Serious People Read Online Free Page B

Blake
     
    “Is that the lot?” Emma asked, calling from inside the house.
    John Blake peered into the back of the empty van. I guess that’s me committed then, he thought, as he closed the van doors. And he walked into the house that he was now going to call home, nodding approvingly as he looked around. It was a well-maintained house, decorated by a mind driven by a minimalist nature just like his own.
    Emma leant over the banister. “Are you looking for man tasks that might need doing?” she smiled as she walked down the stairs.
    “I’m not really that type of guy. I'm more of a thinker,” John replied.
    “Oh,” Emma said, suddenly looking disappointed. “I was hoping you were more of a lover...” she added, with a wink, and started to walk back up the stairs.
    John hurried after her.
    An hour later, John was carefully getting out of bed. He was doing his best not to wake Emma as he started to pick up his clothes that were now littered around the bedroom.
    “Hey, where are you going?” Emma said from the bed.
    He jumped, thinking she was asleep. He had hoped to avoid this conversation through the type of silent steps the career he was leaving behind had been built on.
    “I thought you were still asleep.”
    “Really?” Emma said, now sitting up. “Well. I think it’s important for you to note that I’ve only let you move in on very strict criteria.”
    “Babe, seriously I’ve got things to do,” John pleaded.
    “You’re telling me,” Emma replied. “You’ve got to get back to bed.”
    “I should get back to the bar. The guys are probably wondering what’s happened to me,” John added, as he checked himself in the bedside mirror.
    “Your brothers! I thought you were moving on from them!” Emma said, burying her head under the duvet.
    John looked at the door momentarily, then back towards his girlfriend and sat down on the bed again.
    “They’re my brothers. I can’t just move on from them.” John said, uncovering Emma.
    “John that is exactly what you promised you were going to do. You told my father. You were going to take that job at the bank.”
    “I am. But I can’t walk out on my family. I need to break it to them gently. I mean Auntie Mary’s only just met you,” John said.
    “Auntie bloody Mary!” Emma said, sitting back up. “She’s mental! John you’ve got to understand. These types of people; they put their hooks into you. The only way to get away from them is to just walk away!”
    “It’s not just her, but my brothers...” John pleaded.
    He could hear the determination in Emma’s voice and wasn’t sure himself why he was arguing with her. He knew she was right. His family was nothing good—to him or to anyone else.
    “Oh your brothers, of course. Who could forget? Here babe, this is my brother Billy. He's spent most of his life in a young offenders’ prison. What? What for? Oh he just got himself in a few scraps. You know, stabbed a few people... A couple of teachers at school! Oh nice to meet you Billy...” Emma jumped up and mimed shaking hands with John’s brother.
    “Oh and hello Nick. What? You don’t talk? You’re just some kind of mute psychopath? However, you would like to show me that big bloody knife that you carry with you everywhere. Wow! That is normal. These truly are the type of brothers who are really difficult to leave behind. I mean they’re just like the Waltons when you think about it!”
    Emma looked at him, watching for a reaction; John looked away. She was right, as always. There was nothing he could say. What he wanted to say was he needed to go back to finish it with them, finish it for good. To seal the door behind them. What he couldn’t tell her was how her description of his two brothers was actually just the tip of the iceberg; they were far worse than even she imagined. And if he didn’t end it with them the right way, then everything could go wrong. He could imagine Nick slipping in through the bedroom window with a