Page 179 of Poison Aches

No failure, so don’t fucking break.

Dredging air into my lungs, I balance myself, keeping my feet wide apart.

I lock my wrists, keeping them as sturdy as possible, so much so that if I were to be chained right now, I’d drag those too with the blow I’m about to deliver.

I angle my fists, pulling my right arm back as I guard with my left. Then I angle my head low and eye the asshole in front of me.

He’s sporting all sorts of damage himself, but I don’t feel sorry for him. I’ll silence him forever today if I must.

“What are you waiting for?” he taunts again. “Your mommy?—”

Before he can finish that fucking sentence, I take a single step and punch him hard to the temple, then I quickly follow that up with another sucker punch, and before he knows what’s hit him, I give him another punch so hard, I feel something tear open against my knuckles.

I expect the jerk to go down, but he staggers backwards several steps, clearly disoriented, but he stays upright. After all, he’s an Easton, the same rules apply to him.

No weakness.

No faltering.

And definitely no failure.

But I’m not like my cousin.

I’m not governed by those three rules the Eastons have to live by.

I have another set of rules that I swore to my mother I’d always follow, no matter what, and one of them is that I’ll never break.

So now, as Vaughn charges for me, I still my breath, and wait.

Even though I’m in horrible pain, even though I feel like I might give out and die any second now, even though I want to actually give in and die, I don’t.

Don’t break.

Don’t break.

Don’t you dare fucking break.

Vaughn jabs my ribs with an intent to break them, then he follows that with a punch to my temple, but I manage to block that at the last second, and then I use his momentum to pummel his chest.

How dare he, out of his reeking mouth, speak about my mother?

Who the fuck does he think he is to diminish her?

If he had insulted me directly, I wouldn’t even give him a second look, but my mother…

I beat the crap out of him. Blow after blow, my hits getting harder, and before I know it, I seem to zone out.

The next thing I know, I’m being dragged away from my cousin who now lies on the floor of the ring, covering his head while splashes of blood are splattered everywhere.

“Are you out of your mind? Were you trying to kill your cousin?” I hear my uncle seethe, but I don’t even pay him any mind. Instead, I shake off the hold on me, and they immediately let go. I stalk back to my corner of the ring and wait.

Emilio, my mother’s first brother, hops up in the ring and glares at me. “You did all this just because he asked you where your stupid mother is? Are you crazy?”

Keeping my head angled down, I eye him and, immediately, he falls silent and backs away a few steps.

I smirk. “Come on, Uncle, this was just for fun,” I say in a low voice as my heart stutters in my chest.

“Fun?” Emilio throws his head back. “You think killing your cousin in cold blood is fun?”

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