Love Obsessed

by Veronica Short

  Love Obsessed

  Veronica Short

  Copyright © 2013 Veronica Short

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1492281522

  ISBN-13: 978-1492281528

  DEDICATION

  To those who mean the most to me and have helped me out during the time that this story was written and to the readers of this story, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  “You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth.”

  William W. Purkey

  Cole

  Sitting outside Mum and Dad’s, I share a beer with my younger brother. There’s something I want to talk to him about, but I’m not too sure how he is going to take it. After talking this through with my oldest brother, Ryan, and both of my parents, they think that I must be suicidal to undergo this conversation with Brandon. She is, after all, his best friend.

  “So you and Erin are just friends, right?” I begin. Here it goes, the moment of truth. Brandon looks over the top of his beer to where I am and places it down on the table slowly, deceptively calm. His brown eyes look black in the night sky. For twenty-two years old, he’s big; muscular, not fat. He is fit and his gaze is zeroed in on me.

  “No,” is all he says in response.

  “What?” I ask, offended. I have a whole argument to present before he can have a say. I have thought this through. Thoroughly.

  “No, Cole. Erin is off limits to you.”

  Anger surges through me. I’m offended and pissed off that he thinks that he has that say. “Don’t you think that’s Erin’s call?”

  “No, I don’t. As her best friend, it is my job to fend off the assholes who think that they can take advantage of her. Ergo, no to you.”

  “I would never treat Erin like that. She deserves more than that. I would be more than that to her. I would treat her right,” my voice is straining as I try to remain calm.

  “What are you trying to say? Because it sounds like you have a crush on her.”

  “It’s more than a crush. She’s your best friend, and you’re my brother, which is why I’m talking to you at all.”

  Brandon gets up from the table faster than I thought possible. Grabbing the collar of my shirt, he rams me into the wall behind me, knocking over and crashing the table and chair we were just sitting at. He’s pissed. I’m used to his anger and the way he deals with it; with his fists. I’m prepared. “Do not ever touch her,” he grates out, giving me another shove so my head hits the wall “Do you understand me, Cole? You are never to even consider touching her.”

  I push Brandon back and off of me, and then throw a punch that lands on his nose. He stumbles over the fallen furniture, but quickly recovers. “You have no say in this. If she wants...”

  He pushes me back against the wall, narrowly missing the dart board, blood running from his nose. I push him off me again, and he counters with a punch of his own. We tackle each other to the ground, knocking over more chairs that belong to the table that I suspect have been broken, both of us throwing and receiving blows.

  “That’s enough!” I hear Dad yell from somewhere behind me. We both continue to throw our punches. One second I’m landing a punch on Brandon somewhere, and the next I’m being pulled up and away. Brandon is the same. I try to struggle out of Dad’s hold as Brandon tries to get out of Ryan’s.

  “Enough! The both of you!” Dad bellows into the night. Something catches Brandon’s eye and he stops completely. Only one person has that affect on him; Erin. He gets out of Ryan’s grasp and goes over to her. Her big brown eyes, full of concern and worry, are shifting between me and him.

  “What’s going on?” her sweet voice fills the night air. I wipe blood away from my nose with my sleeve as I watch Brandon approach her.

  “Nothing. Come on.” He wraps one of his arms around her shoulders, shooting me a look over his shoulder as they walk inside. There is nothing that I can do but watch him walk away with the girl that I am going to marry.

  “What were you thinking?” Dad questions. He knows exactly what I’m thinking. I have spoken to him about this on more than one occasion.

  “He wasn’t,” Ryan pitches in. “We have been through this, Cole. Erin is Brandon’s best friend, and a member of this family.”

  What is being said is lost on me as my thoughts are on Erin, who is in Brandon’s room, cleaning him up like she does after each and every one of his fights. I walk inside, through the house, up the stairs, past Brandon’s room and into mine, locking the door behind me. I head to the closet, pull out a box, and open the lid, revealing the engagement ring that I brought for Erin a week after Brandon brought her home. One day, I will give it to her. One day, I’ll have her.

