Two Years Later…
“No.” I shake my head as I put up my hair into a messy bun.
“Come on, just this once.”
“That’s what you always say,” I tell him.
“Sis.”
I spin around to face him. “Brody, no. Stop gambling all your money, then you might have some left, so you don’t have to borrow from me all the time.”
Brody’s gaze drops to the floor. “It’s only a few hundred,” he complains.
“What did Merci say when you asked her?”
He waves a hand around. “Oh, come on, you know she doesn’t know.”
“It’s time you tell her.” I lean down and pull on my shoes.
“You aren’t better than us, you know that?” He always does this, comes up with the holier- than-thou attitude when I won’t give him what he wants.
“I never said I was.” I reach for my bag and head for the door. “It’s time you go. I have to get to work.”
He storms out the door.
I tried to protect him from his addictions—it was one of my main goals in life. But after the day we left Sailor’s house, I found out Brody got a job working in a cleaning company. It was good for him. But the money? Well, we never saw any of it. The guys he worked with bet, they gamble, and they wager big time. Eventually, Brody did the same. Except he never had any luck. He sucks at gambling and always seems to owe people money. Which in turn makes him come to me for extra money to supplement his addiction.
I got a new job that Sailor secured for me, where I met people who were doing their job at a local bar just for extra cash. My friend, Amanda, is a flight attendant for a private company, and she managed to land me a dream job. And I’ve been working there for over a year now.
And I love it.
It’s so good to be able to fly around the country and even overseas at the request of some of my regular returning customers.
It pays well, and it’s what I plan to do for as long as I can.
Merci? Well, she did leave the business, that was until Brody’s paychecks stopped coming in. Because it went to everything else. So, she’s back where she started. And I can tell it’s slowly killing her having to go back to that life. Especially after everything that went down with Malik, it took time to heal the wounds he put there. And at first, she and Brody were strong, doing well, but now, not so much.
I left my old apartment, but Brody and Merci still live there. I try not to go back there unless it’s to visit, but honestly, it is rare these days. That place holds too many memories, ones I simply want to move on from, so me visiting is way out of my comfort zone. So, when Brody wants something, he comes to my apartment, which is not too far away. The place I live in is more secure and safe.
Brody, however, always seems to find a way, and I’ve come home to him here, going through my things to find money or something to sell to make money. Now, I’ve learned never to keep money here, making sure I bank any cash.
It has taken me a while to get to this place in my life, one where I realized I could not protect my brother from everything, even if I love him more than the air I breathe. He’s an adult now and has to choose his own way. He knows what we’ve gone through, and if he still chooses to go down that darkened path, who am I to stop him?
I’m his sister, not his mother.
Overall, there is little I can do to help him anyway. All I can do is be there when he falls and hope I can help pick him back up. I am finding this is becoming more difficult the deeper he falls into the abyss that is his life.
When I get to my car, he’s there. Waiting.
“So, when do I get to meet him? Or am I not good enough to meet your rich boyfriend?” Brody asks. He taps the car’s hood in some sort of arrogant act of defiance. “I see he likes to spoil you, so why can’t you spoil me? I’m family.”
“I have twenty on me, Brody, and that’s it. Go and tell Merci you’re low. She’s your fiancée.” I hold out the twenty, and he snatches it from my hand without any form of gratitude.
“Who is he anyway? Too good to meet your family?”
Taking a deep breath, I stare at him. “Where did we go wrong?”
Brody sucks in a breath and walks away, never wanting to finish a conversation with me. As soon as I get into the car, I call Merci while watching as Brody slides into my old car and drives off.