Page 7 of Longing for the Minotaur
“You what?” I prompt, because I’m not going to let this go.
“I had my own stuff going on. I didn’t want to get involved and… play favorites.”
I frown. What? Play favorites?
“I’m your sister!” Suddenly, I’m incensed. “You weresupposedto protect me, Banon. Not let them make jokes about my tits!”
“You are mystepsister,” he says in a low voice, and for a second, I think he looks angry.
Oh.
I see. I get it now.
He didn’t have to stand up for me because we’ve never really been family. He didn’t want his friends to think he had any bias toward me, and instead I was just some freshman, some trash, the same as all the others.
“So it’s like that.” I get up and slam my drink down on the coffee table. My eyes are burning. Then I turn around and head to the stairs.
“Tina? I mean, Val?” Banon struggles to get off the ball chair. “Where are you going?”
“If I stay here, I’m going to say things I regret.”
“Then say them!” he calls after me. I pause halfway up the steps. “I would rather you say it than storm out and be mad at me all week.”
“Fine.”
I spin around, glaring down at him—at his stupid big sexy horns, and his stupid big sexy face, and his equally stupid big sexy and extremely toned body, which is pulling at the edges of his T-shirt. My face is on fire, and tears are definitely welling up in my eyes as hard as I try to stop them.
“You want to know? Sometimes, Banon, I do hate you. I hate that you left for college and didn’t come back. I hate that you sleep with these bimbos all the time, and I worry that you’re gonna get an STI. And I really hate that you’ve always kept me at arm’s length, like we were never really part of the same family.”
He opens his mouth like he’s going to deny it, but then he grits his teeth and looks down.
“You’re right.” Both his hands curl into fists. “I have always put a distance between us.”
Somehow, it doesn’t feel as good as I was hoping or expecting, that he would say this. That he would agree with me.
I turn around fully, lowering myself to sit on the stairs. “Why?” The tears I’ve been holding back finally break free. “Why wasn’t I good enough for you?”
His brows rise to his hairline. He approaches me on the steps, kneeling a few down so we’re almost at eye level.
“It’s not that,” he says, his voice turning to a whisper. “It’s that you’retoogood for me. You were always so soft and innocent. Sweet and naive. I shouldn’t have gotten you drunk that one time. I regretted it a lot.”
Now it’s my turn to be perplexed. “What? That was the best night ever. It was the only time I felt like we… like we were friends.”
There. I said it.
Banon lowers his head, ears drooping. Even his tail falls to the carpet.
“I corrupted you. You were so young, I shouldn’t have.”
I want to tell him no, that didn’t corrupt me. What corrupted me was seeing him fuck Lillian Esparzo on prom night, his thick cock gliding in and out of her while she tried not to make noise.
“And why not?” I ask. “That’s what older siblings are supposed to do. Corrupt. Show us things about the world.”
“We aren’t siblings!” Abruptly, Banon stands up. His mane rises and his fur bristles. “We aren’t related, Tina. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I…” He slams his mouth closed, so hard I can hear his teeth chatter.
Here we are again. The truth.
“I’ll never really be family to you.” It hurts just to say it out loud. “I get it.”
