Page 45 of This Blood That Breaks Us

“They’re not going to listen to me.”

“Of course they are.”

They weren’t. He didn’t get it. The men there were many years older than me and hated me. The resentment didn’t bother me as much as what I was doing. None of them had a choice. They were my brothers, in a way. Stuck like me, only they were taught to be happy about it. I couldn’t save them as much as I couldn’t save myself.

“Luke, you’re the only one that can lead them.”

“Why?” He was doing a pretty good job of it.

“You know why.”

“Stop with the prophecy. I don’t believe in it.”

“Yes you do. You just don’t want to admit it to yourself yet.”

Is this what it feels like to be “psychoanalyzed,” as Presley would say.I understood why it was so aggravating. I missed him.

“You don’t know me as well as you think you do,” I said.

He didn’t understand me and everything he was asking me to give up. This role he wanted me to play was asking too much. I guess I didn’t even understand me either. How one part of me could be scared and broken and the other fiercely fighting and excited for the challenge of what came next.

“I’ll do it. But Thane comes with me.”

Ezra sighed. “Fine. But don’t even think you’ll be able to sneak him out without me knowing.”

He understood me a little more than I thought.

“Got it, captain.”

He led me to the yard where a group of fifteen boys dressed in their all-black suits were waiting. A few I knew, like Connell and Henderson, and some looked familiar.

I cleared my throat. “Alright, we’re going to town. I’ve been instructed to make sure no one gets into trouble.”

Connell smiled and gave me a thumbs-up while everyone else stared at me with unmoving expressions.

“So, what do you guys do there?”

“We go to the pub sometimes,” Henderson said.

The group snickered.

“You go to the pub while Ezra meets clients?”

Connell raised his hand. “No! We’re supposed to mingle around town with the shop owners. Collect money, see how they’re doing and if they’re having any trouble.”

“Good. That we can work with. We can split into teams.”

“Great idea, sir.” Henderson’s eyes narrowed as he whispered something to his friend with a sly smirk.

Connell raised his hand again.

“Yes?”

“I can show you the town!”

“That would be great.” I tried to hide the smile. It would be nice to have someone who was excited about the prospect of helping me learn the town. None of the others were saying anything, just staring at me with blank expressions. Surely, there had to be things they wanted . . . dreams. A better life. I made myself stop. It wasn’t their fault, and I was being a hypocrite. I had none of those things either.

“We move out in ten minutes.”