Stepbrother Unsealed(54)

“I don't think anything about this shit, mom, because I'm done.”

The latest overdose was her fifth stab at suicide in about as many years, and it worked better than anything else. The crazy bitch really almost offed herself, unlike all the other times, when she stopped short of putting herself in the danger zone. Just close enough to get her fill of sympathy.

“Go ahead and run back to base, soldier boy,” she chimes. “Jesus, you really don't have any balls, do you? I gave you tough love, Christopher, tough fucking love. Now look at you – just look! Living like a robot, loving like one too. No family. No friends. No father. The only one in this house you're on intimate terms with is that brown eyed bitch you're sticking your dick in, and that's because she's just as screwed up as you are. I'm all you've got, son, and the sooner you realize that, the –”

Fucking shit. I tune her out.

If she weren't so goddamned crazy, anybody but my own flesh and blood, I'd have picked her up and thrown her in the pool about ten words in.

My skin feels like it's going to melt. She's kryptonite, my Achilles' heel, my own personal demon, all rolled into one.

I've survived drills that left me sore for days. Bastards shooting at me, planting IEDs on the road, hearing my fellow SEALs scream as they're cut to pieces. And I still don't know what the fuck to do with the bitter psycho in front of me, sucking in her cheeks like she's chewing on the world's most vile lemon.

I turn sharply like I'm on parade, and I'm about to go when she gets up. I can't resist looking over my fucking shoulder, even though everything in my skull is screaming not to.

Her eyes are tiny pinpricks, angry and red. Hot tears are falling down her cheeks, and she's shaking, holding the towel so tight against her throat it looks like she's going to choke.

“You're really just walking away? You can't even argue back anymore? Are we that far gone, Chris? I'm your own fucking mother!”

“I know what you are, Evie,” I say, channeling my rage into the fists hanging at my sides. “I know what you do to people, and how you're a thousand times more fucked up than I'll ever be. I know I'm done, and I won't be around for the fallout. Not anymore. Not ever. Save your shit for Bruce, as long as he's willing to put up with it, which won't be long.”

“No, no, no...” I hear her whispering it behind me as I start to walk away.

I'm about halfway back to the house when she runs toward me. She's barefoot, so I don't hear her until it's too late. She tackles me, wraps her hands around my throat, tries to throw me on the ground the way she used to when I was twelve years old, before I bulked up and became a man.

I threw her off easily, slamming her into the pavement. It's a strange irony to see how things have changed over the years. She's lucky she's got that towel to cushion her blow. The last thing the bitch needs is a cracked hip, but it's her own damned fault.#p#分页标题#e#

“You ungrateful little shit! I gave you everything. Food, shelter, drove you into your career, that stupid fucking job that takes up everything, sucks the life out of you.” She's given up fighting, and her fingers are in her eyes, digging in as she rattles off all her insane bad son litanies.

“It's not a job, mother,” I say coldly. “I'm serving this country, protecting communities here at home and overseas. It's duty. I feel sorry for you some days because you'll never grasp those concepts. You're too far gone, and so's this whole goddamned situation with your sugar daddy.”

Her hands drop, and she shoots me the most hateful look I've ever seen in my life.

“Go. Walk out. You're a disgrace, Christopher, and I won't let you ruin this. Bruce is all I need. He's going to take care of me forever. He understands what love is, something you'll never know after all this SEAL crap shut down your emotions. They tore out your heart, son, and there's no getting it back.”

The shit coming out of her mouth is just total psycho babble now. I turn and keep going, even when she starts screaming gibberish at me, trying to get one last rise.

“No, come back! You don't get to walk out. I'll have you thrown out if you don't fucking listen to me. We'll see how much of a fight you put up when five deputies are hauling you off!”

I roll my eyes. It's the same thing she used to threaten me with when I rebelled in my teens. It scared me then. Dad left me with a healthy fear of the cops. Then one day when I was sixteen, she cracked and did it, called the police when I refused to get in the car with her and her drunken beach bum boyfriend to go to the beach.

The officers showed up and nearly hauled her away instead. It's tempting to remind her. If I thought there was any tiny spark left inside her, some mirror that would show her how fucking nuts she is, I'd hold it up in a heartbeat.