Cruel Kings by Skye Knight

41

Caleb

A coughing fit woke me from a deep sleep. My throat felt hopelessly dry and itchy as I blinked my eyes open. At once, I felt a heavy arm draped over my chest. Glancing to the side, I found Corey slumped over my body.

“Ugh! What a baby,” I groaned, breaking into another coughing session.

Muttering curses, I pushed my brother away and sat up. My head throbbed and ached. Looking around, I found several other guys and girls passed out on the floor and couches.

My gaze fell on a half-full bottle of beer nearby. Not caring about anything, I grabbed it and drank it to soothe my parched throat.

My thirst quenched, I became aware of the sick, nauseous feeling in my stomach. “Ugh,” I groaned as the awful feeling of being hungover swept over me.

Slowly getting to my feet, I dragged my body off the couch and headed into the kitchen downstairs. A couple of people were sleeping on the dining counter.

I checked the ornamental wall-mounted clock. It was close to three P.M. already and no one looked like they were getting up any time soon.

Ignoring them, I got started with making coffee. It was the only thing that could make me feel better. When I didn’t feel like death, I could make myself an egg sandwich but for now, I needed the bitter concoction to bring me to life.

It was pure agony to wait for the coffee to drip into the pot.

Going to the sink, I splashed my face with plenty of water. The coldness helped freshen me a fraction but I still felt groggy.

When the coffee was ready, I poured myself a cup. Not bothering to add any sugar or cream, I took several large gulps of the hot beverage.

A soft sigh escaped me.

I finished the cup quickly and poured myself some more.

Feeling slightly better, I took my phone out of my pocket. Dad and Eva were supposed to arrive that morning. I was sure Dad would be angry about us not being home but at least, Noah would be around.

I lazily looked at my phone, expecting a text or a call from my brother.

Instead, I found several texts and voicemails from Milla. “That’s weird,” I muttered, noticing several missed calls from Noah too.

I called Milla first. Sipping my coffee, I waited but she didn’t pick up my call.

Next, I dialed Noah’s number.

“Cal...” Noah’s shaky voice answered me.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked, gulping my coffee.

“I’m fine. Milla though...”

“Milla? What’s wrong with her?”

Noah didn’t answer but I could hear his heavy breathing. Anxiety coiled around my chest. “What did you do, Noah?”

“I didn’t mean to—it was an accident.”

Noah rarely spoke in such an unsettled, halting manner. He always planned out his moves and never regretted anything. Milla must’ve been hurt badly for him to sound so disturbed.

“Tell me what happened to her,” I said in a low voice.

“She hurt her head,” said Noah. “Hubert and I brought her to St. Nikolas’s. She’s in the emergency room getting stitched up. Docs said she’s going to be okay but they’ll have to watch her because she lost a lot of blood on the way.”

“That’s fucked up. How did she hurt herself?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a moan. “She was badgering me and I pushed her. She hit the wall hard. I swear I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

A bad headache pounded my forehead. Massaging my brow, I wondered what to tell him. My brother was clearly suffering from guilt but at this point, what was the point?

These past months, his sole intention had been to hurt her. He didn’t even know the extent to which Milla suffered because of him. She was too proud to show her wounds.

Only now, when he watched her bleed, he felt something for her.

“Caleb?” Noah’s voice was heavy with anxiety.

“I’m here.”

“Where’s Corey? Can you guys come here?”

“Corey’s passed out upstairs,” I said. “But yeah, we’ll come. Tell her to hold tight until we get there.”

“It’s not just Milla, Cal,” Noah said in a grim tone. “It’s Eva as well.”

“Eva? What happened to her?”

“It’s hard to explain because I don’t understand it myself,” said Noah. “Just get here.”

“All right. We’re coming.” Switching off the call, I poured myself another mug of coffee and chugged it down.

My head hurt badly. Corey would be feeling the same as me when I woke him up. Putting another jar of coffee to brew, I headed upstairs to wake my brother.

***

We reached the hospital an hour later. Both Corey and I felt like we were on the edge of needing an IV too.

“Can we stop at the cafeteria?” Corey said with a groan. “Eating something might stop my stomach from feeling so queasy.”

“Aren’t you worried about Milla?”

“There’s nothing we can do,” said Corey in a grim tone. “She needs a doctor to patch her up. Besides, let Noah stew in guilt a little more. He’s acting all worried now. Wait till he finds out what his prank nearly did to her. I’m not forgiving him for it. He’s the reason Milla’s so close to Luke now."He had a point.

