Behind the Lens (Behind the Lives) (8 page)

“It
doesn’t matter why she hit Ash or Tiana,” Dante said, snapping Kara out of her
fantasy. “It matters that she’s become violent since she’s been with me—like
you did.”

Kara
knew she was violent well before she’d met him, and she would never apologise
for that, because the meek didn’t inherit the earth, they fucking perished. “I
fight for what I want,” she said, “always have had to. You try living through a
war without it affecting you. Does Beth have the same excuse?”

“Yes.
Me.
I bring out the worst in women.”

“I
don’t think so; you’ve just got bad taste in them.” She smiled at him. “Me
included.”

He
glanced sideways at her, a slight smile pulling at the corner of his lips. God,
she could murder Craven for forcing her to leave him, had even considered it—
seriously
,
but the devil had too many minions protecting him, too much power. She was just
a slingshot in comparison to his nuclear bomb, but at least he’d given her a
second chance now, and she wasn’t going to allow anything to come between her
and Dante this time.

“I
don’t think I have bad taste in chicks,” Dante said. “It’s the chicks who go
with me that have bad taste.
You
included.”

“That
is true, because I really do have atrocious taste in men.” She grinned at his
raised eyebrow. “But you’re the exception to the rule.”

He
shook his head, but still smiled, the fissure between them shrinking a little.
A knock came from the front door, shattering the moment. He got up and opened
it, saying the Māori greeting for hello.

“
Kia
ora,
” a male and female voice replied back, the man’s one deep and sexy as
hell. She watched with curiosity, wondering who it was, then her eyes widened
as a tall man, or more precisely a boy, stepped inside, someone who had changed
dramatically over the past three years. No, Sledge wasn’t a boy anymore,
because Dante’s younger brother looked every bit a man, muscular and hard, his
appearance defying his eighteen years.

Kara
got to her feet. “You’ve grown huge, Tyson. What are you on? Steroids?”

Dante’s
brother’s harsh gaze fell on her. “You know everyone calls me Sledge. And why
you here?”

Kara
could tell by the distasteful curl of his lip that he wanted to add
bitch
to the end of his question. “I’m staying for a bit,” she answered him. “And I
like your birth name much better than that silly nickname.”

“It’s
not a silly nickname,” he snapped. “And what happened to your face?”

Kara
touched her black-eye. “My husband got a bit fist happy, which is why I’m
staying with your brothers.”

Sledge’s
twin sister squeezed past him. Juliet was a smaller version of Sledge, just not
attractive, because no female could pull off that face. Kara always felt like
Juliet had gotten short-changed in the looks’ department. On Sledge the rough
angles of his face came across as hot, on Juliet... Poor girl, she was never
going to get a boyfriend looking like that, plastic surgery her only hope.

Kara
shifted down the couch as the twins went to take a seat, both of them ignoring
her, Juliet not even saying hello, but that was to be expected, considering
Juliet hated her for... How did the English say it? ...putting her foot in her
mouth.
Da
, that was what Kara had done when she’d first met Dante’s
sister. Dante hadn’t introduced them, so Kara had asked him who the
ružna
djevojka
was, not realising that Juliet knew it meant
ugly girl.
But
Juliet
was
an ugly girl, so it wasn’t intended as an insult, just a
description, because Juliet had been standing next to Tiana at the time, and
Kara had referred to Ash’s woman as the
pretty girl
.

Dante
took off down the passage, then came back with Ash, both of them looking like
someone had died. Kara moved to another seat as Ash indicated for her to shift.
He sat next to Juliet and put an arm around his sister’s shoulders, then
started talking, something that went along the lines of...
She knew it!
His
words finally confirmed what Kara had always thought:
That Sledge and Juliet
were adopted.
They looked too much like Hunter, their supposed cousin, for
them to not have come from his seed.

Ash
continued talking to the twins, “I’m sorry, we should’ve told you sooner, but
Hunter didn’t want you to know.”

Sledge
spoke up first, his face shocked. “Is that why we look like him and not you?”

Kara
rolled her eyes. God, Sledge had always been dumb. Looks like only his
appearance had changed, not his brain matter.

Ash
answered Sledge’s question. “Yes. Hunter wuz sixteen when you were born, your
mother the same age. She died after childbirth, which caused Hunter to go off
the rails. Mum and Father had to admit him into the psyche ward, cos he wuz a
high risk for committing suicide, and when he came out, he still couldn’t
handle having children, so he made everyone promise to keep your adoption a
secret.”

Sledge
got to his feet, looking like he wanted to rip someone apart. “You lied to us
for eighteen years!”

