Brothers

#1

"Why would you do that" Tom asks, a hint of anger
in his voice. Brushing off an imaginary piece of lint
from his suit leg pant.

"The same reason you did" with his spare hand he
reaches into his desk draw and pulls out the folder
slamming it on the opposite side of the desk.
Slowly Tom reached for it. He didn't want his
anxiety to validated. Not the same girl. Not against
his brother.

"Did we pay that bastard twice for the same job?"
Flipping through the folder, Tom settles on a print
out picture of her. Rugged up against the cold
winter, her month slightly open to answer her
friend beside her who was cut out of the zoomed in
picture. Toms favourite feature, Her long brown
hair was clipped up behind her but her green eyes
shone out of happiness behind her metal glasses
and her thick purple scarf complimented her pale
Complexion.

"Fuck" Tom swears, his voice boiling with
anger.

"What happened, tom? Did your whore house shut down?"
Cillian bites, his head now elevated as he throws his hand out for a gesture.

"It's more than that, cil" Tom pauses before continuing, "I don't just want her body, I want her soul. there's something about her, some sort of-"

"Pull" Cillian finishes. All anger he felt vanishing.
How could he be mad at the man under the same
spell

"Yeah"
The brothers remain silent, neither of their strong
British voices breaking the stalemate. The turning
of the door knob did however.

"Mr dire, I have your tea here" Mary called coming
through the threshold. "Sorry it took so long" she
added after noticing the tense atmosphere in the
room in which she stood with a tea cup in her
hands.

"No, I'd say it was right on time" Tom sighed
standing up and taking it out of the young girls
hand, "thank you, Mary"

Mary had no idea what he meant but didn't stay
around to ask, heading straight to the door once
the weight of the cup was lifted and closing the
door securely behind her.

"The Irish knew how to deal with bad news" Tom
states walking over to Cillians metal stand that held
his whisky in a glass bottle along with matching his whisky in a glass bottle along with matching
glass cups. Tom fills the spare space of his tea and
the top of his cup with the alcohol before bringing
it up to his lips.

Cillian doesn't answer.

"So" Tom begins after swolling his drink but not
removing the tea cup too far away from his lip, nor
the saucer he held under it, "do you want to flip a
coin"

"No, I don't want to flip a fucking coin"
"How about a game of connect four?"

The brother fall back into silence.

Breaking out of thought Cillian removes his pointer
pressed into his lips and his thumb tucked under
his chin.
"Do you remember, we must have been 5 or 6,
when we found that porcelain doll at the park? We
got into a fight over it and with all the tugging and
the pulling and the wrestling it broke". Cillian
doesn't wait for a response,
"I couldn't bare it if the same thing happened to
Brooke. It would Break my heart".

"So what do you suggest we do? She's a bit shy, you
see, so I worry that attention from both of us may
cause her to retreat and pick neither of us from fear
of choosing"

Cillian leans forward in his chair towards his brother

"What if we took the choice away? Shared her between us?"

Tom spits his tea back into his cup," you're having a laugh, mate"

"What's the alternate? You kidnap her, I steal her
from you, you steal her back. Our strength is in our
unity. Without that our empire is liable for attacks
from scoundrel mutts. And before too long, before
too long," he repeats noticing Tom rolling his eyes
and disregarding the words spoken,
" they kill me, they kill you and perhaps they kill Her for good measure"

Tom slams his cup down, the hot substance spilling
out. "You're out of your fucking mind. Open a window in here, you're going fucking mental"

Going to the closest window he yanks it open; letting the cold air infiltrate the warm room.

"Tom listen to me" Cillian urges.
The younger brother doesn't stop pacing the room, avoiding eye contact with his brotherZ

"Get out once and a while. Go down to sunny village and get a blow job, don't expect me to share my women"

"Tom" he tries again but to no avail.

"Out of your mind, mate" he points in his direction, his strained eyes finally meeting cillians before leaving and slamming the door behind him.

As night falls, and the cars disappear from the streets, and the street lights burn hot, and Mary's long gone home but Cillian remains in his often working with soft music in the background.

The sound of his phone ringing interrupts the quiet jazz and his concentrated state. Nevertheless, upon seeing that it was tom, he answers it with a second thought.

"Fucking hell" was the first thing he heard although slightly slurred from drink.

"Fuck indeed.

"Look the situation is not ideal. But we are as close as two brothers can be and if anyone can make this work, it's us"

"Do you think this is our punishment for all the bad shit?"

"I don't believe in god, or Karma" Cillian answers truthfully.

"But you believe it in being possible that we can love the same women at the same time?"

"I do believe in bad luck"

"Be fucking right. Be fucking right, not only do I have to share her with another man, but another man who is my brother"

Cillian laughs, this he can agree on.
"Bit more difficult to call a hit on your brother when you have to see them for Christmas"

Tom doesn't laugh in return, "Cillian, we can't seriously do this"

"The situation isn't ideal but we are as close as two brother ever could be. It will work if we let it. I want nothing more then your happiness and you want nothing more then my happiness. That's foundation for success at least"

A swig if a bottle could be heard, "where do we go from here?"

"I want her. And I want her now. I have to make a couple of arrangements and adjustments but I say next week we take her"

"From her home?"

"No, it's too messy. She lives with her family and rarely goes out alone. We can get her to come to us, at the Rexona. It's secure and comfortable enough"

"Then what?"

"Then we lock the door and throw away the key"