Chapter 8

It took me some time to reach the meeting room. My ribs were protesting the entire way and if it weren't for the railing I would have fallen over due to the immense amount of pain that was racking my body every time I inhaled. I did my best to hide it, but when Niko walked by he was very unconvinced.

As I approached the meeting room I could hear an argument coming from the other side of the door. I opened the door and leaned against the door frame, listening to the argument that was occupying the others. Martin and Caleb were in the center of it and were probably the original starters of the argument. They kept snapping at each other, but what really got to me was what they were arguing about.

"Why are we looking at a boy for leadership. He barely turned eighteen this year. He has already landed himself in the hospital and on top of that he brought us that traitor."

Caleb tried to snap back at him but I stepped in.

"When did you start believing the fathers over their kids, Martin. I thought you of all people would understand how costly a simple mistake can be in the eyes of a parent."

Martin turned to me with a cold stare. He then charged me, something I didn't expect. It caught me by surprise at first but then I realized that he was trying to prove his assumption, that I was not ready to lead. He had a forearm placed against my throat while his other hand was on the wall above my head. The were gasps and sighs from the others mainly because they were all done with Martin's bullshit. I could see the triumphant glint in his eyes and he was surely mistaken to pick a fight with me.

I easily slipped out of his grasp, grabbed his arm, and pinned him on the floor. It was one of the moves that I had used often when my dad was drunk and I was in my mid-teens and could fight back fairly. My father hated it when I learned and when I was small enough he had broken several of my ribs. Martin was easier, simply because he had no background information on me and he was about half the size of my father.

When he tapped out I release my grip and gritted my teeth. My ribs ached. It wasn't ideal to brawl with someone when I was still supposed to be in the hospital but it had to be done. Everyone turned their heads as if they had also started to believe what Martin was getting at before I bested him in a fight that he started. I could see Caleb smile slightly. It was as if he was trying not to let it show. Now that we had gotten my 'competence to lead' situation resolved I asked the more pressing question that had been sitting in my mind since this whole fiasco started.

"How's Aiden doing?"

I looked to Caleb as I wasn't going to get the real and full truth out of anyone else. I loved the others like family but they babied me and I wasn't fond of it. When my dad would sober up before big events he would baby me and act as if he cared about me. I guess I just wasn't used to people actually caring about my wellbeing. Caleb bowed his head.

"We tried to talk to him, but he would shrink up into the corner and none of us wanted to scare him. We tried everything. I tried, Cameron tried, Jaz tried, Lila tried and nothing would get him to talk to us, any of us. He walled us off and didn't speak much."

"That's probably because you scared him so bad that he is frightened of every one of us. Why was I the only one who thought that maybe just maybe Aiden's father wants him to feel unwelcome here? Bet none of you thought of that. Now Aiden may feel that he is safer with his abusive father and most of you can't even begin to imagine what that's like."

Caleb shook his head in defeat. He was rarely the one to admit defeat and I was surprised.

I was intrigued as to why they had tried Lila at all. She could be very intimidating to people who didn't know her background and life story. She was trans like Caleb but the other way around. She had been born in a male presenting body and when she felt different about it she was told to come to Caleb. There was little he could help her with as Caleb was trying to do the complete opposite with his body as Lila wanted to do with hers.

"The only thing he asked for, was you."