“Fine,” I said. “Let’s grab a sandwich and then look at damage control. This headache is fucking killing me.”

“Let’s grab a coffee too,” said Corey. “I need a gallon more to feel alive.”

Agreeing with him, I followed him to the hospital’s cafeteria located on the ground floor. Since our family donated generously to the faculty here, we had a couple of suites permanently booked here for emergencies. Since we’d been coming here since we were kids, we knew our way around the place.

We wolfed down three sandwiches each and gulped down gigantic cups of iced coffee. Feeling considerably better, we headed to the fourth floor where Noah was waiting for us.

“Do you think we should’ve got some flowers?” Corey asked as we headed down the fourth-floor corridor.

“Nah. Best to check if she’s doing all right first.”

“What do you think happened to her mom?”

I shrugged. “Maybe she got upset after her daughter’s head got split by her stepson.”

“She’s not the fussy type though.”

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Let’s find Noah and ask him to explain.”

“Whoa!” Corey halted in his steps.

It took me only a moment to see why he’d stopped. Our dad was at the end of the hallway, talking to men in scrubs. He looked so frazzled, it gave me pause.

“How badly hurt is she?” Corey whispered with a frown.

Dad followed the doctors and disappeared into another hallway.

“I don’t know,” I said, my brows creasing. “Noah said she was going to be okay.”

We hurried down the corridor and found Noah sitting on the bench positioned outside a suite. I wondered why he was here and not running around with our dad?

“Hey,” I said, reaching him.

Noah glanced up at us, relief spreading through his face.

“What’s going on?” Corey asked. “Where did Dad go?”

“He’s with Eva.”

“What about Milla?” I asked.

“She’s inside that room,” he said, gesturing toward the nearby closed door. “She’ll be okay as soon as she wakes up.”

“That’s good, right?” Corey said.

“I don’t know,” Noah whispered, his shoulders slumping.

I sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “What’s going on? Why do you still look so worried when you know she’ll be okay.”

“Eva’s dying,” he said in a hollow tone. “She might not live long enough to say goodbye to her daughter.”

“Huh?”

“What are you talking about?” Corey asked, sitting down on Noah’s other side.

A heavy sigh escaped Noah. “It seems like Eva was suffering from pancreatic cancer. She was diagnosed too late and had mere months to live.”

Corey glanced at me and then, back at our brother. “Who told you?” Corey asked.

“I found Dad here when I brought Milla,” said Noah in a low voice. “While the doctors were checking on Milla, he explained what was going on with Eva. They got married out-of-the-blue because she didn’t have much time left.”

“When did all this happen?” I asked. “Where were you when Eva collapsed?”

“They didn’t make it home,” he said. “Eva got ill on the flight, so they moved her here as soon as their flight landed. Milla came to ask me whether I knew anything about them.” His head hung low as he brought his hands to cover his face. “I got so angry with her. She just wanted to know if I knew anything and I—I ...”

I tightened my hold on my brother’s shoulder.

You’ll regret everything you’re doing to me, Milla’s voice rang in my mind.

She’d warned us a long time ago but we didn’t listen. Didn’t believe.

“That’s the reason she never said anything to Eva or our dad,” said Corey, looking horrified. “She silently bore everything to make sure her mother wasn’t bothered by our hatred.”

“What hatred?” I said in a choked voice. “Milla and Eva never did anything that warranted our hate in the first place.”

“What did we do?” Corey whispered, staring at me with wide eyes. “Milla didn’t deserve any of it.”

A groan escaped Noah as he clutched at his hair. “She’ll never forgive me.”

“Don’t be so selfish, No,” Corey said through clenched teeth. “You don’t have the right to receive her forgiveness. I told you to stop harming Milla. Did you listen? Instead, you called us stupid.”

“Don’t, Corey,” I said. “Let’s not fight between ourselves.”

Corey jumped to his feet and started walking away.

“Hey, where are you going?” I called after him.

Turning around, he bellowed, “I can’t stand him right now!”

The few nurses walking around gave him disgruntled looks but Corey was too upset to notice.

I sat back on the bench, my mind going over every single atrocity we’d committed against Milla and her mother. Guilt swept through me like a tsunami of emotions.

We liked her from the time she stepped into our lives. Why couldn’t we trust our own instincts? Why couldn’t we believe Milla was a good person?

Because she was always too good for you and your brothers, my mind whispered.

My chest hurt. I couldn’t believe how much we made her suffer these past months. Her words haunted me. I and my brothers were going to regret every single sin we committed against her.