Brother Dearest

Her alarm beeped just as he leaned in for another kiss. The reaction was immediate.

"Oh my God! I'm so late!" the woman gasped. She ran for her car in a panic, her day of swimming at the beach with her man completely forgotten.

"Late for what?" Tyr asked, barely managing to grab the distraught woman. She looked at the hand on her arm as if she was just remembering her date. Luwanda blinked at him, one hand on the door to her car.

"I have to get over to the jail right now! I'm so late!"

"It isn't too far away, Bliss. Why are you so worked up?"

"Because I should have been there an hour ago!" she cried. "That alarm isn't for my arrival! It tells me when I'm allowed to leave!"

"Wait, wait, stop! Luwanda, calm down and tell me what you're talking about!" He had to pull her away from her car to get her attention.

"Let me go, Tyr! I have to get to my brother!"

"Not until you make me understand," he shouted back, causing her to flinch.

"I… I visit my brother once a week on Saturdays to allow him to yell at me for getting him locked up," she said, looking defeated. "If he vents at me, he doesn't bother the guards or other prisoners as much during the week. It's my penance for having to send him to jail in the first place. I go every Saturday without fail. I only let him vent for one hour. That timer is to remind me when my penance is done for the week. Except I completely forgot about Derek when you offered a date. And now I'm hopelessly late! I have to get to him now." The horrified silence that followed her revelation was expected. "I don't expect you to understand. I don't expect anyone to understand. But you have to let me go. I have to get to my brother and try to sort out this mess."

"Wanda… it's been four and a half years. You mean to tell me that you have let your brother curse you out an hour a week for all that time?"

"...yes…"

"And you intend to do it again tonight?"

"...yes…" she whispered even softer, looking properly chastened. He looked her over, not believing what he was hearing. This woman... this brave, self-sacrificing, foolish woman… If she was to be believed, and she was…

"You've… You've been taking his shit for all this time just to keep him from spewing his venom on some unsuspecting convict or guard?" This time she was only able to nod, staring at the ground.

"I hafta… I have to go now," she whispered, making no move towards her car. "Derek'll be waiting for me." Feeling his eyes boring into her, she finally went to her vehicle.

"Not without me, you're not," Tyr said at last, covering her hand with his own just as she touched the handle. "You are my woman. Where you go, I go."

"Oh Tyr," she breathed, looking up at him with love in her eyes. He caressed her cheek. "You don't… You don't have to go with me this time, baby. These visits are never pleasant. I-"

"Where you go, I go, dear lady. Let's get this over with." With that, he opened her door for her and ushered her inside against her protests. "I want to finish our date with a spar tonight. Let's get this unpleasantness over with so I can touch you all over."

She blushed at the prospect, fumbling with her car keys as he slid into the seat next to her and buckled in. He grabbed her seatbelt and fastened her in, steadying her hands as she dropped the keys a second time.

"It's okay, Bliss. Let's get to the jail before your brother gets too worried." He put the keys in the ignition and started the car for her.

"Worried?" she scoffed, pulling out of her driveway without any more adieu. "He's likely either furious that I'm not there to yell at or rejoicing at the break from my presence." She drove to the jail after that, not sparing a glance at anything but the road.

"Is he still around?" she asked the guard without preamble.

"He's always in his cell unless you call for him, Ms. Jenkins."

"I'm… I'm sorry I'm so late today. It just completely slipped my mind. I was… Well, I was…" She looked over at her companion and found that she couldn't finish her sentence.

"Oh, I know where you were, ma'am," the guard smiled. "The radio is pretty diligent about reporting your whereabouts when you and your suitor are out on the town. People are very interested in that kind of thing."

"I just don't understand why," she griped, forgetting her contriteness in her sudden ire. "My life isn't interesting! I'm just a-"

"A superhero to us good guys," the guard said. "We look to your example, even if we shouldn't or you find it annoying. You've done great things since taking over the companies; don't think no one's noticed."

"But I'm not-"

"I know you're not doing it for attention. Hell, you looked red enough to explode when the board took a pay cut so that your employees could have a Christmas bonus. Especially when everyone found out that 50 percent of that bonus was coming directly from you."

