Olivia Sparks

Maxen's jaw clenched as he shook his hands from the stinging pain. Closing his eyes, he felt disappointment paint all over his face when Wyatt's hateful words rang in his ears. And as if his punch was not enough, he pulled Wyatt's hair back, tilting his chin up.

"Just. Answer. The. Question. Commander."

Wyatt's eye darted to the side where Maxen stood. He saw the latter's glare was enough to stab him and bring him to his untimely death. He knew Maxen rarely got angry, but if he did, one must know to bow down to him and beg for mercy. Gritting his teeth, he replied, "Yes, Your Highness."

"Very well." Maxen let go of Wyatt's hair, sneering when he heard Ollie let out a sigh of relief.

"Brother, you don't have to punch him!" he exclaimed, wiping his hand over his face.

"He's spouting gibberish. Somebody has to put some sense into him." Maxen sat on the bed, studying Wyatt. He scoffed when the d.i.c.khead spew out blood on the carpet.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bed, Ollie sat down too, leaning his back on the headrest. "And for the record, that's a silly puppy love I had in highschool, Wyatt. And you, of all people, knew the truth better than anyone. I'm content with what I have: A beautiful wife and an adorable son and I will never do anything to ruin it. I get it, Brother. You're frustrated over your little fight with Emily…"

"It's not little," Wyatt interrupted. "Just release me from these handcuffs. Please. I need to see her."

"Ahh this is taking longer than I expected." Maxen leaned on the bed, his head propped on his forearms. He glanced beside him when Ollie offered his flask. Taking a sip, Maxen nodded in appreciation when the amber liquid left a smooth trail of heat on his throat.

"What should we do now, Brother? Should we leave him tied up? He's not talking," Ollie asked as if Wyatt was not right in front of them listening to their conversation.

"We don't have a choice, Brother. We came here because we were told to do one thing and that is to hang the tag, not free him." Maxen shrugged, ignoring the pleas of Wyatt.

Seeing there's no point in keeping the secret from them, Wyatt conceded, swallowing down his pride. "I infected her. She said."

"What?" Maxen's brows furrowed. If his guess was right, then…

"Infected her with?" Ollie glanced at Maxen, a huge question mark floating above his head.

"She said STD."

"THE HECK!" Ollie bolted up from the bed and found his footing. He pinched his nose bridge to keep his thought process in place. "How could you do that, Wyatt?!"

The man in question was about to explain himself when Maxen stood up from the bed and squared his shoulders.

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses, Wyatt. What I'm going to do is hang this tag, and step out of the door."

"Brother… please."

Maxen held his hand up, interrupting Wyatt from his speech. "Let's save whatever connection we have tonight, Commander."

"That's it? You don't even let me explain?" Wyatt sniped in derision, his eyes trained on Maxen's back.

Turning on his heel, Maxen towered over Wyatt, intimidating the latter that he cowered on his spot.

"Nobody needs your explanation. It's as simple as black and white. You dirtied a magnificent lady. The one who stood by your side all these years. The one who waited for you by the military academy gates even when it's raining. The one who did everything that would make you happy. You wanted to have a threesome action, she did. You knocked somebody pregnant, she stayed. And even if I didn't ask her to help me, she volunteered to find your child. And what did she get in return? A f.u.c.k.i.n.g disease?

"Don't…" Maxen took a sharp breath. He felt like exploding and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. He felt Ollie clamped his hand over his shoulder, so he exhaled deeply, finishing what he wanted to say. "Don't even bother going near her because I will have your f.u.c.k.i.n.g head on a stake. Do you understand, Commander?"

Wyatt's jaw ticked with rage. He knew if he wouldn't say the words, Maxen would find a way to force the words out of his mouth.

The two men were in a stare-down and Ollie couldn't even spare them a look. They were the family he knew growing up and seeing them break up sent a pang of hurt in his gut.

"I hate repeating my words, Commander."

Wyatt tried his best to hold onto what's left of his dignity, yet the restraints on his wrists kept him from doing so, a reminder of the consequences of his choices. With his chin held high, he forced out the words he knew he could never take back. "I will never go near her again, Your Highness."

And with that, Maxen and Ollie left, never once looking back at Wyatt who was chained to the poles for the remainder of the night.

If it were up to them, they'd rather leave him there to rot, but knowing Emily, they knew she'd check first thing in the morning whether they hung that stupid marker.

Arriving back at the gal pal's hotel suite, Maxen and Ollie helped themselves with whatever's left on the coffee table.

It was already four in the morning, but the two buddies were still high from rage and adrenaline.

"This is what we've come to. After decades of friendship. All gone in the least day we expected it," Maxen mumbled. The sorrow in Wyatt's eyes hunted him. "Can't believe he did that to Emily."

"And don't forget they hid their relationship from me. Or I was too busy to notice?"

"Yeah, you have your little family going on."

The two men sighed in unison, letting the silence comfort them in the stillness of the night.

Glancing at Maxen, Ollie elbowed him. "Don't worry about her. She's a strong girl, she'll weather it through. If it's still us behind her, I don't know if she'll get over it, so it's a good thing that she has Ava and Olivia now. And for the record, what I had with Emily in highschool was a stupid crush, okay?"

The two clank their glasses, emptying it in one go.

Lazily sitting on the sofa, Ollie confessed, "Do you know how much I hated looking at family portraits? At photos? I hate it to the point that I broke one of yours in the dorm back in the day."

Scoffing, Maxen refilled his glass with amber liquid. "Didn't notice, really. But thanks for telling me the truth. A decade later, but still."

The brothers laughed before pausing at the same time when they heard Wyatt's booming laughter in their heads. They felt their stomach twist and churn in discomfort, the reality of their actions finally sinking in. 

After a second of silence, Oliver fiddled the ring on his finger, his mouth itched to tell Maxen a story. 

"Our family never had a family picture. One that has Mom and Olivia in it. I thought I would never have one when father told me I was getting married, but when I met Ava everything changed. Nobody paid attention to her, right? She was the caged princess. But she's cute. She's cute. Ha! 

"She asked me what place makes a person happy, so I randomly replied with 'I don't know, amus.e.m.e.nt park?' Next thing I know she scheduled a date and do you know where she brought me? To a freaking amus.e.m.e.nt park like a seven f.u.c.k.i.n.g year old. And while we were standing in line for a ride, she took our photo and I saw myself smiling for the first time and you know how much it's a chore for me to even curl my lips into a smile. But I did, and I was with her.

"Then she smiled up at me, looking innocent and cute, and said, 'Look at you smiling. Let's do this every year. Play. Take photos. Enjoy the ride.' I knew that moment, in a country of millions of people, I found the one. And you know what I did? I f.u.c.k.i.n.g kissed her in the queue and got on one knee. I proposed to her without a ring but she still said yes and people were clapping and we're grinning like idiots. It saved me from riding that hideous rollercoaster too.

"You know people like us. We always put our heads above water. We never let our emotions rule over us because once we did, all our reasoning would fly out of the window but I am a living, breathing, example of someone who went cuckoo over love.

"Because when I dropped her home that night, she confessed to me how happy she was that I was feeling the same way as her. It was surreal. Up until now, every morning when I wake up and see her face beside me, I remember that same night because when I got home I did something I never thought of ever doing: Pulling out funds to build a girl her own freaking amus.e.m.e.nt park."