"What time did you get back last night?"
"I don't know," Ellie answered groggily while making a stiff cup of coffee. "Late."
"Late like what? 4?"
"Something like that."
Oliver had dropped Ellie off at 6 after they spent all night long kissing on the hood of the SUV. It was the best night of her life. The taste of her brother was still in her mouth, and Ellie loved it that she could feel him. She briefly wondered what it would feel like to have the taste of his cum in her mouth, if it would feel as good or better.
There was something so amazingly innocent about that night. Ellie couldn't recall the last time she kissed a boy for more than thirty minutes without dropping her panties, and yet last night she was kissing her brother for hours, and neither of them had attempted to push for more. They were both content with keeping it PG, and it made it so powerful.
"So not only you ditched our friends, family,
and
me for the rest of the night, you did one better by rewarding your fucking brother for his—"
"Jason, I'm warning you." Ellie scowled at him. "Do not talk about my brother like that, or there
will
be consequences."
Seething, Jason sprang to his feet and joined her in the kitchen. "What's the deal with you two?"
"Whatever do you mean?"
"I mean your baby bro is nothing like Jack and Dave. Now, I understand you two have some weird rapport or something, but you've been acting super-strange ever since he returned, and I don't like it, Ellie. I don't like it one bit."
Ellie calmly sipped her coffee. "Then what are you saying here, Jason? Do you wanna call off the wedding?"
Puzzlement creased his forehead. "When did I say that? Though it's interesting you've brought it up. Do
you
want to?"
Ellie wasn't prepared for her reaction to Jason's concerns. She couldn't believe how quickly she was ready to give up on him, the man she'd loved for the better part of the last two years; how little thought she gave to this; how she yearned to be with her brother so much that it ached.
"Of course not," she said. "But I don't like how you're making me feel right now, and if that's the preview to our life as a married couple, then forgive me if I'm not enthused."
Jason took a moment to reflect on her behavior. "Ellie, do you even want to marry me?"
"
What
?" she exclaimed, her pupils dilated as she feigned bemusement. She patted to the living room with her coffee. "Where is this coming from? We just had a family introductory dinner, and now you wanna jump ship and pin it on me? Just say you don't wanna marry me and be done with it, Jason, but don't do this. It's an insult to my intelligence."
"I do want to marry you, Ellie, more than anything. I'm simply telling you how I feel. Ever since that fu—" Jason stopped himself in time, just when Ellie shot him an ominous look. "—ever since he arrived, I've been bumped down to second place, and I don't like the feeling. You're first with me, Ellie, no matter what; the way it
should
be."
"Jason, you're still first, rest assured." She released a sigh and sipped her coffee, growing testy. "You have to understand, Oliver and I have some baggage that we're sorting out, and there's Michela who's constantly on my mind, and I'm planning a wedding in between... I'm trying my hardest to please everyone, but I'm always the bad guy no matter what I do, aren't I?"
Gauging her expression, his head shook and his jaw clenched. "I don't know. I guess I want you to be concerned with your future husband more than you clearly seem to be with your fucking brother."
"Jason, what did I say? What the fuck did I say?!"
"I don't give a shit what you said. I fucking hate him. I hate his guts, and if you want me to respect him, then make sure he apologizes for last night, and in front of all the people he dissed me."
"You're so pathetic... not everything is about you! Have you stopped to think that maybe he behaved like that because I hurt him?! Huh?! No, it's all about you and your stupid ego, because he made you his bitch last night."
His eyes bulged, and the vein on his neck stood taut almost in an instant. "What the fuck did you just say?"
"You heard me. I won't lie, I've lost more than a little respect for you after last night."
Ellie wasn't filtering anymore. She was shooting from the hip whatever she felt, and she did think less of Jason because of his submission to Oliver. Ellie had always valued men who stood their ground and displayed dominance over other males, especially when she was the prize. It was primitive, but she found it extremely appealing in a guy. Her fiancé backing down had cost him significant points with her, points that she was more than happy to award her brother.
