Darn Stupid Brother You Are by Mairee

Chapter 31

(Angel's POV)

It was happening again.

Another treatment. Another day when I couldn't breathe.

I watched Hendrix from across the room. His face was pale and his eyes looked unfocused. He sat on the edge of the bed and his hands trembled slightly as if he was trying to hold it all together. But I could see through it.

I always saw through him.

"They're doing it again," I whispered and my voice shook. I couldn't help it. My stomach twisted into knots as I pictured him in that room with those needles and those machines.

The door swung open and Dr. Nixon stepped in. She was cold and clinical. She didn't even look at me.

Just Hendrix.

"Are you ready?" she asked him in a low tone.

Ready? For what?

Another round of who-knows-what. My fists clenched at my sides.

Hendrix nodded and his jaw tightened. He didn't say a word. He never said anything about these sessions.

And that scared me more than anything.

I bit my lip to keep myself from screaming and from grabbing him and pulling him away from here. From this nightmare.

"We need to talk," I blurted out and my voice was sharp in the heavy air.

Dr. Nixon finally looked at me and her eyebrow arched. "Now?"

I nodded and stepped forward. I felt the weight of Hendrix's eyes on me but I didn't care. Not right now. I needed answers. I needed to understand what was happening to him. What was happening to us. "Alone," I said with a firmer voice this time.

She sighed and glanced at Hendrix before nodding towards the hallway. "Fine. But make it quick."

I followed her out of the room as my heart raced and my pulse drummed in my ears. The door closed behind us with a quiet click and I was alone with her. With the woman who held all the cards. The woman who could tell me everything if she wanted to.

"What are you doing to him?" I asked as my voice barely rose above a whisper.

Dr. Nixon crossed her arms and her expression was unreadable. "I'm helping him."

"That's not what it looks like."

She didn't respond and just stared at me with that same detached, almost robotic calm that made my skin crawl.

I stepped closer and my voice trembled with anger. "You said... you hinted that his illness might not be real, that something else is going on here. I want to know what you meant."

She watched me for a moment as her eyes narrowed like she was deciding whether to say something. Then finally, she spoke.

and her tone was condescending. "You already know there's more to this

but it wasn't enough. I needed more. I needed

"Tell me the truth. What are

took a step closer and her voice dropped to a near

My blood turned cold.

does that

of the hall where I knew Dr.

by the pounding in my chest. "Some people have their own agendas. And not everyone is interested in curing patients."

knew. I already suspected. I just needed

She didn't.

careful, Angel. Sometimes when you dig too deep, you

and demand more answers, but she was

like the ground had

...

didn't go back into the room

stood in the hallway and stared at the closed door while my hands trembled at my sides. Dr. Nixon's words echoed

everyone is interested in

I knew something was wrong here. But now it felt

like he owned everything. Like he was playing a game and we were all just pawns. I pressed my back against the wall and

him. But how could I tell him that everything he was going through and

...

sitting on the edge of the bed again and staring at his hands. He looked up as I entered and his eyes

asked in a quiet, almost hesitant

head and swallowed the lump in my throat. "Not much. Just... just that we

Hendrix's brow furrowed. "Careful?"

said and sat down

pounded in my chest and I couldn't help glancing at him from the corner

have to look like

away from the annoying and reckless stepbrother I

I

lip and tried to push the thoughts away, but they kept coming back. His skin looked pale and soft in the dim light. The way his jaw clenched when he was deep in thought. The curve of his neck, the line of his shoulders.... Stop.

was Hendrix. He was

he said suddenly and snapped me out of my

blinked and turned to face him. His eyes

shouldn't want him to

But I did.

voice that

brushed against mine and I felt a spark shoot up my arm like

you," he whispered in a low, almost teasing voice. But there was something else there, something deeper. "What's going on? Why's Dr. Nixon suddenly

felt like I couldn't breathe. I couldn't be in that room, so close to

said and tried to change the subject, to distance myself from the pounding in my

slightly.

to say. I didn't know the

I murmured with my back still

it?" he asked and his voice was soft but

my eyes and my fists clenched at my sides. "Don't,"