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Susie froze when he kissed her, as if the whole thing would turn out to be a dream if only she didn’t acknowledge it. She’d spent so much of her life not acknowledging the little things her brother did, and that had always been the best way, not to fight or make a fuss. When the kiss didn’t stop, though, panic won out over practicality and she slapped his face. Or rather, she tried to, but probably hurt her own hand more than him.
JJ stepped away, and his face showed no sign that he’d registered her offense. In fact, he was smiling.
“Susie,” he said in a voice so soft it was almost reassuring. “Let’s not fight. We can’t go on not trusting each other.”
“Can’t we?”
She flinched when he brushed his fingers along the side of her face, but didn’t make any move against him. What was the point?
“Susie, you’re the most precious, beautiful thing in this whole dirty city. Don’t ask me to pretend otherwise.” She could have tried to move on now, to lie that the kiss had never happened- but then his lips were on her again, and now he held her arms and she couldn’t escape even if she were brave enough to try. She made a plaintive sound, and JJ nuzzled up against her, attempting to soothe her fears- or quiet them.
Even when he stepped away, Susie was more aware of his touch than ever; her beautiful dress, the pearls around her neck, her imported perfume, all of them had been presents from her brother. One way or another, she could feel him on her skin, and she had never refused that kind of generous touch. She looked down at the ground, trying to catch her breath and steady herself, and was reminded that he’d even bought her silk stockings.
The door wasn’t locked, he wasn’t a jailer. He wouldn’t chase her, he wasn’t a street criminal. He wouldn’t strike her, he wasn’t a brutish husband. Silk stockings or no, her own two feet could carry her away and out the door. Susie looked up at her brother, the person who had loved her the most her whole life, and began to cry.
“Darling…” JJ whispered.
A few steps to the door. She couldn't make it.