Chapter 13 My Brother's Protector

'Uncle Marty, what are you talking about?' I try to say nonchalant, but I can't keep the quiver out of my voice as he stares at both of us with a sneer.

'Oh, quit the bullshit. You already know what's going on, don't you Brad?' He starts to walk towards Brad, who slowly steps backwards.

'Uh, I don't really know anything, right Randy?' He nervously smiles at me.

'Yeah, he really doesn't. Completely blank.' We both nod and smile.

'Uh uh, nothing but sawdust up here.' We laugh awkwardly. But our smiles fade fast when he grabs Brad by the shirt.

'Listen up, Blondie. I know Randy told you everything already, so why don't we cut the crap and we'll discuss what we're going to do about this situation.'

'This, uh, s-situation?' I get up quickly as he pushes Brad against the wall.

'This, uh, s-situation? Just shut the hell up! Now you listen carefully, tough guy. You will tell me exactly what you know and after that I will let you know what we're going to do about it. Now spill!'

'I don't really know much. We thought-' He slams him into the wall again.

'Wait, we? Who's we?' He looks at me nervously.

'Uncle Marty, please leave him alone, he doesn't know anything. Just stop, please..'

'Stay out of this, shorty. We're talking now. Who's we, Brad?'

'Brad, you don't have to say anything. Uncle Marty please stop, he doesn't have anything to do with this. Just leave him out of this!' In one swift movement he storms over and grabs my arm and bends it behind my back, twisting it painfully. I try to get loose, but he's too strong.

'Uncle Marty, what are you doing? Let go of him!' Brad looks at us with wide eyes and steps forward, looking angry and surprised. Just as he reaches us...

'Don't step any closer!' Brad looks shocked as Uncle Marty puts his other arm near my throat. I don't get why Brad is just standing there. Why doesn't he help me?

But all of a sudden I gulp as I feel the cold steel on my throat. I look at Brad and our eyes meet. I can tell he's scared, probably just as much as I am...

'Please, Uncle Marty, don't do this. I can just call mom and dad and we'll get you some help. Just don't hurt him, please...' You're not helping, Brad...

'You are not going to call anyone, Brad. But there is something you can help me with.'

'Anything, I'll do anything. Please just don't hurt him..' I can't see his face, but I know he's got another sneer on his face.

'Good, you learn fast. I want to make a deal with you, okay?' He nods quickly. 'Okay. Now I agreed with Randy here, that if I'm having a bad day, I get to take it out on him.' Brad's eyes widen at that and he looks at me with concern. I try to avoid his gaze.

'Now, what I need you to do, is not do anything to stop me. And that includes not telling anyone about any of this. The same goes for Mark, since he probably knows all about this. So, if you see him, fill him in on the deal, alright?' I can tell Brad's struggling with this. I look at him and try to plead him with my eyes to agree to this.

'So, is it a deal?' He doesn't respond.

'Brad, please just do as he says..' Uncle Marty puts the knife tighter, almost drawing blood as I hiss.

'Shut up, I wasn't asking you. So, what's it gonna be, Brad? If you don't agree, then I'll just have to kill him, don't I?' He puts the knife closer and this time he does draw blood. I can feel it trickling down my throat. Now I'm starting to really shake in fear. I look at Brad and am surprised to see him looking straight at me. Again I plead with him with my eyes.

As he doesn't respond, Uncle Marty sees it as a sign that he made a decision and starts to move the knife towards the beginning of my throat. I close my eyes in fear and try to control my breathing.

Oh god, he's going to slit my throat... Brad, please do something, anything!
I prepare myself for any pain, but as Uncle Marty puts more pressure on the knife, Brad speaks up.

'Okay! It's a deal, okay.. Please don't hurt him... I won't say or do anything and neither will Mark, I'll make sure of it...' I can hear the trembling in his voice. This has to be the hardest decision he's ever had to make. He's always wanted to protect us, as the big brother. And now our own family member is hurting me and he can't do anything...

'You hear that, Randy? He's agreed not to stop me when I beat the crap out of you. Isn't that nice of him? Now I don't have to kill you.' He starts to laugh while he lets me go. I fall to the ground as I'm still shaking and my arm hurts. I shakily put a hand on my throat and touch the spot where he nicked me with the knife, wincing when I find it.

