Betrayed (6 page)

He poked his head around the corner leading to the living room. There, the speakers boomed and rattled, but there was no one to be seen. Ethan moved through the room quickly, keeping his eyes forward as he moved into the main hallway. He had covered half of the house so far and hadn’t seen anyone. Perhaps the person had come and gone - but, why would they have left everything in place? Nothing about the house was different, save the blaring music.

That was when he saw it.

The hallway curved and opened onto the guest bedroom. The door was open, and there was a backpack slung onto the bed. It was a JanSport, but he didn’t recognize it. Inside, the door to the guest bathroom was closed, and light could be seen from underneath.

Someone is in the bathroom,
he thought.

He could see shadowed movement coming from within. Whoever was there, they were standing just on the other side of the door. He crept forward, slowly. He was only ten feet from the door. Five feet. Two feet. His breath came deeply, and his pulse roared.

What was he doing? He should just call the cops and wait outside. He wasn’t a hero - hell, he had never been in a real fight before. But someone was in his house. Someone had invaded what was his, and something primal in him knew he needed to take action. He couldn’t call the cops and wait for them when there was an immediate threat in front of him.

He inched closer to the door and reached out his hand. He could feel the heat coming from within - someone had taken a shower. Who would do such a thing?

Just as his fingertips were about to wrap around the handle, something happened. The light coming from the bottom of the door was blotted out, and the knob twisted and turned. The door opened.

A man stood there with a toothbrush in his mouth, and a towel draped around his waist. His hair was shorter than Ethan’s, and still damp. He looked like he hadn’t bothered to shave in a few days.

Ethan screamed and began to launch himself forward. The man screamed in turn and stumbled backward. He lost his balance and slipped on the wet bathroom floor, sliding and sprawling out across the fine tile.

It was only a moment of clarity that stopped Ethan from attacking the man. For a brief instant, Ethan recognized him, and stopped his attack before it got bloody and permanent.

“What the fuck are
you
doing here?” he asked, as he stood over the frightened shape of his little brother.

“Well? Are you going to answer me?” Ethan asked again.

His heart was still pounding violently in his chest.

The man didn’t budge. He laid on the floor for a second longer, his hand out in front of him for protection, and the tooth brush dangling from his mouth. Ethan could see the surprised fear in his eyes, and he realized that he was still holding the butcher’s knife out in front of him.

He shook his head and relaxed himself. He set the knife on the bathroom counter and reached out a hand to help his brother up.

The man took his hand and pulled himself up. He kept a wary look on Ethan as he rinsed out his mouth in the sink. The towel still dangled from his waist, and Ethan didn’t see any clothes in the sight.

“It’s good to see you, too, brother,” the man said.

“Trevor, you can’t just go sneaking into someone’s house unannounced like that,” Ethan said. “You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“I was going to call. I figured you were at work and wouldn’t mind me grabbing a quick shower.”

Ethan took another deep breath and tried to calm himself. He walked back out into the room and slumped onto the bed.

“Didn’t you see the car out front?” Trevor asked. He followed him into the room and pulled some clothes from the backpack on the bed.

“There’s no car outside, I looked,” Ethan said.

“Dad’s Chevelle is parked right on the street. You couldn’t have missed it. You remember it don’t you? It’s practically the only thing that asshole left us when he disappeared.”

Ethan’s mind flashed back to the car he had swerved around. A wave of frustration overcame him - he
should
have known something was up. He should have recognized that car - it had been around since he was a kid.

“I’ve had a lot on my mind,” he said. Ethan watched as his brother pulled on jeans and a shirt. He’d grown up a lot since they had last seen each other. “How’d you get in here, anyways?”

Trevor rolled his eyes. “The sliding glass door in the back was unlocked. You never were the cautious type.”

Ethan shook his head. Leave it to his brother to find the easy way in.

“You got a nice place,” Trevor said. “I was planning on helping myself to your liquor cabinet when I got out of the shower.”

