Two Wrongs

Beg For Mercy: Liam

I started breathing harder the second he closed the gate behind him. We both just stood there a moment, staring at each other, and not really knowing what to say. It wasn't like our last interaction had been all that friendly, and to be honest, I wasn't expecting this one to be either.

"She's not here," I stated simply, folding my arms over my chest in an attempt to look more brutish than I actually was. I may have been built like a brick wall, but fighting was definitely not something I excelled in. Unless it was choreographed and filmed.

"I know," Joey stated somberly. "I talked to her."

"What're you doing here then?" I asked, confused. I attempted to hide the bit of concern in my voice. I wasn't sure whether that concern was for Allegra or the possibility I was about to get swung on again, but it was there nonetheless. 

"I came to apologize," Joey mumbles, his eyes scanning the grass below his Vans. It seemed he was just as uncomfortable as I was.

"Sounds like you mean it already."

His eyes, the same molten chocolate color as his sister's rolled back in his head. "I don't know what you or Legs expect me to say. You did the one thing I fucking asked you not to do, Liam. And you know there's a goddamned good reason I asked it. I'm not just out here trying to cock block you."

My eyes narrowed, confused. "What's the reason?"

"Um, hello? Brendan's little sister? You can't possibly have forgotten that debacle. We all almost went to jail that night."

It was now my turn to roll my eyes. Well. Eye. The one was still pretty swollen. "I got punched in the face because of something that happened two years  Man, you know Meg. She'll fuck anything with a couple zeros in his bank account. It's not like I was the fucking first. I just happened to take her up on it that night."

"Dude. You fucked his little sister in the bathroom and then IMMEDIATELY tried to hook up with her best friend."

"I didn't know it was her best friend!"

"Not the fuckin point!" Joey exclaimed. He shook his head, tossing his brown locks into his face. He tipped his head back to the sky and let out a frustrated groan.  "Look. I shouldn't have hit you. I'm fucking sorry, okay? I just... I was too many fucking rum and cokes deep and when I saw you guys, I just saw fucking red, alright?" He paused and heaved a hefty sigh. "I just... I don't want her to get hurt again. I don't want her to be another one of your conquests. I don't want to have to choose between my sister and my best fucking friend."

"Who said anything about you having to choose?!" I cried. "We're both adults! What happens between us has nothing to fucking do with you, dude!"

"It does if you break her fucking heart like you do everyone else's."

I flinched a bit as if he had actually smacked me (again). "It's not like I go out with goal of hurting people, Joe. I am always honest about what I want and what's going to happen. If the women I get with expect something different, that's their own fucking bullshit. And you know damned fucking well Allegra isn't expecting some fucking fairy-tale."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does, man!" I exclaimed. "Allegra and I are both approaching this from the same angle and yet you refuse to fucking see that. She's a fucking twenty-five-year-old woman, Joey. She's not a child."

"I don't treat her like a child..."

"Yeah, you kind of fucking do," I argued. "She doesn't want another dad, Joey. She wants her fucking big brother. She wants to be able to live her life and come to you when she needs something, not have you jump down her fucking throat because you don't approve of her choices."