Hideous Love

CHAPTER 2

-MIKE-

“Mike , simply get your ass inside and lock the door so I can cling up.”

I roll my eyes. He’s nonetheless the same bossy brother he usually was. I knew that moving in with him would no longer be accurate for our relationship, considering how fatherly he acted towards me when we had been younger. However, I had no time to locate a job, get my personal apartment, and get settled before my new training started, so it left me with little choice.

I’m hoping matters will be different between us now, though. Corbin is twenty-five, and I’m twenty-three, so if we can’t get along higher than we did as kids, we’ve acquired a lot of growing up left to do.

I bet that in the main depends on Corbin and whether he’s modified considering that we remaining lived together. He had an problem with everyone I dated, all of my friends, each and every preference I made—even what university I desired to attend. Not that I ever paid any attention to his opinion, though. The distance and time aside has seemed to get him off my lower back for the last few years, however transferring in with him will be the final check of our patience.

I wrap my purse round my shoulder, however it gets caught on my suitcase handle, so I simply let it fall to the floor. I hold my left hand wrapped tightly round the doorknob and maintain the door shut so the man won’t fall absolutely into the apartment. I take my foot and press it towards his shoulder, pushing him from the core of the doorway.

He doesn’t budge.

“Corbin, he’s too heavy. I’m gonna have to cling up so I can use each hands.”

“No, don’t cling up. Just put the smartphone in your pocket, however don’t hold up.”

I appear down at the outsized shirt and leggings I have on. “No pockets. You’re going in the bra.”

Corbin makes a gagging sound as I pull the phone from my ear and shove it internal my bra. I eliminate the key from the lock and drop it towards my purse, however it misses and falls to the floor. I reach down to grasp the under the influence of alcohol guy so I can move him out of the way.

“All right, buddy,” I say, struggling to pull him away from the middle of the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt your nap, however I need inner this apartment.”

I someway control to prop him up against the doorframe to prevent him from falling into the apartment, and then I push the door open farther and flip to get my things.

Something warm wraps around my ankle.

I freeze.

I seem to be down.

“Let go of me!” I yell, kicking at the hand that’s gripping my ankle so tightly I’m exceedingly positive it would possibly bruise. The drunk man is searching up at me now, and his grip sends me falling backward into the rental when I try to pull away from him.

“I want to get in there,” he mutters, simply as my butt meets the floor. He makes an strive to push the apartment door open with his other hand, and this without delay sends me into panic mode. I pull my legs the rest of the way inside, and his hand comes with me. I use my free leg to kick the door shut, slamming it immediately onto his wrist.

“s**t!” he yells. He’s making an attempt to pull his hand again into the hallway with him, but my foot is nevertheless pressing against the door. I launch ample strain for him to have his hand back, and then I straight away kick the door all the way shut. I pull myself up and lock the door, the useless bolt, and the chain lock as rapidly as I can.

As quickly as my heart rate begins to calm down, it begins to scream at me.

My heart is clearly screaming at me.

In a deep male voice.

It sounds like it’s yelling, “Mike ! Mike !” Corbin.

I right away seem to be down at my chest and pull my phone out of my bra, then convey it up to my ear.

“Mike ! Answer me!”

I wince, then pull the smartphone various inches from my ear. “I’m fine,” I say, out of breath. “I’m inside. I locked the door.”

“Jesus Christ!” he says, relieved. “You scared me to death. What the hell happened?”

“He was attempting to get inside. I locked the door, though.” I flip on the living-room light and take no greater than three steps inside before I come to a halt.

Good going, Mike .

I slowly flip lower back toward the door after realizing what I’ve done.

“Um. Corbin?” I pause. “I would possibly have left a few matters outside that I need. I would simply clutch them, but the under the influence of alcohol guy thinks he wishes to get inner your apartment for some reason, so there’s no way I’m opening that door again. Any suggestions?”

He’s silent for a few seconds. “What did you leave in the hallway?” I don’t want to answer him, however I do. “My suitcase.” “Christ, Mike ,” he mutters.

“And . . . my purse.”

“Why the hell is your purse outside?”

“I would possibly have additionally left the key to your condominium on the hallway floor.”

He doesn’t even respond to that one. He simply groans. “I’ll name Mary and see if he’s home yet. Give me two minutes.”

“Wait. Who’s Mary?”

“He lives across the hall. Whatever you do, don’t open the door once more till I name you back.”

Corbin hangs up, and I lean against his front door.

I’ve lived in San Francisco all of thirty minutes, and I’m already being a ache in his ass. Figures. I’ll be lucky if he lets me stay right here until I locate a job. I hope that doesn’t take long, thinking about I utilized for three RN positions at the closest hospital. It may mean working nights, weekends, or both, but I’ll take what I can get if it prevents me from having to dip into savings while I’m returned in school.

My smartphone rings. I slide my thumb across the display and reply it.

“Hey.”

“Mike ?”

“Yep,” I reply, questioning why he usually double-checks to see if it’s me. He called me, so who else would be answering it who sounds precisely like me?

