Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

JULIEN

I involuntarily clench Elijah's hand as we guardedly watch from the couch as Jay restlessly paces the floor, waiting for Ry to return. He texted a few minutes ago. Liz forgot to pack the clothes she left in Ry's closet, so he's coming back to get them.

After a little over a week, Liz decided to move out. It's not like she lived here, but I'd gotten used to having her around. The place feels emptier, less vibrant, without her here. Then again, Jay's current doom and gloom would suck the happiness right out of any room.

My eyes track my twin as he carves a worn path on the living room rug. Things are about to go down. I feel it. Elijah feels it, too. I knew the truce between Jay and Ry wouldn't last. A confrontation between them over Liz was inevitable. And since she's no longer staying here, it seems that confrontation is about to happen as soon as Ry walks in. However, I'm not going to sit by and watch my brother ambush my best friend. So I wait, and I watch.

The big question I've been going back and forth about since Liz told me she and Ry were together is whose side will I choose. When it comes down to it, will I back my brother or my best friend? I guess the answer ultimately comes down to Liz. I'll stand by her and her choice, just like she did for Elijah and me. Liz wants to be with Ryder.

I'm still torn, though, because Jay is my twin, my other half. It makes me angry. Not at him but at fate or destiny or whatever the fuck it is that keeps messing with the lives of the people I love.

Jay suddenly stops pacing. I sit up straighter. The thud of my pulse feels like a doomsday clock counting down. Five… the turn of the lock. Four… the opening of the door. Three… the sound of the door closing. Two… Ryder's footsteps on the laminate wood floor. One.

"You and I need to talk."

Ry stops in front of the open archway of the living room. His head drops. He sighs. It's like he knew it, too.

"Say what you need to say, Jay."

Jay doesn't say anything. Before Elijah and I know what's happening, he flies forward and smashes his fist into Ry's face. Ry stumbles to the side but doesn't go down. A trickle of blood oozes from the corner of his bottom lip.

I make my choice.

I'm off the couch and pushing between the two of them before Jay can get off another punch.

I stand in front of Ryder, shielding him from Jay.

"Move."

"No," I reply.

He tries to push past me, but Elijah checks him. Ryder acts like nothing happened and walks into the kitchen. He comes back, holding a chilled bottle of water to his mouth.

"That's the only free shot you're getting. I hope it was worth it," Ryder tells him. "You said you wanted to talk, so talk."

Jay rubs his knuckles down his jeans. Ry may not fight like Jay does, but he's built like a fucking brick shithouse, so I know Jay's hand must hurt like hell.

"Fuck you," Jay spits.

I one-arm him to stay put, not taking any chances. "I'll beat the crap out of both of you if you start fighting. Liz wouldn't want this."

"You're a piece of shit," Jay hurls at him.

Ry scoffs in disbelief. "You're fucking kidding me. If memory serves correctly, not too long ago, I poured my heart out to you about my feelings for Elizabeth, and you ran off in the night and stole her away."

"I couldn't steal something from you that was never yours to begin with. She chose me, not you."

Ry's eyes narrow and heat, the light brown charring to an ominous black.

"And now she's choosing me," he replies gravely.

I don't like the half smirk that forms on Jay's face. He's about to go for the jugular.

"She will never be truly yours. I was her first love. Her first kiss. Her first time."

Ry flinches.

"She was going to marry me. Spend the rest of her life with me ." Jay's voice breaks, and he spears Ry with a gaze full of spite. "Her memories are coming back. She's remembering, and there is no kiss, no touch, no word you will ever say that will prevent her from running back to me the minute she does. It's only a matter of time. So enjoy your second chance while you have it."

It breaks my heart when I see Ry's slight tremble at Jay's vitriolic words, each one like an arrow shooting straight through his heart. For the first time in my life, I'm ashamed of my brother. I want Ry to say something, defend himself. But he says nothing, so I do it for him.

"Liz wants to be with him. She chose him. Ry respected her choice when it was you. He deserves the goddamn same from you now."

Elijah completely takes me by surprise when he says, "Babe, I have to agree with Jay. If Liz gets her memory back, she's going to break Ryder's heart."

