"I've also installed a camera here, so you can see out on to your porch."
I wrapped my blanket tighter around me, watching as Robbie ripped the lens cap from the last camera and shoved it into his pocket.
"Sienna, are you okay?" He stepped up and brushed a strand of my hair out of my eyes, creases of worry on his forehead.
"I'm scared," I admitted, "I want to stop living in constant worry that he's going to come back. I want to go to college too, you know? And I can't let myself believe that Mom and Evie will be okay without Sam or me here, that-"
"Sienna, he's in prison now. He's been taken in and I'll make sure he doesn't get out this time." I stared at him for a second, shaking my head.
"You can't control that." I blinked when he turned his head away, "Can you?"
"Robbie." I whispered, "Can you control whether my father gets out or not? Did you control it?" He started to shake his head, letting out a shaky sigh.
"I didn't do it." He lifted his head and stared at his house with a blank expression.
"Alex did it?" I guessed, my voice barely above a whisper.
And to think I had started to feel bad for him, I-"
"No," Robbie held out a long pause, "Isabelle did."
**
"She's jealous by nature. She hated our Mom, she wanted Alex. . . Peter to herself. My mom continuously got in the way, and when he took us in, so did we. Now that she's seen that you're getting in the way as well, she's trying to get rid of you." I stared at Eliott with an open mouth, setting the controller on the couch beside me.
"No." I shook my head in denial.
"Yeah. I heard her talking to Alex about it." He leaned back into the couch, his eyes on the frozen game on the TV screen. "He told her to just back off, that everything would work itself out. But I guess she was already well on her way with trying to get you out of our lives."
I looked down at my shorts, rubbing my sweaty palm against it as I let what Eliott was explaining sink in.
"What happens next?" I questioned. He shrugged, giving me a sad look.
"I guess we wait and see, right?"
We went back to playing our game for a while, completely ignoring the boys when they walked through the front door. I was seconds away from beating Eliott when I felt Robbie's arms circle around my waist and I dropped the controller to the ground.
"Yes!" Eliott flew off the couch, throwing his hands into the air in victory, "In your face, Sienna! I beat you!" I started laughing, amused.
"Congrats, kid." I responded, patting his shoulder once he had sat back on the couch.
"Want to go another round?" He quirked an eyebrow. Robbie pulled me back against him and kissed my cheek, replying to his younger brother for me.
"You've had your time with her, Eli. She's mine now." I saw the youngest Darling boy's lips curl back in a sneer.
"You get her all the time, Rob. Come on, go study or something." I glanced back and forth between the two boys until Robbie finally sighed and stood up, leaning down to kiss me. I smiled, pulling away and winking.
"I'll see you later." He saluted me before ruffling Eliott's hair and jogging back down the hall.
After starting the game, I could see that Eliott's joking and fun manner had faded, and by the way he was playing, his mind wasn't in the game anymore.
"You okay, Eliott?" I paused the game and reached over to touch his shoulder. His breathing was shaky as he shifted his body in his direction.
"I did something bad." He looked like a child afraid of being punished.
"What'd you do?"
"I kissed a girl." I had to lower my head so Eliott couldn't see me smiling. I could tell just by the worried look on his face that he was scared of my reaction, of Alex's.
"That's not a bad thing, Eliott. It's normal." He was shaking his head repeatedly.
"No, you don't understand." He gestured toward himself, "I'm not experienced in any of this. I'm still a kid, but I like her. She's really cute and funny. She even has this way of speaking that makes me want to sit and listen for hours." A small smile creeping itself on to his face.
"So what's wrong with that?" I patted his leg, "Kid, that's part of growing up. You're a teenage boy, it's totally normal to feel things for a girl."
Oh God, was I giving Eliott The Talk?
"No, no. You don't understand, Sienna." He insisted.
"What don't I understand?"
"I can't be with her and the kiss was a mistake." I frowned at his words, not really sure how to take them.
"Why can't you be with her?"
"She has a boyfriend." He said it so quietly, so strange, that I had to look into his dark eyes to see if he was still in reality and not somewhere else in his head.
"I'm sorry, Eliott. That's horrible." I gave him a sympathetic look, "There's tons of girls out there, I'm sure that you'll find someone else." He shrugged, staring down at his hands.
"I know it's wrong, but I think about her all the time. I lay awake at night thinking of ways to ask her out. God, I'm a freak." He buried his hands in his brown locks and started muttering under his breath.
