The throb of blood pumping in Marnie's ears punctuated the pain. She opened her eyes, but shut them when rays of sunshine caused her vision to swim.
“Are you okay?” Brian rolled Marnie over.
She peered up into his eyes, his anger replaced with fear and concern. A crowd had formed around them.
With a groan, Marnie pushed herself up on her knees. The world swam around her like a merry‐go round. Brian wrapped an arm around her waist, steadying her. A few minutes ago, she would've done anything to be in these arms. Now her skin crawled. Her mind screamed for her to run, but her legs wobbled as he helped her put one foot in front of the other. She did the only thing she could. She laid her head on his shoulder and let him help her into a cab.
“I didn't mean for you to fall.” Brian straightened his shirt.
He didn't even look at her. Apology not accepted. She used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe the blood dripping from her nose and ignored him.
Back in the penthouse, Brian exited the elevator ahead of her. He made a beeline for his brother who lay asleep on the sofa.
Danny's eyes flashed open upon their entrance. He did a double take, and his jaw tightened. She'd caught a glimpse of herself in the hallway mirror. Blood stained her lip and her right eye was slowly threatening to puff. He glanced at Brian and looked at her again. He jumped up and charged his brother.
Pushing him up against the living room wall, Danny pressed his arm against his throat. “What did you do?”
Brian made a gurgling sound. His hands tried to pull at his brother's forearm. Danny held tight, and Brian's thrashing slowed.
“I didn't do anything,” Brian managed to gasp out.
Danny turned to Marnie for confirmation.
“I'm fine,” she whispered, in a raspy tone. “I just fell.”
“You don't look fine,” he said, looking at his brother. “Your collar's torn. Who've you been fighting?”
“Please stop,” Marnie said.
He hesitated, a smoldering stare melting her on the spot, before he released Brian and sat back on the sofa.
“I'm going to go put something on my eye,” Marnie said, quickly exiting the room.
“You look like you need a hospital!” Danny called out.
“No, that's okay,” she said.
In her bathroom, she sat on the toilet. Rivers of tears washed her face. Everything she was holding in during the cab ride tumbled out. How had things gotten so messy? Brian was supposed to be different. Special. He'd acted as if he was unlike most men, but she had been fooled. There's no one in this world to love you, but you, kiddo. Shit, she snickered. With these prospects, sober life really wasn't worth living.
“Can I talk to you somewhere private?” Brian asked, massaging his throat.
They walked into his office, and Danny took a seat behind the desk. Brian lay back across the couch with his legs hanging over the arm. He let out a huge sigh.
“Man, what are you doing? Marnie told me that you're helping her stay sober?”
His words shocked Danny into silence. He'd had an agreement with Marnie not to discuss their arrangement with anyone, but he leaned back in his chair and answered calmly.
“Yeah.” He vowed to have a talk with Marnie later.
“You say that so nonchalantly. Bro, you can't help her. You can barely help yourself.”
“I'm a recovering addict,” Danny said, making the distinction. “Which is precisely why I can help her. When I found her, she was prostituting herself for drugs, and she didn't have a friend in the world. She needed my help. She didn't have a support system like I did.”
He didn't expect Brian to understand. This was as much for her as it was for him. The outside world made no allowances for him and often offered him drugs. Having someone else who also struggled to ignore triggers and temptations made things easier for him.
“Wow. You brought a prostitute to our family reunion.” Brian sat up on the couch. “You brought her around Mom and our sisters? What the hell is wrong with you? You're losing it again, aren't you?”
“I am not losing it. Quit trying to make me out to be some pathetic son of a bitch.”
Brian jumped to his feet, jabbing a finger at Danny. “I don't have to try. You are!”
“Only a pathetic person would take his sister to a drug house.”
Danny's eyes widened, his heart threatening to leap out of his chest.
“Oh yeah, she told me.” Brian's lips curved into a sadistic sneer.
“Then you also know I stopped that fucker before he did anything!” Danny stood up and kicked the chair back.
Both brothers huffed and puffed trading insults. They were finally having that long overdue confrontation.
“She never has to worry about me, because I look out for her. I look out for everybody.” Danny spat out, poking himself in the chest for added emphasis.
“Oh yeah?” Brian put his hands on the desk. “So that was you looking out for Mom when you hooked her on coke?”
“No, you stupid asshole. That was me letting our mother turn me out.”
“Wha—?” Brian blinked. His self‐assured righteousness flew out the window.
“Where were you when Dad died? No one, not you, not Lindsey, no one was there to comfort her. She didn't want to get high alone, so she asked me. So you see, I'm the good son,” he said pounding his chest. “Me! Not you!”
“I don't believe you,” Brian whispered.
“Believe whatever you want dude, but Mom's the diehard addict, not me. When she ran out of Xanax, she asked me to score for her.” His voice quivered, but he continued. Whatever Brian thought of him, he at least needed to know the truth. He'd held onto it far too long, letting it eat him from the inside out.
“I didn't question her, or lecture her about right or wrong. She was in pain. She'd just lost the love of her life. I couldn't stand seeing her like that. She told me where to go, dammit!”
Brian sat down on the couch, putting his head in his hands.
“You can't hang around low‐lifes man, she's going to drag you down.”
“How about you don't concern yourself with things you know shit about?”
“I know enough dealing with you. I can't choose who my brother is, but you sure as hell can choose who your assistant is.” Brian looked up at him.
“I mean, damn man, you could have at least given me a heads up. Ugh.” Brian shuddered. “You cannot trust her. I knew she was shaky, but I didn't know it was because she was some skanky ass prostitute.”
“Stop,” Danny said.
Marnie hovered in the doorway. Bruises covered the right half of her face, but she had cleaned the blood away. He was relieved to see the marks were not as bad as they originally looked.
“Come on, man, the profession, by its very nature, is deceptive.”
“Stop,” Danny hissed.
Marnie brusquely stepped into his office and handed him a stack of papers.
“Here's some papers for the commercial you need to sign. I forgot to give them to you yesterday.” She barely gasped the last word before she erupted in tears. Covering her face, she ran out of the room.
“Fuck.” He threw the papers down and glared at Brian. “You talk too much.”
“I'll speak to her.” Brian pushed himself off the couch.
Danny was quick on his brother's heels.
“Leave her alone. I'll handle it.”
Brian went for the elevator while Danny checked in her room.
“She didn't take the elevator.” Brian said to him as he entered the room.
“She's not in her room either.”
“Where'd she go?”
The flutter of curtains in the living room caught Danny's eye.