Archer #2
“She’s making an uncomfortable choice.” I rest against the wall for our short ride down, and when we arrive, I push off again, take her hand, and lead her through a busy ER and onto the sidewalk outside.
The lack of sunlight surprises me, the slight reprieve from the boiling heat, bringing it down to stifling instead, a welcome change.
“It’s okay to feel a certain way about her decisions, especially when you’re not accustomed to giving a shit about many people.
But this is her specialty, Minnnka. Not all doctors are created the same, and if she came to the George Stanley, throwing orders around and calling you out for things she disagreed with, you wouldn’t lie down and take it. ”
“No shit, I wouldn’t. I’d kick her ass all the way to the second floor and lock her in a fridge.”
I massage the back of her neck and steer her toward home.
“So maybe we trust you to take care of the already dead-people stuff, and Fielder can take care of the alive-people stuff. She says he’s ready, so instead of writing him off as rotting on his couch, why not trust her professional opinion and trust his ability to survive?
He has a hundred percent success rate at it so far. ”
“Thanks to Cato. That old jerk wouldn’t be so smiley if it weren’t for Cato’s quick thinking.
We can’t put that on him again.” Licking her lips, she meets my eyes and gives herself away.
Nervous. Scared. Anxious. “He’s just a kid, Archer, and God knows, he already carries so much in his head.
Making him responsible for a ticking time bomb is a recipe for disaster. ”
“And by disaster, you mean added trauma.” I pull her in and drop a kiss on top of her head. “It’s kinda nice seeing you being sweeter toward him. He’s not here to witness it,” I clarify with a grin. “But I’m here. It must be exhausting, huh?”
She lowers her gaze, rolling her eyes. “I know you’re about to say something that’ll annoy me.”
“To care so deeply, but outwardly, to show absolutely no emotion except, perhaps, rage.”
“There it is.”
“Your refusal to show public gooeyness is a defense mechanism. But beneath those walls you put up, all to keep the weak out, is a heart that beats for a hell of a lot more people than you’d ever admit to.”
“Still annoying.”
“I’m just saying, that’s all. Sometimes I worry I’ll wake up and find you smothering Cato with his own pillow.
I’m stressed, thinking that at some point, you’re going to snap and demand that he leave.
And I don’t mean how you constantly tell him to get out.
I mean, the kind of demand where you actually mean it.
He’s fearless, picking at you like it’s a fun new hobby he can’t get enough of, and you feed into it, giving him every scrap of attention he’s looking for. ”
“Are you done pointing out my flaws yet?” She steps off the curb a single beat ahead of me, extending our arms until I quicken my pace and catch up.
Then we cross the street and step up on the other side as one.
“Cato and I already fixed all this, didn’t we?
He said sorry. I said sorry. I even recall a hug that felt kinda nice and smooshy and, best of all, hardly public. ”
I sling my arm over her shoulders and drag her back, because in a minute, we’ll be inside our apartment building and I’ll have to share her with my brother. He’ll watch her, and I’ll know he loves her. He’ll bicker with her, and I’ll know it’s because he just wants her to bite back.
She’s mine for just a minute, maybe two.
“I won’t lie, Minnnka. That smooshy hug had me feeling a certain way.”
“Yeah?”
“Jealous, mostly. He’s a boy, I know. But he’s a man, too. It would do us well not to forget that.”
She wraps her arm across my back and hooks her hand on my hip. “You want us to get along, we get along. Now I’m doing the thing you wanted, and you’re jealous about it.”
“I’m a complicated man.” I drag our apartment building door open and lead her inside, and though she doesn’t say so, I know her eyes drop to the floor, right where Steve lay a couple of nights ago.
I know her brain torments her, hurting her, running through the alternate ending, and what life would be like if Cato weren’t here when he needed to be.
We walk straight over the spot that could have been Steve’s final resting place and start up the stairs. One flight. Then another. “I’m still open to the ordering takeout and eating in bed plan we had before. You could be dessert.”
She snickers, burrowing her cheek against the side of my chest. “I would kill for a burrito, and that place around the corner is always pretty fast. You order while I shower. I processed more DBs today than I can count.”
“I know.” I sniff the side of her neck and nip at her earlobe. “I can smell it on you.”
“Shut up.” We round the third-floor landing and start up the last. “How much do you think it would cost to convince Cato to stay somewhere else tonight? I’m not kicking him out or anything. I just want a chance to walk from my bathroom to my bedroom without wearing clothes. Is that so much to ask?”
“Price will go up if he finds out you’re planning to be naked.” I dig keys out of my pocket and approach the door, praying, hoping, fucking pleading with the devil himself, that we don’t walk in and find my baby brother raw dogging some new chick.