“We
wanted to tell you,” Ash said. “But Hunter wuz too erratic, I didn’t wanna risk
it.”

“Then
why the fuck are ya spilling your guts now? He’s in the bloody looney bin.”

“Don’t
call it that.”

“Just
answer my fuckin’ question!”

“I
want to do right by you.”

Sledge
shook his head. “Then you should’ve told us sooner.”

“I
know, and I’m sorry, I wuz a weak bastard who did what other people wanted, but
I’m not letting that happen again. You and Juliet are too important to me,” he said,
pulling his crying sister/cousin closer. “And no matter what our genetics are,
you are still my brother, and Juliet is still my sister.”

“No
we’re not! We’re not even first cousins!” Sledge headed for the door,
disappearing out of it. Dante jumped up and ran after him, while Ash turned to
Juliet. He smoothed a hand down Juliet’s thick hair and started talking softly
to her, reassuring the girl he still loved her like a sister, and that she
would always be his number one sibling.

Kara
ducked her head and quickly wiped her eyes, Ash’s obvious love and concern for
Juliet making her feel guilty that she was witnessing something so personal—and
also jealous. She wished she could share loving moments with her own sister,
but knew that was impossible. Marina’s forced stay at the mental institute back
in Croatia was for life, because unlike Hunter, Marina wasn’t a danger to
herself—just to everyone else.

Kara
stood up and headed for Dante’s room. She closed the door and lay down on his
bed, wishing that she could become a part of this family too, to start afresh
with Dante. She touched her heart, running her hand over the material covering
her tattoo, the one she’d gotten the night she’d married Dante, something he’d
been too drunk to remember. She wished she could tell him the truth, and to
show him the documents she’d hidden—from both him and Craven. She looked up at
the camera fixed into the ceiling light and gave it the finger, then turned
over and closed her eyes, her dreams the only means of escape from Craven.

5

Sledge

Sledge pulled his motorbike
into the car park, stopping in front of the psyche unit, a building separated
from the rest of the hospital, the place his supposed father lived, the same
person who’d ignored him his whole life, pretending to be his cousin while
someone else raised him and his twin sister. He could never do that to his own
child.
Never!

He
pushed the kickstand on his motorbike, then got off. Removing his helmet, he
headed through the sliding doors, past a butch female guard, aiming for the
desk. The woman behind it smiled up at him, “How can I help you?” she asked,
not looking like a typical nurse from Middleton, her skirt and blouse, and
cardigan toned down, the opposite to the bright lilac uniforms dominating the
halls of the main hospital.

“I’m
here to see my... father. His name’s Hunter Rata.”

“Can
I please have your name?”

“Tyson
Rata,” he said, not liking using a name that could’ve been chosen by Hunter.
But then again, why would it be, because he couldn’t imagine his father holding
him as a baby let alone going to the trouble of naming him.

“Please
take a seat, Mr. Rata,” the woman said, “I just need to phone through for you.”

He
thanked her and headed over to the muted blue couch, everything soft and
pleasant, again, not as white and sanitised as the hospital. He started
cracking his knuckles, his nerves getting the better of him. He stopped when
the woman looked across the foyer at him. He pressed his lips together in an
apologetic smile, getting a sympathetic one in return, before the woman turned
back to her work.

Wanting
a distraction, Sledge’s gaze wandered the walls, eyeing the plain pictures of
landscapes, which made him think of Ash, his brother a much better painter. He
exhaled, realising he was still thinking of Ash as a brother. He hated having
to question himself, to not know what to call Ash and Dante. It shouldn’t be
that way, because he should’ve been told as soon as he could understand, then
he wouldn’t be having this mind fuck.

“Mr.
Rata?” a man said, exiting a doorway on Sledge’s right. The guy was dressed in
grey pants and a pale blue polo shirt, like he was ready to go to play a round
of tennis, then drink iced tea while chatting to his rich friends.

“Yes,”
Sledge replied.

“I
can take you through to see your father, but unfortunately you can’t be left
alone with him. We had an unfortunate incident yesterday, so I hope you
understand that this is for your own safety.”

“What
happened?”

“He
attacked a relative of yours, Ashley Rata, which means you’ll be taken to a
different room, rather than the recreational facility. Usually, Hunter isn’t
violent, but again, we don’t want to risk any further incidents.” The man
looked down at Sledge’s pants. “Also, you won’t be allowed to wear a belt in
there.”

“Why
not?”

“Because
he’s been moved to the secure facility, where belts are considered dangerous,
since they can be used as a weapon or a means to hang oneself.”

“But
it’s on me.”

