The Boys Down South by Abbi Glines

32

asher

Yelling pulled me out of my sleep the next morning. I was up in the attic, but I could still hear the words being hurled downstairs. Jumping out of bed and grabbing a pair of sweats to quickly pull on, I ran down the stairs as swiftly as I could. We’d been waiting for things to escalate between Brent and Bray, and it sounded like that moment had arrived.

I came to a stop as I turned the corner and walked into the kitchen. Bray swung his angry snarl at me. “Go the fuck back upstairs. We don’t need a referee.” He scowled, knowing full well why I was here.

“The hell you don’t,” interjected Dallas. “Calm them the fuck down.” He was looking at me now.

“Or why don’t y’all let me deal with this myself? The motherfucker was screwing my girlfriend. Dixie broke up with Steel, but not because she was fucking Asher. Because Asher wouldn’t do that to his own brother.” Brent’s tone was hard, but calm. He was angry, but he wasn’t on the verge of hitting anyone.

“It ain’t you we’re worried about. It’s the crazy ass one,” Steel said, looking pointedly at Bray.

“She left. She fucking left. She left us both. What the fuck does it matter now? She obviously didn’t feel the same way either of us did,” Bray said, without the anger I expected to seep from his words. He sounded hollow. Empty. A feeling I understood all too well.

“I just want to know why? Am I asking too much, Bray? Can’t you even give me a fucking reason why?” Brent was getting angrier now.

He slowly turned his gaze to his twin who simply replied, “No.”

“You motherfucking asshole,” Brent roared and moved fast. He was almost on top of Bray when Steel and Dallas grabbed him by the arms.

“He’s already got a black eye and swollen nose because of Asher,” Steel said, holding him off Bray.

“Let him at me. I’ll give him one shot. Then I’m fighting back.”

I just watched it all unfold, not sure if this was their fight to finish. There was pain on both sides. They were closer than the rest of us. They had a bond none of us had. But what had happened with Scarlet was hard to overcome.

“You just take whatever you want, not caring about anyone but yourself, and when you end up hurting people, you use your temper as an excuse. You pitch a damn fit whenever you can’t get what you want.”

I was the oldest. They were waiting on me to mediate between them. To stop them when things got out of hand. It was what I had always done. But this was different. They were men, not boys anymore. “Let Brent go. This ain’t our fight to stop. But if you’re going to hit each other, take it outside and out of Momma’s kitchen.”

Brent stormed past everyone and opened the screen door. “Then get your ass outside,” he said, shooting a challenge back at Bray.

Steel and Dallas looked at me like I’d lost my mind. I turned to them and shrugged. “It’s their fight. They need this.”

Bray was at the door when he put his hand on the screen and glanced back at Steel then me. “Since we’re all getting our shit out and dealing with things, why don’t you tell Steel about the fact you’ve been fucking Dixie down at the lake since she left him.”

I turned just as Steel’s fist met my face.

“Better take that shit outside,” Bray drawled, disappearing out the door.

“Holy hell,” Dallas muttered as I followed Bray outside. “Are y’all really about to just beat the shit out of each other?”

No one looked at him. No one even acknowledged his question. We all heard it, but there was too much anger in the air to stop any of it now. I watched as Brent slammed into Bray and they went rolling down the grass hill behind them. Then I turned and looked at Steel. “You can have one more. Then I’m getting mine. Because I had her first. She was mine before she was yours.”

Steel glared at me. “You broke her heart.”

“And you know I had a good reason.”

Steel advanced on me. “We never even had sex.”

“Good.”

That was all it took. Steel’s hand connected with my jaw again and I let him. I took two hits and then I just wrestled him until he was out of breath, evading his hits as best as I could. He put his hands on his knees and stared at the ground for several moments before tilting his head back and looking at me. “I loved her.”

“I still do. Never stopped and you knew it. Just didn’t care.”

He winced and looked away. “Always wanted her. She was my age. Too young for you, but she only ever saw you.”

“We didn’t plan this. You can’t plan what your heart wants.”

Steel sank down and sat on the ground. He stretched his legs out in front of him and got in a relaxed position. “Fuck if I know that.”

“I never touched her when you were with her.”

He nodded. “I know.”

I looked down the hill where grunts and hits were still filling the air. “Think we should stop them yet?” Steel asked.

“They’re gonna fucking kill each other,” Dallas said, glaring at the two of us like we had lost our minds. “If you two are done, then help me save Brent’s face before Bray bashes it in. All this over damn women. Jesus, could y’all not just find other women and stop falling for the same ones?”

“Wait until you fall in love,” Steel said to him.

He shook his head. “Sure as hell won’t be Scarlet or Dixie. I can abso-fuckin’-lutely promise you that.”

Steel grinned and I knew we were going to be okay. Eventually. Maybe not tomorrow or next week, but one day, all this would be behind us. One day we could all be happy for each other.

“Come on, let’s go stop them. Not sure they’ll stop on their own,” I told Steel, standing up.

“About damn time. You two take a few swings then chat it out while Brent’s getting beat to death,” Dallas said, running down the hill.

“Get your asses up off that grass and stop that nonsense. I’m not having it. It’s ridiculous and a waste of time. That girl’s done run off. Get over it, the both of you.” Momma’s voice rang over the yard as she stood with a basket full of tomatoes from the garden.

Both of them paused.

“I mean it. Go wash the blood off.” she looked our way. “All of you. Then get to work. I ain’t making no breakfast for the likes of this bunch. Acting such a way as that.”

Brent and Bray didn’t make a move to continue.

“What about me? I didn’t fight with anyone,” Dallas said, looking panicked over the idea of no breakfast.

“I’m sure you did something to be punished. Fix yourself some cheese toast. I got work to do.”

She didn’t wait to see if we did as she said. She just knew we would. Brent didn’t look as bad as Dallas was sure he would. They looked equally beaten to me. Brent’s anger and hurt had given him more of a fight.

Their hurt wouldn’t heal any time soon. What Bray had done couldn’t be forgiven easily. Brent would need a lot of time.

He looked at Bray. “This doesn’t make it okay.” That was all he said before walking up the hill and out to the barn to wash up.

“Fucking women,” Dallas said, shaking his head.

One day he’d meet one that made him change his mind.

We didn’t get all washed up nor did we get ready for work.

The ambulance siren stopped us all. It was close. Too close.