I can still hear Uncle Marty laughing as he goes outside and closes the door behind him. Probably heading out to drink or whatever. Who cares anyway, he's gone.

'Randy, I'm so sorry, I had no choice, he was going to kill you... I didn't..'

'Brad, stop. It's okay. You didn't have a choice, you did the right thing, alright?' I wince as I try to move my arm. Brad is at my side in an instant, pulling me up with my good arm. He helps me to the couch and I look at him with gratitude. he walks to the kitchen and I hear water running. Seconds later he's by my side again, holding a wet cloth.

'Here, you're still bleeding.'

'Thanks.' I grab the wet cloth and hold it on the wound and try to wipe off the blood that trickled down the rest of my throat. The room is filled in silence, until Brad speaks up again.

'Are you okay, Randy? And please be honest, okay?' I try not to look at him. 'Randy? Please?'

'Look, I'm OK, Brad. I am, alright? Don't give me that look, I'm fine. My arm is hurting right now, the cut on my throat stings and I'm shaken up, but I'm fine. Well, I will be.' He sighs. 'Come on, Brad. Look, I know you're probably mad that I didn't say anything, but I couldn't. You saw what just happened, you were there. I can't go against him!' He sighs again in frustration and gets up from the couch.

'Yeah, I did see what just happened and I know you're scared. I'm just mad that I didn't see it sooner. Of course you should have said something, but now I understand why you didn't. It's not like you volunteered to get beat up by him, right?' He laughs nervously. I avoid his gaze.

'You didn't, did you? Randy! Why would you do something like that?'

'You don't understand, alright? I had to.'

'No, I don't understand. Why don't you explain it to me?'

'I can't tell you.'

'Excuse me? You can't tell me? I just made a deal not to tell anyone that our Uncle is beating the crap out of you, because he needs to venture and I agreed not to stop him, or he will kill you. I think that should pretty much give you enough reason to tell me everything. It's bad enough that I can't protect you right now, but after all of this, you still want to keep secrets?'

'Brad, you don't have to protect me, I can take care of myself.'

'I do have to protect you. It's my job as the older brother to protect the younger brothers at any time. And it really pisses me off that I can't. Fuck, Randy! I don;t know if I can do this. I can't just stand there and watch as he hurts you... I have to do something, anything...' He sits down again and runs his hands through his hair.

'I know you want to help me, but you can't. I know this is difficult, but I'll be okay, alright? I've survived so far haven't I?' he doesn't respond. 'Look, can we please just stop talking about this? I'm starting to get a headache and my arm still hurts, so I'm getting a painkiller. The others will be home soon and I don't want them to find out what happened. We can talk about this tonight. We'll sleep in the basement, just the three of us and I promise I will tell you everything from the beginning.'

'No more secrets?'

'No more secrets. Now can we go and do something? Gracie is upstairs. She was taking a nap. How about we wake her up and just spend time with her?' We both inhale and exhale deeply and laugh as we notice the other doing the same thing. Then he just smiles and gets up.

'I'll go get Gracie.' He gets up and gives me one last look. 'Are you sure you're okay?' I nod and smile. I know it doesn't reach my eyes and I know he notices, too, but thankfully he doesn't say anything. He just smiles and goes upstairs.

As he's gone, I put my head in my hands, which I notice are still shaking. Man, what a mess... I really hope this goes well.

I can hear Gracie giggling upstairs as Brad is growling like a monster. I smile as I think of her. I thought Uncle Marty was going to hurt her. I mean, that's the threat he made to me. If anyone ever found out about what's going on, he would hurt her. I'm kind of confused that he didn't. I'm relieved of course, but slightly confused. Let's just hope he doesn't change his mind...

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A/N Hi! I hope you like this chapter. Finally someone knows, but they can't help him! Sorry about that, but else the story would be over in the next chapter and I don't want that. So, I'm going to tease everyone :P Hopefully you don't mind ;)

If you do, let me know in a review or PM me, thanks so much for reading and reviewing so far! Love, Baxxie