Page 169 of Twisted Needs

“Nah. Forget it.”

“You can’t just tell me to forget something like this.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re my brother!”

“Wow.” Anders laughs thinly. “There it is.”

Luca looks genuinely confused. “What?”

“You’re pulling the brother card…like it actually means something to you.”

“What does that even mean?”

Anders laughs again. The sound is empty enough to make my chest hurt. “It means everybody keeps acting like I need permission to do shit. To live my own fucking life!”

Luca scoffs. “Nobody said that.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Stop putting words in my mouth…talking about me pulling the brother card. You can’t just say something like that to me and claim I don’t give a shit.”

“Then stop talking to me like I’m twelve.”

The argument starts picking up speed after that. I don’t even think either of them wants it to. They just don’t know how to stop, and that’s the problem. They’ve always been like this. Two people who love each other so much that every disagreement feels like the world is ending.

“You’ve ignored me all day.”

“Well, we’re having the conversation now!” Anders mutters, turning his back to his brother. He folds his arms across his chest. “You can’t get mad at me every time I don’t pick up the phone to give you a play-by-play. I have a life. My own life.”

“Anders.”

“What?”

“Stop with that shit. We’re not doing that.”

“I’m not doing anything, Luca.”

“You’re running away and acting like you can just avoid me that easily.”

Anders actually laughs. “Running? Are you fucking serious?”

“Yes.”

“That’s rich.”

Luca blinks. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re standing here acting like I’m the one avoiding things.”

“I’ve been trying to talk to you all day.”

“I’m not avoiding you. You just don’t know what boundaries are, and you think you can do whatever the fuck you want.”

“If you want to talk about boundaries, then I can go pull Parker right now and explain to the both of you what a fucking boundary is.”

“No, you can’t. I’m not going to let you keep being a controlling asshole because you think I stole your friend from you.” The words start tumbling out of Anders faster now. His breathing gets shorter. His hands won’t stay still. Every sentence starts bleeding into the next one. “You don’t trust me. That’s the problem.”