Page 2 of Cruel Knots

“Come on. Let’s finish this,” I say, moving out of the shadows to help our brother.

I grab Denver while Leon tackles Trevor. Their flailing arms and clumsy moves make it easy for us to incapacitate them easily. We strike them at precise points along their hamstrings using the fruit knives we smuggled out of the kitchen this afternoon.

A string of curses escapes them as they land on the ground.

“What the fuck?” Denver shouts, clutching his bleeding thighs. “Do you owe them money or some shit, Trevor?”

“No,” Trevor moans. For a moment, he looks up at me. “Wait a minute...” Recognition flits through his eyes. “I know you...you’re the guys who work at the Baldwins’.”

“You know them?” Denver gasps.

“Yeah. “I’ve seen them in Lucia’s home,” Trevor says in a shaky, uncertain voice. “They work in the gardens of her mansion or maybe they’re janitors or something.”

Cooper lands next to them, groaning. Two crimson slashes cut through the front of his pristine white shirt.

“What the hell?!” Denver yells, his eyes widening. “Why’d you have to kill him?”

“He’s not dead,” says Mikhail, coming to stand next to me.

“Why’re you here?” Trevor asks in a subdued voice. “What do you want from us?”

“We wanted to check out the loser who’d asked Lucia to the dance,” Leon answers from my side, his face contorting with rage. “We heard everything you said about her.”

“So what?” Trevor heckles. “Did the bitch send you to spy on us?”

“Lucia would never do such a thing,” Mikhail shouts.

“So, you’re just a bunch of psychos lusting after her,” says Trevor with a shit-eating grin. “Is that the reason you’re stalking me and my friends?”

An amused grin lifts the corner of Leon’s lips. “For once, you’ve got it right.”

“Do you know who we are?” Trever snarls. “You won’t get away with hurting us.”

Mikhail kneels before him. “Does it matter what happens to us when you’re dead and buried?”

Trevor’s arrogance cracks. Fear seeps into his eyes as he stares between Mikhail and me.

“They’re not serious, are they?” Denver asks, his eyes still fixed on his squirming friend.

Trevor gazes into my face. “You can keep the bitch,” he spits. “Just let us go.”

“How dare you talk about her like that?” Mikhail hisses. “She’s not an object to be passed around!”

There’s a sudden flash of silver. Next moment, Trevor howls, clutching his mouth. Streams of blood gush from between his fingers as he stares wide-eyed at Mikhail.

“Come away,” I say in a grim, authoritative tone. “We don’t have the time to dispose of three bodies this evening. Lucia’s probably waiting for him by the auditorium gates.”

“But—”

I shake my head. “Not tonight.”

A disappointed look comes over my youngest brother.

“Let’s take their clothes,” Leon says from beside me. “Lucia won’t be embarrassed by us but the mean bitches that go to her school will give her a hard time if we go dressed in these rags.”

“You already ruined his shirt,” I say, gesturing toward Cooper’s crimson-soaked shirt.

He shrugs. “I’ll button up the jacket.”

---