Love Her Wilde

Stars Go Blind: Dylan

I heard Shayne's sigh as he walked into his living room to once again find me buried in blankets on his sofa.

"Look, kid, I love you," he began, "but I'm genuinely starting to worry that you've become a permanent part of my living room décor."

"Bite me," I grumbled, pulling a quilt that our grandmother had made over my head.

"How long are you going to lay there sulking?"

"As long as I want to."

"It's been THREE days."

"I'm aware, Shayne. Thanks."

"Have you talked to him?"

"What do you think?"

Again, my brother sighed, and I felt him sink into the foot of the couch I was currently occupying. "Dyl..."

"Don't, Shayne. I don't want to hear it."

"Well, then you probably shouldn't have chosen here to exile yourself, cuz you know goddamn well I don't know how to keep my opinions to myself." I felt Shayne grasp the quilt and, unfortunately for me, he was stronger, and tugged it from my face. "I get that you are upset, and you have every right to be..."

"He let me believe I was losing my mind, Shayne," I stated, my eyes instantly welling with tears for the millionth time. "He knew I was being followed because he hired someone to do it, and he just told me I was being paranoid."

"I know, baby, I know," Shayne sighed. He lifted my legs from the sofa and slid himself under them, so that they were perched on his lap, blanket and all. "It's bullshit. He absolutely, one hundred percent should have told you. If not before, then at least when you questioned him."

I sniffed and, very lady-like, wiped my nose on the sleeve of the hoodie I'd been wearing for the last three days. "Why do I feel like there's a but coming?"

Shayne chuckled. "Because you know me to well?" He sighed and shook his head softly before meeting my watery gaze. "I think you already know where I'm going with this."

I sucked my lips into my mouth and gnawed on them a bit. "Probably..." I mumbled.

"I think you over-reacted, babes," Shayne said softly, stroking his palm over my shin. "You don't really think he's behind all of this, do you?"

I gulped. "No. Not really. I just..." I inhaled deeply, the spring breeze from coming in Shayne's open windows and lighting my nostrils with the smell of rain. I hadn't even realized it was raining outside. Kinda hard to notice the weather when you'd spent seventy-two hours buried on a sofa. "Everything is so jumbled up in my head right now," I continued softly. "All he had to do was tell me. All he had to do is be honest and... he didn't. He just... he said my nerves were fried and it was probably nothing and blah, blah, blah... everything but the fucking truth."

"I know, sweetheart," Shayne sighed, reaching over and tucking my bangs toward my ears. His face grimaced as his palm brushed the side of my head. "How long has it been since you washed your fucking hair?"

"Is that really what we're focusing on right now?" I asked with a laugh. "God, you are such a queen."

"It's why you love me."

I smiled, genuinely, and shook my head. "How can I feel safe with him when he was lying to me the whole time?"

"I get why you're questioning that, I absolutely do, and I'm in no way saying that what he did was right. But do I get it?" Shayne paused and I watched his head nod up and down firmly. "I absolutely do. You think I haven't thought about hiring a bodyguard for you? You think Dad hasn't?"