AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mike grins, “Absolutely.” The semblance of his old self flashes across his face but is gone before I can feel any relief that he might just win this battle.
I help him sit up in bed when Mom and Dad walk in.
“How’s my boy?”
Dad tries for chipper and I wince, but my brother gives his best attempt at a chuckle, sucks in a painful breath, then waves with his right hand toward the chairs.
“Always the better for seeing you, Pop. Mom, you look as gorgeous as ever.”
I watch as the three of them chat, avoiding the obvious.
I can’t bear it. “Just going to pop down to the loo,” I say after a few minutes of watching everyone pretend by some raving religious lunatic and his petrol bomb didn’t attack my brother.
My phone vibrates in my pocket as I stomp toward the staircase and some semblance of solitude.
Heard about your brother. I’m sorry… for everything.
Since arriving in Brissi, Michael’s injuries and my folks have stayed my heartbreak. But now it comes crashing back like a rockslide.
I delete his text and am about to wipe him off my phone, but I can’t.
Fuck!
My mind drags me back to the night before last. The smell of cigarette smoke and a pair of blood-red lips. What sort of fool did he take me for? A slut, that’s what. His words about the sort of men I’ve chosen come flooding back. For once, Doris was right. He was only after some cheap ass, and I gave it up like the hoe I am.
A well of emotion threatens to overtake me. I want to fling myself out of this window. Throw the fire hydrant down the stairs. Scream, curse… but I can’t. I have to shut it away. Keep my shit together. When my brother’s home and healthy, I’ll sort out what’s left of my life.
