The bad boy wants to protect me?

I looked at Ladan with wide eyes as I tried to take this all in.

"so you're telling me that you used to sit back and let your dad and his gang and sometimes you even joined in, just beat up your little brother?" he nodded cautiously as if I would flu at a sudden movement from him. Truth is I was so calm on the outside but freaking out on the inside. I had been living with a bully, someone who would beat up his own flesh and blood just to try and fit in. This was a whole different side to Ladan that hadn't really become my reality until now.

There's more, I know there's more. It couldn't just end there.

"carry on with the rest Ladan" I demanded in an icy tone I didn't know I was capable of until now. He grimaced at my tone then took a deep breath.

"It was a year after the beatings started. Me and Jace had made amends when I had started fighting with him instead of against him. When the gang members came round and started beating him, I'd help fight them off. It was so sudden, literally on the Thursday I was kicking him in the ribs and on the friday I was the one banging his ribs and hitting the other guys. We were a good team, really good in fact. After a week or two nobody could take us on, not even in groups, not even my dad. It still didn't stop Jace from moving out as soon as he got the chance though, he got his first boyfriend and they got a flat in the city together. Me and him still kept in touch even though my dad kicked him out of the gang and disowned him. I know it's weird a 12 year old to have already gone through so much at such a young age. His mum dying, his dad a gang leader, trying to figure out who he was, getting used as a punching bag for ahead before movig out, all before he was even a teenager, it's crazy. But that's Jace for you. When your involved in this kind of lifestyle you're made to grow up fast." as Ladan went on with his story his eyes hardened each and everytime he mentioned his dad and the rest of the gang. I was proud of Ladan for eventually standing up for his brother, even if it may have been a little too late.

"when my dad died the first thing he did was ask Jace back to the gang, I needed him next to me, like I always have but he turned it down, he was happy with all his new school friends, his good grades and his boyfriend who took care of him. He had stuff going for him, stuff that would be ruined if he were too join the gang again. I resented him for turning down the offer cause when I needed him most he wasn't there with me. Cliche hey? Kind of like whEn I wasn't there for him. I haven't spoke to him since then."

He looked up into my eyes with a greif stricken expression, tears brimming his eyes.

"he had the word 'love' tattooed across his knuckles Ads.