Brothers By Design
Chapter Twenty-Three

“Kane? May I speak with you a moment?”

Kane looked up from the air hockey game with a frown at the butler. Across the table, Devin removed his hands from the ‘stick’ and waited. Albert gestured. Kane went over to see what he wanted. Albert looked grim, spoke very softly.

“There are people downstairs, demanding to see Devin. They claim to be his parents.” Seeing Kane’s expression, he added that Shyla had given permission for the visit. Kane cursed under his breath.

He didn’t want Devin anywhere near those people, especially if they were his parents. Shyla, however, was still their legal guardian. It was her decision, not his, to make. A part of him was surprised she’d waited until school let out to try this. Maybe it had taken her this long to track down the shit-wads that Devin had been born to. He glanced over his shoulder at Devin, then, turned back to Albert, thinking rapidly.

“All right,” he said with a long sigh, “here’s what we’re going to do.”

Five minutes later Kane entered the downstairs den, Steve on his heels. The couple already there rose from the sofa, looking both eager and condescending. The woman had Devin’s dark hair, but the blue eyes were the man’s. Kane guessed they really were Devin’s parents. Their gazes went from Kane to Steve to the door, then back to Steve.

“That’s not our son,” the man snapped. He was dressed in old jeans and an even older shirt, both clean but having seen better days. The jeans were held up by a belt with a vicious looking buckle that Kane was sure Devin would know intimately. The thought pissed him off.

“No, I’m Kane. I wanted to meet you before I let you near Devin.”

“What does that mean? We have the permission of his guardian…”

“Yeah, but Devin don’t belong to her,” Kane interrupted, letting himself fall into street-speak. “He’s mine.”

“And you are here…” said the man again, to Steve.

“I’m here to keep things under control.”

“I see. To protect the boys, you mean.”

“No. To protect you from Kane if you try something. He’s a bit wild, now and then. We don’t need any more trouble out of him, and I don’t want to have to explain having to pay for another hospital bill.”

“Are you threatening us? Because if you are…”

“No threat. Just explaining why I’m here. You did ask.”

“Where is our son? We came to see him!” the woman demanded.

Kane shot the adults a look of pure disgust. They were even worse than he’d expected.. They were…stereotypical. Exactly the kind of people you would expect to abuse a little kid.

“Devin’ll be here in a min. I told ya I wanted ta check you first.”

Just then Mary peeked into the room. “Kane? Devin is here.” She glanced around the room. “Should I bring him in?”

Kane moved to stand where Devin would have a clear view of him on entering the room. “Yeah. Let him in.”

Mary nodded and disappeared. A moment later the door opened wide and she reentered, saying “He’s in here,” in the gentle voice she always used when dealing with Devin.

“Kane!”

Devin entered, face alight with joy. It was always the same, whether it had been a few seconds or hours since he’d seen Kane. Arms outstretched, he moved forward quickly, almost running with his awkward gait, like a large toddler, toward his goal.

“Hello, Devin.”

At the harsh, sneering voice, Devin froze and paled. Seeing the couple he gasped, took an involuntary step backward, and wet himself Kane noted with fury.

“C’mere, Devi,” Kane called.

“Kane!” He rushed forward, giggling and snuggling into Kane’s embrace. Over Devin’s head Kane fixed the adults with another look of disgust, this time laced with contempt. His boy. They’d lost their chance with him.

The woman started forward. “Devin…”

In a flash Kane had Devin tucked behind him. He dropped into a defensive stance.

“You wanted to see him,” he growled, “and you did. So now you get to leave.”

“You wait a minute,” Devin’s father started forward, raising a fist toward him.

Kane hoped the man would be stupid enough to try to hit him. Really he did. He wanted a chance to hit somebody. Full out.

“We came here to see and spend time with our little boy,” the woman shrilled, “with the permission of his guardian! You step aside, young man, or you will be made to step aside!”

Kane couldn’t help it; he burst into laughter. They were too perfect. He’d never thought people like this existed outside of the flicks.

“Lady,” he managed after a moment, “give up. You can’t scare me. Devi, say hello to Shyla’s guests.”

“Hello,” Devin said from where he stood behind Kane. Kane was pleased to note that while Devin sounded shy, he didn’t sound scared. It was a strong indicator of trust, one he reveled in.

“Come here, Devin,” the man ordered. Devin, who looked and acted far different than he had when he had been removed from them six months ago, didn’t move from his spot behind Kane. “I said come here, Devin.” The man’s voice was even angrier than before.

“Kane?”

His small hand rested on Kane’s back. While no longer stick-thin, he had not grown robust. He looked, as Kane had been told he would, small and frail. His voice was curious and a little wary, unsure what was wanted of him. But, Kane noted with pleasure, he had asked him what he was supposed to do.

