Page 31 of The Art of Deception

I know he does.

He turns to me, and his eyes start to water. The sight instantly breaking my heart.

“Where will I go after school?”

Taking a deep breath, I straighten my shoulders. “Greta will take you straight home.”

He stiffens, his muscles going riged like I’ve shot an iceberg right through him. He shakes his head in disagreement. “No. I have to come here.”

I tighten my grip on his hands. “I know, buddy, but you can’t. The shop won’t be here.”

He rips his hands from mine. “No, no, no. This is not how it works. I go to school, I come to the shop, then we go home. This is how it works.” He starts pacing the shop frantically, gripping at his hair, the sight making my heart hammer. I knew this was the exact reaction I was going to get.

I grab his arm to pull him around, but he smacks my hands away, yelling in my face, shocking me as I stumble back, and hetakes off toward the back room. I go to chase after him, but Greta grabs my arm and stops me. “I’ll go, you stay here. He’s upset with you right now. Let me calm him and remind him you’re not the bad guy,” she states as I hear something being thrown in the back room, making me jump while Greta takes off.

My entire body shakes, trembling as I catch a couple of customers watching me, but the expressions on their faces aren’t anything but sympathy. I take a deep breath as Hogtie stares at me as if to ask if I’m okay. I nod.

Jana walks over and wraps her arm around me, and ushers me to the waiting area. “C’mon, he’ll be okay. It’ll take some getting used to, but babe, if he got through the rest of your family passing and you being the one to take over everything, then he will make it through this tiny change in comparison, yeah?”

Sniffling, I nod.That helped.When they died, Levi was an off-the-charts wreck. It’s taken a long time to get him to where he is now.

In comparison, this is just a speck of dust.

We’ll get through this…together.

We have to.

I hear another scream and something else being hurtled to the ground. I grimace in response as I turn on my feet and start to make my way to the staff room at the rear of the studio. I know Greta can calm Levi, but she shouldn’t have to do this alone. I made this mess, I should help her clean it up.

I hear him groaning and grumbling as I walk toward the room, with Greta telling him it’s going to be all right. The only thing going through my mind is the fact that thiswon’t beall right, but I can’t let Levi see me falter right now.

I have to be strong—for him.

Striding through the opening, I see Levi picking up another metal tray, ready to slam it down, and I glare at him. “Don’t you dare slam that on the floor, young man.” He hesitates, tears inhis eyes as he hovers it, his chest panting while he stares at me. “I know you’re hurting, I am too…” I step closer to him as he raises it higher, as if he’s going to either hit me or slam it to the ground, but I don’t waver, and I continue my stance as I step closer. “This will be a big change for all of us, Levi. And I know it sucks, man, I know it does, but little bro, we have to stick together in this. We’re a team… the three of us, right?”

He huffs as Greta and I reach out. Greta takes the metal tray as I grab Levi in my arms, and he collapses into them limply. He’s so heavy that we both fall to the floor in a heap. But I keep a hold on him—he needs me right now, and to be honest, I need him just as much.

Greta sits on the floor next to us as I rock with Levi in my arms, stroking his hair to relax him as his breathing eases.

“I love you, Levi, and I will do everything in my power to make you happy. You have to know that.”

He exhales, his body limp and his eyes tired. “I love it here, Tomi. I go to school. I come here. I don’t want it to change.”

My stomach flips. He’s still not getting it, or maybe he gets it all too well, and therein lies the problem. I bite down on my bottom lip as Greta reaches out, grabs Levi’s hand, and tightens her grip on him. “Levi, I know you want to keep coming here, but you simply can’t. We will have to make our own fun at home. What do you say?” Greta tries to change tactics.

He shifts in my lap. “Can we do whatever we want at home after school?”

“Yes, Levi. We can do all sorts of fun things. Art, cooking, video games… we can do something different every day if you like,” Greta suggests, gaining his attention.

He sits taller–BINGO, we’ve got him.

“Okay,” his voice raises a little higher, relieving me instantly.

I know this isn’t an easy fix. It’s not like we can settle him with a promise of fun activities and he’ll be fine forever. Once theroutine kicks in, and he’s not coming here anymore, there will be more upsets, more outbursts, more destructive behavior. But for now, at least, Levi’s okay.

I’m not looking forward to how badly he’ll fall apart when this sinks in. I have no idea if he’ll go off the rails completely or if he’ll be fine. All I know is, I need to be prepared because I’m all my brother has, and if I can’t be strong for him, he has no chance of being strong for himself.

Chapter Ten

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