And you've set | Rafe Cameron

C H A P T E R 26

A TERRIBLE BROTHER

In the car, Callie bit her nails, anxious. She eyed Cooper most of the time, or gazed at the road, resting her head on the window.

She didn't know how but her friends had learnt about it, so she received a thousand calls she decided not to reply to.

"Coop?" he only nodded as an answer.

"It might be because of me"

"What?" he seemed not to understand what she was talking about.

"It's my fault if he found codeine. I bought it and he probably took some after I forgot to put it away in it's place"

Cooper pulled over, parked the car and looked at his sister. "What- what do you mean? why did you buy codeine? couldn't you just use other pain killers?"

"I don't know I knew he was allergic but I didn't know it could kill him so I didn't worry that much"

"Damn Cal," he took a deep breath before looking at the road and resting his head on the steering wheel. "He died, and you're telling me it's because of you?"

"No I'm not-"

"Yes Cal it's your fucking fault, just the way it always is okay? I tried being nice to you recently, I tried understanding you and being a good brother for you because you were clearly not going okay, but maybe I shouldn't have been nice at all," a tear fell down her cheek as he finished talking.

She stayed silent, looking at her brother. How could he be so mean?

"I shouldn't have been nice at all because you've always been an horrible niece to him and he died because of you not paying attention to him"

"Don't you think you're going a bit too far? How could I predict it would kill him? Don't you dare telling me it's not surprising that he died only because of this?" she cried, not believing a single second he meant what he said.

Something also felt wrong, and as much as Cooper was denying it, they both knew dying because of pain killers was a little too much.

"You still killed him"

"I didn't k- you know what? I'm gonna walk home" she opened the door but Cooper grabbed her wrist before she got the chance to leave.

"You're not going anywhere playing the victim like that"

"What if I actually am? What if this whole time you didn't realise your little sister was being abused? What if every time James was hitting me you weren't there to help me?" she breathed and went ahead.

"Where the hell were you this whole time uh?"

"What?" he asked letting go of her wrist.

"Coop look I-" she sobbed, taking her face in her hands.

She stayed silent for a long time, and so did he. She sobbed silently, remembering everything she had been through alone.

"Why didn't you tell me anything?"

"Because I couldn't, or it would have been worse"

Cooper didn't talk, stayed silent, and his gaze became empty, realising.

"My god," he approached her, hugged her, and they cried together.

"I'm sorry," he told her many times. It was just too much for both of them, they were not ready to go through it again. "I suck at being a good brother"

Cooper and Callie stayed silent during the test of the way, both of them not daring to break it.

She didn't realise yet, that she would have to live on her own, with her brother. She didn't know how she felt about it.