“I received preserve of Mary.”

“Good. Is he gonna help me get my stuff?”

“Not exactly,” Corbin says. “I sort of want you to do me a large favor.”

My head falls towards the door again. I have a feeling the next few months are going to be full of inconvenient favors, because he knows he’s doing me a big one through letting me stay here. Dishes? Check. Corbin’s laundry? Check. Corbin’s grocery shopping? Check. “What do you need?” I ask him.

“Mary sort of wishes your help.”

“The neighbor?” I pause as soon as it clicks, and I close my eyes. “Corbin, please don’t tell me the guy you called to defend me from the under the influence of alcohol guy is the drunk guy.”

Corbin sighs. “I need you to release the door and let him in. Let him crash on the couch. I’ll be there first component in the morning. When he sobers up, he’ll know the place he is, and he’ll go straight home.”

I shake my head. “What kind of condo complex are you living in? Do I need to put together to be groped by using under the influence of alcohol people each and every time I come home?”

Long pause. “He groped you?”

“ ‘Grope’ may be a bit strong. He did clutch my ankle, though.”

Corbin lets out a sigh. “Just do this for me, Mike . Call me back when you’ve received him and all your stuff inside.”

“Fine.” I groan, recognizing the fear in his voice.

I dangle up with Corbin and open the door. The under the influence of alcohol guy falls onto his shoulder, and his mobile smartphone slips from his hand and lands on the ground subsequent to his head. I flip him onto his again and seem to be down at him. He cracks his eyes open and attempts to look up at me, however his eyelids fall shut again.

“You’re not Corbin,” he mutters.

“No. I’m not. But I am your new neighbor, and from the appears of it, you’re about to owe me at least fifty cups of sugar.”

I raise him through his shoulders and strive to get him to take a seat up, however he doesn’t. I don’t assume he can, actually. How does a man or woman even get this drunk?

I seize his palms and pull him inch by using inch into the apartment, stopping when he’s just a ways adequate inside for me to be able to shut the door. I retrieve all of my things from backyard the apartment, then shut and lock the front door. I snatch a throw pillow from the couch, prop his head up, and roll him onto his side in case he pukes in his sleep.

And that’s all the assist he’s getting from me.

When he’s comfortably asleep in the middle of the living-room floor, I go away him there whilst I appear round the apartment.

The living room alone ought to suit three of the living rooms from Corbin’s final apartment. The eating region is open to the dwelling room, but the kitchen is separated from the residing room through a half-wall. There are quite a few contemporary art work all through the room, and the thick, plush sofas are a mild tan, offsetting the brilliant paintings. The ultimate time I stayed with him, he had a futon, a beanbag chair, and posters of fashions on the walls.

I assume my brother might in the end be developing up.

“Very impressive, Corbin,” I say out loud as I stroll from room to room and flip on all the lights, inspecting what has simply emerge as my brief home. I sort of hate that it’s so nice. It’ll make it tougher to choose to discover my personal area as soon as I get sufficient cash saved up.

I walk into the kitchen and open the refrigerator. There’s a row of condiments in the door, a container of leftover pizza on the middle shelf, and a completely empty gallon of milk nonetheless sitting on the top shelf.

Of direction he doesn’t have groceries. I can’t have predicted him to exchange completely.

I snatch a bottled water and exit the kitchen to go search for the room I’ll be residing in for the next few months. There are two bedrooms, so I take the one that isn’t Corbin’s and set my suitcase on top of the bed. I have about three extra suitcases and at least six boxes down in the car, not to point out all my garments on hangers, but I’m now not about to try these tonight. Corbin said he’d be back in the morning, so I’ll depart that to him.

I exchange into a pair of sweats and a tank top, then brush my enamel and get ready for bed. Normally, I would be worried about the reality that there’s a stranger in the equal apartment I’m in, however I have a feeling I

don’t want to worry. Corbin would by no means ask me to help any one he felt would possibly be a threat to me in any way. Which confuses me, due to the fact if this is frequent behavior for Mary, I’m surprised Corbin asked me to bring him inside.

Corbin has in no way depended on guys with me, and I blame Blake for that. He was my first serious boyfriend when I used to be fifteen, and he was once Corbin’s quality friend. Blake was seventeen, and I had a huge crush on him for months. Of course, my friends and I had massive crushes on most of Corbin’s friends, honestly because they were older than we were.

Blake would come over most weekends to stay the night time with Corbin, and we constantly seemed to discover a way to spend time collectively when Corbin wasn’t paying attention. One aspect led to another, and after countless weekends of sneaking around, Blake advised me he wanted to make our relationship official. The hassle Blake didn’t foresee was once how Corbin would react once Blake broke my heart.

And boy, did he ruin it. As much as a fifteen-year-old coronary heart can be damaged after the span of a two-week secret relationship. Turned out he was once officially courting pretty a few girls for the duration of the two weeks he was with me. Once Corbin discovered out, their friendship was over, and all of Corbin’s buddies have been warned now not to come near me. I discovered it nearly not possible to date in high faculty until after Corbin in the end moved away.

