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When he reaches the table, I stand.
“Can… Can I hug you?” I ask, my voice just barely above a whisper as I stand before my brother.
I watch as he swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the motion.
“Yeah, but not for too long, and only now and before I have to go back in,” he says, his voice so low that my skin breaks out in chills.
He’s barely got the words out before I’m wrapping my arms around his middle and breathing him in. He smells like my childhood, and long summer nights camped out on the beach.
He clears his throat and I release him, stepping back.
Bodhi stands to shake Eli’s hand, but Eli doesn’t take it. Bodhi doesn’t seem to take it personally. We sit back down, us on one side and Eli on the other.
“Somebody better start talking,” Eli says, motioning to the bruises on my face, and I know that he’s about five seconds away from tearing into Bodhi if necessary.
“It wasn’t him,” I say, doing my best to put Eli’s suspicion to rest.
“I didn’t think it was,” Eli says, eyes shifting between me and Bodhi.
“So why…?”
“You aren’t a dumb girl. There’s no way in hell you’d let a guy beat on you and then bring him here to meet me.”
There is a hard edge to my brother’s voice that I’ve never heard before. I hate to think that being here has hardened him so much.
“Gee, thanks,” I say, trying to lighten the mood, but Eli’s expression never softens.
“Why are you her, Keaton?”
I sink into myself under his scrutinizing and cold gaze. Eli was always protective of me growing up, and even a little hard on me at times, but never so much that I felt that there was this great distance between us.
“Eli…” I say, whisper soft. I don’t even think he hears me until he’s shaking his head, like he used to do when we were little, and I did something to make him mad or disappointed.
“Keaton, I told you I didn’t want you coming up here, and you just couldn’t listen.” His harsh words are like a knife to my heart.
I thought he was just worried in the beginning. Thought that after some time he’d actually want to see us. Miss us. But sitting here now, I feel like a fool.
“Maybe this was a mistake,” I say.
“It was,” Eli says, placing the palms of his hands on the table, ready to stand and walk away.
Bodhi reaches for my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze before he speaks.
“It wasn’t, actually.”
Eli’s eyes cut to his in a flash. He looks like he could tear Bodhi in half with ease, and it honestly scares me a little.
What has this place done to you, Eli?
“And who are you?” Eli asks, sizing Bodhi up.
“Bodhi Kane. I’m Keaton’s boyfriend,” he says. I offer him a grateful smile, smoothing my thumb over his knuckle.
“Boyfriend?” Eli asks, incredulously.
“Yeah, but that’s not why we’re here,” Bodhi says.
“You shouldn’t be here, period.” Eli quips.
