Chapter Twenty Seven

I SAT SILENTLY ON MY motorbike for the evening, my legs perched over the handlebars and leaning backward with my arms behind my head. My view was nothing but spectacular.

For the third year in a row, I overlooked the city that was once mine as the sun collapsed behind it. Not all that far from the place I never thought would be the last place I'd see her.

I hadn't been back there since then. I couldn't. Everything reminded me of her. Everyone reminded me of her.

For the third year in a row—to the day—I'd lost myself in every sacred moment I had with her. The woman I called my sister. My heart ached for home…her. But she was gone. And yet the memories weren't, as much as I tried to forget. They stayed with me, even after I had burned everything after she left.

Everything.

It was her birthday, or what we called her birthday. The day we found her. And it was the hardest day within the other three hundred and sixty four days of hell that I had to push myself through.

"Happy birthday, T—Blaire," I mumbled under my breath as I looked at one of the shooting stars above the city. Three years later, and my hell hadn't gotten any easier. Would it? Probably not. I could deal with losing my brother, my twin. But losing Blaire was the hardest fucking thing in my life.

I closed my eyes for a moment, listening to the silence of the road when my phone buzzed. Weird, no one has this number?

Unknown number: I miss you

My heart sank. Even without any context, I knew it was her. I left the message on read, deciding to put my phone back in my jacket and not reply. I hated her. If you did, you would have deleted the message.

"Fuck," I sighed. Seconds passed and it buzzed again. I flicked my screen alive.

Unknown number:I know you're ignoring me

I hovered my thumb over the keys for a moment, then tapped my reply. Slowly.

Me: What do you want Blaire?

The three dots appeared quickly and then the message filled my screen. My heart rate was intensifying for some reason.

Unknown number:Blaire now?Jeez, that cold?I haven't been that bitch since we were kids

I didn't reply straight away. I knew she was playing games with me, and I wasn't fucking having it. Did I really mean so little to her? All I wanted since the day she left was for her to apologise. And maybe we could have moved on. But she left me when I needed her most. She left me when she needed me the most.

Me:You are Blaire. Nothing more, and nothing less

I licked my lips, wiping away the salty tear that had buried itself there. I sighed deeply and hit send. It was a complete fucking lie. She was, and always would be, Twister. She wasn't Blaire. Not really.

Unknown number:So bitter. And on my birthday?

Unknown number:Hey, fun fact…sometimes I thought of him when I fucked you, but then I remembered…he was dead. And his baby too. And then I was stuck with his weak twin instead

Whiplash.

That was what I fucking had. A full whirlwind of what-the-fuck.? I considered throwing away my phone and never owning one again, but I didn't.

His baby?

Is that what all this was about?It didn't make any sense. I drew my palm over my head and rubbed it, looking for an answer I didn't have. The night I found her in the bathroom, with the bleach and… the coathanger…that was that? My stomach flipped. Doesn"t she know that I was the one who was always there for her? Me. Not Cole. Not her parents. Not mine. Me.

Me: Why are you doing this?

I hit send, not knowing what else to say to her. Everything hurt. Everything ached. All I wanted was to hold her and tell her that I loved her. Make her believe me. Inject the words into her brain. I fucking love you. Nothing could come between us—not even what she had done. I wanted to tell her that I would have never abandoned her. I couldn't hate her for what she did, I tried to, but I could never.

If only she could see that.

Unknown number: Because I hate you

Drip:Oh yeah? Well guess what? Sometimes, I hate you!

Unknown number:Then come and fuck me like you hate me… big brother

I waited. Waited for the words to come to me.

Do I burn my phone and forget this ever happened?

Or do I bite into this, and ignite the friction once more?

Rule my city again.

Bigger.

Better.

With my little minx. My ride or die.

My twisted, little sister.

Twister.

Me: Meet me at the finish line?

My reply was left on read for what felt like an eternity. I was becoming more restless by the second waiting for her to say something back, but she didn"t.

"What if I win?" Twister"s voice spoke from somewhere nearby, startling me. It took me a damn hot fucking minute to reboot, pull myself together and find another string of words to say to her after fumbling about and not falling off my bike.

Given how much she liked to delete people from existence, the sultry look she had in her eyes could mean one of three things. She wanted to kill me, she wanted to fuck me. Or both. But even then, seeing her standing before me with her hair in a messy bun, a tight pair of black leathers and her helmet resting on the side of her hip, there was also another look about her. Behind the sass, behind the sultry, behind the lust…was guilt.

I knew she didn"t want me to fuck her like I hated her, even though I absolutely would. That was her way of self punishment for what she had done. Twister was the worst for self sabotaging. But I figured I"d let her roll the dice, playing along with her little game until I was blue in the face. Or try to anyway. Maybe then she would realise that I would rather die than to leave her.

"Well, then," I said as I hopped off my bike and walked towards her. "I guess that makes me the plaything doesn"t it?"

By the time the last word had left my mouth my body was up against hers and my hands were behind her neck, forcing her gaze upon mine. My soul ached for hers as I gripped her tightly. A warm gasp flew past her lips, and her body released whatever tension she had built up, her weight softening under my touch.

I trailed my thumb over her bottom lip and drove my hungry grey stare from her eyes down to her perfect peachy mouth, and back up again. It was like seeing her for the first time—instantly two souls falling in love and needing one another. I repeated the pattern until she swallowed tightly. Inching closer and closer so that my breath was so close, it was almost hers.

Her lips tremmered under my thumb, begging for me to kiss her, but her words failing to exit. So I whispered.

"I could be your plaything. I"d never turn down the opportunity to be at your feet. But," I paused to loop my finger through the hair tie that held her bun loosely, pulling until her long tresses fell around her face before continuing, "my darling minx. My little sis. What makes you think that you"ll win…this time?"