"You're not a freak. I'll let you know a little secret of mine. Whenever Robbie's not around, I think about reasons why he could possibly like me. I'm broken, Eliott. I have Daddy issues, I have trust issues, honestly. I've never been in a relationship, and I'm still trying to get a hold of all of this relationship crap." He looked genuinely shocked by the words that left my mouth.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"So I'm not a freak?" I reached over and brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, surprised at the childlike wonder that still lingered in them.
"No, Eliott. You're the furthest thing from it."
*
Opening the door without knocking was probably the dumbest thing I'd done in a while.
I was just relieved that it was Robbie in there and not one of the other boys, or Isabelle for that matter.
"Oh, I. . . uh. . ." Luckily the shower curtain was playing as a divider between myself and the rest of Robbie's body. He was gripping the curtain, making sure that it still covered his lower half.
"I'm sorry." I blurted, shifting awkwardly on my feet. He dropped his head for a second, and for a minute I thought he was embarrassed.
"Come in."
"What?" Did he seriously just tell me to walk into a bathroom with him entirely naked?
"I said come in, Sienna." I took a hesitant step in before shutting the door behind me, gripping the door knob for security.
"Are you nervous?" He questioned, shutting the water in the bathtub off.
"Obviously." I muttered.
"Why are you nervous?" He had an incredibly tempting smile on his lips.
"Because you're naked." I coughed to clear my throat, "And I'm afraid you'll tell me to get naked with you?" It came out as more of a question than anything.
"You're scared of sex." He stated.
"Aren't you?" I replied, stalling as best as I could.
"Not at all." He chuckled, "The idea of it is actually intriguing." I felt blush burning my cheeks, my lips parting.
"Keep your eyes on my face." He demanded before pushing the curtain aside and walking toward the counter. I kept my eyes on the ceiling, feeling as if my cheeks had been set on fire.
"What did I say to you the other night? When I was drunk." He was so close now, a towel wrapped around his waist being the only cloth on him. I swallowed the lump that had begun to form in my throat and lowered my head again.
"Nothing. You were just talking about geeky stuff." I assured him, which wasn't completely a lie.
"Yeah?" He cocked an eyebrow, "Because I seem to remember saying I was in love with you. And you said it back." I finally gave up on my self control and closed the gap between the two of us, my hands burying themselves in his thick, wet, brown hair.
"I. . . I think I do love you, Robbie." I stared at the towel around his waist, then met his eyes again, "Want to help me confirm it?"
*
I woke up the sound of someone yelling outside. I untangled myself from Robbie and his sheets before heading out into the hall, hugging Robbie's shirt against me. I peaked out into the backyard, finding Alex standing in the middle of the lawn, his head buried in his hands as he shouted toward the sky.
". . . please? One more chance." I caught the last of what Alex was saying as I stepped out on to the back patio.
Even from where I stood, I could see the tortured look on Alex's face, how red his skin was. He looked like he had broken out in hives.
"What did you do?" He whirled around to face me, scratching at his arms with wide eyes.
"I. . . I didn't do anything." I whispered, my own eyes widening a fraction.
"You did, you had to of. It's gotten worse. I can't breath right, my skin is crawling." He was moving up the steps as he spoke, his eyes burning into mine.
"You're scaring me." I started to back away, but ended up slamming into the wall.
"Did you make him a man?" Alex croaked, collapsing into the lawn chair in front of me, "Did you?"
"I. . . yes." I bowed my head, watching Alex's reaction through my eyelashes. He looked exhausted.
"Jai has already become one, if you hadn't noticed. He left this morning with a girl he barely knew, just to spite me." He smiled bitterly, "And now my Robert has become a man as well."
I let my eyes focus on his swollen red arms, my heart sinking into my chest.
I had caused that? Robbie and I, we had caused it?
"Eliott is the only one who believes anymore, Sienna. And soon, soon he won't." He tilted his head back and looked at me with a bitter look, "Then I'll be gone, out of your lives forever."
I sat in the chair beside him, tucking my feet under me. We stared at each other for a few minutes before I reached out and touched his scarred arm.
"I'm sorry." He only laughed.
"If it's any consolation, I suppose I'm glad it's you I'm leaving my boys with. You care, and that's all I ever wanted for them. Someone who cared for them as much as I did, as much as Wendy did." I kept my hand on his arm as I looked back out into the night, at the stars that seemed to be hiding in the darkness tonight.
Somewhere out there Wendy was possibly waiting for Peter to come and take her back home, to a place where they could be in love and never have to grow old again. Somewhere out there was a happy ending for Peter, and I prayed to God that he got it.
***AN***
Hope you guys enjoyed!
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~ChasingMadness24