“Bobby . . .” I choked through tears. “Rory was home. I went to the lake and I came back and he was there. Drunk. A mess. Barbie's dead. And he drove her into the river. They've been having an affair. And he's hiding and he wouldn't let me go. And I tried to call you, but I slipped and—”
Bobby gripped my face and grounded me with his warm eyes. “Lil. Lil. Slow down.”
I winced when his fingers grazed the tender spot, my head still throbbing from the fall.
“What's this?” he asked, running his thumb across the gash. “Did he do this to you?”
“It was an accident. We were fighting over the phone.”
But I saw a look in Bobby's eyes that was foreign to me. Bobby's eyes were warm sunsets. Lemonade on a creaky porch during sunset. Laughter on a tire swing. A refreshing breeze just as you stepped out of the lake on a scalding summer day.
But now his eyes were hostile. They were both hollow and full. Scorching and frigid. Focused and distant.
“Bobby . . . Bobby . . . no,” I commanded, knowing what was to come next. “I don't want you to go back there. I just want to leave. I have my purse. Let's just go and never come back.”
“Lil, I need to go over there. I need to see my brother.” The commitment in his tone told me begging was a losing battle, but it didn't stop me.
“No. Please. He's got a gun and he's drunk!” I pleaded.
Bobby snickered. “He won't shoot me. He wouldn't dare, Lil.”
“I don't want you to leave again.”
“Lil, he's lost control. And . . .” Bobby tensed visibly with a rage I didn't know he could summon. “. . . he should have never touched you. I can't just let that go. I won't.”
“He's desperate.”
“You're telling me, he killed Barbie.”
“Not on purpose. He crashed the car and left her. He panicked.”
Bobby shook his head, the rage intertwined with a deep sadness. “I don't know what the fuck happened to him. I should have never . . .” Bobby stopped himself. We had told ourselves that line countless times and learned by now, there was no winning. It was a waste of breath. We did what we shouldn't have. We let each other go years before and we were here now. That's all that mattered.
Bobby braced my shoulders. “Lil. Go back to the motel. Get a room. I'll be back.”
“No. No!” I shouted.
“Let me take care of my brother. It's my turn. This is my fault.” Bobby took a breath, softening his tone. “Lil, I need to see him. He needs his brother and he needs to understand some things. Sometimes you need your brother to hug you. Other times you need your brother to set you straight.”
“Then I have to come with you.”
“No. I need to see him. Alone. Brother to brother.”
“I keep feeling like something terrible is going to happen.”
“It already has,” Bobby lamented. He pushed my hair back and kissed me fiercely, pressing his forehead to mine. “I'm never letting you go again. You understand? I am never making that mistake. You and I were always supposed to be together. I will never leave you. I don't care anymore about anything but that.”
I nodded. Bobby was kind, he was loving, but he was a man who did things when he made up his mind and I couldn't stop him.
“I promise I'll be back,” he said, sliding into his pickup and driving towards the house. I watched as the lights of his truck disappeared into the distance.
I think Bobby knew I would follow him anyway. He hoped I wouldn't, but he knew. Because Bobby promised he wouldn't leave me again. Well, I wasn't going to leave him either.
I trailed behind just enough so that Bobby wouldn't spot me behind him on the dark road. When I pulled up to the house. Bobby's truck was parked, and a single light was on upstairs. The front door was unlocked, and as soon as I opened it, I heard a crash upstairs.
“Bobby?” I called out, slamming the front door behind me.
I raced upstairs to the bedroom and found Bobby pressing his forearm against Rory’s neck, pinning his brother against the wall.
“. . . Never touching her again.” —The end of the sentence I walked in on.
Rory twisted and grunted under Bobby's hold. Rory had a fresh cut under his eye where I assume Bobby hit him.
“Stop it!” I cried. I didn't want Bobby to do this. I didn't want him to become ugly for me.
Bobby did a double take at the door. “Lilly, dammit. Why didn't you just go back?”
“I'm not leaving you,” I replied. “Just let him go. You proved your point. Look at him.”
Bobby looked back at his brother, studying him for a moment, and then released him. Rory collapsed, still drunk and now beaten up.
“Get whatever you need from here,” Bobby panted.
Rory rolled onto all fours and let out a few hacking coughs. “Where are you going? She's my wife . . . you can't take her.”
“It's over Rory,” I said.
“You're helping her?” Rory asked. Still oblivious to the betrayal. His trust for Bobby so deep, he couldn't even conceive it.
Bobby looked down. “She's coming with me. For good.”
“For good . . .?” Rory's voice trailed. His bloodshot green eyes grew in disbelief. “Wait . . . wait . . . you have to be fucking kidding me.” He got up to one knee.
“Stay down,” Bobby commanded.
Rory labored his way to his feet. “My wife? My fucking wife!” Rory shouted.
“She's Lilly. She doesn't belong to you. You and I knew her way before she ever had a title. But you forgot that. You forgot who she was.”
“You're my blood,” Rory sneered.
“I'm sorry, but you had your chance. And you blew it. Many times,” Bobby replied. “How about Barbie? Did you think about your wife then?”
I raced through my closet as the brothers battled. I wanted to leave as quickly as we could. I didn't want to stay around for any more arguing. I felt like the countdown was still ticking. That things weren't over yet.
Rory sniggered to himself. “Oh god. You guys were fucking those two weeks at the lake house? When you said you would be up there fixing it, huh? I fucking trusted you! How long? Huh? How fucking long?” He looked over Bobby's shoulder, his gaze fixed on me. “Lilly? Tell me!”
I stopped packing and in took a deep inhale. “A long time.”
I watched Rory struggle with the mental math. “Before he left?” he asked me, as if Bobby wasn't in the room.
I nodded.
Rory laughed incredulously to himself. “Before we married?”
I nodded.
“Oh my god,” he crouched down and buried his hands in his head. “How the hell was I so blind? You two. Always at each other. I wondered why you were so angry when he left. Why I could find a way to forgive him and you were still so bitter. Is this why you never wanted me after we married?”
I looked down shamefully at my belongings. If there was a way I could have done this without hurting Rory, I would. Even after learning of his affair with Barbie, I didn’t enjoy this feeling. This wasn’t a competition to see who could hurt the other more.
Rory stood up tall and lurched towards me, but Bobby stood in his way. “My brother, Lilly? My fucking brother. The only family I have left!”
The tears flowed as he said those final words. Because I wasn't just taking Rory's brother away from him. I was taking Bobby's too.
“I'm sorry,” I cried. “I tried. I tried to make us work.”
He spit on the floor. “You both can go to hell.”
Bobby looked down to the floor as he took the blow of those words. Then he forced himself to look towards Rory’s raging brow. “You'll always be my brother,” Bobby promised.
“Well, I'd hate to see what happens to your enemies if this is how you treat your brother, you son of a bitch.”