Page 205 of Burn Bright
“Really?”
“No, I’m joking,” he says irritably. “This is so much fun for me.” He points again. “Go. And no, I will not call you a cab. Get one yourself.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Right now,you.”
“Eliot,” Beckett calls out.
“Brooother,” Eliot grins again, wrapping his arms around his older brother in a bear-hug and abandoning the girl. It allows Beckett to start guiding him to bed.
“Ben,” Beckett asks for his help as he reaches the pull-out.
Ben checks on me first, sending a fuckingflutterto my chest before he leaps over the couch. Eliot bops his head and ruffles his hair. “MY BROTHERS!” he bellows, curving his arms around them. But really, they’re basically carting his full weight into the bedroom.
Charlie blocks the girl from following.
She gives him a lengthy once-over, her arms crossing. “Charlie Cobalt, right? You think you’re agod. I bet you’re a knockoff version of your dad. I bet you aren’t even half his size.” Her gaze is firmly on hisdick.
I’m on my knees, about to climb off the mattress, like maybe he needs some assistance. But what the hell am I going to do? I grab a pillow.Great, Harriet, let’s have a fucking pillow fight.
Charlie wears a lethal expression. He walks forward, forcing her to take a couple steps backward toward the door. She’s cackling like it’s a game. He looms over her, and when he yanks the door open behind her, she grabs a fistful of his crotch.
“Hey!” I shout, springing off the bed.
Charlie shoots me a scathing look. “Do notcome over here.”
I go still in confusion.
She’s laughing, and he dips his head down to hers. Whatever he snarls into her ear, her laughter decays into brutal silence. Then she slaps him across the face.
“Fuckyou.” Her voice shakes as her tears leak, then she rushes out. He slams the door shut. I expect him to completely ignore me.
Instead, he returns to the living room, slouches on the swivel chair, lights a cigarette, and blows smoke up at the ceiling. Like nothing just happened.
I sink down on the pull-out. “Are you….?”
“Am I okay?” he asks dryly, sucking on the cigarette. “What do you think, Harriet?” He tilts his head with mocking interest.
“By your lovely attitude, I’d say you’re fine, Boy Genius.”
He kicks up his feet on the mattress.
Maybe he is fine. Maybe he’s desensitized. Maybe meeting covetous, unconsented hands are just an ordinary night for Charlie.
He puts out the cigarette in an ashtray. Unsurprisingly. If any of them smoke indoors, they don’t do it for long. They’ll take a few drags, then snuff it out, so the stench hasn’t lingered.
Beckett and Ben appear from the bedroom, and Beckett confirms, “Eliot is passed out.”
Damn…I honestly didn’t think he was blackout wasted. I hug the pillow. What if his brothers hadn’t been here to kick the girl out? Would she still have slept with Eliot when he was too inebriated to properly consent? My body chills. I’ve thought of Eliot as the greatest defender of his brothers, but it’s comforting knowing they’re looking out for him too.
Beckett watches Ben for a long beat, but he’s just combing his hands through his hair and sliding back into bed with me. Ben immediately reaches for me, and when his brothers leave, I hug him and feel the pound, pound,poundof his heart against my ear.
“Ben?”
“Yeah?” he whispers, taking a deeper breath.
“Do you need water? Are you okay?”
