Page 2 of Darkest Descent

“Fuck, you drive a hard bargain, little one,” he laughed.

“I’m older than you,” I spat back, falling with ease into our lifelong banter. At ten years old, that extra five minutes made all the difference.

“I’m taller,” was his typical response. So I gave him a gentle whack on the arm and the tension broke between us a fraction. Since he shot up and over me by over a foot when we were fourteen, he called me his little sister. It always brought him joy to see my irritation. Eight years later and it still worked.

I encouraged him to share with my eyes burning into him, and he loosed a long sigh at last. “Just something in the air tonight. I can’t really explain it.”

“Liar.”

The car following us came up closer, and Asher drifted to the side to let it go by, but it slowed down again, staying behind, but still a tiny bit too close. “Weird,” Asher muttered. “Mustn’t want to pass.”

“Asher…” I encouraged, ignoring the car.

A minute passed in silence and he turned the radio back on. I didn’t make good on my promise to sing our way home. Instead, I grumbled and stared out the window, watching the darkness zoom by. Eventually, the car behind us fell away, not appearing again after we went round a bend in the road.

Still, Asher didn’t tell me anything more, and dropped me off at my dorm with a squeeze of my arm and a whispered goodnight. I watched him go, his car turning the corner at the end of the building just a moment later. I kept hoping he would turn round and jump out, spilling what was wrong so I could help him through it. But disappointed and shivering, I turned to get into the building, fighting my low mood because he hadn’t opened up. He’d closed up on me bit by bit for months now, and I hated it. We had always been inseparable, so this didn’t seem natural.

Headlights lit me up as I reached the door, slipping the key in the lock and stepping inside. It was rare for there to be any other cars on the road at this time of night, so I watched it for a moment, seeing if I recognized it. I had a few friends in this dorm, but it kept going.

Asher’s unsettled feeling washed over me, and I was glad to be behind a closed door as the night’s darkness seemed to suffocate the world. I needed to find out what was up with my brother and help him fix it.

But first, I wanted to wash away the weekend with my parents and get to fucking sleep.

“I did not!” my friend, Jasper, shrieked, flailing his hand out and sloshing his drink.

We were in a busy bar, myself, Jasper and three more of our friends, all halfway to wasted, and almost fully exhausted. It was only a Monday night, but we’d all got out of a long lecture and needed a beer. Hours later, we hadn’t left the bar.

“You so did!!” another friend yelled back, laughing like a loon at Jasper’s mock-angry expression. I didn’t pay much attention to what they were bickering about, though, because Asher wasn’t answering my texts. I even tried to call him, and nothing. It was so unlike him to ignore me, and it had my concerns firing off and making my belly ache. Especially after last night, his strange behavior and standoffishness.

He was supposed to be here. Well, I’d invited him as we walked from the lecture hall, and he never turned me down. We were always together when we could be. It was weird. And after yesterday, when he’d brushed me off, I wasn’t ready to let him off the hook. I tried calling his phone again and wanted to scream when it rang out for the twentieth time.

The bad vibe in my gut rooted deeper, curdling with the beer and wine in my stomach. I needed another.

Ignoring my friend’s argument, I left the table and weaved my way to the bar. For a Monday, it was heaving with people. College students, mostly, but I did note the odd older person in stuffy office wear, frowning at all the sweaty twenty-somethings taking up all the space.

“Hey, sexy,” one man said, coming up to me with a sloppy mouth and a stain down his front. I recognized him from one of the frats and rolled my eyes. He was here a lot, causing a ruckus and hitting on everyone.

“Hi,” I replied, to be polite, but my mouth was tight. I just wanted another fucking drink, not to be hit on by a man so drunk he couldn’t see how disinterested I was.

“Wanna kiss my cheek?” he asked, patting his face, jabbing his nose and his chin. He might have been charming if he didn’t stink of a stale distillery. “For a bet. Need a—”

“No thanks!” I yelled over the music, pushing through the crowd a little more to get closer to the bar. But a hand wrapped around me and tugged me back, making me yelp and stumble. The drunken frat dude had me in his grip, tight enough that it hurt. “Let go!” I yanked, but his fingers dug in deeper.

“Kiss me first,” he slobbered in return, lunging for me.

I shrieked and jumped out of the way, gasping when he fell into the crowd beside me, getting swallowed up by other sweaty bodies. For good, I hoped. Creep.

“You okay?” a man asked when I reached the bar, and I turned, ready to roll my eyes at him too, but a warm gaze waited for me, staring curiously. He was handsome, his smile charming and the wrinkle between his brow endearing. “I saw what he was trying to do. Was about to step in, but you more than had it handled.” He flashed a grin, and my stomach fluttered. I leaned on the bar and smiled back.

“Thank you, it’s all good though,” I replied, my hands flying to my hair to fluff it up, growing self-conscious of my disheveled appearance. “He was just a harmless drunk.”

The man nodded. “A lot of them around, unfortunately.”

“At least they’re harmless. Harmful drunks would be much worse. Or just harmful, sober people.” I winced at my words, but my throat thickened as the man’s gaze darkened a fraction, something shuddering over before he blinked away. That little niggling instinct in my gut shifted, and I tried not to sigh.

He nodded and nudged his arm against mine. “Can I buy you a drink?” he asked, his eyes intense on me.

The ball in my throat grew, but I ignored it. I was on edge because of Asher, that was all. And that annoying drunk. No sense in assuming everyone is a creep. But…

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