Razor gave a wry scoff. “I seem to recall a similar conversation with you not so long ago.”
“That was different. Leni didn’t want to leave her home. She had reasons that she needed to be here and not with the Order under their protection.”
“They would’ve found a way to make it work,” Razor pointed out. “Anyway, in the end Leni was safest with you, right?”
“Yes, but Travis Parrish and his family weren’t coming after me with UV bullets.”
“No, they just hired a Hunter to take you both out.”
Knox’s jaw visibly tightened at the reminder. “I handled the situation.”
“I’m handling this one too,” Razor said.
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
“Is that why you’re pacing the garage like a caged cat? You might as well tell me what’s got your balls in such a knot. I don’t have to use my ability to read your guilt to know you’re drowning in it.”
His brother’s unique gift for uncovering a person’s sins with a single touch had to be a burden to him, but even without the extrasensory talent Knox had a way of cleaving right to the heart of a matter. Razor used to think of himself in a similar way, but whatever his skills and sharp intellect, they all seemed to fail him when it came to Willow.
He paused, facing his brother. “She doesn’t know about my surveillance of her sister’s cabin.”
Knox let out a short breath. “Why the fuck not? Seems like that’s something she’d want to know. Hell, doesn’t she deserve to know?”
Razor nodded. He could hardly argue the point. “Yes, she does. You think I don’t realize that?”
Knox’s stare felt like a surgical blade. “How many hours did you spend watching that cabin, brother? I saw you myself. Monitoring that mountainside all hours of the day and night. Glued to your screen every time that pretty brunette who lived inside came into the frame. You were obsessed, Razor. Talk about letting things get fucked up—now you’re tangled up with her identical twin sister—”
“It wasn’t her.” Razor’s bitten-off reply sliced through his brother’s words. “I wasn’t watching Willow’s sister. I thought I was, but it wasn’t her. It was Willow.”
Knox frowned. “What?”
“Laurel never left the cabin, not even for supplies. Willow brought everything up the mountain to her sister. Willow was the woman in the Jeep. She’s the one I’d been obsessed with, as you so aptly put it. Willow, not her twin.”
“You sure?”
He was certain to his marrow. To the core of his being, he knew it was Willow’s face seared into his heart and mind. He would have known it even if Willow hadn’t confirmed it for him.
“Willow told me she was the only one coming and going from the cabin. Whatever her sister needed, Willow brought it to her. Laurel didn’t want to take the risk of leaving and getting caught.”
Knox grunted. “But she didn’t mind letting her twin take the risk?”
It was a thought that had occurred to Razor too, though he’d been loathe to say it to Willow. He lifted his shoulder in acknowledgment of Knox’s comment. “Laurel wouldn’t even have to ask, as far as Willow’s concerned. Willow adored her sister. She would’ve done anything for her. No risk would’ve been too great. There’s still nothing Willow wouldn’t do for her, even now that Laurel’s dead.”
Knox didn’t say anything for a long moment, just studied Razor while he spoke. “This woman has really gotten to you. I enjoyed busting your balls about it whenever I caught you watching her back at the Darkhaven in Florida, but this is something else. Whatever’s going on between you and Willow, whatever you’re feeling for her, it’s real, isn’t it?”
Razor heaved a sigh. “I’m not equipped for relationships, Knox. You of all people should understand that.”
“I do. I also know that equipped or not, you’ll figure it out. Telling Willow the truth seems like a good place to start.”
“You don’t get it,” Razor said. “All her life Willow’s lived in her twin’s shadow. She’s grown up believing Laurel was smarter than her, better than her, more deserving of a good life. How’s she going to react when I tell her I’ve had a drone on her sister’s cabin for the past several months? She’s going to think the same thing you did—that I was obsessed with her twin, or worse, that I still am. The fact that I didn’t tell her right upfront only makes me look guiltier.”
“All the more reason to clear the air now, not later.”
Razor knew he was right. He’d never been a coward, yet the idea of hurting Willow by telling her the truth made his chest feel caught in a vise. She had already been through more pain than she deserved. He hated that he would be adding to it in any way.
But Knox had a point. If Razor wanted any kind of relationship with Willow beyond the journey they were on to find her sister’s killers, he needed to be honest with her.
