Page 75 of Severance

He steps to the side and pulls out one of the drawers, his gaze dropping to the contents.

The silence between us drags on and becomes awkward as I watch him pop the cap with the bottle opener. My heart beats faster than usual. It’s like a little bird, thump-thumping against my ribs ferociously.

“Is it from Escape?” Mikah breaks the silence.

“What?”

“The pizza?” He takes a swig from the bottle and motions at the container sitting on the kitchen table. “Is it from Escape from New York?” His green eyes are dead set on me.

“Oh.” My breath comes out in the form of nervous gasps. “Yes.”

He nods and then his lips wrap around the rim of the bottle again.

“Do you want me to warm it up?” I ask, averting my gaze.

“Nah.” He shakes his head. “I know how to use a microwave.”

“Okay. Sure. I’ll just leave it here then,” I whisper, running my sweaty palms over my jeans.

“Sure.” Another nod.

I rush back to Dakota’s room like my feet are on fire. He’s sitting on his bed cross-legged, and in front of him, there’s a stack of CDs and the organizer case I bought him for Christmas.

“I thought you snuck out and called an Uber.” He laughs as I shut the door.

“Is it okay if your brother has the rest of the pizza?” I ask in a low voice, trying to pace my heartbeat. “I told him he could.”

“Yeah. It’s fine.” Dakota shrugs, his eyes searching mine. He tosses the CD he’s holding to the side and motions for me to come over. There’s something childlike in the way he longs for my affection and it makes me wonder if he’s really twenty-three. His hunger is not purely sexual; it’s a bizarre blend of both carnal and platonic, and it makes me shiver all over.

I go to the bed, slide the CDs out of the way, and sit next to him.

“Are you okay?” he asks, touching my cheek.

I have to think about it for a second. The question that comes out of my mouth seems somewhat irrelevant. “Is he always like this?”

“Who? Mikah?”

“Yes. Why is he so…” I pause to look for the right word.Pissed off and brooding.“Unhappy.”

“Don’t worry about him. He’s all right.”

I fall back on the mattress and lock my gaze on the ceiling design. “How is it to grow up with a sibling?”

“I can’t compare it to growing up without one. It’s always been me and my brother.” Dakota lies down next to me, the heat of his body crawling along my thigh and shoulder.

“Did you fight a lot when you were kids?”

“Sometimes.”

“Jess and I never fight.”

“That’s ’cause she didn’t put food coloring in your shampoo.” Dakota snorts out a laugh.

“What? Your brother did that?” I gasp.

“Yep.”

“But that’s a girl’s prank.”

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