Brother's Betrayal

Chapter Sixteen {Locks}

A shower, a change of clothes, a concealed ring holding necklace and a precariously hidden phone later and I finally emerged from the en suite to face Dillan. I had grabbed the simplest clothing off the top pile of the suitcase - as well as my hoodie. My phone was tucked into my jeans and the hoodie only just covered it.

I left the towel and dirty clothes in the bathroom behind me and leant against the door frame, clinging on to the door knob. Surveying the room, I spotted Dillan. He was sat, slouched, on the window seat. His long hair was falling across his face as he stared outside.

"Do you know how many times I have sat here? Just looking out of the window, wondering what it was you saw, wondering how scared and confused you were." Dillan slowly turned around, maintaining his slouched posture. I remained where I was. "I couldn't prepare for it. There wasn't a need for me to hide you from anything that night," he muttered. In that small sentence I learnt that he had been actively hiding the other side of him from me. I sucked in my cheeks and frowned. "Why is it you ran?"

Dillan slowly stood up, approaching me. He was watching me, his vibrant green eyes almost glowing. It didn't seem like a question that he wanted an answer to but he kept coming forward, kept coming closer, and I refused to be backed into a corner. I swallowed.

"Were you scared, is that it? Did Fletcher frighten you?" I shifted away from the safety of the bathroom door, into the open space so Dillan couldn't trap me. "Or did he repulse you? Are we seen as monsters in your head?"

Cautiously, I shook my head no.

"So which is it?" Silently, I brought my hands across my stomach, trying to comfort myself. "Oh, but there is another option, isn't there."

I had no time to move as I was suddenly back against a wall, opposite to the bathroom one. Dillan had only pushed me with his hands but they remained by his side after that. His chest was brushing against mine; there wasn't any way for me to escape that position, not with the way his arms were twitching by his side. He was ready for me to try to escape, too.

"Maybe you don't love me anymore," he challenged. Lacking any other option but to stare up at him, I could see the almost imperceptible frown as he breathed out the words. "Do you still love me, Anya? Even though I'm a monster?"

*Truthfully...* "Yes," I admitted.

Dillan's gaze held mine steadily. One of his hands slid under my hoodie and shirt to the bare skin of my lower back and I flinched away from his cool touch, further into him. He held me in place. Alight, his eyes burned with determination. "Prove it."

I swayed from the constriction in my chest when he suddenly lowered his lips to mine. The hand on my back massaged my skin, sliding across to my waist. His lips continued their slow assault and I closed my eyes, overcome with the shivers tracing along my skin at his touch. Gradually, I relaxed against him. I heard him sigh wistfully before he withdrew from me. Shamefully, my head rose after his as his lips retreated, reluctant to be separated.

"Oh, Anya," he demurred. Like mine, his breathing was staggered and the hand holding me to him loosened. I fell slack against the wall for two reasons: the first being he was providing the support to keep me upright, the second being my black phone in his fingers. "You should have hidden it better."

Dillan tore himself from me. It was only then that the moment shared between us registered and following slowly after it was my shame as heat flooded my cheeks. Then, I realised that he had manipulated the corrupted bond between us. Beside me, my nails curled into my palms.

"What were you planning to do? Message your *friends*? Formulate a plan to run away - again?" His fingers enveloped the small phone and they looked as though they were about to crush it.