“I lied. I’ve been known to do that. Everyone learns through suffering.”
He nodded, moving to go pick up my medical bag. As he did, I picked up the chair he’d brought for me and slammed it into his back, sending him onto the ground, before kicking into his ribs. “Apparently you haven’t suffered, Greyson.”
Before he could get up, I pulled my foot back again, kicking into his teeth. “HOW THE FUCK DID WE NOT ALREADY KNOW THE MOTHERFUCKING POLICE ARE NOW WORKING AGAISNT US?!”
Annoyed, I yanked the pole that had connected Emilio’s IV drip, lifting it high in the air before beating Greyson’s body with it repeatedly. “Do we not have people in the Chicago PD? Did they betray us, too? How does everyone in our world lose their GODDAMN MINDS AND WE DON’T HEAR ABOUT IT! What are you good for? WHAT ARE ANY OF YOU GOOD FOR?!”
I wanted to beat him to death. But instead, when he stopped responding, I dropped the pole before walking into the viewing room. There, leaning back on the chair eating an apple was Darcy, his feet propped up on the table.
“Anyone ever tell you that you’ve got serious anger issues?” Darcy asked before taking another b
ite of the apple.
“All of us have serious anger issues. It’s in our DNA,” Sedric replied as he did a sit-up on the ground next to Darcy.
“I see you two are just having a grand old time,” I snapped. Both paused—one mid-bite and the other mid-crunch—to glance at each other before looking over at me, smiles forming on their faces. In an instant, I knew what was going through their minds. “If either of you compare me to Ethan one more time, I will find the highest bridge to throw you off.”
“Yeah, definitely not Ethan-like at all.” Darcy fought back a laugh.
“I’m already getting goosebumps,” Sedric replied as he pushed himself off the ground. “Once he starts giving us the silent treatment and the cold stare, we’ve lost him.”
I stared at them for a moment, all of me still tense, before inhaling deeply. Taking the gloves off, I glared at them both. “You mean this cold stare? Or do I need Ethan’s pretty green eyes to really cut you deep?”
Darcy grinned.
Sedric sighed in mock relief. “There you are, Wyatt…you disappeared for a little bit in there.”
“No, it was still him. Just dark Wyatt. You know they call him the Mahdoc now,” Darcy replied.
I grinned at that, walking toward them and taking a seat on the coffee table. “Mahdoc…mad doctor…you’d think they’d be a little more creative.”
“At least they aren’t referring to you as kid anymore,” Darcy reminded me, and it was true.
“The secret to their respect is apparently abuse, the savages,” Sedric joked as he handed me a small sliver flask.
“No, the secret is and always will be the money,” I reminded him before accepting the flask and taking a long swing from it. When I paused to breathe, wiping the corner of my mouth, I continued, “They put up with the abuse because they want the money. What is death and pain to poverty? People would sacrifice their own children at our feet if it meant they could get even 1/100th of our wealth.”
“Maybe that’s why everyone is now thinking they can be us,” Darcy responded seriously, sitting up to the edge of his seat, leaning in closely to me. “No one has checked their greed.”
Tilting my head to look directly into his brown eyes, I asked, “Then why am I the mad one? Mahdoc? I’m a Callahan. We are Callahans. Everyone knows the rumors, and yet even still they are testing us. Everyone. Our own people. Our city. The goddamn police. They know who we are and what we can and will do, and yet they still come to die. They are the mad ones.”
“Moths to the flames,” Sedric said while walking over to the one-way mirror, watching as the guards tried to wake Greyson’s sorry ass up. “Just like moths, they can’t help themselves. They are programmed to seek out the light because that’s the only way they know how to survive. We’ve been raised to be flames; they’ve been raised to be moths. They aren’t loyal to us, they are loyal to anything that shines bright.”
Again, I looked to Darcy, and he gave me the same look. As I put the flask down on the table beside me, we both began to clap, causing Sedric to turn back around.
“Bravo.” I nodded to him.
“Who knew you could be so deep?” Darcy said with a laugh, leaning back into his chair.
Sedric flipped us both off before crossing his white arms over his chest. He leaned up against the window. “I’m not. The first time I saw my dad…at work…I was scared and confused. So I did what I normally did. I played outside in the woods until it was dark outside, and even then, I didn’t want to come back in. I wasn’t sure how to explain to my dad. But Ethan came out and sat next to me. He told me not to see them as the same as us. They were moths. We were flames. Moths that try to touch us must burn. That is the way of the world.”
“How old was he?” I questioned.
“Ethan? Sixteen,” Sedric answered.
“A natural-born Ceann Na Conairte,” I said, running my hands through my hair. “I would have just told you I don’t know why they do the things they do and to just suck it up and get back inside before you freeze.”
“It was summer,” he shot back, and this time I flipped him off in return.