I should really get up and go back
inside. I should have gone inside over an hour ago and the others were probably worried about me. It was shitty of me because they really didn’t need anything else to worry about. Dash had made it through surgery and he would make a full recovery, he had to. Ariel was going to be physically fine. She had to have stiches and would have a scar for the rest of her life. I knew it was stupid, but that was the part I struggled with the most. They were both going to be wearing scars for the rest of their lives as a constant reminder of my major fuck up.
And, I had fucked up. I had caused this to happen to them.
If I had just left that fucking kid alone, if I had never put that goddamn potion together to make him fall in love with Ariel, none of this would have happened.
Instead, here we were, at the fucking hospital. And it was all my fault.
The wooden bench I was seated on shifted under the weight of someone as they sat down on it.
I didn’t have to look to know who it was. He would always follow me and had been since we were little boys. I could walk into hell and he’d be right behind me, taking my back and ready to fight off anything that came at me.
I sighed and dropped my head into my hands.
“She’s gonna have a scar,” I muttered angrily. “Because of me, she’s gonna have a scar. Every time she looks in the mirror, she’s going to be reminded of what happened to her because of me. Fuck. I’m supposed to keep her safe, it’s my job. And, Dash? Holy fuck. His entire back was already covered. Now, he’s got some on his front, too. How the fuck am I supposed to even face him? I made him swear to me that he would take care of her while she stayed with him. I made him swear it to me. Do you think that’s why he-”
“Stop it, Quinton,” Julian whispered fiercely as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “You couldn’t have known this was going to happen when you messed with that kid. If you hadn’t done something to him, I probably would have. Hell, Abel and Addison were all for following him home from school and putting a beat down on him. He would have ended up in the hospital had they followed through with that plan. You don’t think he would have come back for revenge afterwards, or used Ariel to try and get back at them? Tyson’s been wallowing in his own guilt and misery since the first day of school. It was only a matter of time before he snapped and did something awful to him. Seriously, Quint, even Damien has this kid’s address saved in his phone. He told me that he’s been driving past his house every day. I do not know what that’s about, or what he planned on doing. I just know that he planned on doing something, and whatever it was he planned, it was probably going to be huge. You and I both know he doesn’t do things in halves. He goes big in everything he does. I can’t even imagine… And this kid, from everything that I’ve heard of him, he would have come back with something. It might not have been this extreme, but something was bound to happen.”
Julian trailed off, likely thinking about all the chaos Damien could have caused. If Damien was going to do something, he’d go out of his way to make sure it was big enough to place him in the spotlight. It was annoying as fuck.
“And, I’ve been thinking about what it’s going to take to keep the scarring to a minimal. I don’t think I’m going to be able to get rid of all of it, but I’m sure as hell going to try.”
If anyone of us could do it, it was Julian. He spent a lot of his free time working with plants and creating new potions. He had to have hundreds of jars and vials full of things he’d created. Despite the fact that none of it was labeled, he seemed to know what was in every single jar. If he told me he’d find a way to get rid of as much of the scarring as he could, then I had to believe him.
“At least there’s that,” I muttered under my breath.
“Nobody blames you.”
I closed my eyes in an attempt to hide from his words.
He was dead wrong.
Oh, I knew neither Dash or Ariel would blame me for what happened to them. None of the guys would blame me. But, I did. I blamed myself because I knew it was my fault. I would likely carry guilt over this until the day I died. Julian could talk all he wanted about what the others had wanted to do and how it might have eventually backfired on us all and maybe he was even right. Didn’t really matter though because that’s not how it happened.
All I had wanted was to keep our girl safe. It never occurred to me that a person would harm someone like that when they were in love with them. Stupid, stupid. I knew better. People in love do all kinds of fucked up things. Why hadn’t I remembered that? I should have remembered.
“Quint,” Julian said as he squeezed my shoulder.
I shrugged his arm off and stood. My fists were clenched into tight balls at my sides. I wanted to hit something. This burning in my gut was just waiting to explode.
I wondered if Julian would take offense if I punched him in the face. Maybe I would get lucky and he’d hit me back. I could go for some extreme violence in my life right about now. Just so long as I was the one causing it.
“Hey,” Tyson called out from behind me.
I didn’t acknowledge that I’d heard him. He needed to get away from me before I entertained the idea of punching him in the face as well. I couldn’t hit my nephew, no matter how much I wanted to sometimes.
“You should go back inside,” Julian advised Tyson wisely.
I couldn’t agree more. The less people around me, the better. I didn’t want witnesses for my potential explosion when it came on.
Tyson ignored Julian’s advice and said two little words that made the fist around my chest loosen.
“He’s awake.”
I sighed in relief, the fight immediately going out of me.
I had known Dash was going to wake up, like I knew he was going to make a full recovery.