I made a promise to my sister, Laura, many years ago: every time you come from school, you'll always have someone to talk about your day with.

From hand paintings to that math teacher she despised; I loved hearing about it and she loved telling me. She was always open with me which is why I never pushed her to tell me about the boys she saw, if any. I really wanted to ask. For her safety? Sure. But mostly for my insecurity towards her.

A couple months ago, I broke that promise when I started seeing Cherry, the love of my life. Over time, Laura became accustomed to an empty couch, and I, the guilt. It wasn't much of a problem when Cherry was around, but when she wasn't, it came crawling back. Now, every time I spot Laura in the hallway of our house, she looks like she wants to kill me. Sometimes I pray at night hoping she does. At least if I'm dead, these words won't haunt me:

A man can't love two women; not without lying.

---

I can hear her bare feet slapping against the tile flooring in the kitchen. They get louder, as per usual, when she sees or hears me. I know if Laura is angry by one of three things: her stomps, her excessive need to make noise, or her exaggerated sighs. She slams the refrigerator shut and lets out a long sigh.

"Sure. I'll pick you up at six." I speak into the wired phone while my shoulder braced against the wall, my back facing the fridge. "I love you too."

I hang up the phone and turn around only to meet Laura.

Her eyes are filled with fire and her words with demand, "She isn't coming over."

"She's my girlfriend, and she is." I question her commanding voice indirectly but politely as possible. Laura's eighteen, and I'm twenty-three. Some would think a five year difference is enough to trounce, or at least make it justified to protest, but not Laura. She's stronger than I am, mentally for the most part. Although she makes me look the fool in front of our family, it makes me appreciate her more. Regardless, I still remained a liar to her, and a bad man.

"You're right. She is your girlfriend." Her face turns red. "She's also a bitch, a whore, and a skank."

"Watch your mouth, Laura.." Or what?, I ask myself.

"Or what?" She crosses her arms in anger. "Lets see... You're already a liar... I guess all that's left is a beater."

Laura squints her eyes and points a finger to her reddening cheek.

"Damn it, Laura, I would never lay a hand on you." I gently move her hand away from her face but she violently jerks her hand back and I respond in an attempt to calm her down, "You know I wouldn't."

"You already have." She ducks her head down and trudges to her room, easing her door shut.

Some men live alone, and some men live with their wives. I live with a lie. It doesn't have beautiful hair, and it doesn't have radiant eyes. It follows me everywhere because it's loyal. But I can't take a second bite of a meal without it clawing at my mind. I can't file for a divorce because it isn't a person. And I can't wake up from it because it isn't a nightmare. I'm Bryan, the breaker of promises.

---

The protective plastic on her couch is starting to bug me.

"So, I can't come to your place 'cause your sister's got a thorn up her ass."

"Don't talk about her that way..." I balk at Cherry.

She takes her arm off my shoulders and looks at me in awe. "And now you're getting mad at me?"

"It's this damned couch and the stupid fucking plastic!" I complain, scrunching the edge of the seat.

The couch isn't making me mad; I was. You can't split humans in half! Cloning myself is a great fantasy except, I'll always be the one stuck with the guilt.

"She's your sister, she'll come around." Cherry replies in an avert tone.

"Why do you love me, Cherry?" I ask out of nowhere.

"Because you're hot, handsome, I don't know?" Cherry replies. "Why are you asking?"

"Do you think liars deserve to be loved?" I inquire as I look at the flickering light bulb above us.

Cherry's legs swing over my body and she puts both her hands on my shoulders. "Depends what you lie for. Now, are we going to have sex or what?"

Cherry is four years older than I; she likes younger men I suppose. She has dark red hair, hazelnut eyes, and skin as pale as paper. She reminds me of a candy-cane for some fucking reason. And every time she talks, she sounds like she's scolding someone; I find that amusing.

The image of Laura sobbing in her room because of me acts as a distraction while Cherry carefully unbuttons my shirt. "Are you going to undress me, or do I have to do that too?" Cherry says in a chastising tone.

"I don't feel like doing this, Cher." I quickly button up. "Not now..."

I oust Cherry up off me and stand from the couch; the plastic retracts where I sat. Cherry follows suit but with a look of disgust across her face. "When then, next year?"

"Maybe. Maybe I don't like sex, maybe I get nervous at the sight of a naked woman, why can't you be okay with that?" I squabbled.

"I don't like your attitude." she contests.

"God, Cherry, not now. I have to do something!" I said, trying to cool down.

"Then do me, or I'll find someone else who will."

My body shudders as my hands finds their way around her throat, "You..."

"Oh... I like it rough!" Cherry growls.

I quickly release my hand and apologize. I almost did what I couldn't to Laura, and I feel like a monster. I don't hurt women, not even the ones who deserve it. Cherry doesn't deserve it. I keep apologizing as I made haste to my car; and it was to the point where I felt I was apologizing to myself.

