Page 3 of Mutual Obsession (Rivals of Blackthorn #2)

I carry her into the motel room, kicking the door closed behind us, while she sobs on my shoulder. She doesn’t even ease her hold on me when I sit on the bed. She just shuffles around until she’s sitting on my knee, still clutching me tightly.

It’s been a long time since my twelve-year-old sister hugged me like this, and my heart breaks when it hits me just how much I’ve missed her. It’s not lost on me that there’s a lot she’s been keeping from me, and I need to put that right straight away.

I give Courtney a few minutes to calm down, and as her sobs turn to quiet tears, I rub her back reassuringly, pressing soft kisses to her temple. When her breathing returns to normal, I pull her back enough to see her tear-stained, blotchy face.

At first, she tries to keep her face tucked into my shoulder, but as I ease her back some more, it becomes clear what she was trying to hide.

There’s a very large black and purple bruise covering the left side of her cheek, and her eye looks to be painfully swollen.

She’s got a cut to her lip, and one above her temple.

I take a deep breath that comes out as a sigh, while I try to keep control of the rage thrumming through my veins. Every muscle is twitching with the urge to kill whoever laid a hand on my sister.

As I take the time to get control over my emotions, I finally take a proper look at my sister, who I’ve not seen for three years. She’s always been small, but now she’s so thin, she looks unwell. Her eyes have an almost sunken quality, and she’s unbelievably pale.

Her bright-blonde hair, that she’s always taken so much pride in, looks greasy and straggly, like she stopped taking care of it. In fact, everything about her screams lack of self-care.

When I left, she was just showing an interest in make-up, and was growing into a young woman.

She always took pride in what she wore and how she looked.

The girl sitting on my knee, in baggy sweats and a dirty, too-large T-shirt, is the complete opposite.

And for the millionth time since I arrived back in Blackthorn, I can’t help but wonder what the fuck I’ve missed over the last three years.

“Court, you have to tell me what’s going on. My brain is going to the worst-case scenario right now, and it’s killing me,” I explain calmly, hoping it will be enough to get her to tell me everything.

I can still feel her little body trembling in my arms, even though she’s stopped crying. Whatever has happened, she’s scared, and I hate myself for not being here, to protect her when she needed me. And she clearly has needed me.

Why the fuck didn’t she call me? I would have dropped everything and been here in a fucking heartbeat if she’d just asked, which is probably why she didn’t.

Despite the nine-year age gap, Courtney and I have always been close, and it kills me that she cared about me so much, she didn’t want to worry me with this.

She takes a few shuddered breaths, as though she’s trying to steal her nerves, whilst keeping her gaze anywhere except meeting mine. “I’ve been lying to you. Things haven’t been good at home for a while.”

With my hands on her shoulders, I gently push her back just a little more, until she’s got no choice except to make eye contact with me. “I’m going to need you to explain.”

She lets out a sigh as she slowly climbs off my lap, running her hands through her limp hair.

“When you first left, I thought things were going to be fine. Mum was in a good routine; she was taking care of me and going to work regularly. She was taking her meds, and things were normal… Until they weren’t. ”

She pauses, her eyes scrunched shut as she slowly lowers herself to sit in the tatty looking armchair opposite me. I say nothing, choosing to give her the time she needs to tell her story, even though the nerves are killing me.

“I don’t really know what happened, but about five months after you left, I started to notice she was falling back into old habits.

She stopped taking her medication, and started drinking more than she should, but even that was manageable,” she explains, getting more choked up the longer she speaks.

“What changed?” I ask through gritted teeth.

“She met Bruce.”

His name comes out as a hiss, like she’s never spoken a more disgusting word, and my stomach grinds, acid filling my throat as my worst-case scenarios flash into my mind.

“I’m sure I’m going to regret asking this, but who the fuck is Bruce?”

When Courtney opens her eyes, they’re glistening with unshed tears, and I’m suddenly hit with how young and vulnerable my little sister looks, and my heart breaks all fucking over again.

