Masterpiece

Adrenaline Series 3

By Xavier Neal

© Xavier Neal 2015

Published by Entertwine Publishing

Cover by Entertwine Publishing

Cover Model Griffin Kodors

Photographer Jennifer Shelby

All Rights Reserved

Amazon Edition, License Note

Thank you for downloading this e-book. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

All character, places, and descriptions come from the imagination of the author. All are fictional and any resemblance to real life persons or places is purely coincidental.

Dedication: To the Universe. Thank you for allowing me to turn my own life into a Masterpiece.

Merrick

Fairly certain I misheard what my oldest brother just said, I scrub my face with my hands.

There's no fucking way. There's been some sort of mistake. A very fucking big mistake.

Unsure of what to do with my arms, I fold them defensively across my chest. “You're fucking with me right?”

Madden opens his mouth, but I immediately cut him off.

“You have to be. This is some sort of fucked up lesson where you tell me something this horrible to terrify me. This is just a bullshit scare tactic you're using, so I get the impact of the choices I've made in life. Well, guess what? You win Madden! You fucking win! I fucking get it.”

He takes another step towards me. “No one is fucking with you, Merrick.”

You think he's lying too, right?

“Ben was found dead this morning.”

“Where?”

“Old Turtle's Bend.”

I swallow the expanding knot in my throat. “How?”

Madden rubs the back of his neck. “In his car.”

Somehow I manage to wobble my way to the chair at the kitchen table where I flop down lifelessly.

No...no way. There's just...no....way.

In a hushed voice I ask, “What happened?”

Madden leans his back against the counter with a heavy sigh. “According to the police report, it appears he swerved and hit a tree.”

“Ben was a good fucking driver! He wouldn't just hit a tree!” I shout loudly.

Okay, so not good...but better than that.

He nods slowly. “I know.”

“That shit doesn't make any sense, Madden!”

“Just fucking listen,” Madden's voice tries to remain calm. “According to the report that was officially filed, nothing looks suspicious. However, the fact they couldn't tell if something was tampered with under the hood or not, was purposely excluded.”

My eyes widen.

“The officer who examined his vehicle said it was hard to tell if any of the pieces had been manipulated or if one of the high performance parts wasn't installed properly.”

“We install-”

“I fucking know,” Madden growls.

Daniel pipes up from the couch. “I helped put those parts in Ben's car. They were top of the line. Routine, easy. We didn't fuck that up.”

“Yeah well,” Madden sighs heavily. “It's what he said.”

Daniel argues, “He's full of shit.”

“Probably,” Madden agrees. “But we all know how Ben was. He had a serious problem staying out of trouble.”

Over protectively, I bite, “That doesn't mean he fucking deserved to die, Madden.”

“I didn't fucking say it did!”

“You're acting like it's his fault!”

“It was my fault!” My brother yells fierce enough to push me back in my seat. “Fuck, Merrick!”

“Hey!” Knox interrupts on a shriek. The two of us turn our attention to her as she wipes away the fallen tears. “That's enough! We are all on the same goddamn side here!”

Unsure what else to say I rest my face on my balled up fists.

The room returns to the eerie silence it was when I arrived.

Fuck. Ben's gone...What the fuck? Am I next? He didn't deserve this. If anyone has it's me. Look at what I have done. Shit... What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do without him?

“Look,” Madden starts again. “Ben made a lot of enemies across the board.”

“There you go again,” I mumble. “Blaming Ben.”

“Fuck Merrick! I'm not blaming him. I'm stating a fact.”

“Then why not state he made a lot of friends too.”

“Because it wasn't one of his friends that fucked with his car and killed him!”

Seeing my brother's valid point shuts my mouth.

“Like I was saying, Ben made some enemies. Hell, according to his GPS and the girl I spoke to, he was fleeing from her house early this morning. Her boyfriend came home earlier than she was expecting. That's what I mean when I say staying out of trouble. He sniffed the shit. He pulled dick moves like that all the time. He didn't respect boundaries or rules.”

Instinctively I wanna argue, but honestly can't.

As much as I hate that he's right, he is.

Drew quietly adds, “He might've mentioned...having a little trouble with the drug dealer he was supposed to be pushing shit for when he got caught.”

And the list fucking continues.

“There's no definite way at this time to figure out who fucked with his car, but...” The lack of an end to his sentence forces my face up.

With a slow nod I whisper, “I know.”

“I um...” He sniffles away the emotions trying to leak out of him. “I went to identify the body. It'll be released to Aunt Kelli this evening. She wants him buried beside his father.”

Softly Destin asks, “How is Aunt Kelli?”

“At this moment?” Madden shuts his eyes. “Not speaking to me.” When his head falls, I swear there are tears on his face. “She says after Ben's funeral tomorrow to never speak to her again.”

“She doesn't mean that shit,” Drew pipes in. “No fucking way.”

“I don't blame her. This shit's my fault,” Madden grouses, head still down.

Knox reaches out for him, “Madden-”

Quickly, he wipes away whatever had fallen, brushing her off in the process. “Look, I have a shit ton of things to do before we put him in the ground. Triple D, make business arrangements for tomorrow.”

“On it,” they reply in unison.

“Knox,” he softly says to her.

Without hesitating she relocates so her body is in front of him. I watch his hands drift to her hips as he stares into her eyes, reminding me of what I need so badly right now.

Jovi. I need to get my girl. I just....I need her.

“I need you to help Aunt Kelli with the funeral shit. Can you do that for me?”

“Anything,” she answers before kissing his cheek.

The second her lips land on it, he shuts his eyes. For a brief moment I see someone I don't recognize. His face that's always iron clad about concealing agony breaks, exposing one crystal clear fact. Knox is the only thing keeping him together.

In a shaky voice he says, “Thanks.”

The moment is short lived. His stone cold expression returns and he points at me. “You. You don't fucking do a goddamn thing.”

Frustrated I snap, “But I-”

“No. I just lost one McCoy. I'm not prepared to lose another.”

“But-”

“Just fucking stay here.”

“Madden-”

“For once can you just fucking listen?”

I surrender my hands and look away.

Doesn't matter. I'll stay here until Jovi's flight lands. Then I'm fucking out. I can't...I can't stay here. I can't be here. Not right now. This...this wasn't supposed to happen. None of this shit should've gone down this way. Ben should still be alive. Ben should be here at this fucking table bitching me out because I was late for lunch. Not about to be buried six feet under. Fuck. I'm not far behind, am I?