---

Liars and beaters don't deserve forgiveness, Laura's voice tortures my head. Now I'm hearing non-existing words coming out of Laura's mouth. I question my sanity as I drive faster than usual down the dark roads of my small town. I need reassurance; it isn't to much to ask compared to closure.

Eventually, I turn into the driveway of my parents, Mom's, house.

I walk past Mom in the kitchen into Laura's room but find her door open, and bed empty. I inspect the clothes she wore earlier; they were on the floor. Gone, ten at night? Not customary. Not right.

"Mom, where's Laura?" I ask impatiently, walking into the kitchen.

"Ye 'just missed her. She's gone to her friend's house."

My fists clench at the thought of her being with a boy, and chest sinks as the image of her being touched inappropriately crosses my mind. I think back earlier when my hands were around Cherry's throat. He might be hurting her, the voice in my head tells me. My head feels like a hornet's nest that's been disturbed one too many times.

"God fucking damn it, why would you let her go out this late!" I bark at Mom.

"You know me and Laura aren't close!" Mom replies with an equal tone. "Do you really think denying her is a good idea?"

My breathing becomes erratic as I try to speak but end up pointing my finger at Mom in a patronizing manner.

"Sheesh! I dropped her off at sixty-nine Willfaulkner Street!" Mom raises her hands up. "She can get mad at you, not me."

I didn't let her finish speaking as I run out the door to my car.

---

I send Laura a text message telling her as I was picking her up and needed to speak with her urgently; the urgent part was in bold. She replies only moments after, telling me to go to hell. I'll go to hell after I bring you home.

The red lights seem green, and the yellow lights tell me to floor it. Checking my blind-spot feels irrelevant and detrimental as I swerve in and out of lanes. I speed my way to the address my intelligent mother dropped her off at. I don't blame Mom. Her relationship with Laura was more severed then mine. At least Laura yells at me rather not talk to me at all. Mom once told me she felt alienated from her life. I never bothered to ask Laura about it even before she started hating me. I didn't care who she loved or didn't love, so long as she loved me.

"I can't love both damn it!" I punch the steering wheel, blaring the car horn.

I can't take Cherry on expensive dinners and watch television with Laura at the same time! It isn't humanly possible!

My car finds it's way in front of quite an expensive looking house. Is this the sort of crowd Laura likes to hang out with? When did this happen? I lock the car and walk up the marble steps; there were no railings, surprisingly. I feel stupid that that even matters at this moment. I ring the doorbell and wait impatiently for the door to open, but ultimately, it did.

"Can I help you... sir?" A boy slightly older than Laura answers.

He's wearing messy black hair and worn-out jean shorts with a black vest. A silver chain runs around his neck. The audacity this prick has. I almost start to believe that I'm at the wrong house, but the the number sixty-nine shines golden above the door. A weight of disappointment crushes my chest.

"I'm here for Laura." I ask as politely as possible with my teeth grinding together, and my knuckles itching.

"Who are you, can I ask?" he responds.

I start to smell the cigarettes on him, and in turn, my impatience grows.

"You can ask, but you need to bring my sister right now." I say, still keeping my cool.

"Right.

Laura, babe, your brother's here to pick you up!" he yells behind him.

I didn't notice it, but my right hand starts to shake immensely as if it was having a seizure, and I feel veins popping out from my forehead. The boy looks at my hands and then my face.

"You okay, man?" His childish gangster accent flicks a switch in my head.

Laura approaches the door and stands beside the punk. I quickly grab her and hold her to me with my left arm. "You won't be."

I swing a right hand into the boy's right jaw. In an instant, he holds onto it for his dear life. I swipe both his legs off the floor with my left leg and pounce on him like a deranged psychopath. I could feel Laura's hands on my shoulders as she tries to pull me off the little bastard. With both my hands, I grab his throat and yell into his face, "Call her babe again, you little shit!"

The boy whimpers but I ignore it. I don't care if he has parents, and I don't care if he's my long lost brother. Either way I'm not planning on letting him anywhere near my sister again.

"What did you do with her!" I release his throat and knee his right rib-cage. "What did you do with her!"

"N-n-not--ing!" he shrieks in pain.

"He didn't do anything, Bryan!" Laura yells as she stands beside me. "I didn't let him kiss me, or touch me, or anything!"

I grab the boy's vest and shake him like a coconut tree, "You tried to kiss MY sister?"

The boy tries to beg to Laura for help but she does no such thing as she watches with a slight grin on her face. I let go of the boy and wipe the blood off his face with his vest. My last words as I hold Laura close to me was, "Don't worry.. blood don't show on black."

---

The cold air coming through the open window helps me cool down. The bruises on my knuckles, however, stings. Laura sits on the passenger seat, staring at me; I can see her shock and grins through the corner of my eyes, and the only time I can't was when I check my blind-spot for a lane change. Even then, though, I can feel her eyes on me.

