My Two Stepbrothers

ch.26

Silence. That's all I heard, no one was saying anything.  Luke and Caleb were just staring at me like I had grew another head, but honestly I would be doing the same thing.

"No..." Luke whispered looking down.

Caleb looked at Thomas for awhile before he actually spoke. "H-how long have you known?"

Caleb asked with a blank expression.

"Since the beginning. I was walking home from school when a car pulled up beside me, I was confused at first, but then my dad stepped out of the car and told me to get in. I didn't think much of it because it was my dad. There were a couple of men in the car with him and your dad was one of them, but I didn't know that at the time."

He stops, taking a deep breathe and then continues.

"My dad said it was something he wanted to pass down to me, like a family business. He said it was time that I started to learn about it. That's when I started to become distant, I had a lot on my mind at the time and I didn't want to get you guys involved, but then John found out I was friends with you guys and told me he was your father. He had planned to make both of you apart of the gang when you were older, but then he and your mom got divorced because she found out what he was planning and she was tired of all he was doing. So she threatened him saying if he came near you guys that she would go to the police and tell them everything."

He stopped giving everyone time to process what he was telling us, well except me I already knew how this story ended and how this whole thing began. Luke and Caleb looked shocked, like they didn't want to believe what he was saying, but they could tell he wasn't lying.

"He wanted me to get you guys into the gang, But I was against it believe it or not. I didn't want you guys to have the life that was instore for me so instead of getting you guys completely into the gang I gave you small jobs that couldn't really get you into much trouble or get you hurt. I thought you guys would push me away when I started having you do things for me, but you guys stayed. You were still my friends after everything I had done, that's when the gang wanted me to get you into the gang,  but I knew you would never do it. So they made me force you to do stuff, made you do worse things, made me do worse things."

He says taking a deep breathe closing his eyes. I put my hand on his arm without really thinking about it. For some reason I felt bad, I knew that at heart he wasn't a bad guy he had just fallen into the wrong crowd. I seen Caleb tense up when I put my hand on his arm, but I didn't move it because I knew Caleb would understand when he heard the end of this story, plus it's not like Thomas had any feelings for me like that, or any girl for that matter.

He looked over at me and nodded his head to tell me he was fine.

"I didn't have a choose in the matter anymore, but just so you know if I did I would have never let you guys get involved. When you guys were starting to stop doing things I asked I got happy and thought you would be done for good even if it meant not being able to be your friend, but then John found out about Emma over here." He says nodding his head toward me.

"He figured that you guys would do anything to protect her, so he made me go after her. I tried to tell him that this wouldn't work, that he should just drop it, but he didn't."

Thomas looked down at his hands and fidgeted a little. "I-I'm sorry. I know you guys hate me" He says barely above a whisper.

I looked at the guys waiting for their reaction. Caleb just stood there for a minute and then walked out, which wasn't really a surprise. Luke on the other hand stayed there and so did Mason and Dylan.

"S-So you were forced into this?" Luke asked, not really showing any emotion on his face.

Thomas looked up from his hands and nodded his head, I could tell he felt bad after all these years. I thought Thomas was this big bad guy, but he actually has a heart. It was just hidden underneath all the years of suffering.