Read Online ALL THINGS PRETTY PART TWO by M. Leighton - Free Book Online

fill the doorway, only to
step back and allow my brother to come inside.
    I get up and rush to him. He just stands there and lets me
hug him, like a lump.   But it’s the
way he leans into me that tells me he’s as glad to see me as I am to see him.  
    I wait until I’m sure I can control my voice and my
expression before I pull away enough to look into his face.   “How ya holding up?”
    He shrugs, casting his eyes down. “I’m okay.”
    “Have you eaten?”
    “Some lady brought me some snacks.”
    I glance up at Sig.   He’s watching us with a sad smile.   “I’m going to take him home. I’ll make sure he eats.   And that your mom eats.”
    Sweet Mary, I forgot all about my own mother. I’m so
distraught, so distressed, I forgot her.  
    But Sig didn’t.  
    The constriction in my throat gets tighter.
    Oh God, don’t make me
love you!
    I bite my lip at the thought, willing my chin to stop
trembling, but I know it’s too late.   To stop the trembling and to stop loving Sig. I think
I’ve loved him for a while now. No matter how much I fought it, I think it was
inevitable.  
    I give him a smile that is shaky at best.   “Thank you.”
    His answering gesture is a lopsided grin, the one that turns
my stomach inside out.   “No
problem.   My sister’s coming over to
help.”
    A little thread of alarm weaves its way down my spine.   “ Uhhh , I’m not
sure that’s a good idea.   Travis–”
    “Will love her.   Trust me.   And I think he’s
looking forward to it.   I told him
most guys think she’s hot, but that I’d kick his ass if he flirted with her.   He’s a daring soul.”
    I hear a muffled snort come from Travis.   “Asshole.”
    It’s a derogatory term, of course, but from my brother, the
way he says it, it sounds more like a friendly
nickname.
    “Just in case your mother needs something that I can’t…that
I shouldn’t…well, you know.”
    I didn’t even think of that.   God help me, my mind is just…elsewhere. “Thank
you for thinking of her.   I…I don’t
know what I would’ve done. I hadn’t even thought…”
    My voice breaks.   Life seems to be determined to reiterate what a terrible person I am.
    Sig takes a step closer, looming behind Travis like a giant
shadow.   “Stop it.   Don’t even go there.”
    He stares hard at me.  
    I jack up my chin and ignore the burn of tears behind my
eyes.   “Thank you. That’s all I
meant to say.”
    His fierce expression softens.   “You’re welcome.   I told you not to worry.   I’ll take care of everything.   I promise.”
    I look down at Travis to find that he has finally raised his
eyes to mine.   His lips crook to one
side.   A smile.   He nods once, as if to say that he’s
fine, that he’ll be all right.   That
we both will.   And something in my
heart sags in relief.   As long as he’s
okay, I can get through this.
    Before anything else can be said, a woman shows up behind
Sig.   “Taking her down to process
her,” the tiny black lady says in a clipped, no-nonsense way, nodding at me.  
    She stands back until Sig and Travis recede into the hall
and then she takes me by the arm and guides me past them.   I do the unwise, unthinkable thing and I
look back, back to where my brother is standing with the man I love, back to
where my brother is standing with the man who betrayed me. They will be going
home together tonight, home to familiar comfort and freedom. I will be going to
a cell.  
    My heart breaks a little bit more.
     

CHAPTER THIRTY- TWO- SIG
     
    Travis and I are eating fried chicken at the tiny kitchen
table when I hear a knock at the door.   I glance at Travis before I get up and go answer it.   He shrinks down into his chair and looks
excitedly at me. I just shake my head.   Teenaged boys
and their fascination with older women.
    I open the door to find my sister, back to her trim self,
standing on the stoop.   She gives me
a broad smile.
    “What the hell’s so