“I don’t know how they met, but in true Mum fashion, things progressed quickly. He moved in after only two weeks of them knowing each other. At first, he was friendly enough, if not a little creepy, but as with all of Mum’s ‘friends’, he changed when alcohol was involved.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “Are you trying to tell me Mum has been living with a man for nearly two and a half years, and neither of you told me?” I don’t mean for my question to come out so harshly, but I can’t help it.

“Mum didn’t tell you because she knew you’d never have allowed him to move in so quickly, and I kept quiet because I was worried you’d come home. You’ve spent your whole life looking after me. Going to university was a chance for you to do something just for you. I didn’t want to ruin that.”

I watch as a lone tear trails slowly down her flushed cheek, and I don’t even hesitate.

I jump up from where I’m sitting and move over to her, kneeling down on the somewhat icky-looking carpet in front of her.

I reach out and take her hand, squeezing it reassuringly until she lifts her gaze up to meet mine.

“I’m your big brother. It’s my job to look out for you. I would never have put university in front of that,” I tell her vehemently, meaning every word.

Courtney gives me a small, tight smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “I know, and that’s why I didn’t say anything. I was protecting you, for once. You deserve a chance at a normal life.”

“I would have tried to do both. I don’t ever want you to keep secrets from me again, particularly when it looks like things have gotten much worse over the last two years.”

Courtney lets out a sigh, taking my less than discreet hint that she continues on with the story, even though every fibre of my being is screaming at me, telling me I probably don’t want to hear any more.

“Long story short, Bruce is an addict, and a small-time dealer. He got Mum hooked quite quickly, and started forcing her to help him pay for their habits. I spent the first few months fighting with them, but when it became clear that Mum cared more about him and drugs than me, I stopped trying.

“It was surprisingly easy to become invisible, as Mum had all but forgotten I lived there most of the time. I knew whenever you were transferring money into her account, and I made sure to take a bit before she could spend it all. I didn’t take a lot, just enough for me to look after myself and buy food.

“Thankfully, neither of them realised, and I was able to either stay out of the house or hide in my bedroom. Being invisible was a far cry from when I was arguing with them.”

I catch the way she involuntarily shivers and winces at the last part, and my blood runs cold. I thought my worst-case scenarios were bad, but they have nothing on this.

I know I’m going to regret it, but I have a million questions running around in my head, and I can’t stop them from blurting out. “What happened when you were arguing?”

Court scrunches her eyes tightly shut, but I see the tears she’s desperately trying to hold back fall.

With a shaky voice, she says, “At first, I was just trying to make Mum see she was spiralling. I wanted her to stop drinking and using, and get back on her meds. I tried to talk her into going to the hospital, but she didn’t want to hear it.

“She lashed out with hurtful words, the way she always does when she’s cornered and confronted. But other than saying some terrible things to me, that was the worst from her.”

She pauses, and so I prompt her. “And him?”

With a shake of her head, she opens her eyes, and now the tears really fall.

“To start with, he just left Mum to deal with me, but when it became clear she wouldn’t get help while he was in the picture, I started trying to get her to kick him out.

I made it clear I didn’t like Bruce, and that I didn’t think he was a good influence on Mum.

“Bruce decided to show me just how he felt in return. Each time I tried to get Mum to kick him out, he’d kick me. When I said something about him he considered rude, he’d punch me. When I shouted at him, he’d slap me. On and on it went.

“He managed to convince Mum to cut me off, so I struggled to get food and drinks. He wouldn’t let her give me any money for lunch at school, and I wasn’t allowed access to the kitchen to make something to take with me—not that I’d have been able to.

Kids aren’t typically allowed to take beer or bacon in their lunchbox, and that’s all we had in our fridge.

“I put up with the beatings for about a month. I kept hoping that each time he hurt me, Mum’s maternal instinct would kick in and she’d protect me from him. Needless to say, that didn’t happen, and after a while, I realised that if I kept antagonising him, he’d likely kill me, so I went invisible.”

Each word was like a knife to my gut, and the bubbling rage flowed through my veins like lava, fuelling my desire for revenge. Nobody lays a hand on my sister and lives to talk about it.