Taken (Dark Desires 1)

I shook my head. Ray was right.

“You know if she chooses your brother that isn’t going to end well either. He had Molly in his life for a good long while. I don’t think I was the only one who thought that maybe, just maybe she was going to be the one to settle him down.”

“Yeah, I thought that, too. She seemed nice enough and was very comfortable with the cameras and tabloids and all that nonsense that feeds my brother’s engine.”

“Yeah, but what does he do? He intentionally has a fling with some woman in front of the cameras and Molly says see you sucker and heads back to Canada. Now, he’s back to being our problem.”

“Yeah, curse that Holly.” I said sarcastically as if any of it was really her fault. She didn’t know who she was dealing with.

“But, if he did that to a woman who fit in with his weird and attention hungry lifestyle, what will he do to Natasha? She’s just as happy to go with you to Betty-Jean’s diner as she is to any $3000 plate fundraiser. Sitting in your office to talk after hours? And has she ever once said ‘Marty, take me out somewhere!’ No. She hasn’t.”

Ray reached into the cooler and pulled out another beer for himself.

“What kind of sandwiches we got?” he asked, kicking the other cooler my chef had prepared for us.

“Well, I knew it was just going to be me and you, Ray, so I requested your favorite.”

“No. Liverwurst on rye. A slice of raw onion? Yes.” His eyes rolled in the back of his head. “You really pulled out all the stops.” He said, unwrapping the thick sandwich from the paper wrapping.

“You do realize, Ray, if I confront my brother on this it may get ugly. He doesn’t like being told what to do.”

Ray wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his flannel shirt and swallowed the monstrous bite of food he had been chewing.

“All you do is say the word, boss. I’ve been wanting to kick his ass for over a decade. The way he treated your parents who were nothing but decent to him was a sin against humanity. They should have taken a strap to him years ago. But better late than never I always say.”

“I mean it, Ray. My brother is unhinged. Anything contrary to what he expects and the whole door may just come flying off. Are you ready for that?”

“You sound like you are getting ready for a war, Marty.”

I finished the last two gulps of beer in the bottle I had been holding. Swallowing I nodded my head.

“I am. I’ll talk to Natasha tonight. I think there are a few things she needs to know. And then…”

“And then what?”

“And then I’ll talk with my brother.”

“Tell me you aren’t going to do it alone. I don’t trust him, Marty. I never have.”

I didn’t say anything. Just then, the fishing rod I had been holding loosely in my lap was almost jerked clear into the water.

“Whoa! Got a bite!”

Marty tossed over his sandwich and dove for the net behind me.

“It’s a big one!” I hollered.

“It’s going to put up a fight, Marty! Just get it closer!”

He leaned over the boat waiting to catch a glimpse of the big beast that was putting up such a fight. Sweat trickled down my forehead and my heart was pounding. There was never such an exciting feeling as seeing your patience pay off in a big way.

By the end of the struggle, I had won. Marty scooped up a trout the size of Black & Decker tool box. We gutted it, packed it in ice and that night enjoyed cooking it over the fire pit on the back patio at home. We drank a couple more beers, talked about everything and anything other than my brother. But I think we both felt the obtrusiveness of Joshua’s presence.

Even when he wasn’t physically there, his spirit lingered and cast shadows where there should be light. Like those horror stories on television about maniacal spirits and invisible evils that terrorize people when they are at their most vulnerable, my brother could control and manipulate people without even being there.

No matter what Natasha’s decision, my brother had to be dealt with. I had a feeling it might cause me to lose her forever. This kind of drama would be overwhelming for any normal person to handle. It was worse than any soap opera I could think of.

As Ray and I finished eating our feat of trout without speaking, I made my plans. I had no idea what my brother was capable of. I had no idea what he had been doing with himself when he wasn’t at work. Maybe it was naïve to think he was just living the bachelor lifestyle. I thought it might be bad, a little sadistic, but I never thought I’d be related to a beast that thrived so much on pain of others.