Jeremy

The silence rang, foreshadowing a storm. It always did when I saw Jeremy—my brother's best friend and my personal nightmare. The feud blazed like a fire, which we diligently fueled with sarcastic remarks.

"Mommy and Daddy are fighting again," Brother Kurt sang with a satisfied grin.

Jeremy chuckled, his dark eyes full of lazy superiority never leaving his. I hated that look until my fingers trembled and my throat spasmed.

We were heading to an old house by a dark lake, whose waters held our dark secrets. The car became a cage. My parents chatted happily, and there was no room left for me in the back row. Jeremy sat relaxed, taking up all the space in silent defiance.

“Darling, sit on Jeremy’s lap for now,” was Mom’s verdict.

I froze. The air grew thick, unbearably hot. Only the corner of his cruel mouth twitched in the shadow of a smile. Gritting my teeth so hard my jaw ached, I sank down onto his rock-hard thighs. The thin sweater was a pitiful barrier between my skin and the heat radiating from him.

The car pulled away. I sat taut, every nerve ending screaming for his nearness. The bumpy road sent me careening over a deep pothole, landing with renewed force. A muffled groan escaped his teeth. His hot breath fanned the curve of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

"Did I crush you?" I whispered, leaning close to his ear.

"No... It's fine," his voice was low, with an unfamiliar rasp. Jeremy narrowed his eyes, hiding the pain and something else I didn't know the name for.

Escaping from the enveloping darkness of feelings, I went on the attack. — Are you squinting by any chance, Jeremy?

The world froze. He leaned in slowly, predatorily, filling everything around him. His breath brushed against her earlobe, and a low whisper pierced the skin like a knife blade: — Do you want to turn around and see it with your own eyes, shorty?

A hot palm lay on her waist, steel fingers clenched in a demanding grip, not allowing her to move.