprising us all. "We were fine! Sang was fine! Everything was FINE until you had to ruin it all!"
At the mention of Sang Baby, I move to take a step forward. Doc stills me with a hand on my shoulder and shakes his head. "Let this play out," he murmurs under his breath, and I nod curtly and watch the scene unfold.
Luke is pacing frantically and I worriedly confirm that he's skinnier than before.
"What is it exactly that I've done to make you feel this way, Mr. Taylor?" Mr. B asks in a calming voice.
Luke stops and glares at Mr. B in a way that makes even me cringe. He shoves his arm in Mr. B's face and softly says, "This. You did this, Owen Blackbourne. Beautiful, sweet, innocent Sang is cutting herself up, and it's your fault. You made her love you and then you cast her aside. You broke her, and you were too self-absorbed to even notice that we were losing her."
Fuck! Sang Baby is doing this? I knew that things were hard, but I didn't realize. Leave it to my brother to see what the rest of us didn't.
Luke steps back and squares his shoulders. "I used to look up to you, Owen Blackbourne. You were the example for everything I wanted to be, but now, I can hardly even stand you. You forgot that Family is First, and I'm not going to let you do that anymore."
An air of authority begins to surround my brother and I find myself standing taller.
"Owen Blackbourne, I am disappointed in you as a brother and even more so as a leader, but I will not follow your footsteps and abandon you when you need me. You've hurt Sang so deeply that the only way she feels she can cope is to carve into her own flesh. I'm grounding you, Owen Blackbourne, until you can prove to her and to us that you're worthy of the leadership that we've entrusted to you. Fix this, or I'll petition the Academy to have Kota replace you as our Liaison."
Luke glances at me and I nod my head in agreement. Something in his posture changes, and I can't help but be proud to call him my brother.
***
