Eat Me

ChapterTen

After the weekend I'd had, I couldn't wait to sit down, eat a greasy takeaway, and enjoy my nice cold cider. Granted, I had an obstacle I needed to cross first.

"Who was that you were talking with outside?" I had barely made it through the door when Warren caught me. He was sprawled out on the sofa with a beer in hand, staring at the TV.

In all the years we had been friends, he was always the overprotective brotherly figure I'd lacked. His feelings towards the guys I'd dated were clear, none of them were good enough for me. Even relationships that had lasted long enough to be considered 'serious', he would show his distaste towards.

"A friend." I set down the cider on the counter and moved to the sofa.

Again, whilst focusing his sights on the TV, he asked, "Your friend got a name?"

"You wouldn't believe it, but he actually does." I plonked my bum down next to him on the chair and threw my legs over his lap. As I expected, he untied my laces and threw my shoes on the floor. He could grill me about my new 'friend' whilst letting me get comfy, knowing I'd had a long day. Not that I had any answers for him about Justin. He was an enigma.

"Now, would you be a babe and pass me some food. I'm way too dead to move."

There would be more to come from his interrogation, but in order to stay awake for it, he'd have to feed me first. He sighed, lifting my legs off his lap. I was salivating by the time the food was set in front of me.

"You spoke to Bev since Friday?" Warren asked as he cracked open a cider.

After making sure I hadn't been fired this morning, I'd finally responded to her barrage of texts. She had assumed I'd left with Justin after she saw us in the club.

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't wanted to. My night would have had a completely different ending if I had gone home with him instead. Then again, who's to say he would have wanted to go home with me?

Yes, there was something there between us, right?

Wrong. It was wishful thinking.

But then, he did walk me home earlier.

Oh god, I really was reading too much into it.

With Beverly's assumptions fresh in my mind, I couldn't put my finger on why she sounded so panicked in her messages. She'd thought I'd left with Justin. So why did she make it sound like I was kidnapped by an axe murderer? In her defence, I didn't respond for quite some time, but she was insistent on finding out how I was holding up, as if something terrible had happened.

"Yeah, I texted her earlier, actually." I pulled out my phone from my pocket. "Not that she's replied."

After eating my weight in pizza and curly fries, I headed to the shower to rid myself of the scent of the restaurant. With the door open a crack, I could hear Warren guzzling drinks and laughing at whatever comedy he had on the TV. It was well past midnight by the time I was ready to settle down on the sofa and Warren had given me his shirt to wear because, as he said, "it looks better on you."

We switched from comedy to horror, snuggling on the sofa with my fluffy beige blanket. It felt nice, curling up against his warm bare chest, feeling the tickle from his chest hair against my face. The contact gave me security. Something I lacked having been on my own so long.

I had no contact with my mum, she had made her bed and would lie in it until she died. My dad, well he met his end on the train tracks when I was sixteen, something that still hasn't sunk in to this day. He still visits me in my dreams though, usually spouting some giberish, but it's still nice to see him there.

I know - a dream is exactly that.

Kirk, my brother, it was mid-June, eight years ago when we last spoke. I had been out on a date with a guy who I'd met on a dating app. Nice guy, didn't talk much. Stephan, I think his name was. Well, we were on our way back to his place after grabbing dinner - his lack of talking didn't deter me from wanting to sleep with him, it had been a while since I'd so much as kissed a guy.

As we were walking to his car, I was ambushed by my brother. To this day, I still have no clue how he knew where to find me. His sunken eyes were devoid of emotion, scars marred his arms and face. A face that once resembled my own stood a few inches away. Only now, we were strangers.

I gave a nod to Stephan to get in his car. He didn't hesitate.

After I refused to give him money - not that I didn't want to, I didn't even have enough to cover my rent that month - he took his anger out on Stephan's passenger window, leaving it in shards on the ground. It's safe to say, I haven't seen Stephan since. Nor my brother, for that matter.

"You smell different." Warrens voice broke me from my thoughts.

"You mean clean right and not like the sh*t we cook at work?" I chuckled, now slightly insecure that I didn't get the smell of work off during my shower. There was nothing more repulsive than smelling like fried food and onions.

He sniffed my hair, moving around like a dog searching for drugs at the airport. Neither of us were paying attention to the movie now.

I sat up.

If I smelt so different, enough for him to cause this much of a fuss, I must smell awful.

As I caught a glimpse of his eyes, they were black as night. Terrifying yet beautiful.

"Warren, you-" my sentence was cut short.

His hands moved to my sides as he lifted me on to his lap, straddling him. It didn't help that I was wearing a pair of knickers and nothing more downstairs. He may as well have been wearing a napkin with how thin his joggers were. I could feel all of him.

Heat rushed to my face, but there was nothing I could do to hide the rising temperature radiating off of me.

His nose skimmed my face, along my collar bone, all the places that left me squirming in his lap.

"What are you doing?" I giggled, soaking up his strange but pleasing attention.

Stopping his movements and lingering on my neck, he exhaled heavily.

"I knew you smelt strange, but this..." His chest rumbled, exhuding animosity. Confused by this strange display of emotion, I began moving off of him, lifting my leg over his thigh and pulling back from his face. "It's all I can smell."

Startling me, his hand moved to my thigh, gripping my bare skin, causing me to fall back down on his lap.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." The whisper that bubbled out matched my quivering form. In all honesty, I didn't know what had got him so worked up. I had put deodorant on and my skin was lathered up in coconut body lotion, so whatever I smelt of to him should have been masked a little. Never before had this happened, but Warren had made me feel small. As if sensing my trepidation, he gently brushed his hands over my cheeks, cupping my face. The coolness of his forehead against mine poured ice over my burning skin. The world around us fell silent, our heartbeats drumming loudly that I was sure both of us could hear.

What the hell was happening?