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Story: Volcano of Pain

7

NOBODY’S GOOD ENOUGH

Dex

I t’s a few days before I get to log into Margaux’s accounts again.

Work had me pulling a couple of all-nighters which needed all my attention.

As soon as I get back in, I freeze and feel a pit in my stomach. Fuck, little Margaux has been quite the little chatty Cathy while I’ve been gone.

She’s struck up numerous conversations with new guys, and a few others I didn’t have time to unmatch her with the last time I swiped through to see what she’d been up to.

And I feel a bit twisted up inside looking at some of their profiles. This batch looks even more questionable than before.

There’s one guy in particular that seems to be sending more messages than most, and they seem to have migrated their conversation to text. Timmy. What kind of dumbass fucking name is that for a grown man, anyway?

He tried talking to her on the phone, but she put him off at first. Good for you, Margaux. Stand your ground. Although now it looks like they've had at least one phone conversation .

There are a few of his photos I find concerning. I’m definitely someone who has their fair share of weapons, but I wouldn’t feel the need to put a gun on my dating app profile. Yet here he is, looking all proud of himself. I guess at least it looks like a hunting rifle rather than a handgun.

And another where he’s wearing a pair of deer antlers. It gives me the shivers when I first look at it. Who wears animal bones?

He just gives me a weird vibe. I know I’m biased, but I can tell straight away he’s not good enough for her. Then again, nobody is. But he has a fun, spontaneous vibe about him that I just know she’s going to be attracted to, especially after everything she’s been through recently.

And her dad’s name is Timothy, so I feel like she’s going to read into that. She’s all about signs from the universe, and this is going to be a big fat blinking neon Vegas sign saying ‘this way to a complete dickhead who will break your heart’ and she’ll say, ‘yes please, I’ll take three.’

Maybe I shouldn’t be meddling in her life this way. She needs to have the space to make her own mistakes. And who am I to tell her who she can and can’t date? I’m definitely crossing a line. But I feel this duty to protect her. Always have since she was a little girl, and will until the day I die.

She doesn’t have it from elsewhere in her life, and I feel the obligation to take on that role.

It’s not just because she’s gorgeous, because she is.

It’s not just because any thought of a relationship with her would feel extremely forbidden. Because it does.

I’m going to be there for her, no strings attached.

Because that’s what she deserves.

And I don’t know if the way I’m going about it is socially acceptable. Okay, I know people would consider it a breach of privacy. But how the fuck else will I be able to save her from herself?

And right now, I’m wondering if I’ve just made things a million times worse.