"Let me get this straight: if I beat him up, you'll think better of me?"
"As if you could! He would shred you to pieces!"
"Well, that's it." He fetched his keys, trying to scrunch them up in his massive hand as he started toward the door. "Now I have to beat him up."
"If you so much as touch him, then it's over between us, Jason. Do you hear me?!! JASON!!"
***
"Come on, come on, come on, pick up, baby."
Ellie was walking as fast as she could to her parents'—after making sure she was presentable of course. Jason had taken her car since he didn't own one, and Ellie couldn't get hold of Oliver, which was rendering her frightened for his safety.
She wasn't in her right mind when quarrelling with her fiancé earlier. She hadn't imagined that the situation would escalate this fast when she, in essence, had urged him to win back his honor by picking a fight with her brother. She would never want any harm to come to Oliver. She was even more terrified when recalling that her parents were away with Michela to the country club and that only Dave was there with Oliver. At least she prayed he was.
She managed to get to her parents' in ten minutes instead of the fifteen it would normally take her, and the sight of her car in the driveway made her tear up. She couldn't stand the thought that her beloved kid bro might get hurt.
She stormed into the house and immediately heard raised voices from the patio. She hurried out and saw a shirtless Oliver kicking back on the couch and calmly having his morning coffee, seemingly unfazed by the furious bulk of muscle that was standing ten feet away from him while spouting a bevy of cusses and threats. Dave was standing between them, holding a crowbar.
"Jason, what the fuck are you doing?!"
"Oh, Ellie, glad you could make it," Dave said comically. "I was just explaining to your fiancé that as much as I like him, and as much I will mourn the loss of opportunity to embark on what seemed to be a promising relationship with his sister, I
will
be sending him to a hospital if he takes another step toward our baby bro."
Ellie stared at Jason, the expression on her face somewhere between an angry scowl and a mystified gape. "Have you
completely
lost your fucking mind?!"
"I guess I did! You would know as you were the one who made me go crazy in the first place! You were practically begging me to beat him up."
"No, Oliver, that is not true," she murmured, her voice riddled with trepidation. "I would never do that. I love you."
"What the fuck does it mean, you love him?!"
"It means that I love my brother! Now get the fuck out of my parents' house!"
"I am not leaving till he shows me respect. And Dave, if I want, I can fuck all of you up: you, him, and that crowbar you're holding without breaking a sweat, so get that thing the fuck out of my face before I really lose it."
Dave laughed jeeringly, clearly amused, and looked over his shoulder at his brother, who was dipping a butterscotch cookie in his coffee mug, seeming almost bored. "What do you say, Bro? Do you think he can fuck all three of us up?"
"No one is fucking up no one! Jason, please come with me. Let's talk about it, hon."
He ignored her, his blazing stare fixed on her little brother as he waited for him to voice his opinion on the proceedings.
Oliver rinsed down the cookie with a swig of coffee and sighed. "First thing first: I already apologized to you for my behavior last night as well as agreed to make it formal and public on either Facebook, Twitter, or any social media of your choice; ergo, I really don't understand why we are still having this pointless discussion. Secondly, and I'm now referring to
your
query, dear bro, is that my initial instinct was a no, though now after ruminating on it, I think I'm inclining to"—he rose and took a commanding stance next to his brother—"
hell
no."
Jason glared at the brothers, now dubious whether he bit off more than he could chew. Taking on Oliver by himself would present a not insignificant risk let alone with Dave by his side, and lest it be forgotten, there was the metal pole in Dave's hand. Yet sadly for him, the love of his life had already scolded him for his cowardly ways, and he wasn't about to let her down twice, not even against an army of brothers. It was the only way for him to save face, he believed.
To his good fortune, though, Ellie had already foreseen his—not completely unfounded—thought process.
"Jason, please listen to me," she said, standing at the heart of the line of scrimmage. "This won't prove anything. Not only it will not prove anything, I will hate you for it. Now I know you can, but please, don't beat up my brothers."
