Taste

Almost as soon as I stepped into the house, I noticed something.

Groceries were piled on the worktops, along with my sister's mobile; abandoned. That wasn't like her, she was almost never off that damned thing.

I called out her name, but I was greeted with only silence.

What. The. Fuck.

I looked at the coat rack, seeing that Zach's stuff wasn't there also. He finished school before me, why wasn't he home?

So, I trotted towards the counters, grabbing her pink bedazzled phone and unlocking it – Tam never password-protected her device. I scrolled through her messages, finding the last one from my nephew. He said he was having dinner at a friend's.

Well, that was that reassured, then. On the other hand, where was my sister?

Her last message was to our father, saying only that I was doing well. I gritted my teeth.

However, I ascended the stairs, inspecting the hallway. Nothing was out of place or broken, so that was a good sign. I didn't think that I could stomach another attack.

There wasn't much noise to go on, but I could distinguish muffled breaths. That was enough for me to kick open my sister's bedroom door.

"What the..."

Feeling the heat escalate to my neck and face, I'd have shut the door again, if I was capable. But my eyes were wide open, my body frozen, as I witnessed the display in front of me.

"Emmy! Maybe next time knock?" My sister almost shrieked as Darren's hands fell from her neck. Her skin was bruised and turning black.

She was kneeling naked in the middle of the room, massive breasts hitting his barely concealed crotch.

I averted my gaze.

"Sorry, I called for you but nobody answered."

Hearing Darren pull up his trousers, I could only guess that I'd get scolded later. I remained by the doorframe as he passed, a shaky grin on his lips.

"Sorry you had to see that. Catch you girls downstairs?"

Both of us nodding, we didn't say another word until his foot hit the bottom step. He knew we were close and played it against us, for fun, of course.

I examined the serious bruising on Tam's flesh. Stepping forward so I could touch it, see if it was real, I was still somehow tense when she didn't back off.

Tracing their defined shape, they were an unhealthy addition to the marks my sister had endured for the past few years. But, luckily, these might fade – it just depended on her.

"He's a suit; they're kinky bastards." She shrugged.

I grunted.

"Yeah, maybe."

I left it at that, coming downstairs to find Darren browsing through his mobile. There was a heavy crease on his forehead, but I'd be stupid if I assumed.

He pocketed it and raised his head, brown eyes meeting with mine. They were soft, no different from their usual state, as far as I knew.

"Emmy?" When I made a noise close to a response, he took a stride forward. "I hope I didn't frighten you. You caught us experimenting in a new... position. It, uh, wasn't for me."

I didn't think I'd ever seen him like this before. We weren't the closest of people, but I know what I saw.

"Oh. That's alright."

After that, I convinced him to stay. With the promise of a good home-brewed coffee and a packet of Custard Creams, we finally got around to talking like normal adults. That was the thing about Darren – he made you forget about everything, big or small.

Tam ran out to the shop for extra groceries, leaving us alone. I hadn't been solely on my own with him for quite a while. It was different, it felt new.

Yet, my mind swirled with questions. The least accusing of them being; why was he still here? I knew I could be a hoot, but seriously, wasn't he like a business tycoon?

I liked Darren and all but, clearly (like everyone else), we didn't talk much.

Which, in its own way, was saddening. How could I ever expect anything to come out of this if we never made the time to connect?

Whoa, stop yourself right there, Emmy. You can't let that silly crush of yours come slamming back. Getting rid of it was hard enough.

"Darren?" I piped up. I was leaning against the counter, the edge of it in my human hands.

"Yes?"

Flicking hair away from my face, I gazed wondrously, at the same time wondering about what went on in that pretty head of his. Tam would tell me it would be a horror to see the thoughts of some, but I reckoned Darren wasn't like that. He seemed... I still really didn't know, but I bet he liked the quiet.

The moisture gone, I ran my tongue along my bottom lip. His eyes never left mine.

"I..." Fuck, I couldn't do it. "I hope you get home safe."

Smiling softly, he advanced towards me. His steps were gentle, showing that he was indeed nothing more than a giant. And when he stood only centimeters away, I could no longer think about Tam, or the messy situation that happened upstairs, or even what I'd planned to tell him.

All I could concentrate on at that particular moment was the sharp, soothing scent of his cologne. I wish I knew if he tasted like that too.

He raised a hand and grazed it against my throbbing cheek, seemingly more careful than anyone before him.

"Always. Take care, I'll see you soon."

Then, I watched him leave, biting into the final custard cream as he shut the door. I couldn't begin to describe how much I wished I was that stupid biscuit.

Internally damning myself, I grabbed my sister's mobile and looked to see if my nephew had updated her. No such luck, he hadn't.

It wasn't long before Tam came strolling through the door again, vegetables in her puffy arms. She looked like she'd ran a marathon.

"Hey girlie, wanna help?"

Providing an extra arm, I did as she pleased. Unloading food was somehow like therapy to me. If you counted more than ten tins of baked beans, then you knew you were in for a nostalgia trip.

A baked beans toastie. When I was younger, and Tam in her mid-teens, whenever we were left home alone, we survived off those. Some beans were hot, others fried, or still cold from the aluminium casing; it wasn't the quality of food that kept us coming back for more.

A mere fifteen minutes later, we were huddled together on the couch, a blanket draped across our laps as we devoured our shitty tea.

We'd stuck on a Tom Hanks film, but the volume was so low that it didn't seem real. When I looked at her through my peripheral vision, she was doing that quiet laughing thing she'd made habit of through the years.

It was a shame someone had to make her feel like doing so was such a horrid thing.

When it hit half seven, the doorbell pinged. On her way to the toilet, Tam insisted I bring them in, in case they overstayed their welcome outside.

Throwing the blanket off, I bounced towards the door, not even peeping through the spyglass first.

Which, must I point out, was idiotic.

Because, when I threw the wood door open, standing there, about to ring the bell a second time, was the shape of a man I never wished to gaze upon again.

His face full-healed, beauty overthrowing everything real, it would've made anybody lose breath.