Control
"You have to stop me," he said to Cassie, as soon as he could get her alone. It was easier to say in the daylight. He tried to keep his voice even, but to his own ears it didn't sound like he had succeeded.
They were walking together toward Lisa's house, to meet her and head to the beach. It was another gray, muggy day. There seemed to be far more of them this year than summers past.
Cassie stopped abruptly, turned and stared defiantly at him from behind her bangs.
"You can't keep letting me do this to you," he told her. He couldn't maintain eye contact, instead letting his eyes wander off behind her, looking around, looking for anything else to focus on. The intensity in her eyes unsettled him.
She reached for his hand. He jerked it away.
"You're not doing anything to me that I don't want," she said flatly.
It was his turn to stay quiet.
She stepped forward to hug him, pressing the side of her face into his chest. He fought off the urge to step back, but he didn't hold her, either. When he kept his hands stiffly at his sides, she pulled herself up to kiss him on the mouth. Her lips were soft and gentle.
He immediately felt the need to hold her tightly, to force her mouth wider and make the kiss more passionate. So he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away instead.
"Cassie, I'm your brother. You can't let me keep fucking you."
She tried to pull him into another kiss, but he pushed her again and spun away, walking quickly down the street. Cassie hurried to catch him, grabbing and holding his hand as they walked. He didn't look at her, but he didn't pull it away. She let him tow her along by the hand, just like when she was very, very little.
They didn't talk about it any more that day, or the next. Cassie respected his request. She still clung to him, and touched him when she could. He caught her looking at him frequently, and she caught him doing the same.
But they stopped having sex.
* * *
Brad heard her come into his room. He kept his eyes closed, but he knew she was there. It was close to three AM, and he'd been awake all this time, thinking about her, unable to sleep, just like the other nights. He should have been exhausted, having spent the past days thinking about everything incessantly. He should have fallen asleep instantly, but he couldn't stop thinking about her.
He felt the bed give slightly as she sat down beside him. In the hot muggy nights up here he always pushed the covers off. He slept naked, too, so his body was exposed to her now. She ran her fingertips up the length of his body, from his knees to his neck. He felt her lips kiss him gently on the forehead and the nose. He waited for her to kiss his lips, but she passed over them to his chin, then his neck and chest, working her way down.