Betrayal

Chapter 3

"Yeah. We have your brother, but you'd have to pay us."

...

"It's $10,000."

I sat there hopeless as I listened to their conversation.

"You are really good at talking smack huh?" Duke says.

I turn my attention to him.

I shrug my shoulders.

Duke doesn't really scare me.

Not at all.

At least that's what I think.

"Great news, Sallow. They're willing to pay the fee."
The Twister says.

I look at him crazy.

$10,000?

Why would they pay that much for me?

When all I do is slow them down?

I stayed silent.

I don't understand.

We're for real broke.

Why...why would they be willing to pay to do much for a let-down?

I mean, everyone sees me as "the weak kid."

"The emotional wreck"

"The nobody"

I didn't want to.

But I started to cry.

Like a weak kid.

Duke noticed me.

"Why are you crying?" He asks in a soothing tone.

I don't look at him.

"None of your business," I mutter.

Hours past by, but finally...

They came.

"We got your money. So give him back." Aaron forcefully says.

"Yeah. Hand him over." Ethan says boldly.

But I could tell that he was shaking.

He hates to see me defenseless.

I was surprised to see Dean there.

I'd at least think he'd stay in the car.

"Hm. Okay, here."

Duke pushes me towards them, where everyone actually hugs me tightly—even Dean.

I smile a little.

At least they actually care.

After all that hugging, we ran home, and lever looked back.

When we arrived, Dean immediately scanned me to look for injuries. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you? Do you need-" "I'm fine jeez. You don't need to take care of me, Dean. I'm not a baby anymore." I say, annoyed by his over-reacting.

"You are still a baby. You're only 14." Aaron comments. I shook my head and crossed my arms. "But that's a good thing!" Ethan assures me. "That means you get loved more!" He continues with a "baby" voice. I roll my eyes but smiled faintly.

"You should probably go to sleep, kid. It's getting late, and you got school tomorrow." Lucas suggests softly. "Can I at least watch a movie?" I ask. Lucas hesitates, and looks at Dean. Dean thinks about it, but finally agreed. "'Kay kid, you can watch one movie." He says and smiles warmly. I also smile and got on the couch. The boys go to their rooms—including Lucas, since we made him a room not to long ago. Of course, Dean wasn't a fond of it, but he still let it slide carefully.

A few hours later, and I've already watched 3 movies or so. Then all of a sudden, I heard someone move slowly over here.

I quickly turned off the lights and stayed silent.

"I know you're awake, Caden." A voice emerges out of nowhere.

I then felt a hand on my shoulder.

He turned on the lights and...

It was Dean.

I jumped.

"Dean! I-I'm sorry I'm staying up so late but-"

"You're fine, for now." He says softly.

He never does that.

He never forgives me.

"So, what were ya watchin'?" He asks and smiles at me.

I look at him, stunned at his kind response.

There was only one thing that I could think of that usually results in this kind of behavior.

"Are you drunk?" I ask.

A few seconds of silence past before he finally answers.

"Oh shoot, I think I am." Dean looks at his hands.

"For no apparent reason at all, do my hands have eyes on them?" He asks and puts his hands in my face.

I sigh.

"Why don't you watch the movie, while I go to sleep, okay?"

"Sure." He says and smiles.

I turn on the television, and leave the room, heading for my room.

"Weird. He must've had drinks in his room." I thought but quickly went to sleep.

. . .

When I woke up, I realized it was still nighttime.

I turn over to my side, where I found Dean watching me sleep.

I scream and jump off of my bed.

"Oh, sorry for scaring ya Caden. I just wanted to ask you a question." He says, still being so calm.

I nod, motioning him to go on.

"Do you want to go outside, maybe watch the stars for a bit?"

I was surprised.

I was hesitant but still agreed.

By the time I knew it, we were already outside.

"Don't you think the stars look nice?" He asks innocently.

"Yeah," I say and smile.

"So, I just wanna say I'm sorry." He says and looks at me.

My eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Yeah, for real."

I didn't know what to say.

His sober self would NEVER say such nonsense.

"I know my sober self is so..."mean" as you say it. But you gotta realize that I'm not just...doing it for kicks. I actually care about you, but it's just so hard for me to say "I love you". And I'll probably forget this conversation the next day, but I might as well just say it now." He briefly explains.

My eyes watered a bit.

And I started to smile brightly.

Dean then hugs me.

And I hug him back.