Betrayed By You

Ch.26 - Tell Me the Truth

Luke didn't sit with Sam and me, but that was alright. As Devlin and Duval fought I couldn't spot another man in the crowd, the one called Flint. Luke had known before that Flint would be up to something and I trusted that Luke wouldn't let anything happen. Duval could protect himself against Devlin, I had no doubts about that. Duval didn't look like much, but he was stronger than anyone ever gave him credit for. We'd wrestled when we were younger and I hadn't had to hold back against him. I'd never thought about it back then, but now I was curious to try wrestling him again.

"So, tell me the truth, Sam."

He tilted his head and blinked. "What do you mean? The truth about what?"

"Everything, I guess. Why are Devlin and Duval fighting? What is this place? Do you really not care that Duval's a were-" He cut me off with a hand over my mouth and his expression turned from that of a younger brother or easygoing friend to a serious one, much like the one Luke wore.

"First, don't say that word around here. You never know who's listening. No, I really don't care what someone is. I was raised to respect everyone." He took a picture out of his wallet of him with a computer in front of him and a girl hanging over him from behind. "That's my sister. She's human and doesn't know anything about the gang. She knows about me because I was sleeping on her floor when I first had a forced shift. I wasn't born a shifter. I got attacked. Well, she did."

He closed his eyes and sighed, taking in a deep breath before continuing, "She'd dated a few different guys and one of them she dumped because he was getting to be a stalker. Well, she and I liked to walk around at night and we lived close to a movie theater. We'd gone to a movie we both wanted to see and we walked home through the woods. Her night vision wasn't the best and mine had always been alright, so we didn't really think anything of it. There was a blur of black and red and the next thing we knew it had knocked into her and she dragged me down because we walked with our arms linked at night she didn't get lost from me. I caught myself and rolled into whatever the thing was and it focused on me because I'd hit it. It lunged at me and got a good scratch along my arm and side when I raised my arms to defend. Not horribly deep, but deep enough. By this time my sister had fumbled out her pepper spray and she had great aim." He laughed. "Got the thing right in the eyes, too. Later I found out what I was and then I found the gang here and found out that Devlin was the one who'd attacked us. I hadn't paid any attention to my sister's exs, but I knew that Devlin had been one of them. He never gave either of us a good feeling, but she was being a rebel at the time."

I smiled, "I'm sorry for what he's put you through."

"It's alright. My sister doesn't know about him and if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have met Duval. Or Luke. And I really like them." He took a water bottle out of a side pocket and while he took a drink I watched the fight. Duval was a little ahead, looking less worked than Devlin. "About your other questions, this place was a gym at one point. Apparently the leader of the gang had known the people who were selling it or whatever and somehow he ended up with it. I don't know if any of us really know the full story, but we know pieces of it. As for why Devlin and Duval are fighting... From my understanding when their parents died no one wanted to take both of them at the same time and Duval refused to have what left of his world taken from him. He got all the paperwork pushed through and it's about the time he met you."

"Yeah, I remember when his parents died. Everyone else was saying if they needed to talk about it and I said something different."

"Yeah, you'd told Duval if he needed to talk about anything. It resonated with him. Devlin had been rebelling at about that time so Duval had main control over all the money and bills and things which Devlin hated. Devlin things Duval has always tried to control him and that he was the golden boy which left Devlin in the dark. If you notice even their fighting styles mirror. Sun and moon, fire and water, light and dark. They grew up fighting to be able to protect themselves. Duval once told me that's how his parents wanted it. Devlin can't take care of himself without Duval. Even for the gang, Duval has a budget and did all the financing and things. That was his job when he was part of the gang. Whatever he did, it was magic. The only reason he ever joined the gang was to keep an eye on Devlin."

I nodded. "Thank you, Sam."

"No problem. I like taking notes and keeping records and information. I think of it as research. I'm a writer."

"Really?"

He nodded. "I write about paranormal and things like this, so I don't use my full real name. Next time I have a signing I'll have Duval bring you. He comes to all of them. So does my sister. It'll be nice to have another friend there."

"Sounds like a great time."

We both turned towards the fight when we heard one of the boys land in the stands near us. Devlin had broken their agreement and started shifting, using the force of his shift to throw Duval into the bleachers. I rushed towards him.