“I’ve been calling for you. Where the hell did you go?” He was sitting in the chair beside his bed, his thin body covered by a blanket.
“I told you I was dealing with the wash, Cooper.”
The last few days had been some of the hardest of Annabelle’s life, and considering she’d been through some serious challenges in her time, that was saying something. Cooper was going through hell, and he was making sure to take his sister with him. He was demanding one minute, and crying like a baby the next. He wouldn’t eat, rarely drank and getting him into the shower was like bathing a reptile with large fangs and sharp claws.
“I needed you and you didn’t come.”
Her once-strong brother had turned into a demanding toddler. Annabelle did the best she could to control her own temper, because she had turned her back on him when he needed her most. The logical side of her personality knew this was a foolish thought, and that he’d stolen from her and done this to himself—but Cooper was continually telling her that when she had stopped taking his calls he’d started using more, and that guilt was starting to pile up inside her, so much so that now she almost believed it.
“I’m here now,” she soothed, moving to stand beside him and stroke his forehead. “You want to drink something?”
“No, I want some fucking heroin!”
They went through this regularly, him angry, and then the anger would slip into begging and then the tears.
“Let me get you some more medication.” She started to turn away, but his fingers grabbed her wrist, the nails digging into her flesh.
“I don’t want any fucking medication, and if you’d just left me in Vegas, I’d either be dead or high, both which would have been better than this hell.”
“Let me go, Cooper,” Annabelle said calmly.
“Letmego!” he replied. “Let me go to hell my own way. The choice is mine to make!”
She felt the tears, always so close to the surface these days, but forced them down. Looking into the face of her beloved brother, she struggled to find the boy she’d once known, but couldn’t find him in the narrowed, bloodshot eyes, or the hard angles of his cheeks.
“I can’t let you make that choice, Cooper, because it’s not the right one.”
His hand fisted in her hair and pulled, and the pain was sharp and her cry was real.
“Let her go, Cooper!”
Ethan was beside the chair seconds later, his hands reaching for her. Surprise at his arrival had her brother releasing her, and Annabelle was lifted off the bed and into Ethan’s arms.
“I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me. It was just the shock.” She tried to push away from him, but Ethan wouldn’t let her, and Annabelle could feel the heavy thud of his heart against her chest.
“You don’t lay hands on your sister, Cooper, ever. You got that?” Ethan’s words were a deep growl, and as he was pressing her head into his chest, she couldn’t see the angry look but knew Cooper was the recipient.
“Who the hell are you?”
Annabelle wriggled free from his embrace as her brother spoke.
“I’m the man who cares about your sister.” Ethan was glaring at Cooper, who in turn was doing the same.
“Is that true?” Her brother turned to look at her, his eyes accusing.
“He’s a friend, Cooper, and the one who got you out of Vegas,” Annabelle said.
“Well, I don’t want him here, in this house. I want him gone.” Cooper had a belligerent look now as he glared at Ethan.
“Shut up,” Annabelle snapped. “We owe Ethan a great deal, and I won’t have you speaking to him that way in this house.”
“I’ll speak how I fucking well like. You get him out of here, or I go!”
Ethan didn’t speak, just stood watching Cooper and then her, eyes flicking between them, and Annabelle felt as if she was sinking in a huge pool of mud with no way out. She didn’t want to ask Ethan to go, but she had to keep Cooper calm, had to look after him until he was strong enough to look after himself.
“Why are you behaving this way?” Frustrated, Annabelle glared at her brother.
“I don’t need strangers around me right now, and he’s a stranger.”