I love this man more than anything, but I can't stand by and say nothing when he's wrong.

Liz never cheated on Jay. She didn't leave him to be with Ry. With the situation reversed, she won't do that to Ry either, memories or no memories.

"She wouldn't do that. And stop enabling him by feeding into his delusions that she will."

"Thanks a lot. Fuck you, too," Jay gripes.

Elijah stares me down, hurt and emotional, waiting for an apology. One I want to give him, even when I don't agree with what he said. But he never gives me the chance.

"You're too involved because it's Liz ." Turning his back to me, Elijah cuffs Jayson's shoulder. "I'm here if you need me. Call anytime."

"Thanks, E."

And then, Elijah walks out. What the fuck?

"Where are you going?"

"The dorms," he says and slams the front door closed.

The anger that had been building erupts. "This shit has to stop. Both of you need to grow the fuck up and act like adults. I'm not putting Elijah through any more of the Ryder-Jayson-Liz love trifecta from hell. Liz deserves to be with whoever she fucking wants to be with. She isn't a toy to be fought over or a prize to be won. Hasn't she suffered enough? Haven't we all?"

Leaving that to sink in, I storm out to catch Elijah.

"E, wait!" I shout when I see him crossing the parking lot to his car.

"Not in the mood to fight."

I jog over to him, back him up against the driver's side of his car and kiss him. It's not a sweet or soft kiss. It's a kiss that stands on top of the mountain and shouts to the world, "I love you!"

"Who says we're fighting?"

I kiss him again.

A goofy smile appears. "Okay."

I pickpocket his keys and double-tap the button to unlock the car doors. "Want to get out of here?"

"Where to?"

"Wherever fate takes us."

Streetlights illuminate the interior in fast succession as we drive down a quiet side street.

"Where is fate taking us tonight?" Elijah asks.

"You tell me."

"If I tell you, it's not fate." He brandishes a quarter from his pocket and flicks it. It flips over in the air before landing heads up. "Right."

I indicate with my blinker before slowing down and turning right.

In high school, we would go for long drives. Windows rolled down, the wind in our hair, and music blaring. The destination wasn't important. Sometimes, we'd flip a coin to guide us which direction to go. Heads for right turns, tails for left. We discovered some cool places doing that, like The Rage Room. It's this bizarre but really cool place where you pay money to spend an hour destroying stuff. They had staged rooms filled with things you could smash and break 'til your heart was content. They even had cars. It was wild and surprisingly fun.

"Right," he says after another coin toss.

The only problem with this game is that you can wind up almost right back where you started if the coin keeps coming up the same.

"Left."

The almost full moon reflects off the still surface of a lake that parallels the road to the right, its waters breaching the low bank, swollen from last night's torrential thunderstorms that rumbled through.

"I'm sorry."

The seat belt fully extends when Elijah leans over the console and rests his head on my shoulder. "Me, too."

All the shit from minutes before is forgiven. It's that simple.

"Fall break is coming up next month. I won't have soccer practice, and you don't have to work. Want to go somewhere, just the two of us?"

We need a break. Some peace and quiet. Time alone together without all the chaos or drama.

"I'd love that. Where were you thinking?"

With one hand on the wheel, my free hand reaches for his. "I was thinking of going camping."

Elijah's head lifts from my shoulder, and from my peripheral vision, I can see the stunned look on his face.

"You serious?"

"I am."

Mr. Barnes would take Elijah camping every summer. He loved that time with his dad. They didn't get to go this summer. I don't like camping. Being bitten by mosquitoes and kept up all night by weird noises isn't appealing. But I'll do it for him.

"It'll be like Hawaii but with sunrises over the Blue Ridge Mountains instead of the Pacific Ocean."

"Hawaii was?—"

The nightmarish sound of crunching metal fills my ears. Glass peppers my face in a sudden explosion. The airbags deploy, and the seat belt catches my body when it violently flies sideways. Everything goes topsy-turvy as the car spins a three-sixty and tumbles down a small embankment before smashing into water.

Screams fill the car. From me, from Elijah. I can't tell.

Elijah. Save Elijah.

But I can't because the darkness dragging me under won't let me go.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I love you. My Angel.