“I’m
sorry, it’s the rules.”

Sledge
pulled off his belt, handing it to the man along with his helmet, then headed
for a set of sliding doors that the man indicated to. The last door slid open
onto a lounge with a TV, sofas and tables. A few people sat around talking, no
‘crazies’ that he could tell of, maybe some run-down adults looking a little
worse for wear, but that was it.

The
doctor, male nurse, orderly, or whatever he was, directed Sledge into another
room, this one smaller. Sledge stopped a few feet away from a table, where
Hunter—his father sat, looking at him with a forlorn expression. The man who
was escorting Sledge indicated for him to take a seat, then moved off to the
side where two guards were standing as though Hunter would burst across the
table and strangle Sledge. Again, Sledge was reminded of where he was: a looney
bin for all the misfits of society, his father looking like its kingpin right
now.

Sledge
sat down without a word, his gaze assessing Hunter, still in disbelief as to
who he was, although he shouldn’t have been, because the man looked like an
older version of himself, even more so since Hunter had lost weight and removed
his beard. How could he not have known that Hunter was his father? It seemed
absurd now, their resemblance too uncanny to allow them to be anything other
than father and son.

“I
wuz expecting you,” Hunter said, scratching his chest, the button-down shirt he
was wearing so tidy and straight-laced, as though he could be one of the
orderlies instead of a crazy having to be watched over. Hunter continued, “So,
where’s Juliet?”

“I
didn’t tell her I wuz coming,” Sledge finally said, the words sounding foreign
in his mouth, the whole situation weird and uncomfortable.

“Does
she know I’m her father too?”

“Yes.
Ash wuz comforting her when I left.”

Hunter
exhaled. “I’m sorry she’s upset.”

“Why?
Cos you obviously don’t care ’bout her or me.”

“I
do care for you both.”

“Strange
way of showing it,” Sledge said, bristling with anger. “You looked after Ash,
treating him like he wuz your own kid, but you ignored your real son and
daughter our entire lives? You must really hate us.”

“No
I don’t.”

“Yes
you do, and you pro’bly blame me and Juliet for killing our mother. Ash told me
she died after childbirth.”

Hunter
looked down at the table. “I don’t blame you, and it wuzn’t that I didn’t want
you either, it’s that every time I look at you I see the result of what killed
the only woman I’ve loved.”

Sledge
fisted his right hand. “Which means you
do
blame me and Juliet.”

“I
didn’t mean for it to sound that way.” Hunter reached for Sledge’s hand.

Sledge
whipped it away. “Yes you did, and I didn’t ask for you to bring me and Juliet
into this world,” he spat out, now seething.

“I
know,” Hunter said, “and again, I’m sorry, I couldn’t cope with things, still
have trouble, which is obviously why I keep ending up in this place. And I went
off the deep end when your mother died. Ash and Dante’s mother offered to adopt
you and Juliet, although their father wuzn’t too happy ’bout it, saying that
they had enough mouths to feed. I didn’t know that then, only found out after
Natasha divorced the bastard. But she wuz lovely, and I knew you would be happy
with her. Me, I couldn’t have given you much, I wuz sixteen, heartbroken and
grieving the death of my girlfriend and still not having come to turns with my
parents dying in a car crash the year before. I wuz a complete mess.”

“That
wuz eighteen years ago. You lived with me and Juliet when Ash became our
guardian. It’s pathetic that I had my own father in the same house, yet I
didn’t even know, while Ash, nuthin’ but a cousin, paid for our food, looked
after us while you were off selling drugs,” Sledge said, whispering the last
word. “You dragged them into that trade. Ash doesn’t even wanna sell that shit.
He only did it for your debt.”

“I
have no debt to Craven, I told your brothers that yesterday.”

“They’re
not
my brothers, and they didn’t mention anything to me.”

“Cos
Ash doesn’t believe me. He thinks I’m lying to keep the house and biz, but I’m
not, and I only lied to him ’bout the debt so he wouldn’t quit working for
Craven.”

“You
bastard!” Sledge wanted to reach across the table and smash Hunter apart,
because Craven had almost lost Ash his family. Tiana had walked out on Ash
because of his job, taking their son with her, but thankfully had returned
recently.

Hunter
waved the guards away, who had taken a few steps towards Sledge. When the men
resumed their positions against the wall, Hunter leaned his head closer to
Sledge. “I did it for their safety as well as everyone connected to them, you
and Juliet included, cos when someone signs up to work for Craven, he is their
last boss. Craven allows no one to leave his employment, and you must know what
that means. I told Ash this, but he thinks I’m spouting off crazy shit, but I’m
not, and if you love your family, you need to convince Ash that what I say is true.
Please, son—”

“Don’t
call me that,”
you liar.

