Four Brothers and a Bride

Chapter 51: Chapter 51

ASHTON

What the fuck is this fool doing here and how dare he come to us like this?

"You are insane to come here, Randall." Asher quips, dropping his drink on the table so roughly it spills over.

Ashley surges to his feet "Looks like someone has a death wish." The rest of us follow. Josh retracts his hand with a sly smile.

"I guess we won’t be having any family reunions anytime soon, huh?"

"You better get the fuck out of here before you have to be carried out in a body bag." I threaten him, clenching my fist.

"Woah." Josh takes a few steps back. "Don’t you think your anger is misplaced? If anything, I should be the one feeling cheated after being fatherless for most of my life while my dad catered to another man’s kids."

"You bloody..." Asher cuts me off by stepping in front of me.

"Calm down y’all. He’s playing mind games. He’s trying to trick us into throwing the first punch." Then he turns to Josh who has a lopsided grin on his face. "You didn’t have much to say except whining like a bitch when father signed the papers earlier. Is that why you’ve come here looking for someone to give your sorry ass a beating? What? You’re hoping we trash you so you can run to daddy and force his hand in your favor?"

Asher turns to us and laughs. "That’s the only way he ever gets father to do anything for him. He has to resort to emotional blackmail. For a so-called biological son, that’s sad and pathetic."

Josh sips his drink and tries not to let his anger take him over the edge. "Yeah right, like you didn’t threaten my dad to make you his successor. You knew I had copped that position just by existing. That’s why you were always threatened by my mere presence."

He laughs and scans our faces. "That’s all the proof I need to know what a threat I pose to all four of you. As long as you know that I am the real deal and not pawns like the rest of you, I’ll sleep with a big smile on my face."

He has barely finished talking when Ashal closes the distance between them in one leap and smashes Josh’s face with a hard punch. Asher gets knocked down as Ashal straddles Josh and rains fatal blows on his face.

"Fuck.You." He chimes with each punch he delivers till I grab his hand and drag him off his victim with Ashley’s help. When he continues to resist and manages to wrench his arm off Ashley, he whacks him across the face so hard Ashley topples over the table. Drink bottles and glasses clatter to the floor, most of them shattering to pieces. Before he can hit me, I knock him out cold and gently lay him down on the couch.

Josh picks himself up and spits out a clump of blood. His face is bruised and bloody. He merely laughs, flashing blood-stained teeth.

"You all will pay for this. Father was right. You are all defective."

Asher steps up to him. "Apparently, we are not defective enough or you’ll be lying dead by now. You’re lucky we still have a smidgen of self-control. Now, get out of here before we change our minds."

Josh’s face clouds over dangerously. When Asher turns his back to him, I notice Josh snag a splinter of the shattered bottle on the floor. Without thinking, I lunge forward and block his attempt to stab Asher fatally with my left arm. The sharp bottle pierces my arm deeply, eliciting a low grunt of pain before I kick Josh with my foot.

Blood immediately starts flowing down my stinging arm, dropping on the floor.

"Ashton?" Asher shrieks, rushing to check the cut. Ashley hurries to grab Josh but the latter takes to his heels through the door he had come from.

"How bad is it?" Ashley asks, returning. Ashal comes around just then. One look at his surrounding and he looks up at us, perplexed.

"Ashton, your arm."

"I’ll be fine." I assure Ashal to ease the fear in his eyes.

His face crumples with nerves. "D-Did I d-do it?"

"NO." I assure him again. "No, you didn’t. You can’t take credit for every fight." I feign a weak smile because I actually feel my strength seeping away. Slowly, I stagger to the couch.

hospital." To my surprise, Ashley offers his new, designer muffler and ties my arm to stop the blood flow. "It’s

shrieks. "We need to get him to

to bark orders. Somewhere along the line, my vision gets blurry and the nervous calls to the hospital and for help gets too faint for me to hear. The last thing I recall is Asher’s face assuring me that

***

realize I actually ended up in the hospital. "It’s alright. The doctor said the wound wasn’t too deep.

and plump my pillow behind me. I give my bandaged arm a long

to leave a

answers. "It’ll likely leave a scar but

We are all going to get similar scars too, like we’ve always done. You just worry about feeling

our childhood, we’ve tried to remain as mysterious as possible by making sure none of us has an obvious distinguishing feature. This led

I am grateful for their love, I am skeptical about letting them match my scar. I think that practice is getting

guys don’t have to. I’ll just wear a long-sleeved shirt in

are not complaining so don’t sweat it, Ash." He gives my shoulder a light punch. The rest of them beam at me and I return

I owe you one of this." Asher jokes, pointing to his sore lip where I punched him earlier. That will heal in time but I get that he’s trying to humor

with Duncan in tow. I am still livid at him, as I am sure my brothers all are. Of course, we should expect this when we visit

tries to come over to my

is hardly a good time or place, father. No one wants to see you right

need to see how Ashton is doing. We can deal with other matters later." He brushes past Asher and comes to stand next to my bed. When he tries to touch my bandaged arm, I heft it away from him and pin

begin, brimming with anger. "Both of you like to go to

you did before.

Asher interrupts. "Are you here to make sure he is out of the woods or to make sure his scar is something we

the second time in a short space of time that an attempt has been

a second, it would have been my

shakes his head. "I’m glad you’re fine.

pay for trying to kill one of us." I challenge father. "What? Did you run over

his face.

"Is that supposed to appease us?" He chuckles softly. "You’re probably having him treated somewhere, aren’t you? Suspended? Seriously? He just tried to take my

he was slightly drunk and wasn’t thinking

believed that crap?" Ashley asks

guys must have said things to trigger this mess. I’ve seen how much you all hate him and how much he hates you all in return. I’m trying my best here to be fair to each side here. He is my son as much as

to rest." Father scowls at Asher’s bluntness, skims all our faces before heading for the

with him all our lives. We made him a father. If he should be partial to any side, it should be ours. I guess he

discharged, I don a jacket over my back mostly to hide my injured arm in a cast. The whole ride home, I shut my eyes and try to

with Mila who is now a fierce contender for my free

no!"

it?" I ask, my eyes fluttering open in the passenger seat. Ashley and Ashal are driving

of his bruised and bleeding face. This is no coincidence. I knew he had a plan up his

of

us. Some are even calling for us to

"What?"

on the steering wheel in anger. "Fuck. I’m going to

"Does father know?"

bet he must be aware by now. I’d like to see him defend Josh now. That fool just plummeted our stocks! Even father can’t forgive

greeting mum. Father looks up from his iPad as we all file in. Duncan and Seth, his top security

Then rising to his feet, he takes off his glasses. "Ashton, you should