Salient Secret

Chapter 19

Kai's pov

"You want them with or without syrup?" I ask Sammy as he patiently waits by the table for me to bring him his pancakes. I go ahead and pour some syrup over them and place the plate down in front of him.

"Yayyyy!!! Thanks Kai!" he says cutting a big piece of the stack of pancakes and stuffing his mouth. 

"Anytime," I say  messing up his hair. 

"Why can't I have pancakes every night for dinner?" He begins to lick the whipped cream off of the top of his pancakes earning a chuckle from me.

"Because you'll get fat and look like an Oompa Loompa," I say blowing up my cheeks to demonstrate.

"Oompa Loompa, Oompa Loompa," he says copying me, he has had wayyy too much sugar, I can't help but smile while watching him devour those pancakes in a very barbaric manner. 

I'm snapped out of my trance when my phone starts ringing.

"What's up TJ?"

"Bro, it's your brother, you have to get here right away," I sigh.

"Alright I'll be there just give me 10 minutes."

"Okay hurry up." I hang up, and think about what to do with Sammy, I can't take him with me because it's dangerous, I can't take him to Maya's house because that would just be awkward, and my dad is with my brother, probably part of whatever trouble he is in...There is one person I know who won't let me down...

"Sammy quickly go get a jacket I have to take you somewhere."

*****

"Kai, are you out of your mind, I'm in a freaking hospital, what am I going to do with a 9 year old??" Avery whispers, very harshly, so that Sammy can't hear us. 

"Avery please, you're the only person I can trust with him. Please?" Her face softens.

"Fine." 

"Thank you," I say kissing her on the forehead.

"He's easy, he'll be asleep in no time, just read him a story or something. I'll be back in an hour or two." With that I walk out of the room, rush down the stairs, get in my car and speed all the way to the address TJ sent to me. I arrive at what looks like an abandoned warehouse, I already know what I'm about to walk into, this happens a million times wherever we move to, some things never change.  

"Kai Grayson," I say to the bouncer at the door and he lets me in.

"Kai you finally made it, follow me." TJ, my closest friend, leads me to a room in the back where I see Lorenzo laying on a metal table crying out in pain. I rush towards the table, blood all over his face, bruises all over his body, the usual, except this time, there's a gaping wound on his lower abdomen covered with a cloth.

"What the hell happened???"

"Torez stabbed him after he won the fight," TJ responds.

"Where's my dad?" I ask.

"He went after Torez." Of course he did. 

"Ahhhhhh!" Lorenzo cries out which refocuses my attention to the problem at hand. 

"It's going to be okay bud," I assure him. 

"Where's the med kit that I told you to carry with you to every fight?" I ask my brother who is draping in sweat and blood. He points to a locker along the wall, TJ opens it and pulls out the med kit, brings it to me and lays it open.

"Alright buddy, this is going to sting just a bit," I say and then inject morphine into him to stop the pain. I remove the cloth put there for pressure and then I grab the rubbing alcohol to disinfect the wound, I use it  to clean the wound, I hand it back to TJ and point to the stitching kit. I stitch him up using dissolvable stitches, wipe away any excess blood around the wound with medical wipes and wait for him to wake up. 

Avery's pov

It has been an hour, Sammy has shown no signs of tiredness. I put on some kid shows for him to watch on my lap top, he is just sitting there, wide awake, I'm beginning to think he had a bowl of sugar before coming here. 

Eventually I notice him rubbing his eyes so I ask,"Sammy, are you tired?" he turns around and looks at me with droopy eyes and nods his head. 

"Okay close the laptop and come lay by me." He climbs onto the small bed and snuggles in close to me. 

"Avery," he says which takes me by surprise, and then continues, "Is my brother going to be okay?" he asks with such concern in his voice my heart melts. What a good younger brother. 

"Of course he will, do you know where he went?"

"No, TJ called him and told him something is wrong with Lorenzo again." 

"Again?" I ask now very concerned.

"Yes, Lorenzo and Daddy always get hurt and then Kai goes to heal them."

"Why does Lorenzo and Daddy get hurt?" I ask, my curiosity only growing.

"Because they get hurt in the ring, they fight big people." Fight???

"They'll be okay Sammy, Lorenzo and Daddy sound like they can handle themselves."

"I'm talking about Kai, if something happens to him I will have no one."

"What about Lorenzo and Daddy?"

"They always fighting, I live with Kai in his house because he always looks after me." My heart omw.

"What about your aunt?"

"Kai said Aunty Henley doesn't want to see us." 

"No the other one who is in hospital, the old one?" According to Kai, she's the reason he keeps visiting the hospital.

"My dad only has one sister."

"What about your mom?"

"Daddy said she's gone." I  realize this conversation is getting a bit too intense for a 9 year old so I go back to talking about Kai.

"Kai will be okay Sammy, when you wake up, you will be at home with him."

"Promise?"

"Promise." And with that, this beautiful little boy drifts off into sleep.

My heart is racing now, I had no idea, Kai has never mentioned any of this before. He doesn't live with his father? His brother and dad are fighters??? Okay well that actually explains a lot, those bodies don't grow off of trees, and the Fly or Fall thing must be a secret fighting organisation or something. The pieces are finally coming together, except for the fact that Sammy said they don't have another aunt, why would Kai lie to me??? Maybe Sammy just doesn't know he has another aunt. But if Kai was lying, what was he really doing here? Do I tell him I know? No because if I do and he tells me everything, I am still lying to him about, well, everything, then I'll just feel bad.

I'll just have to figure this out on my own.