The Wright One

MIA

I was so relieved to see Joseph. He was unharmed and the worst that had happened is they were going to send him to a group home, but since I wasn’t arrested they decided against it. They just want to do a surprise home visit. I can handle that. As long as I am not arrested then my brother is safe.

I will do anything to keep him safe, even marry that asshole Brock if I have to.

When we get home I can see that there is an officer posted out front. I don’t mind, Brock said he was going to keep his distance and the cop out front will help make that happen. Joseph however doesn’t share my feelings. “Why are the cops watching the house? I thought they let you go?”

“They did, but apparently it’s only because they don’t have enough to hold me on. They still think I did it. I didn’t though.”

He sighs. “You know who did though, don’t you.”

Plopping down on my piece of crap couch is less than comfortable. “Yes, I do.”Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

He starts pacing the meager living room. “Then just tell them who it was. Make this go away.”

“Joseph, it will put us in danger for me to tell them what I know. They don’t have any evidence on who did it. All that would happen is my word against theirs and I am their prime suspect. If I keep my mouth shut then nothing happens. We are safe and I don’t go to jail. I know this isn’t what I taught you but I need to do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

“Who is it? Who could do this?”

“I’m not telling you. I am not going to put that pressure on you. Please, Joseph just know that what I am doing is to keep us both safe.”

“What else do you have to do?”

“Nothing for you to worry about.”

Joseph gets angry. I can see his face turn red. He looks on the verge of exploding. “This is bullshit Mia. I am not a little kid. I can understand what is going on. I think you need to trust someone here. What about that cop, the nice one? He thinks you didn’t do it.”

“Joseph, he is one cop. Everyone else thinks I did it. I just have to rely on the fact that they have no proof.”

“Someone at some point isn’t going to give a fuck. Mia, they are planning on pinning this on you. At least give the good cop a place to start to find someone else.”

I am fed up with this argument. “Then what happens when the person who did it finds out that I talked to a cop. You don’t think that they will come for us. They had guns, Joseph. They shot Gus. They are not playing around. I can’t tell anyone for our safety. Now drop it.”

“You are making the wrong choice. I love you Mia, but you are wrong here.”

I start crying, because I know as of right now, the image that my brother has of me is shattered. He will never look at me the same. He will always see me as this coward. That is what I am. I folded. As soon as Brock put Joseph in his crosshairs, I folded. So easily, I was made to do his bidding.

When he came to me about this job, I told him no. All he did was smile and say that Joseph would die if I didn’t. I had to keep the door and the vault open until his men showed up. Then I would be held at gunpoint, in case anyone would see. He did drive me outside of town, but not that far. I was back at my apartment in an hour or so. Then I saw how I was the one being framed for the crime. There was nothing I could do but go to Brock and ask for his protection again.

As nice as that cop was, there is no way that I could do that. Someone somewhere would get word back to Brock. I can’t have him coming after Joseph. He talked to me through the whole robbery, reminding me of why I was doing it. He said that one of his men was watching Joseph. That his man would be following him at all times. I can’t get away from him. I have to accept whatever fate has in store for me with Brock, I don’t have a choice.

The next morning there is a knock on the door. I am a little slow because of all of the crying that I was doing last night. When I do get to the door I am instantly awake with the shock of seeing Brock on my doorstep. “What happened? Why are you here?”

He smiles at me. “Is that anyway to talk to your love?”

“What?” I am in shock. I have no idea what he is talking about.

“Now, I have found out some interesting information. One is that if we are married we can’t testify against each other. It’s a great solution.” He just marches his ass right in my house.

“Um, I don’t understand.”

He spreads himself out on my couch, the whole man spread. Legs spread apart, his arms over both sides of the couch. He is at home. “Well, see if we get married, legally you can’t testify against me for my crimes and I can’t testify against you. See it is a win/win situation.”

I am still standing by my door too confused to actually do anything. “Um, I still don’t understand. You want us to get married.”

