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"Why?" he asked.
"You don't want to leave it there overnight. Might get towed. Stolen. You need it to go to class. You have a game Friday night. Do I need to keep going?" He had his head back against the headrest and his eyes were closed. He was tuned out.
"Whatever." Then he lifted his head and said with a bit more energy, "Okay. Yeah. That will work."
Nope. Not the way he thought it would.
She walked out of the drug store with a little, brown bag. Once she was in the car, I said, "Let's go get his car."
She nodded and we were a silent trio watching the sunset on this long, ridiculous, exhausting day.
Once there, Storm got out and immediately started for the car. Not a word of farewell to either of us. I said, "Go with him. Tell him I needed to borrow your car and you need to go home, rest."
"I do need to go home." She took the bag and got out. I jumped up to the front seat and took off. He had no choice now. He could take her home or leave her there, but she had to be with him so he couldn't do anything else stupid and not account for her.
I needed help with these two. Real help. My psychology classes were working overtime since the frat moved out of the old house and onto the off-campus property. I lived in a dorm back then. My freshman year was so much less complicated. I missed dorm life when the worst thing I had to worry about was walking in on Rajesh’s younger brother, known to the frat as Squeak, trying to masturbate quietly in the bathroom in the middle of the night. Scared both of us. One of us enjoyed it. I shivered. I'd been traumatized by college life, too. I laughed. Maybe Holly needed a friend. I had a friend. A good one I could trust. Not with all the details, but Autumn was not the kind of girl to leave someone in distress if they needed help. Both of them needed help and I was but one man.
Storm
When all I wanted was to be near this girl, she couldn't even look at me longer than a second. Now that I wanted her to leave me the fuck alone so I could take my leave in peace, she wouldn't give me a minute to breathe without her sharing my oxygen.
"I thought he had been drinking." I glared at her.
"Earlier. I... he said he needed to go, and I'm exhausted." She had all kinds of words for me now, even if she was talking to the paper bag her meds were in.
I had to settle up that this was a delay in my plans. I probably needed to do a few more things anyway. Make sure all my accounts were situated. The more time I had to think about it, the more I was thinking about other people and that was not helping me stick to my current plan. "Fine."
"I don't want to go back to my room." She gripped the bag harder. "I'll see her."
"You'll see me in my room." Damn this woman was confusing as fuck. "I'm your monster, remember? No. You need to go to your room. Deal with it."
"You should come with me then." She looked over at me and gulped.
"Are you serious right now?" I shook my head. "Why would I do that?"
She thought about it. A lot, if her silence was an indicator. As we pulled up to the sorority house and I pulled in behind the SUV exactly like mine, she found words again. "Because that bitch needs to be reminded that you signed that contract with me, not her. Could you imagine if this was reverse? That I took you from her for a..." She trailed off.
My brow was all kinds of high on my forehead. She had my full attention and just so she understood the disgusting, awful, undeniable truth about the actual monster that I am, I reminded her, "She's my cousin."
Her head swiveled and I shrugged. Get out. Run inside. Be horrified so I can go back to plan A where I no longer have to live with the guilt, the manipulation, or the fear anymore. She swallowed and then said, "I don't care if she's your twin sister. This isn't that old TV show. She does not get to be perfect and have everything. She doesn't get to take things from me. You don't want her to, do you?"
No. I did not.
Back then, I probably could have just told someone. Before it was beyond the lines that no one would want to know we crossed. I didn't though. I loved her. Trusted her, and each year we got older, I loved her more and she— "Fine."
Holly waited until I was out of the car and around the front of it. I realized a little late that she might be expecting me to open her door, but she opened it and got out. In a brief bout of casual and honest conversation, I admitted, "I never know if I'm supposed to do that these days."
"It's okay." She moved over and steeled her spine. It was like pissing Essie off was a form of battle armor for this woman who was obviously, and for at least one known reason, still battling some fear of me. She looked at my hand and then moved hers toward it. "We have to show a united front."
"Sure." Why the fuck not?
"You have clothes here, so you can stay." She slid her hand into mine, and I hated the sparks that it sent through me. Hated that for whatever reason, I was drawn to women who either didn't want me or shouldn't. I was never a religious man, but I knew if there was in fact a hell, I would be going straight to it, so what difference did any of this make?
"Whatever." I entered that house with her. There were a few girls watching television in the main room, some eating at a table, and a brunette that just lost all the joy she was previously exhibiting. That gave me a whole new burst of energy. I smiled at Essie and then swooped Holly up into my arms and carried her up to room 405.
She was a trembling, little mess when I put her back on her feet, but she wanted to do this, and now, so did I.
I pulled off my shirt, kicked out of my shoes, dropped my shorts, went straight to her bed, and as I got into it, I said, "I don't have classes tomorrow, but we have a game. Let me sleep."