“Okay,
Tyson—”

“It’s
Sledge, I don’t go by a name that means nuthin’ to me.”

“I
named you after a great boxer.”

Sledge
sniffed, surprised that he was wrong, that the name
had
come from
Hunter. “I’m not a fan of Mike Tyson.”

“Wrong
Tyson. You’re named after my father. He wuz a great boxer, but chose family
over his dreams.”

Sledge
went silent. He hadn’t even known Hunter’s father’s name—
his
own
grandfather’s name.

Hunter
continued, “But it wuz still boxing that brought your grandparents together. My
father met my mother while fighting a championship in Italy.”

“Italy?”

“Yes,
your Nonna Teresa is full Italian, from Naples.”

“What’s
Nonna
mean?”

“Grandmother.”

Sledge’s
jaw clenched. “My grandmother is Baba Vesna.”

“No,
she’s Ash and Dante’s grandmother.”

“She’s
mine!” Sledge shouted. “And I’m not Italian, I’m Croatian.”

“You’re
a quarter Italian and the rest Māori and Tongan.”

“I’m
part Tongan?” Sledge said, taken aback.

“Yes.”

Sledge
put his hands to his head, wishing he could stop from thinking. After his
mother (no, Ash and Dante’s mother) had been stabbed to death when he was
eight, he and Juliet had gone to live with her parents. Baba Vesna and Dida
Ivan had brought them up as one of them—as Croatians. They’d taught him the
language, taken him to the Dali Club where they’d practiced the
kolo
,
the ring dance,
like many Croatian kids did in New Zealand. But now, he
was being told that all those years were a lie, that he’d learned a language
that didn’t belong to him. He knew he was Māori, both Ash and Dante just
shy of being half, but he had no clue he was Tongan
or
Italian.

“I
know this is a shock to you,” Hunter said.

“You
have no fuckin’ idea!”

“Fair
enough, you’re angry.”

“I’m
more than angry; I wanna rip you to shreds. You made me live with two people
who weren’t even blood, allowed them to raise me in a culture I’m not even
connected to.”

“You
are
connected to Croatia, like I am, cos of Ash and Dante.”

“But
you
weren’t forced to learn a language that wuzn’t yours. Dida Ivan
smacked me if I spoke English at home, a home I shouldn’t have been in!”

“I’m
sorry.”

Sledge
jabbed a finger at Hunter. “Stuff your apologies, they’re eighteen years too
late, and when you get outta here, don’t you dare show your face near me and
Juliet. If you’re at any family functions I won’t be there, and if you show up
when I am, I expect
you
to leave, otherwise I’m gonna show you just how
much I can box like your father.”

Hunter
nodded, his eyes looking hurt, though fuck knew why, considering how he’d
neglected his own kids.

Sledge
pushed up out of his chair, knocking it backwards. “If you chose to ignore me
my whole life, then I’m choosing to ignore you for the rest of yours.” He
turned and headed for the door, feeling worse than when he’d come in.

***

Sledge parked his motorbike
behind Corey’s car in their driveway, then headed for the front door of the
place he rented with his friends and sister. It backed onto the beach, the only
good thing about the dump, which was in desperate need of being demolished. But
he liked it, because it gave him more freedom than living with his brothers...
Shit, shit, shit! They weren’t his brothers any more, never were.

Opening
the front door, he kicked his boots off, one of them banging into the drinks
cabinet belonging to Corey’s brother. He dumped his helmet, then headed for his
boyfriend’s bedroom. He opened the door and closed it quietly behind him, not
surprised that Corey was still sleeping, his skinny body lying spread-eagled
across the bed with only his boxers, beanie and the cast on his broken leg
keeping him from being naked.

His
boyfriend looked so damned sweet when he slept, the beanie the only thing
stopping him from appearing angelic, but Corey refused to take it off after
losing his hair to chemo, which Sledge couldn’t blame him for.

Sledge’s
gaze wandered to Corey’s flat chest, making him think about all the chicks he’d
been with before he’d fallen for Corey. He’d told everyone he loved big tits,
but in all truth he liked little ones, just was saving face, because he
would’ve gotten ribbed for admitting it, especially from Tama who said the
bigger the better. Sledge wondered whether his preference for smaller tits made
it easier to be with a guy. Okay, Corey didn’t have any tits whatsoever—
obviously
,
and man boobs were just gross, but still, Corey had nice nipples, hairless and
tasty looking. Sledge focused on them, wondering whether gay guys sucked on
nipples.