Billionaire Beast

The doorbell rings and I go to answer it, not bothering to respond to Danna’s bullshit.

I open the door to find Emma standing there.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey,” she says. “I should have called, but I wanted to see you.”

“Come on in,” I tell her.

She comes in, and Danna comes out of the kitchen to see who’s here, slowing to a stop when she sees that it’s Emma.

“Hey, Danna,” Emma says. “How’s your night going?”

Danna doesn’t say anything; she just crosses her arms and glares at Emma.

Emma shrugs it off and looks back at me. “I was thinking of taking you to dinner,” she says, and looks over to Danna, who’s still giving her the crooked eye, “both of you. I thought it might be nice to get out and just kind of take our minds off of everything.”

“Sounds good to me,” I answer.

Danna doesn’t say anything.

“Do you want to go to dinner with us, Danna?” I ask.

She doesn’t answer me.

“It’s fine,” Emma says. “Start thinking about where you’d like to eat. I’m so hungry, I could eat anything.”

“I don’t know,” I answer, looking at my sister. “What do you think, Danna? What are you in the mood for?”

Danna doesn’t answer, and I’m fucking sick of it.

“What the fuck is your problem?” I ask her. “You can’t answer when someone’s fucking talking to you?”

Danna just gives me a closed-mouth smile and walks out of the room.

“I am so sorry about that,” I tell Emma.

“Really,” Emma says, her confidence clearly shaken, “it’s okay.”

Danna comes back into the room a minute later, pulling a wheeled suitcase.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“I’m getting out of here,” she says. “You don’t want to listen to me and you apparently have no desire to save your career, so I think we’re pretty much done.”

“You’re leaving?” I ask.

“Yep,” she says. “I’ll have someone come by and pick up the rest of my stuff. If you need to get ahold of me, I’ll be staying at the Steam Hills Motel.”

“Why does that sound familiar?” I ask.

“Because it’s where my dad’s staying,” Emma says.

“Ta-ta,” Danna says, and walks out the front door.

I could catch up to her at the curb if I really wanted to, but I don’t.

Something strange happens to me as Danna walks out the door, and I just kind of slump down onto the back of my couch.