Bulletproof Love

4: Vic

“Where is she?” Vic demanded.

“The local hospital, room 124.”

“I'm coming.” He shut his phone off. “I have to go.”

“Where to?” Kellin asked, following Vic.

“My brother, then my house for my other brother, and the hospital,” he summed up. Kellin’s eyes widened.

“What happened?” he asked worriedly, reaching out and then returning his hand to his side.

“My mother was drunk off her wits again. Jumped in front of a car apparently,” Vic snarled, more angry at his mother than anything else.

“It's going to take ages to walk though, and I don't have a car,” he then complained, walking through another corridor.

“I do,” Kellin told him. “I could drive you if you want.” Vic stood still in front of a door, turning his head to look at Kellin.

“You'd do that?” he asked. Kellin nodded.

“I can skip school and make sure you don't go about destroying things,” he stated positively.

“What makes you think I want to destroy things?” Vic asked. Kellin shrugged.

“Your face.” The shorter guy sighed and knocked on the door. He knew his brother’s classes.

They entered. “To what do we owe this visit?” the teacher asked, a little annoyed.

“Can I borrow Mike for a bit?” Vic asked.

“What for?” was her suspicious reply.

“Our mother has been hit by a car. The hospital called me and said we should come.” The teacher nodded.

“Go.”

Mike stood up and quickly packed his bag before leaving. A girl murmured something to him on his way to the door and he smiled thankfully. Vic smirked.

“It's a friend, Vic. Shut up,” Mike commented, passing his brother. Vic rolled his eyes.

“Kellin will drive us,” he told Mike. Mike shrugged.

---

They pushed through the hospital doors, Mike keeping James, their little brother, close and Kellin watching Vic cautiously. Vic didn't mind. He was determined to go there. If his mother wouldn't heal soon, someone had to watch over James. Neither Mike nor Vic wanted to go back to that house, and moving James into theirs wasn't an option.

Vic pushed through the door to the room dramatically. “Mom!” James yelled, running to the bed. Mike followed, a torn expression on his face. He was worried, clearly, but he despised her.

Vic did everything he could to control himself.

He wanted to scream. Yell. He wanted that the woman had died. He wanted to scold her. But for James he held back.

“James?” their mother whispered hoarsely.

“I could leave if you want me to,” Kellin murmured beside Vic. He shook his head.

“No. I'm gonna kill that bitch if there isn't someone to hold me back.” He narrowed his eyes when his mother addressed him.

“Victor, dear, come here,” she called. Just breathe. For James. He shuffled forward anxiously.

Vic scrunched his nose. She'd been drinking before the incident. She'd been drinking. He clenched his fists and glared at the injured woman. “You've been drinking,” he commented coldly.

“That's my genius boy,” said his mother with a lazy smile.

“Mike, can you walk home with James?” he asked through gritted teeth. “I want to talk to her without having to worry I say something I'll regret.” Mike nodded, ushering their little brother out.

“You have a ten year old, impressionable child as a responsibility and yet you drink like there's no tomorrow! James sees what you do. He's terrified! We would've taken him in before if it weren't for you and the stupid rules. You're constantly drunk off your ass, you're abusing your child! I've seen what you've done with James, Mother, and I don't want anything but for you to die at this point!” Warm fingers curled around his wrist, rubbing soothingly over the back of his hand. Vic breathed deeply.

“You abused him, you abused Mike and you abused me. What impression does that leave on a child? Have you seen what I've become?” he asked, voice growing softer with each word.

“I don't want James to end up where I have. I do care about him,” he spoke sternly. He swatted his mother’s hand away when it reached for his face.

“Calm down, Victor… You shouldn't break the rules so much though,” his mother slurred, this time slapping him in the face. Vic backed up with a gasp as she grasped his wrist, her nails dug into his skin. They drew blood. He watched distantly, his wrist stinging. He couldn't cry.

“You'll leave James alone. I wish the car had actually killed you,” he spat, ripping his arm from her grasp and rushing from the room. Kellin tailed him.

“Are you alright?” the taller asked. Vic shook his head, pulling on his jacket and hiding the rest of his wounded skin in his pocket. His good hand moved to his face.

“She's been harsher with me,” he confessed. Kellin couldn't hold back a gasp.

“We should get something to make sure you don't bleed out,” he murmured.

“No! We don't have to, it's just a scratch.”

“That's a lot of blood.”

“Whatever.” Kellin ignored Vic furtherly, going somewhere and returning with some kind of cloth to wrap around it. Vic sighed and stuck out his arm, pulling his sleeve up. Kellin quickly wrapped the cloth around the bleeding wound after cleaning it a bit. He seemed like he wanted to do something, but restrained.

“C’mon,” he told Vic, holding his good wrist again.