"You remember that?" she blinked.

"Everyone remembers that," he said. Chuckling fondly at the embarrassed look on her face, he decided to spare her. "I've got the guards asking if he'll see you this week. And you," he said, causing both young people to jump at his sudden change in demeanor. "Ms. Jenkins is very important to us who love justice. You break her heart, you'd better clear out of town. 'Cause, there won't be anywhere safe for you, little rich boy."

"I want her for my wife. I intend to spend the rest of my life-"

"Yeah? Well, flowery words and good intentions are one thing. You just see that you treat our girl right. She's a hometown treasure, you take my meaning?"

"Perfectly, sir," Tyr said with respect.

"He's in the usual room," another guard said, looking put out with the prisoner. "If you'll follow me, Ms. Jenkins…" The woman followed without hesitation, her suitor trailing behind to ask the first guard a question.

"If you hold her in such respect, why do you let her do this to herself every week?"

"Ms. Jenkins won't have it any other way. We all treat her with respect around here, even if he doesn't. Between you and me, Derek found things very… difficult around here when he first arrived and used to swear a blue streak at her weekly. He's not as bad now, but…"

"I understand," the PR rep nodded.

"See that you do," the guard sniffed. "Our influence reaches beyond these walls. I know your reputation and the only reason you haven't felt our presence is that you seem to be behaving yourself. Stay that course."

With nothing left to say to convince the guard, Tyr hurried to catch up to his woman. He refused to leave her alone with the hostile man.

"You're late," Derek growled when they entered the room. His large, muscled frame was bolted to the table, his legs shackled. Derek Jenkins looked every inch the hardened criminal, tattoos up and down his arms and a crew cut over cold, dark eyes. His scruffy beard and mustache said that he was about business on the inside and right now he was glaring at his little sister.

"I apologize," Wanda said steadily, sounding contrite without sounding weak. "I mistook the time."

"Really? "Cause it seems to me you were enjoying your time just fine until you remembered your standing appointment with me."

"Your point?"

He growled at her dismissive tone. "My point is, you've been dating this chump for four months now and you've never missed an appointment with me. What changed?"

"He asked me out on a Saturday."

"The fuck does that have to do with anything?" he demanded. But it seemed that his sister was done talking for the hour. Derek wasted no time at all laying into her, letting her have it with both barrels. The fact that she had brought a witness seemed to fuel his temper, leading him to be more cruel than usual. She bore the verbal abuse silently, staring at a point over his shoulder with a blank look on her pretty face. Precisely one hour after she entered the room, she stood up to exit it.

"Bet you wish you hadn't brought the pretty boy here this week," he said.

"See you next week," she said in a dull tone.

"Be on time, bitch," he yelled at her retreating form. "And you? Whatever game you're running on her, wrap it up soon. I want my normal, miserable sister back."

"Get used to disappointment," Tyr announced.

"What did you say, you-"

"I said, 'get used to disappointment'," the man repeated. "I intend to keep your sister blissfully happy for the rest of her life. Oh, she'll still come to you weekly, at least until she's pregnant with my child, I won't have my child exposed to your bile. But once she leaves here, I will attend to her until her smile returns. You have no hold on her."

"You little pissant," Derek glared, straining against his restraints as he hadn't been while cursing out his little sister. "You think she can protect your privileged ass from me?"

"I think my lady deserves better than the guilt you try to give her. You have no one but yourself to blame for your imprisonment. Say whatever you want, you made the decisions that landed you in prison. Why don't you take some fucking responsibility for your actions?" With that final word, he walked away, leaving the elder Jenkins stunned at the contempt in his voice.

No one talked to him like that, not even his parents! On the other hand, when was the last time he'd seen his parents? Last Christmas. His mother had cried the whole time about her 'baby' being locked up while his sister - followed by strong invectives - roamed free. That visit had only lasted a few minutes, his parents begging off at having to 'see him like this'. Luwanda came every week and stayed an hour. Would she stay longer if he - no. That bitch deserved every bit of his bile. She'd even admitted to being responsible for his imprisonment. That asshole didn't know what he was talking about.