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Drew hadn’t taken the break-up badly, just smiled patronizingly and said he would sleep in the office and let me think on it. He was sure that in the morning I would decide to make healthy life choices.
Doubtful.
I slept restlessly, thinking about Torin, wondering if he had gotten home safely, worrying about something happening to keep him from getting released.
How could I keep Torin from killing again?
The next morning Drew asked if I wanted to go see a movie and engage in some self-care.
I couldn’t think of anything less relaxing than watching whatever depressing art-house film he wanted to watch.
“Or I could go with you to the bakery,” he said. “Consistency is the key to running a successful business.”
I wanted to scream. I had no intention of going to the bakery today. Or any other day. And if Torin decided to take the bus into town to see me in between his meetings it would be safer to keep Drew away from the bakery.
“All right,” I said. “You know we’re still broken up, right?”
“Laoise once you calm down I think you’ll realize you don’t want to throw away such a stable relationship,” Drew said tranquilly. “Where would you go? What would you do? You know you couldn’t afford the rent on your own in this town.”
I felt a surge of cold fury and I bit my tongue to not respond. I followed Drew outside to the driveway and into his little sporty car.
“I recommend taking some space away from your brother,” Drew said when we settled in the theater seats. Since he had chosen a movie called Who Will Hear the Dead Leaves Falling? we were unsurprisingly the only ones in the theater.
My heart began to pound. I shifted in my chair, wishing I had worn something besides a thin skirt. My cunt was still unbelievably sore, aching from how hard and savagely Torin had taken me yesterday.
“Why?” I asked.
Drew gave me a look. “Because your brother doesn’t seem to want to leave you alone,” he said.
I didn’t respond. “You need to maintain your boundaries, Laoise,” he continued sternly, looking at me through those steel-rimmed frames. “I can’t do it for you.”
Boundaries?
My brother wasn’t a boundaries kind of man.
He didn’t accept boundaries when it came to me. He never had.
Besides, for all his talk of boundaries, I knew the real reason Drew said it was my job to enforce them. He didn’t want to mess with Torin.
And why would he? My brother was a freaking psycho.
I barely even noticed what was happening in the movie, but I sat next to Drew in the theater, rubbing the bare spot where my ring used to be. Torin had my ring now.
Just like he had me.
I ate some popcorn, the movie subtitles just a blur in front of my eyes. I glanced down at my cellphone to see if I had any messages.
I realized worry was gnawing at me.
What if something had happened to Torin?
Of course there wouldn’t be a text from him. He didn’t even have a cellphone. If he hadn’t gotten back in time for the evening meeting yesterday, it was his own damn fault.
I should have driven him back, I thought, surprising myself with my fierce, urgent fear.
He won’t go back to prison if I can help it.
“I’ll be right back,” I said. I suddenly didn’t want to sit next to Drew. His therapy speak made me want to scream.
