A fractured fairytale

11

He raised his fist, levelling it with my face, his expression thunderous as he looked between me and my sister like she belonged to him. As he swung, I easily captured his fist in my palm and forced it backwards, causing his arm to bend at an angle. The only way he could lessen the pain and stop me from snapping a bone was for him to step back. In response, I only put more pressure onto his fist until he stumbled back and smacked his head against the wall.

"You wanna try that again?" I asked, the threat of what would happen if he did crystal clear in my voice.

"Matt, stop!" my sister called from behind me. I ignored her.

I watched the guy in front of me swallow before he started to wriggle in an attempt to get free. "Get your hands off me before I kill you," he spat, lacking any intensity or force in his tone. Instead, the statement came out flat, with an arrogance that told me he had no idea who he was talking to. It only pissed me off more.

I raised my fist to pummel his smug face until it was just mush under my hand. At the last second, Vi suddenly stepped in front of me and Jay pulled back my arm before the momentum caused me to knock my little sister unconscious. "Stop it!" she yelled, shoving me backwards.

I didn't move an inch. Instead, I redirected my anger at her. "Who the hell is this guy?"

She matched my glare. "My boyfriend," she spat, raising an eyebrow before glancing behind me to where Jay and Alex stood. Then, she redirected her gaze back to me. "Go away Matt."

"You heard the lady," the prick behind her suddenly interjected, snaking an arm around her waist and playing the gentlemen. I was itching to take that punch but Vi must've seen me coming before she shuffled to the left to position herself in between us again. "Go. Now."

My jaw ached from clenching it so hard and I was certain my teeth had ground into dust in my mouth as I glared back at the guy who had the audacity to smirk back at me. Before I could decide what exactly I was going to do with him, Alex stepped in. "Vi, a word?"

She lifted her chin. "No."

She met my gaze for a split second before turning and kissing the dead man behind her. I watched in annoyance as he snaked his hands down to rest on my little sister's ass and, just when I was about to say fuck it and beat him to death, they pulled away and she turned and led him out the room.

I stood there, stunned for a moment, before I started to move. "Don't," Alex grumbled, reaching out to stop me. I glared back at him, opening my mouth to argue but he shook his head. "She's doing it on purpose. The more you react, the worse it'll get."

"I'm not about to just go about my day and let that prick grope my little sister!" I snapped back at him. I recognised that look on his face when she kissed him. He thought he was about to get lucky and I sure as fuck wasn't about to let that happen.

"You have tutoring and we have practice, Matt. We can deal with this later." I ran a hand through my hair and blew out a breath, desperate to try and release any of the anger that was burning inside of me. "See you later," Alex said with a pointed look before the two of them left the room.

I spent a few more minutes pacing back and forth across the chemistry lab before throwing the door open and making my way to the library. I felt like an active volcano, ready to erupt at any moment, but I couldn't spend another minute looking at the spot where some motorcycle riding deadbeat stuck his tongue down my sister's throat.

When I entered the library, I felt like an elephant trampling through an antique shop. I slammed open the door and stomped across the carpeted floors, managing to disturb the silence without saying a word. The woman behind the desk glanced up at me in surprise but kept her mouth shut when she saw the expression on my face. I ignored her completely and entered the study room.

"Oh. There you are. I wasn't sure if you..." Rose glanced up at me, her eyes wide. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I stated, trying to sound neutral but there was a brashness to my tone. "Sorry I'm late," I tried again, softening the slightest bit but I'm sure I still saw her flinch.

She swallowed, her throat bobbing, before she nodded. "That's okay." She slid a piece of paper across the table towards me before quickly snatching her hand away as if I would bite it off. Seeing her so on edge only made me more irritated and I dropped into the chair across from her and threw my bag onto the floor.

We stayed silent for a while and I tried to make my way through the worksheet she'd given me, translating some of the Italian words we'd gone through last week. I had been practicing them over the weekend but now all I could think about was Vi. I shoved the paper away, catching her flinch yet again in my peripheral vision, before I ran a hand through my hair. "Sorry," I muttered, meeting her wide eyes.

"I-is everything okay?"

I frowned at the waver in her voice and forced myself to relax so she wouldn't be so on edge. "Yeah, fine," I grumbled, not particularly convincing. I shook my head. "It's just my sister. She had some arrogant little dick's tongue down her throat this morning."

The sound that left Rose's mouth was something between a choked cough and a laugh. Her lips quirked as she met my gaze. "And that's made you this angry? A kiss?"

I raised an eyebrow. "For an older brother? Yeah."

This time, she laughed and gave a little shake of her head. "Right. I'm guessing you're protective?"

I lifted a shoulder. "She's my little sister and ten seconds with the guy was enough to tell me that he was a stupid little boy who is only after one thing and will get it from any girl willing to give it." I grit my teeth at the thought of my sister being one of those girls.

She laughed again and for some reason, I found the sound to be soothing and felt some of the tension bleed out of me. "You've just described every man," she stated with a small smile.

I met her gaze. "Not all."

She held my stare for a moment before huffing a little laugh and turning away. "If you're that worried about your sister, why don't you talk to her?"

"She won't listen to me," I explained. "If I tell her to stay away, she'd probably sleep with him just to spite me. I'm debating telling my dad, I'm sure he'll scare the guy off."

A frown crossed her face. "You can't do that. She might really like the guy and she'll feel like you're all against her. I think you should leave her be," she said, "she's not a kid."

"She's my little sister," I stated again. To me, that was reason enough to get involved but Rose only rolled her eyes and pushed the worksheet back towards me.