“That’s good,” he remarks tightly. I turn my attention back to the show that’s droning on, wondering how long it’ll be before Molly snaps. I can feel it in the air—it’s like when the hair on the body stands up right before lightning strikes.
Maybe one day he’ll fucking get that she doesn’t want him around.
Of course, for that to happen, she has to snap at him, which I don’t think she’s capable of doing. The lost little girl deep inside of her loves him too much to do it.
“Okay,” she says indifferently. “Was there anything else?”
“Um, actually, yeah there is. You got a birthday coming up soon and I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me today? Just the two of us,” he adds pointedly. “It would be nice to catch up.”
Lunch?
I glance quickly at the clock on the wall and realize that we’ve slept till’ almost noon. Guess it’s not morning after all.
Molly’s nervous gaze lingers on me. Not once have I ever made her ask me for my permission to do anything, and with as much as I fucking hate Tobias, this is no different.
“Have fun, baby,” I say, eyes still on the screen.
I can hear her sigh of relief as well as her brother’s and I roll my eyes since I know neither of them can see me do it.
She comes over and places a gentle kiss on my cheek, and I turn my eyes up toward her smiling, running a finger down the side of her face.
“We’ll be back soon,” she promises me quietly.
“As long as you have fun,” I reply, still smiling.
Molly’s eyes reflect confusion, then darken as a knowing smile creases across her lips. She knows what I want her to do and she’ll take it as a challenge, as a way of her testament of love for me.
“I plan on it,” she whispers hotly into my ear before she pulls away and heads back to the bedroom to get dressed.
She reappears about ten minutes later and as her and Tobias head toward the front door, she runs back to kiss me hungrily, straddling me while her brother watches us with disdain. As Molly continues her lustful assault, I open an eye and look at Tobias, raise a hand, and make an air gun motion in his direction.
If Molly doesn’t have fun with him today, then I will by the end of the evening.
Especially now that he knows just how close we are.
Bloody Lunch
Molly
My brother.
We’ve never really gotten along, and when he’s here, I hate how he looks at me and Pike. With judgmental eyes. All of my family does. They don’t understand that I need Pike’s stability to calm my mind. The erratic thoughts that race through me don’t get better with medication. It’s love that heals me.
“So,” Tobias says with a smile as we sit at a small table in a cafe not far from the apartment. I brought him here because I know if I need Pike, he’s only a few blocks away.
“So?” I meet his eyes, those that still hold confusion at my choice, at the life I lead. He doesn’t know the real me, not like Pike does. And he doesn’t know just how broken I am. Which is fine with me because I don’t need my family trying to break me and Pike up. Because if he knew…
“I’ve missed you, Molls,” he smiles, an attempt at brotherly affection.
“It’s Molly, Tobias,” I bite out in frustration. The only person who can call me Molls is my Daddy. “And I haven’t seen you in so long, I’d thought you would’ve forgotten you have a sister.”
He sighs, sitting back as the waitress sets down the two glasses of water and coffees we ordered when we walked in. I wait for him to respond, to apologize, but that’s going to take a long time before I’ll ever hear something like that from him, or from anyone in my family for that matter.
“I have missed you, Molly,” he finally utters. His hands shake as he lifts the mug to his lips. I watch him sip the steaming liquid and my mind falters for a moment, imagining his skin peeling from his skull as the hot liquid burns its way down like acid dripping over his porcelain skin.
Little Molly and her brother, born to a liar. Their daddy is a fuck up, their mommy is too, it’s time for little Molly to run away, because of the things they make her do.
“I’m doing very well by myself, Tobias. As you can see, I’m not ill,” I tell him, smiling as if the world is my oyster. And it is.
“Molly, you can’t seriously be living with Pike,” he utters the name with disgust. Anger burns through me at the way he spits out Daddy’s name. Like he’s nothing. As if he’s the bad one. Tobias is the one who’s blinded by our families lies.