Better when He's Bold

The sight of Karsen crying over Booker while blood leaked steadily out of bullet holes decorating his back had made every single drop of blood in my body freeze. Bax had no qualms about running me over as he pushed past me through the broken doorway. I had to force myself to find Brysen, terrified of what I might see.

She was shaking and she looked like a ghost, but she was upright and only bleeding from the cuts on her face and head. She was staring at Dovie in shock, and when Bax pulled the gun out of his girlfriend’s hands and stashed it, I could see why. My sister had obviously been beaten pretty soundly, but rather than look broken, she mostly appeared pissed off and annoyed. Like saving Brysen’s life and getting smacked around by a guy twice her size was just a minor inconvenience in her busy day. When she looked up at Bax and gave him a wry grin, I realized how fully my little sister had integrated herself into this place and into this life. She was as much a part of the Point as Bax was.

As I scooped Brysen up into my arms and held her while she quaked and shook apart, I knew that eventually she was going to have to make a decision about how much of herself she was willing to give to this place as well. Just like my sister had.

“Don’t let me go.”

Her whisper was so soft I thought I might have dreamed it, so I bent down to kiss her and told her against her trembling mouth, “Never.”

Titus was barking orders and trying to direct traffic as Booker and Brysen were loaded up and moved into ambulances. He told me that he was going to need to get statements from the girls and he took the gun from Bax as a bunch of people with jackets with CORONER printed on them joined the chaos. I blanked it all out and climbed into the back of the ambulance with Brysen and Karsen. The younger Carter wanted to ride with Booker, but Brysen gave me a hard look, so I gently told her no and guided her into the waiting vehicle with us. I didn’t know if Booker was going to make it or not, but he wasn’t my concern. He knew how things happened here, and yet he signed on for it anyway.

Brysen let out a little whimper when the ambulance started moving, so I made my way to her side and wrapped her frozen fingers in my hand. Karsen huddled herself into my side as we both gazed down at the injured and battered person we loved.

I sighed and put an arm around the younger girl’s shoulders.

“I should have stayed home. Should have been there.” Or at least told Brysen I had left the gun Booker gave me on the top of the fridge so she could have had some kind of protection against her tormentor.

Brysen opened her mouth to say something but it trailed off in an awful-sounding groan. The paramedic looked at me and then back at her.

“Stay still and try not to talk. You have a really nasty knot growing on your temple and I noticed you pulled some stitches in the back of your head. Try and relax until we get you in front of a doctor.”

I squeezed her hand and looked down at Karsen when she quietly told me, “You can’t live your life like that. Brysen’s been trying to protect me from the fact that our family was falling apart for a year. I’m not blind and I’m not stupid. Sure, her coming home postponed the inevitable, but all the bad things were going to happen whether she was there or not. Same thing with you. If you had been there today maybe that guy wouldn’t have shown up, maybe he would have waited until Brysen was alone at school and forced her into a car like he did Dovie. Maybe he would have tried to run her over again, or pushed her down an even bigger set of stairs. Bad things happen, and we just have to figure out how to deal with them when they do. He wanted to hurt her and he would have gone through you just like he did Booker to get to her. None of this is your fault, it’s none of our faults. I refuse to feel accountable because my mom—who is a functioning adult—made the choice to drink and drive and ruined that boy’s family. That’s what happens when bad people are making the hard choices. It isn’t right that Brysen had to pay for someone else’s mistake.”

I saw Brysen’s eyes flicker to her sister and then tear back up. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding on to.

“Should you be this cynical at sixteen?” I asked it as a joke, but I kind of really meant it.

Karsen snorted into my side. “I’m not cynical. I’m realistic.”

She could call it whatever she wanted. She was way too perceptive and way too aware of the ways of the world for a pretty young thing from the suburbs.

The ambulance rolled to a stop and they wheeled Brysen into the emergency room. I trailed after them and noticed Karsen frantically looking around the busy unit.

“They probably had to take him into surgery.”

She blushed bright red and fiddled with her hair just like Brysen did.

“Don’t you want to know if he’s going to be all right? He got shot trying to keep us safe.”

I didn’t know Booker well, but I knew the cloth he was cut out of. It was the same unbendable steel that Bax was hewn from. Guys like Booker didn’t take a bullet because they were chivalrous, or because they were altruistic and brave. Guys like him jumped in front of hot lead because they thought they were going to end up there anyway. They took that risk every time they left the house and hit the streets, it was a living, breathing part of who they were, but I wasn’t positive I could explain that to Karsen in a way a sixteen-year-old with an obvious crush would understand. Or that she would believe me if I did find the right words. I could see her tender heart shining out of her dark eyes when she talked to me about the big brute.

“I’m not going to leave your sister but I’m sure she would understand if you took a minute to go check on Booker. Don’t be gone too long, all right? Once we know Brysen is all right, I have to get in touch with Titus so you can give him your statement about what happened.”