He looks at me in silence as he chews the inside of his mouth. “What?” I ask him curiously.
“I don’t know. I guess I just wasn’t sure you meant it when we decided that would be the only thing that would make us feel normal again.”
I look at him with a fond sadness as I slip a hand into his. “Normal? That’s not for us, Tieran. But revenge will suit me just fine until it’s our time to go.”
He nods as he gives my hand a squeeze then rests back on his elbows and looks out the window again.
“That’s onebadmotherfucker,” he murmurs.
My eyes follow his as the approaching storm grows larger and larger, taking out glimpses of the sun, gathering up more disease and decay in its eye.
I get off the bed and walk over to the window, pressing my nose against.
Down below in the parking lot, people scatter, running for their lives. Screaming, arms waving, clumsy.
“They’re all going to die,” I predict in a soft tone. I raise my hands, placing the palms against the glass, watching them scatter like lost, frightened children.
As the storm draws closer, the drugs in my system make me feel euphoric. Seeing death was something that never bothered me. Hell, I fuck Death on occasion in the form of my brother.
“Tieran?” I inquire softly as I peel myself away from the window.
“Yeah?”
I glance at him over my shoulder. His hands are clasped firmly over his face, muffling his reply. He hates these storms—he says it makes it harder to find supplies when they descend to destroy.
“Hold me?” I ask in the little girl tone that he loves and equally hates.
He sighs heavily, then drops one hand from his face, holding it out to me, and I grind my teeth together.
This isn’t love.
Love isn’t not making me feel like I’m a burden just because I want to be held while a damn vortex of death engulfs everything it can outside of our shoddy, decrepit home.
Love isn’t leaving me and coming back with drugs after fucking some new whore just because it’s all he knows he can do.
“Never mind.”
Tieran props himself up on his elbows again as I turn to watch the chaos continuing to unfold outside the window again.
“Hensley.”
“I’mfine,” I snarl through grit teeth.
The bed creaks as my brother gets to his feet. He comes over and slips his arms around my waist from behind, resting his chin on the top of my head.
“Maybe. But I’m not,” he confesses quietly.
“Nothing is wrong with you, Tieran,” I assure him. I keep my tone as steady as I can while everything inside of me falls so damn fast that if he weren’t holding me right now, I’d more than likely stumble and fall down. “You’re just sad, and that’s okay. I’m sad, too.”
He nuzzles a cheek against my hair, his arms tightening around me. “Don’t be angry with me anymore, okay? I’ll figure shit out then I won’t come home to you smelling like pussy. Besides, I didn’t even fuck this one. She just had the stench on her.
I blow out my breath and nod, prying his arms off my body, then turn and look up into his green eyes.
“Okay.”
A smile takes up half of his face. He knows that I’m lying, that I won’t be able tonotbe angry over having to share him, but I can’t help it.
Tieran ismine.