“Well, yeah. You said you were going to be my girl anyway. I mean let’s just make it official. You know I have the means to take care of you. And after you are fired from the bank, you are going to need income and security.”

I gulp. I didn’t know they were going to fire me. I mean it makes sense, but still it hurts to hear. “I am fired?”

“Oh, yeah. You are the talk of the town baby. The bank robber from the slums. I swear people can’t shut up.”

“I didn’t rob the bank.”

“No, baby, but you were an accessory. Although not exactly a willing one, you came around. You are still in this with me.” He pats the couch next to him. Clearly he wants me to be next to him.

I know what is at stake if I don’t. So, I sat next to him. “What am I going to do?”

He cups my chin. “I just told you. We are getting married. I have your back.”

“I can’t just marry you Brock. Not after yesterday. It will look suspicious. The cops asked about our relationship. How we got along. I just said that we hardly knew each other. That you were a good samaritan but that I didn’t really talk to you. You said to keep some distance. I thought that was what you wanted.”

His face turns into a grimace. “Why the fuck were they asking about me?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t mention your name at all. It threw me off and I did the best I could to make it seem like we didn’t really know each other.”

I can see his jaw flex as his teeth nash together. “Fuck. Alright, then we will have to ease into it. You move in with me.”

I am shocked. “You still want to do this?”

“Yes, we will just say that I came to check on you. You told them I was some good samaritan, well, let’s sell it. You move in with me and I’ll say it’s because I was concerned that you lost your job. I wanted to keep a roof over your head. Then we say that sparks started to fly between us. We take it slow. This investigation is going to take time. We have time to put this together.”

He leans in like he is going to kiss me, but a voice from the hall stops him. “What the fuck?” He sounds confused and a little hurt. “Mia what is going on?” We turn and see an upset Joseph.

“Um, Joseph, Brock just came to check on us. Things are just a little hard right now and he was checking to see how we are doing.”

“No, he was just going to kiss you. Are you two dating?”

Brock smiles. “It’s true. I’m sorry Joseph, but we wanted to keep it a secret for a while. We didn’t want the neighbors to be jealous. But your sister and I are in love.”

Joseph shakes his head. “Hell, no. That isn’t true.”

Brock nudges me. “It’s true. I’m sorry for keeping this from you. I just thought I might be rushing things if I told you.” I lied to my little brother.

Brock adds to it, by wrapping his arms around me. “Sorry bro, but we are done hiding it. So it’s cool. I figure you are probably going to be a little upset. You are used to being the man around the house, but I’m here now. Now you get to just enjoy being young.”

Joseph actually looks like the hurt is changing to fury before my eyes. “It’s all a lie. Mia you wouldn’t keep this from me. Why are you lying? Tell him to get out. Mia, this isn’t you.”

I sit a little straighter. “Joe. It’s true. We were just talking about getting married, this is happening. The sooner you come to grips with it the sooner you can live a normal life. This isn’t going away. Please accept it and we can move past this. Brock just invited us to come live with him, isn’t that nice?”

Joseph shakes his head. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I am not going to fucking move in with him. I’ll go to a group home first.” He turns on his heels and moves back down the hall.

I sag in defeat. I don’t want that. I don’t want to lose Joseph. Brock leans in closer with his lips by my ear. “He’ll come around. Don’t worry about it. It is just a shock. That’s all. We will wait a few days for this to sink in with him. Then we will make the move. Trust me baby, this is going to work.”

I don’t know what else to do. I am stuck, who is going to hire a person suspected of bank robbery. I don’t have any savings we were barely getting by. If I don’t accept Brock’s offer, we are screwed. I have no one I can rely on, but Brock. I feel this pain settle in my guts as the realization hits me. I have to sell myself in order to take care of my brother. I swallow and lean back on Brock. I feel my emotions starting to shut down. I may have to give him my body, but I don’t have to feel while I do it. “That’s it baby. We got this.” He kisses the top of my head.

Fighting back the tears, I shut off. This is my choice. I will do anything to keep my brother safe. This is the best option for him.