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He’s like a de up with the intense prihtness of his jaw, the bright light glinting in his eyes, everything honed down to this uard our future

“Apologize to my woman,” Nick snaps “Or I will shatter every bone in your body”

“I’ tofrom the pain “Shit man I didn’t mean to…”

“What?” I take a step forward, waving h the air “You didn’t mean to what?”

“To hurt your feelings”

“No,” I yell, voice breaking as the anguish of the past pushes through to the present “Not that You knohat I’ about”

Nick tightens his grip and Terrence lets out a pathetic wailing noise “Okay, okay I’ a lot of coke at the time and—”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses,” I hiss “You make me sick”

“You just confessed to rin on his face, al ready to tear his prey apart with his teeth

I’ve never seen him look so primal, so ready for war

Heck, I’ve never seen anybody look so savage

“And you assaulted Kenny And I’ve seen your s in the food court Oh, and that punch you landed on me? Yeah, you assaulted a police officer, duh to put you under arrest”

Terrence’s lips start to tremble like he’s a little kid “Wait, you’re a cop?”

At the word cop, his friends turn and run away, sprinting through the parking lot like they’re being chased by flames

Kenny steps forward as if to go after them, but Nick shakes his head

“It’s okay, kid I knoho they are, where they live They won’t get far In fact, they’ll probably flip on their cowardly leader just to save their own skin”

“Good,” Kenny says, staring hard at Terrence “It’s what he deserves”

I wrap my arm around my brother as Nick reaches into his Santa jacket and takes out his gun, badge, and a set of handcuffs

“Are you going to un

Terrence shakes his head and turns around, offering his wrists for cuffing

“Have you had all that on you the whole time?” I ask, with the shadow of a smile