“Well, by all means, don’t let me stop you.”

Trevor grinned. “I wasn’t going to.”

Ethan followed him as he made his way to the den. Trevor rummaged through the wet bar and pulled out a bottle of Crown Royal. It was brand new, and Ethan had been saving it for a special occasion, but he wasn’t in the mood to argue.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” Ethan asked, bluntly.

Trevor poured two fingers of the Crown into a sifter. His brow pinched together, but a smile spread across his lips.

“I’m offended,” he said. He drained the entire glass in one long pull. He sputtered and coughed afterward, but the smile didn’t fade. “Good stuff,” he said to himself.

“Then, why are you here?” Ethan pressed.

Trevor didn’t answer immediately, instead he poured another drink. He swirled it around in the glass and breathed it in.

“I can’t just come visit my brother for the holidays?” he asked.

“I sent you a ticket for Christmas last year,” Ethan said. “You never showed.”

Trevor winced. “Yeah, sorry about that. Stuff came up.”

“You could have at least let me know you weren’t on the flight. I waited at the airport for an hour like some idiot.”

Ethan could feel his temper flaring up. He wanted to press the issue. He hadn’t been in a mood for an argument before, but his brother had a way of getting on his nerves. And Trevor seemed to be making a point of being especially difficult at that very moment.

But Ethan wasn’t able to launch into anything at that time. A knock at the door snapped him back to reality.

Shit. Kayla.

Both of their eyes shot toward the door.

“Expecting company?” Trevor asked, the wry smile still plastered too the corner of his mouth.

Ethan’s heart raced even faster. How was he going to explain this? He didn’t want Kayla to think he was being rude by inviting someone over when they were supposed to talk.
 

“I need you to go back into the guest room. Just let me smooth things over a bit.”

“A lady friend, I take it?”

Ethan let out an exasperated sigh. “Something like that. Please, just go. Take the bottle with you if you want.”

“I think I will,” Trevor said as he scooped it up in one hand. He eyed it hungrily.

Another knock sounded at the door. Trevor took his time loping toward the guest bedroom, and Ethan stood at the end of the hallway until he saw his brother disappear into the room and shut the door behind him.

He realized the music was still blasting from the entertainment center. He had been so distracted by Trevor that he had completely tuned it out.

Another knock.

“Coming,” he yelled.

He jogged to the living room and hit the power button on the receiver. The house was suddenly filled with silence, and some of the ache at the back of his head disappeared with the noise.

He launched himself around the corner and to the front door. He flipped the lock and opened it.

Kayla stood in the doorway looking like a mess. Her face was red and her eyes were blood shot. Her normally well brushed hair was knotted and tangled on the side, like she’d been lying on something for a while and hadn’t bothered to fix herself before she came over. She hated going out in public without looking impeccable.

“Having a party?” she asked in a low, scratchy voice.

“No,” he said quickly. “It was just… It was nothing.” He looked at her long and hard. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Can I come in?” she asked.

Ethan glanced over his shoulder down the hall. The door was still shut.

“Yes, of course.”

Kayla swept passed him into the house. She didn’t stop until she made it to the living room where she plopped down onto the couch. Ethan followed her and sat down next to her.
 

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Do you remember the girl we bumped into at dinner last night?” she asked.

Ethan’s heart raced, and he was filled with dread.

“Your friend?” he asked.

Kayla’s eyes stared at him hard. “That’s right,
my
friend.”

“What of her?” he said, ignoring the threatening tone. He knew what was coming, but he was too dumb, or too naive, to try and avoid it. He should have confessed everything right then and there; there was no point in dragging it out.

“I talked with her this morning,” Kayla began. “She was waiting for me when I got back to my dorm.”

“Oh? Was everything alright?”

“What am I doing?
” he thought to himself.
Just confess to everything, don’t drag it out.

“No, everything was certainly not alright.” Kayla looked at him hard, again. Rage hid behind her eyes, but tears were beginning to bubble up and reveal her pain. “She told me all about you two. She told me everything.”

