Love's Suicide (Love's Suicide #1)(8)

After about twenty minutes I got up to use the bathroom and take some medicine. Brooks was standing at the door when I came out. He had his arms blocking me so that I couldn’t get by. “Still mad at me?”

I tried to push him away, but he came at me again. “I’m not in the mood for you. My head hurts too bad.” I started to walk down the steps and he grabbed me by the waist from behind.

“Go get back in bed. I’ll get you some Tylenol and water.”

I felt like crap and shouldn’t have accepted his help, but I didn’t care. “Whatever.”

I got back into my warm bed and pulled the covers over my head. A couple minutes later he came into my room with a glass of water and two painkillers. “Thanks,” I said as I took the medication from his hand and shoved the pills into my mouth.

He sat down on the bed beside me. “So, are you still mad?”

“Are you going to ask me this until I answer?” I was becoming more annoyed by the second.

I closed my eyes and hugged my pillow. Brooks climbed into the bed next to me and pulled me into his arms. “I can’t have my sister mad at me.”

“Get off. I don’t feel good, I told you.”

He laughed and rolled away. “Branch isn’t here, you know. You don’t have to pretend to not care, Kat. Natalie was fun, but that’s it.”

I pulled my pillow over my head. “Seriously, I don’t want to talk about this.”

He wouldn’t leave, and I was too tired to even begin to deal with him. “I’m staying until we talk it out.”

“I guess you’ll be here all day then. I’m going back to sleep.” I rolled over and put the pillow over my ear so that I couldn’t hear his mouth anymore.

Unfortunately I could still hear him, muffled through the fabric and stuffing. “I didn’t sleep with her, Kat.”

I closed my eyes and pretended that I hadn’t heard him. Brooks stayed in my bed for only a few more minutes.

“I really need to talk to you about something. Please, just hear me out?” I kept ignoring him. If he thought I was mad then I’d made my point. He wasn’t going to keep messing with my head. If he was mad about something that I did, he needed to learn to tell me instead of torturing me.

I didn’t wake up again until the afternoon. Not only did I feel well rested, but I didn’t have an annoying person in my bed next to me.

When I went downstairs I found both of the guys playing a video game. It was basketball, and I knew how long those things lasted, so I sat down next to Branch and closed my eyes.

I assumed they’d been talking about things before I came into the room, because Branch didn’t seem shocked when Brooks made his announcement. “So, I told Mom and Dad earlier. They know I leave right after graduation.”

I kept my head rested on a pillow when I asked, “Where are you going?”

They never took their eyes away from the television. “He enlisted,” Branch announced.

“What? When?” I sat up feeling like all of the air in the room had dispersed.

“Last week, like you care,” Brooks said as he scored a three pointer in basketball.

I did care. The idea of him going away was tough enough, but imagining that this kind of decision could end his life, if he was ever deployed, made me frantic. I couldn’t stand to lose anyone else that I cared about.

It was irrational for me to take offense to his decisions. He had every right to do what he wanted, but I was pissed that he wouldn’t think it would hurt me. Didn’t he know how I felt about him and how all of his actions were eating me up inside?

“We all care. What made you want to do that?” I was trying to ask normal questions without freaking out in front of Branch and making him suspect that I cared more about his brother than I should.

“I want to be able to give back to our country, Kat.” He was being rude, like I had no business even inquiring about his decision. “You’ve got until June to make amends with me,” he added.

I rolled my eyes again. “Whether it’s June or next week, it wouldn’t change my opinion of you.”

Brooks threw the controller and stormed out of the room, like I’d said something hurtful. I had meant it like no matter when he left I was still going to hurt the same.

Branch sat his controller down and pulled my legs towards him. “That wasn’t nice, babe.”

“I meant that we’d miss him the same.” Okay, maybe I said it sarcastically to get a rise out of him, but I didn’t see him overreacting the way he had.

“It wasn’t how it came out. All I heard was you telling him to get lost.”

I felt terrible, but I was hurt. “Well, I didn’t mean it that way. Maybe if he wasn’t being such a jerk lately he would have known.”

He patted me on the legs. “Go apologize. Mom is already freaking out on him. He needs our support. I know he pissed you off last night, but maybe he’s scared and wants to occupy his time. He can’t be up our asses every second. Since we share the same DNA I’d say that he’s probably horny constantly.”

He wasn’t making me apologize for thinking his brother’s whoring around was okay. It wasn’t.

“Fine, I’ll go talk to him.”

I stormed out of the room, desperate to tell Brooks that I was sorry. I didn’t want him thinking for even a second that I wouldn’t miss him. I knew we hadn’t been on the same page, but not having him in my life anymore wasn’t an option for me. He’d promised to spend every weekend with us once we started college.