Page 37 of Lust
Unable to help myself, I reached inside her dress.
“Stop!” Sara screamed this time, her voice laced with panic. It was definitely loud enough to carry. “Tris, please, please just stop.”
I would if I could.
But I was desperate to find out what color panties she wore today. I needed to know if her nipples had peaked from my attention or because the room was cold. I needed to satiate the demon inside me.
“Please, Tristan. Please, stop. You are my brother. How could you do something like this?” Sara said in a manner of defeat. She wasn’t physically fighting me anymore; she was entirely hysterical. “Stop! Stop! Stop! You are crazy. What is wrong with you?”
I repeatedly blinked, panting to steady my heart. The axis to my world had tilted while it triggered Sara’s panic, which was the last thing I wanted.
I pulled my hand out from underneath her dress and took three steps back, but my efforts to subdue her were in vain. “Breathe, Angel. Just breathe, or you’ll start hyperventilating.”
“You are crazy! You are crazy!” she screamed over and over.
The lights in the hallway turned on suddenly. Within two seconds, Raguel and Mary came pouring into the room.
“What the hell is going on here?” Mary screamed with Raguel in tow.
A traumatized Sara refused to calm down. Blinded by terror, she didn’t notice our parents had entered the room. “Stop. You’re insane. How could you? You’re my brother.”
Both parents looked back and forth, eyes widening in bewilderment. Raguel had the pistol locked and loaded, the one he concealed inside the safe in their bedroom. It was pointed right at me.
God, this was tedious.
“What the fuck is going on here?” he asked.
“What the hell are you doing, Ragu?” Mom wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks as Raguel threatened her firstborn. “That’s Tris. Have you lost your mind? Put the gun down.”
But he didn’t. Ragu silently waited for his daughter’s signal, which I admired despite his tendency to be tough on Sara.
Meanwhile, all I wanted was to return to kissing Sara. Only a mild curiosity kept me engaged in the otherwise tiresome seconds to pass as I wondered if this would be the moment Sara broke our tradition of protecting one another.
Instead, she regained her wits upon seeing the gun. Her shock subsided only for a new one to take its place.
“Dad,” she uttered, horrified, “Are you insane? Put the gun down.”
“What’s going on in here?” he asked instead of putting the gun away.
“Nothing,” Sara said quickly, stepping forward and forcing her father to lower the gun. “I-I… Tris was… playing a prank on me… and it freaked me out,” she finished lamely.
Even now, she couldn’t lie and thought I had played a prank. Come tonight, she’d realize it wasn’t a prank but a confession of my feelings.
No brother kissed their sister as a way of a prank.
God, that kiss. I wasn’t sure how I had managed to stop myself in the first place, but I smothered the raging temptation for another taste of her lips. Fueling the fire right now wouldn’t bode well. Ragu was already displeased by Sara’s half-hearted explanations. Sara had screamed things that had explicitly hinted at my less than honorable intentions.
Mom tried to diffuse the situation. “You kids scared us half to death,” she scolded sternly. “We thought someone had broken in. These pranks have got to stop. You’re both adults now; act like it.”
We managed to nod, though Sara was still shaken, and Ragu watched me closely. Suspicion was brewing in his mind. Despite Mom’s lecture, which went on and on, he uttered not one word. This might be myhouse, but I felt that I had suddenly worn out my welcome in hishome.At least for the near future until this storm had passed.
Reading the room, I left my parents and Sara with some puny pretext for popping up unexpectedly and an even worse excuse for being unable to stay. Frustration consumed me because my key to Heaven was being revoked, but it was best to let the dust settle.
With that affirmation in mind, I strolled to my Aston Martin parked outside and redialed the last number on my phone.
“Steve, I need you to take care of a few things.”
I listed off instructions, starting with booking a nearby hotel for the night and dropping off an overnight bag. The gatekeepers to what I desired the most could hardly keep me away for long. Ragu and Mary were due to start their travels for my campaign, so I only had to wait them out.
