Falling For A Criminal

Falling For A Criminal - Chapter Three*

“Well,” he shrugged, “I figured I'd come back. There's nothing wrong with missing my little sister, is there?”

“Had that actually been the case, you would have never left.” Turning my back to him, I walked over to my bed and looked down at my phone. I didn't have any missed calls or text messages, so I looked up at my brother and saw that he was starting at me with a strange look in his eyes. It was annoying the hell out of me, and since I wasn't that small defenseless girl I was when he left, I narrowed my eyes and lied down. “What the hell are you staring at?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Taking one more look at me, he grinned and walked over to the computer. Not bothering to ask for permission, he began to scroll through my Facebook—as if looking for something that he wasn't going to find. “So,” he said before I got a chance to yell at him for invading my privacy, “what's this I hear about you having a boyfriend?”

'He's been gone for years. He shouldn't know about love life—even if it was nonexistent.' Deciding that there was no harm in leading him on, I went with the flow of the conversation and tried to see how far I would get before he actually found out that I didn't have a boyfriend. “What's it to you? You haven't been around to play the Big Brother card in almost four years.” That was me insinuating that I hada boyfriend. Playing with my brothers emotions is the only way I know how to get information out of him, so unless he's changed completely, this should work. “And even if I did have a boyfriend,” I stalled; tapping my chin as if I had been thinking of something else to say, “it's not like I'd introduce you to him. You'd probably scare him off or something.” Thinking back to how many guys my brother actually hadscared off, I shuddered; he was a real douche when he wanted to be. He was the reason my love life was almost non-existent; he scared off anyone he didn't like, and in my case, that was pretty much everyone I had ever shown interest in.

Finally looking away from the computer, he looked me right in the eyes and I almost flinched. His eyes were mean; empty, and in a way, threatening. Had I not known any better, I'd say that he was planning on beating an answer out of me! 'But he wouldn't hit me. . . Would he?'Not wanting to seem afraid, I stood my ground and simply raised a brow. Yeah, he was twice my size, three times as strong and more likely to beat me in a fight, but I wasn't afraid of him. If he was still my brother from four years ago, there's no reason for me to be scared.

“What's his name, Adri?”

I shrugged. “I'm not telling you.”

Shaking his head, he stood up from the computer chair and pushed out his chest—making him look ten times more intimidating. His eyes, still threatening, stared right at me and I could almost imagine him choke slamming me onto the floor to the point where my eyes popped out of my head. Then he'd call the ambulance people—who for some reason would come through the window also—and he'd be taken away.

Again.

But my brother wasn't stupid. Hard-headed? Yes, but not stupid.

“Trace, I see right through your tactics; you don't scare me.” And I wanted to believe that, but he had grown a lot since the last time I saw him. He had been out on the street for four years; he's four years crueler, four years meaner, and four years more menacing. It would be a lie if I said I wasn't at least slightlyfrightened, but then again, who wouldn't be? Blood or not, once you become an ass hole, there's nothing you can do to get that person back. Or at least that's how it is here in New York. Sure, I had just completely contradicted myself, but that's what fear does to you. Messes up your thought process and makes you think things that make almost absolutely no sense.

The once calm atmosphere had quickly turned into tension you could cut with a knife, and I knew something was about to happen. “You know what?” Crossing my arms again, I watched as he put his coat back on—without his shirt—and pulled on his shoes. “I came back to see you, but you're just like every other girl in this damn town. Have fun on your own, Adri.”