Another high-pitched shriek cuts through the early morning silence and I power on, my muscles screaming every step of the way. It hurts but I have to get to her. I have to protect her.
I barge into the living room, ready to charge, attack and dismember whoever the hell has hurt her. But the sight that greets my eyes is so unexpected that instead I stop suddenly.
"Tank? What the hell are you doing?"
The question halts my brother in the act of spinning Rissa around on his shoulder. Like two children caught in the act, they both freeze and look over at me. Rissa looks up from her perch on Tank's shoulder, her hair hanging over her face and down Tank's back. The big smile on her face slowly fades.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask again since neither of them seems interested in giving me an answer.
Tank puts her down and once she's steady on her feet, Rissa yanks her shirt down and glares at him. “Your brother hasn’t gotten the memo that we’re adults now. He thinks he can still lift me up and spin me around to try to make me puke!”
Completely unrepentant, Tank grins back at her. “Old habits die hard.”
Rissa tries to maintain her stern expression but finally a smile spreads across her lips. “I thought your brain would have finally caught up with that big body by now but it seems you’re still thirteen years old inside.”
It kills to see her smiling at him, giving my older brother everything she’s been denying to me for the past few days. Every smile she sends my way is forced and tinged with sadness but the first time she sees Tank she lights up like a goddamned Christmas tree?
I grit my teeth resisting the urge to throw them both out. “Some people are still sleeping at seven am.”
Tank snorts. “If you’re sleeping when a woman this fine is in your place then you’re doing it wrong, bro.”
Rissa flushes as red as her hair. “Tank, it’s not like that. Your brother hired my company to clean this building.”
“Oh you have a cleaning business? That's awesome.”
“Yeah, I do.” Her pride comes through in every word. She rushes over to the couch where she's left her things and reaches into one of her bags. “Here’s my card in case you ever need cleaning services or you know anyone who does.”
Tank takes the card and slips it into his pants pocket. “I'll definitely do that. I work for Alexander Security and my boss is in the process of building a satellite office down here. I'm sure he'll need a cleaning company then."
"Really? That would be great. I'm really glad I ran into you again!" Rissa is practically dancing where she's standing. And she's looking up at Tank like he's just promised to personally bankroll her entire operation. All he's done is promise to pass on some information.
"Why are you here, Tank?" Not that it's unusual for my brother to visit but it's rarely this early in the morning.
The faintly guilty look on his face tells me that he was hoping to catch me home so he could force me to talk. I've been dodging him for weeks now, only seeing him in passing at Mom's bedside. But I'm not ready to have some kind of heart to heart with my brother where he asks a bunch of questions that I'm not ready to answer.
"I just wanted to check on you." He glances over at Rissa and then his smile is back. "But it looks like you're in good hands. So I'll get out of here and back home to my lady. If I'm lucky, she hasn't woken up yet and I can get in a cuddle."
I scowl when Rissa practically melts at his feet. She beams that bright smile up at him again.
"Aww, that is so sweet. What a lucky girl."
"Yeah, yeah. Get out of here. And next time, call first." I'm not sure why I add that last part but Tank seems to take it as some sort of confirmation that Rissa and I are dating again.
He gives me a knowing grin before looking over my shoulder. "It was great seeing you again, Marissa."
"You too –" Her reply cuts off abruptly when I shove Tank out into the hallway and slam the door. "Finn! That was rude."
"What's rude is him coming over here at the crack of damn dawn and waking me up by flirting with my cleaning lady."
She just rolls her eyes and moves across the room to where she left her supplies. As she rummages through bags and pulls out gloves and a spray bottle, I move to the kitchen. It's awkward just to stand here and stare at her, so I pretend that eating breakfast this early in the morning while I'm still in my boxers is totally normal.
I take down a box of cereal and pull a bowl from the cabinets. She only glances my way briefly before she moves over to the living room and starts spraying the surfaces with whatever's in her spray bottle.
Even though I want to punish her, I also have this driving need to talk to her. To see if what I remember was ever real. Because she can’t be as open and real as she seems, as the girl I remember. She has to be something else because the girl I fell for wouldn’t have done what she did to me.
Finally I remember that I had some paint samples delivered for her to look through. They're on the counter next to yesterday's mail. I grab the envelope and shake out the contents. Rissa looks up when I approach.
"What do you think of these colors?"
"For …" She gives me a strange look.
I gesture around us. "For this room. It's kind of boring in here now. I thought a coat of paint might liven things up a bit." I hold up one of the chips. It's a soft tan color. It's labeled Afternoon Espresso. Why are paint colors always reminiscent of food?