Waiting for the Thunder

Brady hadn’t thought that things would end up like this when he finally made it back from Ecuador, he had thought that his parents would always be there to support him but instead they were killed by his uncle leaving Brady alone to look after his siblings. Things had always been easier with his sister, they were close before he was kidnapped and it had been easy for the two of them to get back to that but Liam was a different matter entirely. Sometimes it felt like his brother hated him, he wished he knew how to get through to Liam but it was definitely an uphill battle. One thing Brady knew was that he was never going to give up on the people who mattered to him, though, so all he could do was keep trying to do right by everyone. “I’m trying but I’m not sure they all see it that way,” he shrugged. Liam definitely didn’t at times but Brady knew that he wasn’t going to stop trying. This wasn’t the life that Brady ever would have asked for but it was the one he was dealt so he knew that he just had to find his way through it somehow. “I won’t. Our family might have shattered the day our parents died but I’ll never give up on him.” Liam had grown used to it being just him and Mel after Brady was taken and he knew that his brother had had a hard time adjusting to having him back but Brady knew that he was never going to turn his back on him.

Family meant the world to Brady and even though there was still so much that he didn’t know about Alix, she had already proved that she could be trusted even if it would no doubt take a while before he felt like he could let his guard down around her. That wasn’t something that he was good at, it had been difficult ever since he returned from Ecuador and Brady knew that it was his own doing but he just couldn’t seem to help it. “Thanks, I appreciate that,” he said sincerely as Alix said he knew where she was if he ever felt like talking. Opening up about what had happened in Ecuador wasn’t something that he had ever been very good at, in fact Alix knew as much about what happened there as Julian did and he hadn’t ever been able to tell anyone more than that. It was something he knew that he would always carry with him but showing weakness to anyone had never been a good idea for him and he wasn’t sure that he could start now. “Perhaps but some scars will always run deep,” Brady shrugged, pretty sure that this was one of those. “I’m not sure I’ll ever agree with that either but I’m still here so I guess all I can do is try and make the best of it,” he sighed. He had survived and even though he still felt incredibly guilty about that, he knew that he had to keep living his life to make sure that he didn’t waste this chance.

“It’s good to know there’s one other decent person left in our family then,” Brady admitted. Rohan hadn’t exactly filled him with confidence that he wasn’t going to turn around and try to kill them all when they met but he knew that it was a shock for him to find out that his sister was supernatural. It couldn’t have been easy for him so Brady was doing his best to give him the benefit of the doubt for Alix’s sake. “They really are. Everyone has their own version of events and most of the time people will try to make themselves look good.” It was all too easy for people to twist things around and that made uncovering the truth pretty difficult sometimes. “So do you,” Brady reminded her as Alix said that he deserved better than to be a part of their family. “Besides, family isn’t always about blood. Sometimes the family we choose is more important.” His pack had become that for him and Brady really was grateful for that. “Sure,” he nodded as Alix asked if he wanted to head inside. Holding the door open for her, he followed her inside and glanced over the menu after they were shown to a table. “Do you know what you want to have?”

ALIX QUINN