"Why, Laura!" I plea in pain.

"Because I wanted to get fucked." she responds harshly, more worse than I deserve, and it hits me like a train.

My cock stirs slightly even though hearing that makes me even more pissed. Why... I'm seriously considering turning around to do something regretful to the boy, but locking Laura up in her room sounds more relieving.

"Why..." I don't know how to continue my question, or statement, or whatever it is.

"Because I'm a girl, and I'm hot, and bending over to show off my ass to guys just isn't good enough." she sinisterly replies.

My red knuckles soon turn white as they grip the steering wheel tight. My hands feel like exploding, following my head, and my chest, and my heart, and everything else that can cause me excruciating pain. Nothing can be more hurtful than the filth that spews out of my innocent sister's mouth.

"Damn it, Laura, do I really deserve this treatment!" I wail but without the tears; the heat of my anger evaporates them all.

"I'm joking, Bryan..." Laura incredulously replies and looks down.

"Joking?" I deliriously respond. "Laura, I would have murdered that boy for you if you weren't there!"

"Really...?"

"I told you I'd never hurt you. What do you think I'd do the person who would?" I sigh.

"Now you know how I feel when you're with Cherry."

"Laura, you have no idea what I'm feeling!" I don't know either. And there's probably no medical term for it, not one that comes to mind.

"Like hell I don't, Bryan!" she whines.

The night's getting darker and more dangerous to drive in. We're in our part of town. The part where no light posts work, the only source of light being from houses.

"The first couples of days you started seeing Cherry, I sat on the sofa waiting for you. I didn't know where you were, and you never told me." Laura explains. "One time, I sat on the sofa waiting for you all night. When you finally came, it was morning and I was asleep."

I gulp five times but the sadness in my throat doesn't go away.

"And then you brought her home. The first thing I wanted to do was grab a knife from the kitchen and plunge it right through her heart." Laura laughs hysterically, "But the funny thing was, you deserved it more than her. But... that never occurred to me because I didn't want it to."

She pauses to look at me, "You want to know why?"

"Yes." I choke and feel a tear run down my lips.

"Because I love you, ...and I always will." I can feel Laura's smile in the darkness of the car.

I pull up to our driveway, turn to Laura, and cup her face. "I love you too, little sister.."

"You do. But not the way I want you to."

"And what way is that?" I reply.

At that moment, she leaps over to the driver's seat and sinks her tongue halfway down my throat. My hands find the back of her soft brown hair and it finds their way between my fingers. Laura pulls her tongue out and licks an 'X' across my face before sucking on my bottom lip. I want her to love me but this isn't what comes to mind, because it never crosses it, because it's wrong! Her lips and tongue crawl its way down my neck and I hold onto her for my life because I don't know what else to do and I don't want her to hate me. I don't want things go back to what they were hours ago!

"Lets go inside, baby..." she whispers into my ear.

---

My fingertips first comes into contact with the bare skin of her back under her shirt. We're locked away from Mom's snoring, in the safety of Laura's room and on her bed.

She grinds her crotch against the bulge in my pants before I gently hold her back.

"Does loving me need to be kissing, and your crotch rubbing up against mine?" I question.

"Am I not prettier than Cherry, Bryan?" she frowns.

"Fuck her. And you're a millions times more beautiful than she is." I say, matter-of-factly.

She rewards me with a long, wet kiss on my lips before looking down at me again, "Then you don't love me..." she pouts.

I pull her body into mine and rip her shorts off before grabbing her ass and grinding my tent up against her crotch.

"Oh..." she moans.

"Oh... wow.., Laura..." I reply, feeling every bit of pleasure as her. "Get on your knees." I say, sliding from underneath her.

Her naked butt faces me and my drooling doesn't stop. Her head turns to face me. "What are y-"

My tongue licks around her asshole as my hands massage both her butt cheeks. "Think I don't notice when you bend over for me?" I speak as I slurp my saliva from between her cheeks.

"Uh... Uh... I just wanted you to...uh... notice... me..." she tries to coherently speak but fails. "To love me..."

"You've got my love, princess." I say as I turn her around, onto her back, and place both her legs over my shoulders.

She gasps as I plunge mouth face-first into her dripping pussy. She tastes sweet as honey as if she showered before she left the house. Her hands pushes my mouth and nose further into her, and I find myself having a hard time breathing. Eventually, she pulls my head by my hair and lets me breathe.

I peer into her brown eyes as her warm, wet lips enclose around the head of my cock. I become extremely impatient as she licks the slit to tease me, so I begin fucking her head. She gags a bit and I can feel her nails on the bare of my butt.

"You like sucking your brother's cock, don't you, baby?"

She tries to nod but I shove my...