Page 41 of The Filth Kings

“But—”

“Get your funky ass out of here!” I yelled at Herringbone.

He jumped and nodded his head quickly. When I mentioned Jalissa’s name, he looked as if he saw a ghost.

“If Jalissa paid you a visit…so willingly…thi—this is bad, Mr. Decebal…Your uh—father will want to see you right away. I can’t just deliver such news without further detail and?—”

“Go!” I gritted.

My fingers dug into the armrests of the seat that I occupied. Mr. Herringbone released a loud, wet fart. It clapped like thunder and echoed throughout the quiet room as if it had something to demand. He froze with a mortified look that covered his face. His entire body trembled as he clasped his hands together to apologize for his disgusting actions.

The muscles in my jaws clenched and for a split second, I felt myself getting ready to pull my Glock out and end him for the smell that reeked from his pungent body.

“I didn’t mean to.” He pleaded.

“You didn’t? So what? It’s an accident, like the smell of you pissing and shitting on yourself is?” I cocked my head to the side.

I didn’t even want to figure out why a grown ass man, confidently stood in front of me with a shitty and pissy diaper on.

“That’s disrespect to me and my brother’s presence, Mr. Herringbone,” I purposely stated, so he could relay that bit of information to Impurity too.

I looked over at Monster and he no longer looked our way. His eyes were glued to his phone. We needed to talk, and get some things straight.

“Bro-brother? Mon Mon, is your?—”

“Get the fuck out before I kill you, Herringbone.” I cut him off.

I could no longer bear the smell of him. I would rather smell a dead body then to allow him to continue to stand in my space reeking that bad. Herringbone opened then closed his mouth. Without another word, he hurried out of my private room.

“I never liked him,” Monster stated loud enough for me to hear him clearly just as Herringbone shut the door behind himself.

“Do you need anything before we have this conversation? Pain meds? Liquids?” I asked as I stood to scoot my seat closer to his bedside.

I kept medical equipment on the lower-level guest room, just in case of emergencies. Monster was shot, but I knew that I didn’t do the damage that I really could have done. I let my emotions take over without thinking rationally. A normal person would apologize, but I didn’t know how to utter such a word.

Monster sat up, the thin white sheet slid off of his body which exposed his bare chest and stomach. I eyed the deep scars that wrapped around him like a canvas. I wasn’t sure if all the tattoos on him was supposed to serve as some sort of distraction from all the deep cuts and scar wounds on him.

“I—”

“You thought I betrayed you. In the beginning, that was my initial plan…until I saw that you’re nothing like how Jalissa described you to be.” He cut me off, getting to the point.

My shoulders dropped as I felt the unease that crawled under my skin. It was an itch that I couldn’t scratch. I trained myself to control my emotions by always keeping them in check. My usual calm was missing, I didn’t know what words to use to say to Monster. He was my brother, and the longer I stared at him the more of Jalissa mixed with Impurity’s features I saw. He was just darker which probably hid who he resembled more.

I clasped my hands tightly in front of me, my thumb fingernails dug into the palm of my hand. My throat tightened, then a strange unfamiliar lump formed there. I wronged a lot of people, but this… Sitting in front of Monster, seeing his scars and to think about all the rejection and the life that he lived prior to starting work for me, made me feel sick in the stomach.

A flood of emotions hit me all at once. I still didn’t trust him, I never knew who to trust in my life. I shifted my gaze to the ground and started to feel like the young and weak boy who lived in Arkville.

“I don’t know what to say,” I stated lowly.

Disappointment gnawed at me, the word ‘sorry’ swirled in my mind, it mocked me. Should I apologize? Where do me and Monster go from here? I didn’t know how to crack open the armor that had been in place for so long.

“I don’t know what to say either.” Monster huffed.

I stood up and instantly wanted to sit back down. I remained solid on my feet as I took steps toward Monster with the weight of the world sitting on my shoulders.

“Will you ever tell me…what all happened to you? You don’t have to, but I always wanted to know…since a kid, where my big brother was at. I was jealous of you without ever knowing you. I thought Jalissa went to go find you, and love you like she did Octavio.” The more I talked to Monster, the thicker the lump grew in my throat.

“I thought?—”

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