Charlotte (Marked Heart #2) (28 page)

35

Brothers

Wednesday was a blur of hurt feelings and mixed emotions
for Charlotte. Lola refused to believe Charlotte leaving wasn't meant to personally hurt her, Jenna wouldn't look at her and Silvia was extra snotty. On the upside, her sisters seemed to be forging a tight bond over their opinion of her. Emerson didn't say much to her, but she was pretty sure he was more disappointed in finding out about her and Auggie than the fact that she was leaving. Even though Amila had tears in her eyes every time she looked at her, she never said anything to make her feel bad for leaving.

As happy as she could be, considering every single thing she did made her heart hurt, Thursday meant she was one day closer to leaving
this town, including Auggie, behind her. Penny was sitting on her bed as she folded clothes and placed them in her suitcases. Charlotte was really going to miss her.

"Maybe you can come visit me?" Charlotte offered.

"Maybe you could stay and then I won't have to leave the country to see you," Penny retorted.

Rolling her eyes, Charlotte replied, "Please stop, I feel bad enough."

Laying Auggie's plaid shirt from her wall in her suitcase, Charlotte blinked back tears.

"Does he know I'm leaving?" she asked.

Penny's voice sounded gloomy as she answered, "Yea, I told him."

Charlotte tried to make light of things as she forced a laugh, asking, "Did he say good riddance."

"Do you really wanna know?"

Charlotte
was close to breaking down again at the thought that he really might have as she nodded at Penny, needing to know.

With a distressed expression Penny informed, "He told me to get out of his house."

"Is he going to be okay?"

With a heavy sigh, Penny replied, "No, but I'll be here to look after him."

Shaking her head, Charlotte griped, "Why should I feel bad? He's the one that did this."

"Same reason you're still wearing the bracelet he gave you. You're in love with him."

"This is so ridiculous. I should be mad. I should hate him. I shouldn't care at all," Charlotte spouted before sitting down on the bed next to Penny, admitting, "All I can think about is how much I already miss him."

Placing her arm around Charlotte, Penny said, "I know he misses you too. He's just a stubborn ass and when he gets something in his head... Let's just say I've yet to meet anyone able to knock some sense into him."

Charlotte rested her head on Penny's shoulder. It did make her feel better to know he was hurting too.

~

A steady Thursday
night crowd poured into the bar, giving Auggie plenty of distraction from his thoughts. Some of the fuss of his bringing Charlotte had died down, but that didn't change the fact that it hurt to be there. Braden and Penny had done a pretty good job of keeping everyone away from him over the week. When Ren and Jackson came in, Ren just shook her head at him, which was worse than if she had told him off. It didn't matter though because whether he was home or at the bar, Charlotte was all he thought about. And now she was leaving early, he'd never forgive himself for hurting her.

There was a slight lull in orders allowing Auggie to
step back and regroup for a moment when Penny made her way behind the bar.

"I need to talk to you," Penny stressed with a serious expression on her face.

"Not now, Pen," he replied, already knowing what the subject would be.

Placing her hand on her hip, she asked, "When then?"

"Never."

Appearing fed up with him, she lowered her voice, saying, "She's packing."

Auggie forced a shrug as he said, "Makes sense if she's leaving."

"She was crying too."

Penny's word
s struck him and he was pretty sure that's what being struck by lightening felt like. There was a sudden jolt to his heart, his muscles tensed and he couldn't move away from the pain.

"Why would you tell me that?"

"Because..." Penny started to say before stopping at the same time the music in the bar abruptly stopped.

Auggie notice
d Braden just standing on stage looking down at the crowd. Ailin and Brooks were looking at each other as if they weren't really sure what was happening.

As Penny gave Auggie a questioning look, he suggested, "You should go see what the problem is."

Nodding
, Penny headed in that direction.

It was hard for Auggie to see what was happening at the front of the stage with the crowd that was gathered around it
, so he watched Braden. His brother appeared confused and was noticeably breathing hard. Auggie thought maybe he needed a little break until his cellphone vibrated with a text from Penny.

P: Lily's here with Keven.

Watching his brother carefully
, he texted her back.

A: Stay right there, I'm going to call Jacks.

Braden slowly walked up to the microphone continuing to
stare down. The entire bar was silent. Auggie moved from behind the bar, to call Jackson.

"Hello?" Jackson answered.

"You need to get up here."

Auggie kept his focus on his brother as he lifted his guitar and started to play, hearing Jackson ask, "What's wrong?"

"Lily brought Keven up here and..."

"Where is he?"

"Braden's playing, I think they're right at the front."

"Try to keep things calm, I'm on my way."

Auggie holle
red for Lou to take over the bar as he moved closer to keep an eye on things.

Braden looked like he was fixing to lose it as he
started to sing, 'I Don't Love You' by My Chemical Romance. Brooks and Ailin slowly started to keep time with him, both still appearing confused and a little worried now too. Auggie couldn't see Lily and Keven but had a pretty good idea from Braden's direct glare, where they were. It was clear the song was for Lily. Keven was dangerous and Auggie doubted he was there to enjoy the show, but as long as Braden was on stage he could keep an eye on him and wait for Jackson.

It was hard for Auggie to stand by and watch his brother unravel on stage
. Listening to the lyrics as Braden sang them in anguish to Lily.

When you go would you even turn to say, I don't love you like I did yesterday.

A guitar solo
that sounded like it came from every part of Braden's soul rang out through the bar before he took the strap from around his shoulder, dropped his guitar and held onto the microphone with both hands whispering.

