Page 24 of The Spider & the Storm

Ritchie only snickered at the threat. “Whatever.”

He walked around Luke and headed toward the stairs. He didn't seem to notice me as he zeroed in on Melanie. He towered over her, his bruised and bloodied face tipped downward to stare into her eyes. His chest heaved with anger and adrenaline, his fists clenched at his sides, and while I couldn't meet his wild, crazy gaze, Melanie never faltered.

I wished I could be so brave.

“Go home, Rich,” she muttered through a tight jaw.

A drop of blood dripped from his mouth and onto the floor as he asked, “You wanna come with me?”

“Don't you fucking talk to her!” Luke shouted, struggling against Tommy’s and Rob's hold on his arms. “Jesus Christ, let me go, assholes!”

“Are you gonna hurt him again?” Tommy asked, sounding uncertain and worried.

Luke groaned, more frustrated than enraged. “Just let me go, okay?”

They listened, and to my relief, Luke stayed back, wiping the blood off his upper lip. I watched as he shook his head and sniffled, then turned his back on all of us. He raised his hand over his eyes, his shoulders shuddered, and he dropped to his knees beside the broken coffee table.

“Luke,” I said in a whisper as I witnessed the crumbling of my brother's walls.

“All of you, go. Get out of here,” Melanie demanded, her voice trembling with an urgent need, before quickly moving between Ritchie and me, hurrying to reach Luke's side.

I wanted to join her, to wrap my arms around my brother's hunched back and cry with him. But Ritchie was there, and Rob and Tommy came to stand beside him. A wall of older, bigger guys blocked my path, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“I meant it, you know,” Ritchie said, his voice quiet and cruel. “You should've been in that car.”

The basement door flew open, and there was Nana, staring down at us at the bottom of the stairs.

“What the hell is happening down there?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Ritchie was quicker.

“Nothing. We're just saying goodbye to Charlie boy here,” he said, never taking his eyes off me. Never allowing Nana to see the blood coating his bottom lip or the way his left eye was beginning to swell shut.

Luke had really done a number on him.

Good.

She didn't look convinced and narrowed her eyes at Ritchie, but still, she said nothing. Then, she stepped away from the door, leaving us alone.

Ritchie stepped in closer, ready to speak or hurt me or something, but Tommy grabbed his shoulder.

“Let's go home, Ritchie,” he said, and for whatever reason, his brother actually listened.

The three of them left, parading up the stairs like defeated soldiers and shutting the door loudly behind them. I didn't bother to watch them go though and instead stared at my brother.

His arms were around Melanie, gripping her black dress with clenched fists as he pressed his face to her chest. His shoulders shuddered as he cried, sobbing and wailing like a lost, wounded dog against her. Melanie softly raked her fingers through his hair, whispering reassurances that everything would be okay even though I thought we all knew it was a lie.

How couldanythingbe okay now?

How would weeverbe okay?

I sank down onto the bottom step, silently watching my brother and his girlfriend. I didn't know if they wanted me with them. I didn't think I was welcome. Luke needed to cry, and I wasn’t sure he wanted me to watch any more than I already was. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to. Everything changed a little when the person you saw as Superman took off his cape, and that was exactly what was happening now as I watched my brother fall apart.

He’d become a little more human, a little more like me.

So, there I sat, giving him the space I assumed he wanted as his shudders eased and his cries subsided.

Then, his head lifted from her chest and his hands from her back. He pressed his palms to her cheeks, and he leaned in, slamming his mouth against hers, hard and fast.

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