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Drew laughed mirthlessly. “You need a therapist, Laoise. Something’s wrong with you.”
Then Torin’s leg snapped out, catching Drew in the ankle so viciously with his boots that the other man stumbled back. I screamed as Torin kicked him again, Drew’s gun wavering, shooting up wildly in the sky, but then he was bringing it back down, oh god no please no
With a grunt my brother rolled to his feet and lowered his shoulder into Drew. The gun was knocked harmlessly away as Drew was slammed heavily into the ground.
Drew opened his mouth to protest, but Torin had never been much of a talker. His arms were dark in the night, and they made a vicious twist, breaking Drew’s neck with a sickening crunch. And I had already flown to him, anxiously feeling his wound to see how deep it was, where it was, please god no not now not when I’ve just got him again
But my psycho brother turned and gave me a bloody grin. “Some pussy motherfucking shooting,” he said. “Took a chunk of flesh out of my arm but I’ll live.”
“Oh, Torin,” I sobbed and without any conscious thought I was in his arms, pulling his face down to mine, kissing him desperately, needing to taste him.
There was a shower of sparks, and he whirled me around as a beam from the porch crashed down behind us.
“Our house!” I cried. “How long will it take the fire department to get here?”
My brother hopped back up on the porch, dragging away the flaming branch that Drew had used to set the house on fire.
“Soon,” he said. “There isn’t much else to do out here and this will be visible for miles.”
“Then you better put him somewhere,” I said, indicating Drew’s body.
“You don’t want to report it, sister?” Torin asked, and I saw his lips curve up on his smoke-blackened face.
“Think anyone would believe it?” I retorted, shoving the sticky hair out of my face. “I don’t want your dumb ass back in jail.”
“All right, Lele,” he said, grabbing his pack of cigarettes, and lighting one.
The little flame illuminated the harsh lines of his face, the big fire brightly lit behind him.
He grabbed the back of Drew’s collared shirt and dragged him by the tie into the corn fields and just as he reached my side again the firetrucks arrived.
There were an impressive number of them, and Torin and I drew buckets from the well and helped, but it wasn’t necessary. The biggest area of damage had been to the porch, which was almost totally burned, front door, and some damage to the living room.
I was wild with a feverish fear that they’d randomly go into the corn field and see Drew’s dead body, but the firefighters had very little interest in what had started the fire, only great enjoyment in putting it out.
This was the mountains. People didn’t ask questions they didn’t want answers to.
“Don’t smoke and drink whiskey in bed, son,” the fire chief advised.
I nudged Torin. “OK,” he said, and I profusely thanked all of the county firefighters and promised to bring them all baked goods the next day.
My brother and I stood and watched them go, and I twined my fingers around his big ones, feeling the dirt and grit under my palm as he squeezed my hand affectionately.
Then we walked to the cornfield and my brother hoisted my dead ex-fiancé over his shoulder, took the machete from the shed with the other hand, and we walked into the woods.
I followed, feeling the night chill on my skin, cold sweat and hot flush as we walked under the silent branches. I was glad Torin had insisted I put on my rain boots.
We walked a long time and when we got to the cliffside over the huge deep backcountry mountain lake, Torin took out his machete, chopped off Drew’s fingers and toenails, then ripped the teeth out of his jaw one by one.
I wanted to look away, avoid the gruesome sight, but I forced myself not to this time.
Torin had killed for me before, killed our father and sat and watched him die to save me.
This time I wouldn’t look away. So I didn’t, and I helped him make a small fire and we burned part of Drew. The rest we put in a weighted bag and with Torin’s help I threw it into the deep mountain lake. I watched, leaning on Torin’s shoulder, as it fell in with a quiet splash.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you baby,” he replied. “I’d do anything for you.”
