Burning Desire

What We Do For Family

The rest of lunch passed with easily flowing conversation and even plenty of laughs. It was only when me and Marya were clearing away, that things took a nosedive. As she reached up to put a glass in the cupboard and I spotted a dark bruise on her wrist, and immediately saw red.

"What the hell?" I growled lifting her hand up and pushing back the dark purple fabric of her long sleeved top.

"It's nothing Bane, leave it alone." She said in a hurry, pulling her hand out of my grasp and tugging the sleeve back down.

I wasn't one to lose my temper easily, but seeing her hurt was rapidly causing me to lose my senses. I felt my heart throwing itself against my chest, and my hands clenched into fists at my side as my brain twigged at what had happened. I knew Cedric was an asshole, I hadn't liked him for her, but I never realised that things were this bad.

"He did this." I snapped, turning back towards the table and catching my father's eye. "Did you know about this?"

"About what?" He asked, confused at my outburst.

He got to his feet and began to walk towards the kitchen, Lacey following behind him.

"Bane, seriously just shut up!" Marya shouted at me.

"Will one of you tell me what is going on?"

"That son of a bitch has hurt her. Show him."

I could see that Lacey had no idea what was going on, and I attempted to give her an apologetic look, but in my angered state, I wasn't sure if I'd managed to pull it off.

"Mari, is this true? Did he hurt you?" My dad asked, somehow managing to keep his tone far calmer than my own.

Mari's eyes swam with tears for just a moment before she nodded her head. I wanted to yell, to throw something, and yet at the same time, I felt an aching pain in my heart. I was her brother, I was supposed to protect her and keep her safe, and yet this scumbag had laid his hands on her and caused her pain. Our father wrapped her in his arms and cradled his little girl against his chest, running his hand over her thick dark curls whilst she cried softly. It was hard, but I tried to push the anger down, to force myself not to snap. She didn't need it. I didn't want to make this worse for her.

"She's safe here." Lacey whispered in my ear, placing a soothing hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you." I muttered back.

My eyes found her silver orbs and I allowed them to be my anchor, holding my temper at bay. I reached up and cupped her cheek, running my thumb gently over her silky skin.

"I'm sorry about this." I said, nodding towards my dad and sister.

"Don't be." She replied.

I didn't even care that there were other people around, I leant in and kissed her softly on the lips, pulling back far sooner than I would have liked.

"How many times sweetheart?" My dad asked her, guiding her into a chair at the bar.

"This was the first time." She mumbled.

"And the fucking last time." I snarled.

My father gave me a stern look, and continued.

"Did you leave right after?"

She nodded again, sniffling as Lacey passed her a tissue from the box on the side. She began to explain how things had been going downhill for them for a while. How the usual problems that we all knew about were just the tip of the iceberg. Listening to her cry and tell me of all of the shitty things that she'd been putting up with was making me want to break every bone in that asshole's body.