“What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” I mumbled, already aware of what was to come.
“That looks like more than nothing.”
“So?”
“You’re always distracting yourself with useless things.” he sneered, wearing a smug smirk on his face.
I didn’t say anything, knowing he always just wanted to get a rise out of me. Instead, I kept scrolling, feeling like the world was caving in around me.
But that was an obvious mistake.
With a rush of movement, Dante was up faster than I could register, and he snatched the phone right out of my hand.
“Give it back!” I said, gritting my teeth to hold back from shouting too loud.
“I don’t think I will,” he said, wearing a triumphant grin as I stood and tried to take it from him, but he was much taller than I and able to hold it above both our heads.
“Dante, stop it,” I muttered, trying to reach for it despite how useless it was.
He flipped the phone around and noticed what was on my screen, only to pull a mocking look of innocence when he met my gaze again. “Aw, you’re looking at pictures of your precious Seabiscuit again?”
“His name’s Arion.”
“Same thing,” he mumbled, looking disinterested. “I think Sunday Roast is more like it. What a useless beast.”
The thought made me recoil, disgusted. “You’re cruel.”
“You’re still a horse girl. You could do anything with your time, and you choose horses? You’re embarrassing,” he chided, still holding my phone out of range while he pressed the screen. “I wonder what else you have on here…”
“I said give it back!” I snapped, tired of always dealing with the same thing from him, reminding me of when we were kids. Not much had changed since then. “You’re a spoiled, rotten man-child! Harassing me won’t get you Dad’s attention no matter how desperately you want it.”
“Ouch,” Elio, our eldest brother, said as he entered the room, hardly looking up from his phone. “Watch yourself.”
Immediately, Dante’s eyes darkened, and he forgot all about my phone as he tossed it aside to snatch my wrists.
Pain erupted across my skin as he pinched both together, using his strength against me. He pinned me there, eyes searing into me. “Want to say that again?”
“Stop, you’re hurting me,” I managed, sucking in a scared breath. “Dante, let go!”
“Kids,” Dad mumbled from the other room, voice distant. “Whatever you’re doing…quit it…”
Another half-assed attempt to restore order in his own house. He was probably too preoccupied with his wife to care.
Of course, Dante knew he wouldn’t do anything, just like always. He tightened his grip on me.
“I think you’ve forgotten who you’re talking to,” he muttered, nearly making my wrist pop from the pressure. “How would you feel if I made my way over to that precious equestrian center and put that beast down, huh? An apparent man-child with a gun can do a lot of damage.”
“Elio, help me!”
Elio only snickered and got up again as he made his way toward the dining room. “You started this, so you can fight your own battles.”
“But I didn’t!”
“And I don’t care,” he muttered, already leaving the room.
Panic rushed through me as Dante brought a hand up, pointing a finger in my face. “Disrespect me like that again and you’ll learn to regret it real fast. Remember that.”