When you go...would you have the guts to say...I don't love you...like I loved you... yesterday.

It damn near tore Auggie's heart out when
all the music stopped and he saw his brother break on stage, shouting the end of the song at her.

Say! Ah! Say! I don't love you! Like I loved you yesterday!

The bar was silent as everyone stared at his brother.

All of the sudden, Braden was yanked off of the stage.

Pushing his way through the crowd that was tightly gathering to get a better look at what was happening, Auggie heard Penny shout, "Get off my brother!"

Shoving people out of the way to get to Braden, Au
ggie caught sight of Penny sliding across the floor before making it close enough to see her leap onto Keven's back and wrap her arms tight around his neck as he punched Braden in the face over and over.

"Move Pen!" Auggie shouted, rushing up behind them and pulling her off, so she didn't get hit by accident.

As Auggie swung and hit Keven in the side of the head, he heard Penny yelling, "If he kills my brother you're next!"

Without letting go of Braden, Keven reached around and nailed Auggie right in the eye. Dazed for a m
oment, he glanced around and saw Lily holding her mouth with blood pouring through her fingers as Penny shoved her down and grabbed hold of Keven's arm. Auggie grabbed his other arm thinking between the two of them Braden would have a chance to get away.

Brooks appeared out of nowhere right in between Keven and Braden and punched Keven in the face.
Keven let go of Braden, shook Penny off, elbowed Brooks right above his eye and punched Auggie hard enough to send him flying back. Auggie pulled himself up and grabbed Braden's guitar off of the stage. Brooks leaped over and pulled Penny back as she attempted to stop Keven from hitting Braden again.

Auggie looked up at Ailin frozen on stage and
tried to shake off the ringing in his ears. Brooks wrapped Penny in his arms, moving her further out of the way as Auggie turned and swung Braden's guitar, hitting Keven in the back with it as hard as he could. 'Well hell' Auggie thought as Keven let go of Braden, stood up straight and turned to him.

A stern voice shouted, "Hey!" causing Keven to focus in that direction.

By the time Auggie realized Jackson had finally made it, Keven was lying on his back with blood rushing out of his nose and Jackson had his foot firmly planted in his chest.

They all stared as Jackson stated, "You don't wanna do that," when Keven tried to lift his head.

Keven let out a loud groan before he was out cold.

Breathing heavy, Auggie slid to the ground trying to let his adrenaline level out. Glancing around as he surveyed the damage. Ren had cleared everyone back before tending to Braden. He was pretty beat up but coherent and seemed like he was going to be okay. Lily was sitting in a chair crying and still holding her mouth as Auggie thought 'That's what your ass gets'. Brooks had a nice size knot forming across his eyebrow and would be fine unless he didn't get his hands off of his sister, soon. Penny looked a mess but he couldn't see any visible marks on her. And of course Ailin was alright, he'd never left the stage.

T
he police arrived shortly after the fight had ended. They questioned everyone and arrested Keven. When the bar closed for the night, Penny, Braden and Auggie retold everything that took place during the fight and gave Jackson the respect he rightly deserved by ending it.

Luckily Jackson didn't give a lecture, he just said he was glad
they were alright and told them to clean up the bar. Once he and Ren left, Ailin wasn't far behind. Auggie assured Penny and Brooks they could go ahead and take off, that he and Braden could handle the rest of the cleanup. They left, at the same time, in separate cars.

Auggie swept up the last bit of broken glass while Braden sat holding a cold beer against the side of his face. Turning around to see who was a
t the front doors when they heard a knock, Auggie shook his head at his brother as he watched him get up and unlock the door for Lily. Unable to watch his brother make the same mistake, again, Auggie turned his back to them, dumping the glass from the dust pan in the trash.

Auggie heard Braden lock the doors before informing, "She said Keven hasn't seen the judge but the officer's assured her, with his record and being on probation, he's going away for around ten years."

Nodding, Auggie replied, "Good."

Braden sat back down, saying, "Can you believe she asked me to come over."

"Do you need to go?"

With a loud sigh, Braden shook his head, replying, "I may be slow but I do learn."

Propping the broom up against the
table, Auggie pulled a chair up and sat down.

"You alright?"

Braden shrugged, saying, "Everything hurts."

Nodding at him, Auggie scowled, asking, "You're not gonna cry now are ya?"

Shoving his brother a little, Braden laughed, "And get my ass beat twice in one night? No thanks."

Shaking his head with a laugh, Auggie questioned, "Seriously, you alright?"

"Yea, how about you?"

Shrugging, Auggie answered, "No better, no worse."

"So now that you've had a steady girl, you going back to your old ways or you gonna do the girlfriend thing?"

"Neither," he replied before sharing, "She was it for me."

Braden nodded, swearing, "You know, I'm starting to think we're frickin' cursed. You, me and Penny."

"Ah, I think we're all just dumbasses," Auggie replied before teasing, "You for sure."

They laughed together for a little bit before Braden gave his brother a serious expression.

"Thanks for having my back tonight."

Crossing his arms, Auggie said, "We're brothers."

Nodding, Braden informed, "And thanks for being a good big brother. You're always looking out for us. I know we give you hell for it but this whole family would fall apart without you."

Clearing his throat, Auggie, griped, "Come on man."

"It's true. Mom was always too upset to deal and Dad was always here at the bar, you're the one we've always looked to." Auggie stared at him as Braden continued, "Every time Will got real sick, when Penny needed help with homework, you took Ailin's side when mom found out he was dating Sophia and hell, I can't remember a time when you weren't there for me."