Page 80 of Stone Seduction
“Are you okay?”
Off he went again, tearing across the sand until he reached the water.
“Finn! Learn to take criticism, for God’s sake.”
Yelling, screaming, the alcohol in our systems exacerbating the situation. We’d been testing some of our new chocolate cocktails, and I wasn’t keen on the white chocolate blend he’d come up with. That’s it. Well, the critique might have been a bit too blunt, but it didn’t warrant this.
And was it worth him giving up his protection?
He’d never do that…
The memory blurred, holes everywhere.
Water…
Crab Cove melted away, taking me back into my parents’ living room.
Mum wept on, Dad’s intimidating regard boring into me. He had that way about him, his aura of fear always making my throat close up.
“Go home, Luke.”
I hated how much he frightened me, although he’d never laid a hand on me. He didn’t need to. His vicious eyes were enough of an attack, his and Mum’s putdowns worse than any slaps.
I hated their disappointment, their rejection, their indifference. How they loved Finn so much, yet I just taggedalong for the ride. A burden, a mistake which Finn’s birth corrected.
“Dad…”
“Leave.”
Mum couldn’t bring herself to look my way.
Did they love me at all? They kept me fed and clothed, sent me to university, confused love with money, blurring every damn line.
The memory changed, the living room giving way to a hired van with me in the driving seat.
Finn ate prawn crackers in the passenger seat, super excited as we reached the final ten miles of our journey, bopping away to some pop music, the mood so freeing, so joyful.
“I love you so much.” He caught me by surprise, my grip tightening on the steering wheel.
“Sorry?”
“Love ya, big brother. Ooo. That rhymes.”
The shock shifted into euphoria. Hearing him say those words was everything golden and good in this world. Whoever I met romantically in the future might win my heart, but Finn already had my soul.
He was my soulmate.
Tears leaked hot and fast. I reached over to ruffle his hair, the sun setting on our day of freedom. “I love you, too.”
From that moment on, until we arrived at the lighthouse, we sang every song on Finn’s playlist. Garland Brother Karaoke at its finest.
“I have enough,” Ember said, bringing me back to the cavern. She relinquished her grip, stepping away.
She’d unboxed memories she had no business playing with.
“Those are none of your business,” I seethed. “How dare you?”
I looked up at her, the pain in my groin giving way to emotional torment. I collapsed forward, hands scraping the ground, my throat on fire. Sorrow lashed me as a thousand whips. Strike after strike, taking chunks out of me.
