Page 53 of Splintered Desire

Holy shit.

Isaac is adorable. Not that you would ever know it with his grumpy face, but with a smile… and his laugh is musical.

“Mother shops here often. Our card is on file,” he says, a smile still on his lips as he waves off my concern and gets in the car.

It takes me a second to register what he just said through the shock, but when I do, I feel like I can breathe again. I also realize I need to move, or he might very well leave me here.

I scramble into the car as he turns the key, and it rumbles to life. Reaching for my belt, I damn near hit the roof when I turn to find him entirely too close.

“It’s a shame you hide yourself under so much,” he says, picking up a strand of my long brown hair and twirling it around his finger, seemingly examining it. “I mean, I get it, but still.”

He doesn’t; even if he knows about why I go missing on Saturdays, he doesn’t know why I do it.

Only two people besides me know: the one who did it and the one who taught me to be strong enough so it never happens again.

“If you need your hair or nails done for the event, I could always take you,” he offers, and I pull a face at even the thought of having my nails done.

I’m sure that would make fighting harder. Though if it ever came down to a back-alley fight, that might help.

I’m not above clawing someone's eye out if need be.

“I bet a bit of orange would look good.”

Ah, that makes more sense, asshole.

“I hate orange.”

He barks a laugh, and while this one is a little harsher, it still makes my heart race. I clench my fists, digging my nails into the meaty part of my palm in hopes of snapping myself out of it.

“Try not to get all bruised up before the wedding, huh, sis?” he says as he throws the car in reverse. I reach for my headphones, more than done with his teasing, only to find they aren’t there.

“What the fuck?” I look around, but there aren’t many places they could have gone. The car is clean, and I highly doubt anyone broke in for those old things.

Isaac doesn’t comment, doesn’t ask what, just simply flicks the radio on and hands me a cord. I can’t prove it, but I’d bet he had something to do with their disappearance.

Having brothers is literally one of the worst things to ever happen to me.

Friday Night

Kol didn’t strike me as the kind of guy to lie, but that didn’t stop me from calling a few places to see.

I shouldn’t have even bothered, but of course I had to be sure. I needed to know if I was well and truly stuck here.

“Fuck,” I whine, tossing my phone at the pillow at the head of my bed. I might be upset, but the last thing I need is to have to buy a new phone.

Speaking of new, I side-eye the new pair of headphones that I found on my bed this morning. I’d taken a shower and come out to find them. Of course, there was no note, but I knew who got them.

The more important question, the one I can’t answer, is how the fuck he got in and then out.

Everything was still locked, and as much as it irked me, given the three choices, I’d take Isaac over the other two.

I sit for a few minutes trying to get myself under control again as I stare down at the pages of notes I have scrawled onto every available scrap of paper.

This extra class is coming back to bite me in the ass; my mind is unable to stay quiet long enough for me to absorb a single thing in a house full of predators.

I’ve spent every moment they’re gone down in the gym trying to do something with this nervous, caged energy, but still, it’s not enough.

The fight tomorrow will help, but spending the day with Isaac didn’t help. If anything, it only made everything worse.