“Am I boring you, sis?” Patrick asks as he walks along beside me.
Sometimes he accompanies me on evening jaunts at a nearby park after work. Tonight, it’s nice out, not too hot. The landscape is filled with cyclists, joggers, and residents enjoying the scenery. The light breeze ruffles my coily hair.
“No.” I glance over at him.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Well, I’ve been talking to myself for the last twenty minutes,” he says playfully.
“I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”
“You want to talk about it?” he asks.
I’m still out of sorts from the encounter with Dom earlier. My nipples peak remembering the sensation of his large hand restricting my air supply. Instead of being afraid, I inwardly pleaded for him to squeeze harder. An adrenaline rush coursed through my veins, and my center throbbed. I’m distraught I reveled in something so sadistic. Only a sick person finds pleasure in pain.
The day dragged by. I continuously looked over my shoulder while working at my cubicle, sure someone from human resources would come any second and hand me walking papers.
I shake my head. “I can handle it.” Maybe if I repeat that to myself long enough, it’ll come to fruition. “What were you saying?”
“Just venting about Dad.” Patrick glowers. “He’s a tyrant.”
“School starts in two and a half months, then you’ll be free of him.”
“That’s equivalent to a hundred years in the Russell Bryant household.”
I laugh at his comparison. “I get it, trust me.”
“At least next summer, I’ll be on my own.”
“Oh, that reminds me. I have great news.”
“What?”
“Mia and I are moving in together in August.”
His eyes grow big as saucers. “Seriously?”
“Yep.”
“He’s going to shit a brick.”
“I’m scared to death.”
“He knew he couldn’t control us forever.”
“Patrick, he did his best to raise us the right way.” The need to defend him is automatic.
“He’s a fraud,” Patrick scoffs.
I scrunch my eyebrows. “Our father is a good man.”
“He isn’t. Yesterday, I discovered why he guards his cell phone like it’s the Holy Grail.”
“Oh, I never paid attention. What did you find?”
“I read text messages between him and Mary.”
