Page 17 of Revived (Lucky Ones #1)

Chapter ten

Sullivan Byrne

B yrne Bro’s Group Chat

Rowan: Rhett just won student of the year at school.

Mac: Of course he did. He gets all his intelligence from his Uncle Mac.

Kieran: Let’s not curse the poor kid now. Tell him his favorite Uncle is proud of him.

Declan: Oh, no worries. I already told him how proud of him I am.

Sully: Congratulations, buddy. Flynn and I will facetime him in a little bit.

Rowan: How often do you facetime him?

Flynn: That’s between us and him.

Kieran: Well, I’ll be damned, looks like the baby Byrne’s are alive and well after all.

Flynn: Unlike some others who have crossed paths with you guys. Muting this now. I’ll talk to Rhett this evening with Sully.

**Flynn muted the chat**

**Sully muted the chat**

I pull a face and mock a sharp inhale, “Damn, Flynn that was harsh.”

Flynn shrugs “Was I wrong though? Because I’m pretty sure I wasn’t.”

“You were right.” I’m not going to debate with him, especially because he technically is right. More people than I can count have come across our older brothers and not made it out alive. Some of them deserved what they got, but the ones who didn’t or were just collateral mess with me.

They did the best they could with us, and I contribute every positive attribute that Flynn and I possess to them and our parents. At the same time I find myself wondering what would have happened if Roe would have walked away from it all when he got that call. Our lives would look so different.

Moving to sit beside him on the couch, he pulls up Rhett’s number and hits the camera button.

It only rings twice before our oldest nephew’s face fills the screen.

When we met Rhett for the first time, he was four and small for his age.

He had brown curly hair that fell in his eyes more times than not, big hazel eyes, and a permanent ‘up to no good’ grin.

Rhett was born deaf and didn’t receive his cochlear implants until he was five, so all of my brothers as well as myself are fluent in ASL.

Rhett often takes hearing breaks where he removes his hearing aids and puts them somewhere safe because, in his words, “The world is too loud sometimes.”

That’s not the kid I’m looking at right now, though.

No, Rhett is just shy of his thirteenth birthday, so long gone is his little baby face and shaggy curls that reminded us all of a bear cub.

So much so that to this day we still call him Bear.

The almost teenager that’s staring back at us has a thin face with a strong jawline.

He’s losing the boy features he’s had for so long, and in their place is a teenager with what I’m sure are raging hormones and a desire to sleep twenty hours a day.

“Hey, Uncle Flynn and Uncle Sully.” His voice is no longer that little baby voice that I once would slay any monsters for. Now it’s deeper, yet squeaky and awkward. Poor kid, but we all go through it.

“Hey Bear!” We say in unison.

“I heard you won student of the year today. That’s no small feat. Congratulations.” Flynn smiles at him.

“Thanks, it’s no big deal, though.” He looks a little embarrassed.

“It’s a huge deal! Who the hell told you it wasn’t?” I ask him, appalled that someone would tell him otherwise.

The look on his face says something is bothering him.

“What’s up? Why do you seem like something’s bothering you?” Okay, so admittedly I’ve never been good at being subtle.

“Nothing really. There’s just this kid at school that’s been messing with me.” He lets his sentence trail off before panic laces his features, and it’s almost like he remembers he’s talking to his Uncles. “I mean, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” He rushes out.

My blood is singing with the fury that laces throughout my body. I try to tamper it down while Flynn tries to rein in his anger too.

“Rhett… Anything you say to us stays with us unless someone is in danger. We’re not a direct line to your parents.” I remind him. It’s clear he doesn’t want his parents to know what’s going on, and I think that that’s fair as long as he’s talking to someone.

“Yeah, but I don’t want this to go back to anyone else.” He finally says after a long pause.

“Deal, Little Bear. What’s up with this kid?” Flynn asks.

He looks around his room before propping up his phone on his desk and lifting his hands.

He’s going to sign so no one can overhear him.

He’s such a smart fucking kid, and if he decides to follow in his Da’s footsteps, it’ll be an edge that the BOCG has over other competitors.

They can literally talk around other organizations, and they’re none the wiser.

“There’s this kid at my school. His last name is Barkov.

” He pauses for just a second to let that sink in before he continues.

We got it… Dude’s a fucking Russian. Perfect, the bitch that killed Annie was also a Russian.

“ He’s been on my case all year, and I’ve tried to just ignore it.

But on Monday he walked by and swiped my hearing aids off my desk.

I was taking a test, and I took them out to concentrate better. ”

Flynn flicks his fingers to get Rhett’s attention. We’ve propped up our phone too, and Flynn asks the one question that burns at the base of my skull. “Why didn’t you slice his motherfucking head off his shoulders?”

“How did you get them back?” I ask, giving him options on which way he wants to play this.

“Well, I wouldn’t be student of the year if I sliced the neck of every kid that messes with me because I’m the deaf kid.

Well, I probably would because that’d cut out over half of the school's population.” He rolls his eyes in the way only a teenager can manage.

His eyes swing my way to address my question next.

“I waited and acted like I didn’t even realize they were missing.

At lunch he was laughing with his buddies and tossing them around his group of jerks.

I walked up, punched him in the dick, and took them back.

” He shrugs, but I can tell there’s something else there.

