There we go. My favourite brother has come back to throw shit at me, just to stop him from drowning in his own.
“Say that again!” I jump to my feet, my fist balled up threateningly.
Ryan stands up too, screeching his chair back.
“Oooh, I’m so scared. I could knock you out in a second with my hands tied behind my back.”
“Sure, your muscles would be enough,” Chris adds sarcastically, taking a sip of her wine.
His comment about Evan obviously didn’t go down well. I guess someone’s sleeping on the sofa tonight.
“Whose side are you on here?” Ryan asks, agitated.
“The right side, mate,” Evan interjects. “Remember, blood before—”
Then my dad stands up.
He doesn’t need to screech his chair back, or yell at everyone. He lifts his gaze and lets it fall onto the two people arguing. Silence descends over the table, and everyone sits, frozen, waiting for the next move.
Ryan is the first to sit down.
“Like fuck am I going to spend the next few days clearing out the garage,” he mumbles through his teeth, and we all burst into laughter as if nothing had happened.
Because when you live with a bunch of nutcases like this, nothing really makes sense – apart from the fact that, today, there’s one more person sitting at this table of madmen. Someone who has kicked everything into high gear, sparked the fuse, and doused the flame with petrol, just to speed the process along.
And I can’t help but think that she was the only person missing from this crazy picture. The only thing that gives my life meaning.
23
Casey
Isay goodbye to the family, after having survived that chaotic day, and I head towards my dad’s car that he’s kindly letting me use until mine is fixed. Luckily, Mrs Reynolds has her own car, so he didn’t have to drop me off. I open the door, but before I can get in, the O’Connors’ front door opens again, revealing the figure of Dickhead Number One.
I can’t be bothered to talk to him. I’m tired and I just want to go home. I’ve eaten way too much, and I just need to lie down and wait for the storm in my stomach to subside; but if I just leave like this, he’ll think he has some kind of power over me, that his presence intimidates me. So I close the driver door and lean against it, waiting for him to approach me.
Nick meanders slowly down the driveway, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. His face tells me that he has no idea where to start.
“I thought you’d have escaped by now,” he says, less certain than he wants to come across.
“I could’ve. I’m still faster than you.”
“We’ll see about that,” he says, his mouth curling into a smile.
“You’re starting to get too old for these things, Nick.”
“Not for everything,” he says suggestively, lighting a fire on my skin just by the intensity of his gaze.
“I’ll prove it to you right now if you like. I could wipe the floor with you, O’Connor.”
I’m provoking him, even though I know it could be a step too far – but I can’t help it. Nick brings out everything in me. He brings me out into the open, and that’s why he’s so dangerous.
He knows full well who I am. But I know who he is, too.
“Even if that’s true, I know where you live. And now I know that your dad’s gun can’t kill me, I can turn up at your door at any moment.”
“My dad could break your legs even without a gun.”
“I don’t need them anymore anyway.”