Even then, though, the guys had heard horror stories and tended to steer clear of Corbin’s little sister.

As lots as I hated it then, I would extra than welcome it now. I’ve had my truthful share of relationships go wrong due to the fact that high school. I lived with my most recent boyfriend for more than a year earlier than we realized we wanted two separate matters out of life. He desired me home. I wanted a career.

So now I’m here. Pursuing my master’s diploma in nursing and doing whatever I can to keep away from relationships. Maybe dwelling with Corbin won’t be such a terrible aspect after all.

I head back to the living room to turn out the lights, but when I’ve rounded the corner, I come to an instant halt.

Not solely is Mary up off the floor, however he’s in the kitchen, with his head pressed towards his arms and his hands folded on pinnacle of the kitchen counter. He’s seated on the side of a bar stool, and he appears as if he’s about to fall off it any second. I can’t tell if he’s sound asleep once more or just trying to recover.

“Mary?”

He doesn’t cross when I name his name, so I walk towards him and gently lay my hand on his shoulder to shake him awake. The second my fingers squeeze his shoulder, he gasps and sits up straight as if I just woke him from the middle of a dream.

Or a nightmare.

Immediately, he slides off the stool and onto very unstable legs. He begins to sway, so I throw his arm over my shoulder and try to walk him out of the kitchen.

“Let’s go to the couch, buddy.”

He drops his forehead to the aspect of my head and stumbles alongside with me, making it even more difficult to preserve him up. “My title isn’t Buddy,” he slurs. “It’s Mary.”

We make it to the the front of the couch, and I begin to peel him off me. “Okay, Mary. Whoever you are. Just go to sleep.”

He falls onto the couch, but he doesn’t let go of my shoulders. I fall with him and right away attempt to pull away.

“Rachel, don’t,” he begs, grabbing me via the arm, trying to pull me to the sofa with him.

“My identify isn’t Rachel,” I say, liberating myself from his iron grip. “It’s Mike .” I don’t know why I clarify what my title is, due to the fact it’s now not in all likelihood he’ll have in mind this conversation tomorrow. I walk to the place the throw pillow is and pick out it up off the floor.

I pause earlier than handing it returned to him, because he’s on his facet now, and his face is pressed into the couch cushion. He’s gripping the sofa so tightly his knuckles are white. At first, I suppose he’s about to get sick, but then I recognize how enormously wrong I am.

He’s now not sick.

He’s crying.

Hard.

So tough he isn’t even making a sound.

I don’t even recognize the guy, but the obvious devastation he’s experiencing is challenging to witness. I seem to be down the hallway and lower back to him, thinking if I depart him on my own in order to give him privacy. The closing aspect I prefer to do is get tangled up in someone’s issues. I’ve effectively avoided most forms of drama in my circle of pals up to this point, and I positive as hell don’t want to start now. My first intuition is to stroll away, however for some reason, I find myself oddly sympathetic towards him. His ache sincerely appears true and not simply the result of an overconsumption of alcohol.

I decrease myself to my knees in the front of him and contact his shoulder.

“Mary?”

He inhales a big breath, slowly lifting his face to appear at me. His eyes are mere slits and bloodshot red. I’m now not sure if that’s a result of the crying or the alcohol. “I’m so sorry, Rachel,” he says, lifting a hand out towards me. He wraps it around the back of my neck and pulls me forward toward him, burying his face in the crevice between my neck and shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

I have no concept who Rachel is or what he did to her, but if he’s hurting this bad, I shudder to suppose what she’s feeling. I’m tempted to find his cellphone and search for her identify and name her so she can come rectify this. Instead, I gently push him lower back into the couch. I lay his pillow down and urge him onto it. “Go to sleep, Mary,” I say gently.

His eyes are so full of harm when he drops to the pillow. “You hate me so much,” he says as he grabs my hand. His eyes fall shut again, and he releases a heavy sigh.

I stare at him silently, permitting him to hold maintain of my hand till he’s quiet and still and there aren’t any more tears. I pull my hand away from his, however I stay by way of his aspect for a few minutes longer.

Even although he’s asleep, he come what may nonetheless looks as if he’s in a world of pain. His eyebrows are furrowed, and his breathing is sporadic, failing to fall into a peaceable pattern.

For the first time, I observe a faint, jagged scar, about 4 inches long, that runs easily across the whole proper side of his jaw. It stops simply two inches shy of his lips. I have the atypical urge to touch it and run my finger down the length of it, but instead, my hand reaches up to his hair. It’s short on the sides, a little longer on the top, and simply the best mixture of brown and blond. I stroke his hair, comforting him, even even though he may additionally now not deserve it.

This man might also deserve every single bit of the regret he’s feeling for some thing he did to Rachel, but at least he’s feeling it. I have to give him that much.

Whatever he did to Rachel, at least he loves her enough to feel sorry about it.