“And his friends just let you walk away after that?” I raise a brow in skepticism.

“Well, not exactly. Everyone at the school knows who I am, obviously. They know who Da, Uncle Mac, and Uncle Kie are too. I’m a mafioso and an intelligent teenager.

I don’t walk away unscathed. I just walk away with it easier to hide.

They know if Da ever saw a mark on my skin that he’d stop at nothing until he fixed it. ”

Flynn, and my matching glares practically shatter the screen with their intensity, but it’s Flynn who asks. Acid burns in the back of my throat as I think about my little nephew being bullied in school.

“Where is it then, Rhett?”

Silently he stands and pulls his shirt up just enough so we can see the top of a very prominent shoe print decorating his ribs. My anger cranks up higher than I ever thought possible. We both curse under our breaths.

“Bear, we can’t keep secrets that involve you being hurt.” I gently remind him, and his eyes pop open wide.

“No, Uncle Sully. I promise I have it under control. School’s out in just a month, and I don’t need Da storming the building to try to hurt children. Please? I’ll be safe, I promise.”

Flynn and I have an entire conversation with just our eyes, and we know we’re going to relent. He’s talking to us. If we rat him out, he could shut us out, and no one will know what happens.

“Fine, we won’t say anything.” He sighs out a breath of relief as Flynn signs.

That is until I lift my hands and pick up where he left off, “But… If we’re sticking our necks out for you, which we don’t ever mind doing, you have to swear to tell us the truth if this keeps happening. ”

He quickly signs, “Deal.”

“Wait a minute. You also have to tell your Da this summer about this. All he’s ever wanted was to keep you, your Ma, and your sister safe and protected. He deserves to know what’s going on.”

He huffs out an annoyed sigh, but ultimately agrees.

“Okay, deal. I’ll tell him after the school year, and I’ll tell you guys if anything else happens.”

We all agree with the plan, and after some goodbyes and promises to Facetime in the next couple of days, we hang up.

My phone immediately starts buzzing on the coffee table.

Peering at it, I see that it’s Mac. Without much thought I ignore the call.

He calls back as soon as I kill the call.

I’m not trying to have this conversation with him.

No doubt he’s bugged Rhett’s room or some crazy shit. So I kill the call again.

In the next five seconds Flynn’s phone starts ringing.

“What the hell, Mac?” Flynn grumbles as he answers and flips the call to speaker.

“Dude, you guys need to learn to answer your fucking phones.” Yeah, he’s pissed. “Is Sul with you?”

My eyebrow raises in question, “yeah, I’m right here. What’s up?”

“Your girl. That’s what. You need to get to the gym now. Cops are almost there.” With that, he kills the call, and Flynn and I are out the door.

** *

Flynn’s barely thrown his truck in park before we both scramble out and search for Elle.

The scene in front of me makes me want to vomit.

Her car with broken glass all around it, and her standing to the side clutching something in her hands.

There’s multiple cop cars with their lights on.

The parking lot is practically lit up with blue and red lights.

I squirm slightly as we approach. We were raised to hate cops unless they were on our payroll, and I don’t know these guys.

Don’t get me wrong. I work alongside cops frequently at work, but those guys aren’t surrounding my girl like these assholes are.

Elle is shaking so badly that I can see it from here.

My phone’s in the car, but I’d bet if I checked it, I’d find her sugar high as fuck.

She’s freaking out, and I want to know why.

I also want to know why the hell she didn’t call me when whatever happened, well, happened.

She’s standing with Addison at her side, both girls are huddled together.

There’s three officers standing there talking to them.

I’m just over halfway across the parking lot when it’s like she feels my eyes burning into her.

She looks up, and her face crumples just like my lungs do at the look of terror on her face.

She moves past the cops and sprints towards me.

Elle throws herself at me as soon as she’s close enough, and I catch her one handed with ease.

I have just one hand on her thigh, hoisting her up until her legs wrap around my hips and her face burrows into my neck.

My free hand grabs her other thigh while holding her securely in place.

I don’t break my stride even for a second.

“I’m so scared, Monster.” She trembles against me. Flynn looks at me with a questioning expression, but I know just as much as he does.

“What happened, baby girl?” I ask while moving one hand up into her hair and stroking her head in a gentle rhythm.

“He’s back. The stalker.” That stops me dead in my tracks, and my body turns rigid.

Flynn takes that as his cue to continue on to talk to the cops and the girl Elle’s been friends with for years.

My eyes scan the parking lot for any sign of someone else, but all I see is a blacked out SUV that I’d put all the money in my bank on belonging to either one of Theo’s or one of Rowan’s men.

“What do you mean he’s back? I thought we didn’t have to worry about that anymore? We haven’t heard from him since your first Olympics almost eight years ago?” I question.

“He shot out the light I parked under for safety and left me a note.” She trembles in my arms and I pull her impossibly closer.

“What did the note say, Boo?” I ask as gently as I can. I want to explode. I want to storm this entire area and fuck shit up, but that won’t help anyone but myself.

Her voice shakes, but she pushes through and tells me, “Thought you could hide from me, principessa? I’ve missed you, my little gymnast. It was signed ‘YSA’. It’s the same handwriting and everything, Sul. He’s definitely back.”

Fuck.