  ***

  Three years later, and I’m still looking at that same ring, in the same box. Only now, it’s in my apartment, twenty stories off the ground with a fantastic city view of Seattle city.

  “Cole?”

  I quickly close the lid of the box, concealing its contents. “Yeah, baby.” I look over my shoulder at her.

  “You going to join me?” Tiffany stands naked in my bedroom doorway, the shower running in the background.

  “Yeah,” I answer. She turns and heads back into the bathroom, and I return the box to the drawer by my bed, locking it up and leaving the room to join Tiffany in the shower.

  ***

  “You’re still coming, right?” She looks so adorable. Her light brown hair is pulled back lightly for work, and some of her hair has fallen from behind and curls nicely along her face. Her matching coloured eyes look bigger and sexier than usual. One of her fingers sits on her lower lip, a small smile displayed under it.

  “I wouldn’t miss your graduation for the world.”

  She smiles and takes a deep breath, lowering her hand from her face to reveal her plump pink lips, “Good. I want you there. Everyone’s going to be there. It wouldn’t be right if you weren’t there too.”

  “I’ll be there.” I reach my hand across the table and cover hers, moulding my hand around her hand.

  “Great, it starts at three.”

  “Three. I’ll be there, cheering the loudest.” Her eyes widen at the thought. Erin has always been a little shy. You wouldn’t guess by looking at her, but she is.

  Her smile grows, “Not the loudest. I don’t want you to be chucked out for being too loud.”

  That makes me laugh, smiling myself. I always do around Erin. She starts to fiddle with her napkin. “Nervous, honey?”

  She stops and looks up at me, “Little bit, Colby cheese, little bit.”

  I love it when she calls me Colby cheese. I came to get that name years ago when Erin started being a regular on the weekends at Mum and Dad’s. She caught onto my love for cheese; busted me sneaking down from my room at night to go to the fridge and sneak some in while no one was awake. I love that she gave me a special name. No one else has one and no one else calls me by it, and if they ever did, I wouldn’t let them. “Breathe. Everything’s going to be fine.” I give her hand a squeeze.

  “I hope so,” Erin speaks quietly as she stares at the scar on my hand. Bringing her other hand over, she traces along it. I got that scar the night three years ago when I was going to ask Brandon if I could marry Erin. I never got the chance to ask.

  “There’s nothing to be nervous about, Sweetheart. You’re going to graduate, everyone’s going to be there, you’re going to get a kickass teaching job, and then you’re going to fall in love, have a heap of children, and live happily ever after.” With me, I want to say but just think it instead.

  “I’ll have to date for that last part of your plan to work.”

  Yeah,
me. The thought of Erin with anyone else other than me turns my stomach. “It would help.” One thing I am grateful for about Brandon and Erin’s relationship is that Brandon doesn’t let anyone near Erin, which means that she isn’t with anyone, ever.

  “Or I could do what you do, and sleep with a different person every week.”

  “If you ever do that, I will kick your ass for letting total losers treat you like that, and then I will bash the guys who thought that it was ok to treat you that way,” I’m deadly serious. She deserves better than that. She deserves to me cherished and not treated like trash.

  “I know,” she looks exhausted.

  “Look, honey, you deserve to be treated better than that.” I take her hand again; I will never get tired of Erin’s skin touching mine.

  “And what about you?”

  “Like you say, one day my girl will come along and I’ll settle down and give her a happy ever after.”

  “You’re such a romantic.”

  “Only for the right girl.”

  She smiles over at me. Her smile is beautiful. “I have to get back to work, I don’t want to get fired before I can quit.”

  “That probably wouldn’t look too good.”

  ‘No,’ she mouths, shaking her head.

  “I should get back too.”

  “Wouldn’t want dad to fire you.”

  “No, that wouldn’t look good at all.” We both stand up and hug. She wraps her arms around me, and her smell floods my senses.

  “I love you, Erin.” If you only knew just how much.

