The Family Buisness

Chapter 16

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Zane looks up coming out of the room as he sees Laurence come back in and immediately warning flags are being drawn in his head. Laurence's nose is bleeding and he can see the slight crookedness from where his nose has been broken. That isn't what alarms Zane. It's the tired almost drugged look in his eyes and the trembling in his hands. It's also the unnerving smile on his face that's nothing but tired and grieving and worst of all the sharp self depreciation in his eyes. It's like he's smiling because he knows he's worthless in his eyes.

Zane looks over where his mom is now moving over to Laurence eye's widening and he brushes off her worry shaking his head.

"Let me fix him up mom . . .You should watch our guests" Zane says smoothly coming down the stairs as Kawaii~Chan follows behind him. He reaches the bottom and Laurence is giving him a knowing stare. He nods to the kitchen and his mother agrees.

He doesn't catch the annoyed looks of Aaron and Ein but Jenna watches the two leave into the kitchen sniffing the air quietly. she takes a deep breath immediately afterward and Zane knows she must not smell something good from Laurence.

Once they're in the kitchen Laurence relaxes slightly, feeling better in privacy and Zane sees it in his face as he grabs cotton pads from the first aid cabinet for Laurence handing them to him.

Laurence sits as a stool on the island and Zane leans against the fridge backward crossing his arms. 

"So what happened between you and my brother" He starts off gently tilting his head making sure his voice is calm. He's studying everything little thing he can find anything to figure out what was going on

"Nothing I just got what I deserved" Laurence chuckled quietly looking up and there's that flash of regret and self hate again.  Zane frowns seeing it shaking his head. 

"What did you tell him" He asked curiously tilting his head. "My brother doesn't punch people for no reason" 

"I stopped him from leaving. He was going to go off alone. I told him I promised Vylad and I wasn't going to let him get himself killed." He snorts adjusting the cotton padded bandages to sit slightly more in his nose. Zane fell silent seeing the way Laurence's fingers twitched. 

"Why do your fingers twitch like that Laurence?" Zane asked quietly as Laurence's gaze seemed to snap up immediately and he stiffened. "They did that when Garroth called you out on being a shadow knight" 

"Yeah and so what?" He calmly retorted "It's a physical reaction to certain things. Bad habit from the knights I've not been able to shake all the way . . . . .probably never will" He added under his breath looking down away from Zane's inquiring gaze. 

"No it's more than that" 

Laurence shot him a look as he glared at him shaking his head "No it's not. Leave it be Zane" Zane took the warning and the stubbornness in his voice and simply nodded. But it still didn't add up to why Garroth had punched him.

"Alright . . . but what else did you tell Garroth . . Garroth didn't punch you over you trying to stop him" 

Laurence sighed the tired look sweeping back into his gaze. "I told him the truth. He got upset, asked my why I cared so much."