Page 20 of Vulnerate

“I’m not fighting her, that’s some fucked up bullshit Len would make us do.”

The comparison to our father has him hardening and taking a step towards me.He could easily beat the shit out of me, I’ve seen my brotherfight, but his fucked up ethics means I’m safe without a weapon and with his promise that he would never raise his hand to us. It doesn’t save me from his tone though.

“You’re not fighting her, she’s angry and got the shit kicked out of her because you two dumbasses were too busy jacking off over the thought of her to teach her anything. So fucking fix it.”

I can’t focus on anything else he said and ask the only thing I need to know. “Who the fuck touched her?”

Dani isn’t a fighter, she’s an artist and hates violence. Even at the exhibit she avoided the artwork depicting war hating the brutality. He slowly relaxes as much as he’s capable of and lowers his voice as he smirks at whatever he’s done.

“That bitch you were fucking. It’s dealt with.” I know better than to ask what he’s done but he still voices it and laughs, the freak. “I might have told everyone you pissed in her mouth, so time for a change little brother.”

He’s a prick but I laugh too.If there was one person who deserves the type of violence my brother possesses, it’s Zoe.

Dani comes back out with Tali following after her. He was close to tears when she wouldn’t respond to him. Any doubts I had over their friendship disappeared seeing him upset, he’s not the cry over things type, and he genuinely views her as family. If I get what I want she will be; Dani will be his sister-in-law.But Vlad is an asshole, and he narrows his eyes at me silently telling me not to fuck it up. I won’t, Dani is exempt from any hurt I would ever cause. I’ll do itforher, nevertoher.

She looks even better in my spare set of clothes, and she fidgets avoiding everyone’s eyes. Vlad doesn’t soften his voice as he proves she’s family too.

“Are you angry?” She looks up but doesn’t go above his chest as he fills with psychotic energy. “Good, anger is useful. Everything else turns into it anyway. Have fun and don’t kill each other.” He turns and leaves, locking the door behind him.

Tali is the first to open his mouth and hooks his arm around Dani’s neck pulling her closer. “We don’t have to fight if you don’t want to, want to watch a sad movie?”

I want to rip his lips off his face when he kisses the top of her head. If I pull her out of his arms he’ll act like a little bitch, and I need him agreeable, so I’m not forced to rip my brother to shreds.

Her tears falling rip me apart, they’re painful making her chest shake and I move forward wrapping my arms around her as Tali takes her other side.Pulling her closer so he gets the message to fuck off away from my girl, I hold the back of her head stopping his wandering lips from touching her. He doesn’t move and I mouth over my girls head,“Get your things.”He finally fucks off and I pick Dani up, cradling her body until she’s wrapped around me. Her tears are soaking into my skin, and I kiss her shoulder, so she knows I’m here, that I will always be here.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. If my parents died we’d just go on living life, we’d probably celebrate and throw a party. The croak leaving her is like a knife scraping against my ribs.

“What’s wrong with me that they couldn’t even love me?”

Sitting on the edge of the ring, I hold her nape and pull her away from hiding so she can’t miss the truth.

My beautiful Dani, even with the tops of her cheeks red and her usual golden skin losing color she’s stunning. I’m gentle as I wipe her tears away with my thumbs and I don’t look anywhere but those big brown eyes as I say, “There is nothing wrong with you.Youare the best person. Anyone who thinks they don’t love you is a fucking idiot becauseknowingyouisloving you.”

Her face crumples as she throws herself forward hugging me and sobbing. I’ve been more than in love with this girl since the first moment I laid eyes on her. She is the center of my universe, my weakness and the only person who possess the antidote to my need for cruelty. She’s mine, biologically, chemically, spiritually, she belongs to me, and I hold her tighter as I gently rock her from side to side.

Tali comes out, turning off the lights as he walks through the hallways, and he freezes at Dani’s state. He’s always been weird as fuck with her. His obsession about someone missing from our family because he wanted a sister made him latch onto her and she filled that void he created when it’s always been the three of us. I’ve heard his theories for as long as I can remember – that we have a long lost sibling because we need the balance with the harshness and there’s a reason for Vlad’s annual disappearance. It’s bullshit, we’d remember if there was anotherVartanov and Vlad‘s a control freak, he wouldn’t have shouted at him when he asked or left any of us behind.

I stand, refusing to let my girl go and she does the same as she tightens her thighs around me. Throwing my keys at my brother, he doesn’t open his mouth to argue, instead he narrows his eyes in accusation. He can fuck off. Their friendship might be innocent but mine is pure. I’ve done shit Dani would be pissed at, but I’d give my left lung to keep her in my arms. She knows who I am under all the shitty parts of my personality, and she is the only person who is worth those small innocent pieces that I’ve hidden for her.

My girl is laidwith her head in my lap after I refused to lay her in my brother’s bed. The low light from the TV casts flickers through the lounge as I stroke her cheeks and wipe any signs of the tears away from her sleeping face. Dani exhausted herself before we’d even got home, and she is never sleeping in Tali’s bed again. Or any other little dickheads. Once was enough.

She doesn’t have parents anymore so she can live here, in my bed, with the same parents we have. Dima already takes her to school with Tali and she fits here with us more than anywhere else.

Tali checks she’s asleep before slapping the back of his hand against my shoulder and whisper hissing, “Has something happened between you two?” The shithead didn’t need to hit me with the accusation already evident in his voice, but he issues his threat without giving me time to answer. “Don’t even think about it, if I lose her because of you, I’ll break your fucking legs.”

His insinuation sticks to my skin, and I punch him in the shoulder without rocking our lower bodies so Dani doesn’t jolt. “I’m not going to hurt her.”

As soon as she says she’s mine there’s no one else, everything before her won’t exist. There won’t be a life without her in it, I refuse it.

Tali scoffs and shakes his head. “You hurt everyone. You fuck them, humiliate them, and then ruin them. Don’t even think about it with Dani, she’s off limits.”

She’s not a toy or the last bit of cereal that he can call dibs on. He sounds haunted, staring at the wall as he mutters, “Your dick is cursed man.” Turning back to me, he begs, “Just don’t touch her, love her from far away because I’ll always choose her, but I know she wouldn’t let me.”

His opinion isn’t wrong. Dani would rather be alone than hurt the people around her.

He gently lifts her legs from his lap and slides out from under them, but he stops at the back of the sofa beside my head and emotion bleeds through his voice as he whispers, “She’s family, don’t be like them and take another sister away from me.”

The guilt trip is unnecessary, and I reiterate my promise to them both. “I won’t hurt her. Trust me.”

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