“You don’t gotta go there, Devi. You can stay with me, or I can ask Mary to take you up.” He eyed the parents. “Shyla said they could see you and they have. You even said ‘hello’. They don’t deserve more.”

The man started forward again. Kane’s smile got broader, anticipating an attack. Hoping for an attack. After all they’d done to his boy, he wanted to get some form of revenge. He’d have to be careful not to do too much damage; he didn’t want to risk getting taken away.

“Kane? Are you gonna kill them too?”

Devin asked this matter-of-factually, making the man hesitate. He recovered, however, and Kane saw a light in the man’s eyes. This might turn into a decent fight. He hoped so. The longer the better.

“No, Devin,” Steve answered. “I won’t let him.”

“Kane?”

“No, Devi, I won’t kill them.” Even though a part of him wanted to. A big part of him. Not in front of Devin.

He lunged. One quick shot under the sternum had the man bent over and choking. Kane followed up with a two-handed strike that caught him hard across both collar bones. He loved the feeling of the bones snapping. He could break more bones. Shatter the arms, maybe. Make sure the bastard never hit anybody again.

The man went to the floor, mouth opening and closing silently, tears of pain falling from his eyes. The woman opened her mouth to scream. Casually, Kane turned back to Devin and held out his arms. “I kill them, they take you away.”

Devin ran over and hugged Kane tightly. He didn’t giggle this time.

“Don’t let ’em take me, Kane! I don’t wanna ...”

“Nobody’s gonna take you,” Kane promised, his embrace fierce. He spoke loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. The woman was on the floor by her husband, who was whispering sounds of pain. She looked up at Kane with impotent fury and fear. “Anybody tries gets a one-way trip to the hospital basement.”

“Hospital basement?” Devin asked.

“That’s the morgue.” Kane still had a hard time with some of the things Devin didn’t know. He’d been raised thinking his whole point of existence was to be abused. How did he not know where the morgue was? Was it not a threat they had used?

“Oh. You wouldn’t throw them in the trash when they were dead.” Devin snuggled back into Kane’s arms. “You’re nice that way.”

“Is that what…?”

Mary looked sick. Steve looked like he wanted to kick both the downed man and his wife. Kane agreed. He wouldn’t stop at a single kick, though. And he’d add Shyla to the “to-be-beat” list.

“Uh-huh.” Devin nodded again. Kane’s arms tightened and he glowered at the woman, who now looked afraid. “One of the big black bags. The kind for when you do stuff outside.”

Kane smoothed Devin’s hair, hand shaking a bit. His boy, wrapped up in a garbage bag, put out with the garbage… He growled, low and feral.

“Get ’em out,” he told Steve in the same growl. “Get ’em out or they’ll be in black bags!”

“How dare you,” the woman gasped, offended. “He was ours, to do with as we…”

“And now,” Kane snarled next to her ear, “he’s mine. I fought for him and I will kill for him. I don’t care what Shyla or anybody told you. Devin. Is. Mine. You try to mess with him… hell, you try to come near him again…and you will be dead.”

“Kane?”

Devin was looking around, eyes wide in surprise and fear, unable to see where Kane was. Kane hated it when he forgot and moved so fast that Devin didn’t see him go. It was the only drawback to his otherwise awesome ability. Devin always freaked out, thinking he’d been taken. It was sweet, but irritating.

He hurried back, pulled Devin against him. Devin flinched, looked up cautiously, and lit up seeing who had him. Kane resisted the urge to kiss him, and settled for squeezing. Shattering the man would have to wait.

“Time to go up,” he announced as cheerfully as possible. “You need a bath.”

Devin ducked his head. “I…I’m sorry, Kane.”

“For what? Being scared? You didn’t do nothing wrong, Devi.” Kane ushered him out of the room, still talking in a gentle voice.

Steve and Mary escorted the couple out. The man was being supported by the woman – he refused to allow Steve or Mary to touch him. They were trying to demand that the hospital bills be paid for the man’s injuries. Kane heard Steve agree, stating that in return they could never return, try to have anything to do with Devin, or let anyone know that Kane was responsible for the injury.

“What disgusting people.” Mary said. Steve agreed. Albert asked what she meant and she explained.

“Do they have other children?” Albert asked Steve. “And is anyone ensuring that the other children are not mistreated as Devin was?”

“One sister was being used for sex, but she got taken away after Devin did. The other kids, amazingly enough, are fine. As fine as can be, given who their parents are, at any rate.”

Steve decided he would make sure the parents would never have anything to do with Devin or Kane again. He was going to have to make sure Shyla was removed as guardian. The woman needed to be removed. As soon as possible.

--------------------

What was the result of the visit?

The father was injured to threaten Devin. Kane immediately reported the visit and what he had done, as we had hoped he would. He claims he does not believe there was any harm done to Devin by seeing them again.

Very good.

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