“He wouldn’t do that again, would he?” Jesus, my hand almost shakes as I slip the key into the lock and turn the handle. “He’s a prick, but he wouldn’t be so disrespectful two days in a row, right?”
“No, he would.” She shoves the door open and escapes my grip, striding into the kitchen and pink-panther sleuthing, like she intends to catch him out.
The television is on, last night’s Knicks game highlights on the screen, his moppy black hair pointing toward the sky while he lounges on the couch and rests his feet on the coffee table.
The kitchen is spotless, the sink empty. The countertops gleam, and despite the pile of shoes and shit he keeps by the window in the living room, even that pile is neater than usual and marginally organized.
The dread rolling in my belly turns to relief. The coil of fear I hadn’t realized I was carrying dissolves.
“Did you bang on my counter?” Minka sets her things on the shiny countertop, emptying her pockets and toeing her shoes off.
With narrowed eyes, she strides to the back of the couch and fists his hair, tugging him back until she’s met with his beaming smile.
“You screwed some chick in my kitchen and knew you’d get in trouble for it, so you did what you did and sent her on her way, then you cleaned up so you could get away with your crime. ”
“Hardly getting away with it, am I? If I were dumb enough to do the nasty where you prep your morning coffee, I wouldn’t scrub it clean and alert you to what I did, would I?”
Scowling, she releases him again and moves to the end of the couch, peeking over the side with tightened eyes.
“What?” He laughs. “You think I got her bundled up and hidden on the floor?” He drops his feet and slides to the side so he can watch the TV while his favorite sister-in-law is in the way. “Your distrust is hurtful, Chief. Move your ass. I’m trying to see the game.”
“I have spies watching this building.” She turns and slams her hands to her hips, glaring down at him. “I’ll know if you brought someone up here today.”
“Mmhm. Okay.” He reaches forward and moves her out of the way. “Shush now.”
“Maybe just go have a shower, babe.” I close the door and take out my phone. “I’ll order our dinner and discuss that other stuff.” Buying my brother off and sending him away for the night. “You have twenty minutes to de-stench and relax.”
“Fine.” She eyes Cato and glowers, bulldog-nosed and wrinkle-lipped. “I apologize.”
No, she doesn’t.
“I pre-judged you tonight, expecting poor behavior, since you’re apt to partake in certain undesirable activities after emotionally tumultuous times.
This week has been one drama after another, so I figured you’d lash out and do…
” She waves a hand in the air, but she turns and starts toward the bathroom. “Cato things.”
“Kind of you, Chief.” He kicks his feet up onto the table and noisily digs his hand into a bag of potato chips. “Quiet now, please. You’re interrupting my chill time.”
“Jerkoff.” Grumbling under her breath, she ambles into the hall and disappears out of sight.
“Listen, Cato.” I toss my keys into the bowl by the door and walk blind, scrolling my screen for the food delivery apps. “You wanna spend the night at Tim’s or something? The chief and I wanna have—”
He bounds up from the couch and looks toward the hall. “Shh.”
“You…” I stumble and bring my eyes up. “What?”
“Shush.”
“Get out!” Minka roars, charging back into the hall with pounding footsteps and fiery rage. But she doesn’t emerge alone. She wraps a woman in my towel and swings wild eyes in Cato’s direction. “Get. Out!”
“I’m sorry,” the woman stammers, stumbling and desperately clinging to her towel. “He said you were interested, too! He said there would be three of us.”
“I’m going,” he giggles, his chest bouncing and piggy sniggers moving along his throat. “Come on, Cleopatra. Guess the missus is in a bad mood tonight. We can try again tomorrow.”
“Get out, Cato!”
“I’ll be home in a few hours, Sweetpea.” He kisses his palm and makes a show of bundling his offer, bouncing it like it’s a basketball, then tossing it the way I’ve seen him throw a three-point shot. “Love you, Snooky.”
“I hate him.” Minka stomps after the pair, enraged and violently furious. She shoves his back and slams the door with a resounding crack. “I hate him!”
“No, you don’t.” I snag her hand and drag her toward the hall. “Shower. Relax. Food. Medicine. In that order.”
“He had a woman in our bathroom just to annoy me!”
“Mmhm. And you make it so easy.” I press my hand to the small of her back and push her from the wooden flooring to the tile. “Breathe. De-stress. Wash the stench of death out of your hair.”
“Listen—”
I flash a beaming smile and swing the bathroom door shut. “Love you!” Then I stalk along the hall and whip the apartment door open, glowering at an amused teenager who lacks common sense and healthy boundaries. “There’ll come a day when I don’t stand between you and the reaper, dickhead.”
He lifts two fingers, peacing out. “Vote for Pedro.”