  “I love you too, Colby cheese.” I kiss her on the cheek and walk her back to her building before turning to head back to mine.

  Erin

  “Brandon, I’m going to be late!” I run from room to room through the apartment, looking for him. I hear him laugh before I see him.

  “Relax, Erin. You don’t have to be there for another hour and a half.”

  “We still have to make the drive and find a parking spot. That’s going to take some time, and then we have to make sure that everyone knows where to go.” I am finally graduating today; if I can get there on time.

  Brandon steps away from the kitchen counter, towards me. “I got you something for your big day.” He pulls a box out from his jacket pocket and hands it over. I open the box and there sits a silver necklace that has my name sitting on the end of it. I gently touch it and Brandon pulls the box out of my hand, removing the necklace from where it sits. “Turn around.” He instructs.

  I spin around and lift my hair with one hand. I feel Brandon’s hands come around my neck as the necklace is placed on my skin. Placing his hands on my shoulders, he kisses the back of my head. “Let’s go.” I spin back around and place my hand over it, playing with the silver pendant of my name with my fingers.

  “Thank you, Brandon. It’s beautiful.”

  He walks over to the door and opens it. “You’re welcome. Now, miss graduate, we wouldn’t want you to be late.”

  ***

  “We are so proud of you. You should be very proud of yourself.” I take in Mum’s old face; she is beautiful no matter what her age is, but you can tell that she raised three boys, wearing the worry on her face. She isn’t a tall woman; the boys get their height and basic body build from Dad. Mum is more fragile. Dad, on the other hand, is just past the six feet mark and is solid, like a brick wall. It’s not easy for him to get knocked over, and trust me, the boys used to try. They all used to go to the gym, until Dad had a minor heart attack and the doctor told him to stop all unnecessary physical activity.

  “Thank you, Mum. I am. Thank you for coming.” I pull out of her hug and straight into Dad’s.

  “We wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I smile at the use of Cole’s exact words.

  “It means the world that your here.”

  “Hand her over, Dad.” Ryan yanks me out of Dad’s hold and pulls me into his. I have to stand on Ryan’s feet to get any type of hug from him. It is useless anyway, as he simply lifts my feet up and off the ground. I can’t help but laugh at his giant like movement, “So proud of you, Sis. You’ve come a long way from that little girl that Brandon brought home all those years ago.”

  “You think?” I hope so. I first met Brandon my first week at college. I was in a terrible way; I had come off the streets, foster kid from birth, a runaway at twelve. I was in a bar chatting up some guy when Brandon came up to me, scaring the guy away. I was furious at him, but then he told me that the guy was with another girl not an hour before. For that I was grateful. We ended up going to the same university, and have been inseparable ever since. It’s been four years, and I have gotten a degree, and a family, in that short amount of time.

  “I know you have,” Ryan, the eldest of the three brothers, says. I feel a hand on my back and turn to see Cole.

  “Congratulations, graduate.” He hugs me. Cole is closer to my height than Ryan. He was taller than Brandon too. All three of the boys are built, but there is something about Cole; he isn’t solid, but he can hold his own in a fight against any one of them. I’ve witnessed a few over of them the years. His brown eyes change shade every now and then, and are light brown like mine today. His hold on me is tight, and I can’t help but smell him in. It reminds me of the nights we used to sneak down to the kitchen to raid the fridge while everyone was sleeping.

  “Thank you.”

  “Let’s get this party started,” he exclaims, releasing me from his hold.

  “Alright. You lot be safe and act responsibly.”

  “Yes, Mum,” we all say in unison.

  “And watch your drinks,” she finishes.

  “Yes, Mum.”

  “We’ll see you during the week for dinner.”

  “Absolutely.” We say our goodbyes and leave for the after party. A few of the other graduates have rented out a hall for this party, and it is going to be huge. When we arrive, people have already started to spill out into the lawn, and the music is pounding and leaking down the road.

