“He’s goin’, Slater,” Lincoln roars, throwing his hands up in the air. “I’m not fuckin’ dealin’ with this shit. Not again. He’ll kill himself if he doesn’t go, and I won’t have that in this house.”

“We can’t fuckin’ afford rehab, Linc,” I snarl. “You fuckin’ know we can’t.”

“I’ll find a way.”

“By sinking us all!”

“Do not fuckin’ come in here tryin’ to undermine me. I make the fuckin’ rules. I’m the one who makes the money to feed you fuckin’ boys. You don’t think I want to be out there, drinkin’ and partyin’, livin’ the good fuckin’ life? Well?”

“I’m not a fuckin’ boy,” I growl, clenching my fists. “And I work just as hard as you do.”

“Now you do,” he rasps, his voice thick and angry. “But for years, I held this shit on my shoulders. I appreciate everything you do now, you work hard and I fuckin’ know it, but this is my call. I’m the one still footing most of the bills, and dad is sick, and he’s goin’ to get worse. He needs help.”

“I know he does,” I say, because I can’t disagree on that, but I also know getting help is going to sink us. We’ll go down faster than we can swim, and this house is all we have left of mom, I don’t want to lose it.

I want to keep everyone right where they are.

But dad is drinking us into fuckin’ desperation.

“Then unless you can give me another option, he’s goin’ away to get clean.”

“We can’t do it, Lincoln. You know we can’t. You’ll have to work more than you already do, and so will I, and even then, we won’t cover it.”

“I’ll find a way,” he grinds out.

“And if you don’t, we sink just as fuckin’ fast as dad is pushin’ us under.”

“You want to let him die? Is that what you want Slater? Because that’s what’ll happen.”

“No,” I roar. “I do not want him to fuckin’ die, but I also know we can’t afford rehab.”

“Too bad. He’s going and it is not your concern.”

“This family is as much my concern as it is yours...”

He shakes his head. “I make the fuckin’ rules around here. Don’t forget your place, Slater.”

“Fuck you,” I hiss.

Lincoln moves quickly, grabbing me by the shirt and slamming me against the wall. A feral hiss leaves my throat and I reach out, curling my hand around his throat in return, and we stand there, both of us squeezing, both of us panting with rage. I’m the same size as him now, and he knows he doesn’t have it over me like he used to. He also knows I’ll fight back. Respect the hell out of my brother, but I will fuckin’ not be pushed around by him either.

“Back down, Lincoln,” I snarl.

“You back down, Slater.”

“Both of you fuckin’ back down! For god sake!”

We look around to see Finn standing in the doorway, shaking his head. “What the fuck is wrong with you two? Dad is in the hospital, nearly having lost his life, and you two fuckers are in here fightin’ about it.”

“Not your concern, Finn,” Lincoln growls. “Back off.”

“It is my fuckin’ concern, Lincoln, because you’re not my guardian. If anything happens to dad, Damon and I could get taken away. You gotta know that. So, I believe this has to do with all of us.”

Fuck.

Didn’t even consider Damon and Finn.

That changes everything.

“It’s Slater who doesn’t want to front the cost of puttin’ him away, have it out with him,” Lincoln barks, letting me go. “I’m fuckin’ done. I’m goin’ out.”

He turns and charges out the door, furious.

I look to Finn.

“Why wouldn’t you want him to get help, Slater?”

I exhale, running my hand down my face. “I do want him to get help. Gotta understand the cost of that will sink us. Tryin’ to keep us afloat.”

“Then I’ll go to work, Damon too, fuck school. We can help.”

“Know you can help, brother, but also know you shouldn’t have to. We’ll figure it out, but I promise you this, no one will ever fuckin’ take you and Damon away from us. No one. Not ever.”

I walk over, curling my hand around the back of his neck and pressing my forehead to his. Finn is troubled, he’s always been troubled. He got worse when mom died. She was his everything. Lincoln got hard, and Finn broke. We’re all he has left, and I didn’t think about how scared he must get sometimes, knowing if anything happened to dad, they could get taken from us.

“You’re all I’ve got, Slater,” he murmurs.

“Know that, little brother. I’ve got you, you hear?”

He nods.

I let him go.

And then I turn and walk out.

I don’t know how the fuck we’re goin’ to pull this off, but I do know we have to.

One way or another, I have to make this work.

I have to fix this.