Page 29 of Clouded by Envy

“If I ever leave to go somewhere, I’ll let you know from now on,” she promised.

Luca nodded, his face relaxing. “Thanks, Bray.” He was about to return to his book, but then he stopped. “Do you want me to read some of the story to you, since you like this book, too?” A tiny smile lifted at the edges of his lips, freckles highlighted under the incandescent light bulb.

“I would love that.” She looked at his small twin bed, wrinkled her nose, and switched back to her bat form. Bray flew up to his cozy shoulder and curled into a ball, his soft voice enveloping her through each wonderful word he read.

She had been sleeping in her tree house for the past week, but she could barely keep her eyes open. Luca had gotten to the part where the lion finally makes an appearance, and those were the last words she remembered before falling asleep on her friend.

11

Brenik

Brenik had cooped himself up in the house for the last week. At night he would go for walks around the graveled track, thinking to himself.

Every time he passed by Jeremy’s cabin, he felt ashamed by what he had done, yet the inevitability of it lessened his self-loathing somehow.

He could not bring himself to check inside the house to see if the body was still there. He was sure it was.

Just like the tree, the cabin had become a prison, swallowing every part of him, until he was becoming that thing inside again he despised. Taunting—toying—obsessing, his head was a place he hated to be in almost all the time.

Urging himself to do something, he decided to walk for a while. Crickets were chirping, and he missed his sister. Brenik had spent twenty years around her, so he couldn’t help it.

Street lamps slid into view, and the loud music coming from Sam’s Bar boomed through the air.

As Brenik drew nearer, he could see the graveled parking lot filled with cars. Through the open windows of the building, he heard the clank of pool balls smacking each other.

The place itself was a dump.But what the hell?He needed to get away from his old loner self, so he might as well check it out. Shuffling himself between two cars parked too close together, Brenik headed for the glass door at the entrance.

Inside the run-down building, he found himself engulfed in a room full of smoke, loud music, and a cluster of people. His gaze darted all around the room, taking in everything. Brenik had been there before at night and peered in, but he had never gone inside. He now wished it had stayed that way—the place was disgusting.

There were box TVs in each corner of the room playing different channels, but the sound was overpowered by the terrible twangy music.

Several guys and girls in the middle of the room, past the four pool tables, were throwing darts at a dartboard.Playing poorly, he added to himself, as one of the tall girls in a miniskirt missed and struck the blue painted wall.

Growing bored already, Brenik looked toward the bar area filled with more people. They were bouncing drunkenly, except for one woman with hair like shadows that fell to her shoulders. She seemed to be gazing down at her drink—alone.

Feeling alone himself, Brenik swaggered over to the bar and took a seat on a torn cushioned stool beside her. The bartender was busily waiting on other people, and after what happened at Jeremy’s, he wouldn’t be having any alcohol tonight.

Under the hanging lights, Brenik turned and gazed at the profile of the woman’s face: warm brown skin, dark eyebrows, a tiny mole a few millimeters below her bottom lip. He felt the urge to lick it, but he didn’t.

He continued to study her. As if she felt him watching her, which she probably did, her eyes flicked back and forth to the side to see if he was still looking at her—which he was.

She turned her stool abruptly to the side, and asked, “Are you not drinking?”

Brenik stared at her ruby red lips. “Not tonight.”

She pulled her drink closer to her, as if she was afraid he was going to drop something in it. “Then why are you up here?”

“I saw you sitting here and thought I’d say hello.” He liked that this woman pretended to not seem the slightest bit interested in him. “So, hello.”

“Goodbye.” She smiled and turned her chair back to face the front.

Leaning forward, he whispered in her ear, “My name is Brenik.”

“That’s lovely.” Still smiling, she brought her drink to her mouth and set it back down on the bar underneath her chest, which he was looking at, but trying not to.

“Your eyes are telling me differently.”

“Okay, what kind of line was that?” The woman laughed under her breath. “Shouldn’t you maybe move over there?” She pointed in the direction of the stools filled with women in tight dresses at the opposite end of the bar table.

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