  “Stick close,” Brandon says into my ear, pulling me to him and into the party with a hand around my waist. We enter the party and squeeze through the people to the bar. Brandon hands me over a beer, and we go to find somewhere to sit. I lost track of Cole and Ryan as soon as we entered the hall. We find a spot and watch the party form. Brandon, in true form, starts to scope out the girls, and when one picks his fancy, he gets up and goes over to her. They start to dance and I find Cole with my eyes. He nods at me, and me at him. He is talking to some girl.

  “Erin,” Aiden steps into my view, “we did it,” he hugs me and hands me a drink. Aiden is more my height. I don’t have to stand on his toes, or on my toes, to get a decent hug from him.

  “We sure did. I still can’t believe it.”

  “I know. It just doesn’t feel real yet.”

  “I think that in a few days it will sink in, and then the freaking out will start.” He laughs, holding up his drink, “To the real world.”

  I hold up mine, touching the head to his, “The real world.” I raise the bottle to my lips just as it is taken out of my hands.

  “Don’t drink that.” Brandon says, tipping the drink out. He came out of nowhere, which is surprising. I usually see him approaching. Over the past three years, he’s gotten more fit, more built.

  “Brandon!” I exclaimed. “What the...!”

  “Don’t worry, Erin. I’ll get you another one,” Aiden offers.

  “No, you won’t,” Brandon declares, standing in front of me.

  “Brandon!” I yell at him, stepping to the side. I want to get in eye sight and try to defuse the situation before it gets out of hand.

  “You don’t know what he might have put in it.” His eyes are still on Aiden.

  “I would never!” Aiden yells, getting defensive.

  “I know, Aiden. I’m so sorry about this,” I apologise, feeling bad that he has to deal with a drunk and over protective Brandon.

  “Its fine, Erin.” His eyes
are focused on Brandon; both of their jaws tense and their stances rigid.

  “I owe you a drink.” I stepped over to Aiden and pull at his hand. He grabs mine and we turn to walk to the bar. A crowd has formed to see the drama unfold. Before I know what’s happening, Aiden is on the ground. Blood is coming from somewhere on his face, and Brandon is standing over him, fist clenched.

  “What the hell is wrong with you!” I yell at Brandon. Aiden gets up from the ground and runs at Brandon, who falls down to the ground and throws another punch. Brandon throws him off and counters with another punch. “Stop!” I yell. The crowd has gotten bigger to watch the fight. I see Ryan and Cole, and then Cole is at my side.

  “Go and wait for me at the park down the road. I’ll be there shortly.” He turns me around toward the exit.

  “But...” I start to protest

  “Go, honey. I’ll meet you there.” Cole insists, so I nod and walk through the crowd, out the door and down the road to the park that Cole told me to go to. There is a swing set, so I go and sit down on one of them and wait. It isn’t too much longer before I see a figure running toward me. I stand up, not recognizing who it is until he’s close enough that the light from the lamps hit his face. Cole runs up and engulfs me in a hug, holding me tight, his breathing rapid.

  After an extensive amount of time, I speak, “Are you alright?” My question comes out only as a whisper.

  He pulls back, looking at me, “Am I alright? Honey, don’t worry about me. Are you alright?” A tear escapes, running down my cheek, Coles fingers wiping it away. “I am so angry at Brandon right now. He had no right.” Cole wraps his body around mine and just hugs me for the longest time.

  Cole

  I’ve had my eyes on her the whole night. Brandon is keeping her close; he always does when we go out, especially if alcohol is involved. “Cole! Oh my god! You came to my graduation. I knew you would. They kept telling me that you wouldn’t, but I knew that you would!”

  It takes me a moment to place her. She obviously knows me, and she does seem familiar; size 8, blond hair, legs that go on for miles, definitely my type. I offer her a smile. She’s talking to me, but my attention is on Erin, who is talking to a few other people. Brandon is off with God knows who. A guy approaches Erin, offers her a drink, and hugs her. They’re talking, and it is clear that he has a thing for her. Who doesn’t really? Erin goes to take a mouthful of her beer when Brandon snatches it out of her hands and tips it out.