“Bobby?” I called out, slamming the front door behind me.

I raced upstairs to the bedroom and found Bobby pressing his forearm against Rory’s neck, pinning his brother against the wall.

“. . . Never touching her again.” —The end of the sentence I walked in on.

Rory twisted and grunted under Bobby's hold. Rory had a fresh cut under his eye where I assume Bobby hit him.

“Stop it!” I cried. I didn't want Bobby to do this. I didn't want him to become ugly for me.

Bobby did a double take at the door. “Lilly, dammit. Why didn't you just go back?”

“I'm not leaving you,” I replied. “Just let him go. You proved your point. Look at him.”

Bobby looked back at his brother, studying him for a moment, and then released him. Rory collapsed, still drunk and now beaten up.

“Get whatever you need from here,” Bobby panted.

Rory rolled onto all fours and let out a few hacking coughs. “Where are you going? She's my wife . . . you can't take her.”

“It's over Rory,” I said.

“You're helping her?” Rory asked. Still oblivious to the betrayal. His trust for Bobby so deep, he couldn't even conceive it.

Bobby looked down. “She's coming with me. For good.”

“For good . . .?” Rory's voice trailed. His bloodshot green eyes grew in disbelief. “Wait . . . wait . . . you have to be fucking kidding me.” He got up to one knee.

“Stay down,” Bobby commanded.

Rory labored his way to his feet. “My wife? My fucking wife!” Rory shouted.

“She's Lilly. She doesn't belong to you. You and I knew her way before she ever had a title. But you forgot that. You forgot who she was.”

“You're my blood,” Rory sneered.

“I'm sorry, but you had your chance. And you blew it. Many times,” Bobby replied. “How about Barbie? Did you think about your wife then?”

I raced through my closet as the brothers battled. I wanted to leave as quickly as we could. I didn't want to stay around for any more arguing. I felt like the countdown was still ticking. That things weren't over yet.

Rory sniggered to himself. “Oh god. You guys were fucking those two weeks at the lake house? When you said you would be up there fixing it, huh? I fucking trusted you! How long? Huh? How fucking long?” He looked over Bobby's shoulder, his gaze fixed on me. “Lilly? Tell me!”

I stopped packing and in took a deep inhale. “A long time.”

I watched Rory struggle with the mental math. “Before he left?” he asked me, as if Bobby wasn't in the room.

I nodded.

Rory laughed incredulously to himself. “Before we married?”

I nodded.

“Oh my god,” he crouched down and buried his hands in his head. “How the hell was I so blind? You two. Always at each other. I wondered why you were so angry when he left. Why I could find a way to forgive him and you were still so bitter. Is this why you never wanted me after we married?”

I looked down shamefully at my belongings. If there was a way I could have done this without hurting Rory, I would. Even after learning of his affair with Barbie, I didn’t enjoy this feeling. This wasn’t a competition to see who could hurt the other more.

Rory stood up tall and lurched towards me, but Bobby stood in his way. “My brother, Lilly? My fucking brother. The only family I have left!”

The tears flowed as he said those final words. Because I wasn't just taking Rory's brother away from him. I was taking Bobby's too.

“I'm sorry,” I cried. “I tried. I tried to make us work.”

He spit on the floor. “You both can go to hell.”

Bobby looked down to the floor as he took the blow of those words. Then he forced himself to look towards Rory’s raging brow. “You'll always be my brother,” Bobby promised.

“Well, I'd hate to see what happens to your enemies if this is how you treat your brother, you son of a bitch.”

I latched my suitcase shut. “Let's go.”

“So just like that? You're just leaving me here? No car. On my own?”

“I'm leaving my car here, but we won't help you with Barbie. Take some responsibility for what you did. Turn yourself in,” I implored.

Rory looked back at Bobby. “And you. You fucking snake. You fucking left, you let us think you were dead. You came back and disrupted our lives. I never questioned you. I just welcomed you back with open arms. And you took everything! You took everything!”

Rory's rage resurfaced as he jumped on Bobby.

“Stop!” I called out. But the brothers were wrestling in the upturned bedroom. It wasn't long before Bobby was on top of Rory, pinning him down. “You fucking killed a woman today. You held your wife captive. You hurt her. You are lucky that all I did was punch you in the face,” he snarled. “If I stand up, and you come for me again. I'm going to have to drop you, Rory.”

Rory wrangled under his grip. But against his sober, and more battle-experienced brother, he was no match.

“Fine,” he submitted through gritted teeth.

Bobby stood cautiously. “I'm giving you 24 hours to find an attorney and get your affairs in order. If you haven't turned yourself in . . . we will. You can't run away from this one. It's only a matter of time before they discover it was you.”

Rory grimaced and gripped the back of his neck as he nodded, agreeing to the terms.

“Ready?” Bobby asked, as he half-turned to me, keeping an eye on his brother.

“Yes.”

Bobby stepped aside for me to exit first. I looked over at Rory, my puffy eyes saturated with tears. Even when you want to leave the past behind, even when you want to run from it and never look back, it hurts to look it in the eyes and say goodbye. “Take care of yourself,” I said, pulling my bag off the bed to head to the door.

I walked through the slim space between the bed and the Lightly men when a hand clenched around my ankle and stopped me in my tracks. “Don't go Lilly. I'm sorry. You're right. I was an ass. I'll do better. Don't leave me alone here. Haven't I always taken care of you? Bobby doesn't know how to stay in one place.”

I looked up at Bobby, whose glare had grown as hard as steel. I looked back down at Rory, weak, sloppy, desperate. “Maybe you tried, but it was never supposed to be us.” I kicked my leg away and marched out of the room without looking back, the tears I had saved for Rory finally swimming down my cheeks.

Bobby didn't follow me directly. I waited just outside the room.

“You are one selfish son of a bitch, you know that, Bobby? You broke mom and dad's hearts when you dropped out of school, and then just up and left, sending them a letter here and there if they were lucky. You think I didn't want to drop everything and travel? You think I wanted all the responsibility? But one of us had to be here. One of us had to grow up! We all can't just run away from our responsibilities! You just do whatever you want. Take whatever you want. Do whatever makes you feel good. Everyone else be damned!”

Rory snickered to himself, before continuing. “When people would ask about you, I would defend you. Tell them, ‘That's just Bobby. He's a great guy. He just does things differently.’ But you only care about yourself. You do what you want to do . . . everyone else is left to deal with the consequences.”

I waited impatiently, hoping Bobby would just let the words slide off his back and leave. But he wouldn't go so quietly.

“You'll always be a victim of your circumstances, Rory. For once, just take responsibility for the mess you're in. Don't blame Lilly or Barbie or me. Just look around you and see that you chose this life.”

“We can't all choose the easy way out,” Rory sniped.

Bobby snickered incredulously. “The easy way? You think leaving everything I knew behind was easy? You think I wanted to go the way I did? I did it so that you and Lilly could be free of me. I stood there and watched the woman I loved marry you. My insides ripped apart and I stood there with a smile because I wanted you to be happy! So did Lil!” He took a deep breath. “I was alone out there. I couldn't look at mom and dad knowing what I had done. And I have paid for my sins, Rory. You have no idea the things I have seen out there.”