Love Obsessed by Veronica Short Page B

to the fridge and grabs a beer for himself before siting down at the table. I’m staring at the drink in my hands, so I can’t see him, but I can feel his eyes on me. I came over here wanting to talk to him about something, but don’t know how or where to start.
    “Erin?” he guesses quietly. I look up at him, sympathy in his eyes. “I heard what happened at the office. Men gossip, too.”
    “She said that she was done,” I say quietly, diverting my eyes back down. “I drove by the apartment, and her car wasn’t there.”
    “From what I hear, she’s pretty angry. Give her some time to calm down.”
    Looking back up, “She thinks that I’ve been acting as if she doesn’t exist anymore. She told me to stop all contact, and I get in trouble for doing just that, and then I find out that she only said that because Brandon was listening to our conversation. Who the hell does he think he is, having that much control over her? It’s not right, Ryan, and now she’s pissed at all of us and is God knows where with someone else.” My voice is getting louder as I speak, “And,” I continue, “I thought, this whole time, that Brandon and Erin were a couple, thought that he was the lucky bastard who got her. Everyone said so. From the day he brought her home, everyone has been saying that Brandon and Erin will end up together, and that they were just fighting their attraction for each other. No one else had a chance. They were all wrong, because he just wants to keep her locked away from anyone who could make her happy. Now we’ve all lost her. I just don’t understand why she would let Brandon have that much control over her. She’s stronger than that,” I finish, my voice quieting down.
    Ryan sits there listening to me. He stays silent for a long time, his eyes still on me. I take a large mouthful of my beer, and then decide to finish it off. When the bottle is empty, I place it on the counter next to me, my pain still very present.
    “You got something stronger then beer?” Ryan gets up from his chair and goes over to a cupboard above the stove. He pulls something out, comes back over to me, and he hands me the half empty bottle of whisky. I take the lid off and gulp down a mouthful. It stings, but for a moment, the pain in my heart goes away.
    “Brandon gave Erin a family,” I slowly lower the bottle from my lips. Ryan continues, “I was in the bar the night that Brandon found Erin,” he smiles at the memory, “You had already left with some girl. Brandon had been watching her for a while. I picked on him for being a chicken shit and not going up to her. He was ignoring every other chick, and I was getting sick of him just staring at her, so I went up to her.” My pulse is racing, wondering where he’s going with this. “I had barely ordered our drinks when he arrived. He told her that she shouldn’t take drinks from strangers. He was acting like he cared, and then he eyed me. I could tell he was up to something, but I just thought that he wanted her for himself. He told her that I had just been with another girl in the bathroom, not a few hours earlier. I was furious at him, but he got the girl. You know how it is with us. They’re just girls; replaceable.”
    “So you two didn’t....”
    He shakes his head. “Brandon kept her close for the rest of the night, and scared off any other guy who approached her. I left soon after. Then he started talking about an Erin. Mum and Dad were so happy that one of their sons had found a girl, and then he brought her home one Sunday.”
    “I remember. She looked so young, with those large brown eyes taking everything in. She never left his side.” Brandon had told mum that he was bringing a friend over. She was so excited. When Erin walked through the front door, everyone stopped what they were doing. She looked so out of her element. Mum and Dad had been very welcoming; we all were. She was quiet, but the way Brandon was with her, we had never seen him that