"I should have been there." (oh the pain)
“Don’t…” He said, placing a hand over the scar as if to mask it from his sister. “Don’t do that to yourself, Yance.”
“I should have” she trailed off bitting her lip “I should have fought harder, I should have made sure this didn’t happen”
“You shouldn’t have to take care of me all the time, Yance. I’m a grown man.” He stood up, pulling his sleeve down a bit more.
“You may be all grown up, but you’re always going to be my little brother.” she put her hand on his shoulder “Rals, you’re always going to be, even a little bit, my responsibility”
He eased at the touch, relaxing slightly. Eyes closing for just a moment. He’d missed their mother terribly after she died and since then, he’d always looked to older sister as a sort of figure to take her place in times like these.
Right now, he resisted the urge to lay his head against her chest and wrap his arms around her. “I should be protecting you. Dad always said that.”
He was her little brother, the kid she beat people up for, the one who crawled in her bed when he was scared, the kid who was always there for her, of corse she wanted to protect him. “If you’re gonna do that at least let me return the favor”