Ethan’s heart sank. His head slumped and his eyes fixed to a spot on her lap. He suddenly felt nauseous as his head began spinning.

How could he have let things come to this? He should have told her straight away - been more honest about his past relationship. But what would that have fixed? It’s not like he wanted to know about all of
her
past relationships.

“Do you have anything you want to say?” she asked, her voice had an edge to it. “Any reason why you didn’t tell me about her? Any reason for not letting me know that I’m not the first student you lured and seduced?

Lured? Seduced?

He was speechless for a moment. What exactly had Dana told her?

Ethan was about to say something, though he wasn’t quite sure what, when the worst possible thing happened.

“Hey E, got any food in this place?”

Both of their eyes shot to the hallway to find Trevor standing there. A look of shocked surprise came over his face as the two of them stared at him. Ethan was furious - he had told him to stay in his room! He glanced over at Kayla who looked between the two with obvious confusion.

“Catch you at a bad time?” Trevor said. An awkward, cocky smile tinted the corner of his lips. He padded off toward the kitchen without another word.

An overwhelming silence pressed on the room for a second as Kayla’s brow pinched together. She searched Ethan’s face for an explanation.

“Who?…” she began, her voice trailing off.

“
That
… was Trevor. My little brother,” Ethan said. He gave her an awkward smile, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t helping matters.

His day was getting worse and worse. He just couldn’t catch a break.

* * * * *

“Your brother?” I asked with unabashed surprise. Ethan had never so much as mentioned a brother - let alone mentioned that he would be visiting.

Ethan gestured with his hands and his face twisted anxiously. “He’s a complicated story.”

“Complicated? What’s that supposed to mean? He’s your
brother
.”

“It’s just that he’s not in the picture very much. We’re not the closest, and he still lives in New York.”

“Why didn’t you tell me he would be around?”

Ethan winced again. I felt a whirl of emotions building in me. I couldn’t take much more of the roller coaster ride that life was putting on me. All I wanted to do was go back to my dorm and sleep the rest of the day away. I was exhausted. Physically and emotionally.

“I thought that we were getting closer,” I said. “I wanted to tell you everything about me, and I wanted to know everything about you.” I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. “I thought that you felt the same way.”

“I do feel the same way,” Ethan burst out. “I care for you so much.”

“You have a funny way of showing it,” I said, dismissively.

He blew out a strong sigh and looked up as Trevor poked his head around the corner again. I could see the resemblance, now. Trevor was the younger, and maybe even more attractive version of his older brother. But there was something devious about him. He had that bad boy look. I wondered if he was just as much of a player as Ethan was.

“Don’t worry about me,” Trevor said, mockingly. “I managed to find some chips on my own. Do you eat anything other than veggies?” He looked hard between both of us. “The public schools should take a picture of you two right now. You could be the poster children for abstinence.”

He didn’t wait for a response. He padded back down the hallway, chips in hand and a bounce in his step.

I turned back to Ethan. Heat was rising to my face, as I bit back the urge to tell him to go straight to Hell and never call me again.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said. “He can be a handful.”

“You never answered my question,” I said through gritted teeth. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about Dana?”

Ethan’s face twisted in pain. I started to feel bad about how I accused him, but I wasn’t the bad guy. He had a lot to explain, and the answers weren’t coming very quickly.

“It was a mistake,” he said. I waited for a moment, hoping he would elaborate. But he didn’t.

“
What
was a mistake?” I prompted.

“Look, Kayla, she was a one time thing - an accident. What happened between her and I was a mistake. I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t.”

“So you
did
take advantage of her?” I asked.

He winced. “I wouldn’t say I took advantage of her. It’s not like I forced her into anything.”

“Then what would you say? A student came to you for help, and in exchange for a good grade you slept with her.”

I felt my fury growing even stronger. I didn’t care that I was yelling at him; I needed the release.