Page 23 of Chaotic Curse

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He was more of a father to me than Austin Bellamy ever was.

Yet my father killed him.Said he was protecting his family.

As if Ted was some kind of threat.He never would’ve harmed Mom or the girls.He never would’ve harmed me.He had plenty of chances to because I spent a lot of time with him.

And my dad killed him.Took away the best male role model I ever had, other than my older brother.

And now I’m the murderer.

Except that…

I’m not.

Eagle’s not dead.At least not yet.

Plus…

Did I force Eagle to snort cocaine?To take too much?

Itismy fault that the cocaine was available.

If a parent leaves a gun within a child’s reach, and the child harms someone, the parent is held responsible.

But Eagle isn’t a child.

Of course, for all intents and purposes he may as well be.He’s never taken responsibility for anything in his life.

The whole thing—trying to dig up Diego’s body, finding the grave empty—must have been too much for my little brother.

I failed him.I failed him when he needed me the most.

And I did it because…

I did it because I wanted to get into a woman’s pants.Daniela’s pants.

Damn, damn, damn…

I’m back in Eagle’s room.Raven has entered and is hugging my mother.

They hardly notice me.I have to leave anyway.Only two at a time, the nurse’s orders.

“I’m going to go home,” I say.

Mom simply sniffles.

“Okay, Hawk,” Raven says.“Falcon and Savannah are coming back soon.We’ll all be here for Mom.”

“I can stay if you need me to,” I say.

“I understand if you need a break,” Raven says.“Go ahead.If you don’t want to be alone, go to my place.Vinnie and Daniela are there, and Robin may still be there as well.”

I simply nod.

I won’t be going to Vinnie and Raven’s place.As much as I want to see Daniela, she won’t want to see me.I treated her like trash earlier.

I head downstairs to the lobby and through the doorway to the parking lot where I parked my truck.

Again I look at the coke in the backseat.

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