Izzy blinks rapidly as he gazes at me, and I wonder if I said something wrong as his lip trembles.
“What’s wrong?” I whisper, worried.
“No one gets it,” he says. “Since everyone thinks I’m a beta, I have no one to talk to about this stuff. Kyren and Harlan try, but since no one is supposed to know, it’s hard. Up until recently, Sloane and Aiden have always been around. Keeping the secret is a full time gig.”
“Would they really mind?” I ask.
“They seem really old school,” he admits. “They both go hard when we’re working, and I don’t want to fuck anything up. It wouldn’t change anything either. I still need to be able to work without being remembered.”
Looking for extra toothbrushes, I hand him one, and we companionably brush our teeth. Releasing my hair, I braid it since I won’t have time to blow dry it. Izzy looks as if everything is getting harder for him to do, and he’s beginning to drag. He may not be awake by the time Syrus comes upstairs.
Leading him to the bed, I pull the bedspread back and take his towel as he crawls in. Having an idea, I find my cooling blanket and drape it over his body. He opens his mouth to refuse it before sighing happily.
“Damn,” he whispers.
“You’re in an omega’s house, Izzy,” I say. “I like my gadgets and blankets. If you want to sleep in my nest, Syrus and I will make it work.”
“I thought…Don’t omegas not like to share things like that?” he asks, confused.
Gazing down at him, I force myself to be real with myself. I’ve been drawn to him for a reason, and I wouldn’t offer this unless I was already invested.
“You’re different,” I say instead, turning to dress in pajamas.
“Wait,” Izzy blurts, reaching out to grab my wrist. “Will you sleep skin to skin with me? I want your scent to mix with mine.”
“I can do that,” I agree, climbing into the bed to lay beside him. Plumping his cooling pillow which lines the entire head of the bed, I snuggle up beside him. “Are you hungry?”
“No,” he breathes, moving until his head lays between my breasts. My lips twitch as I play with his hair, and Izzy falls asleep just as Syrus comes in with a cheese plate and a few bottles of water.
“I’m too late,” he sighs, putting the bottles down and popping a piece of cheese into his mouth.
“He’s exhausted,” I say. “I’ll take a piece of cheese, though.”
Together, we finish the cheese before he uses the bathroom and then climbs into bed beside me. Turning off the dimmer switch, I sigh happily as Syrus throws his arm around Izzy and I.
“Sweet dreams, Spitfire,” he says softly.
God, I can only hope.
Chapter Nineteen
Silva
The world feels cold and lonely, and my arms are tied over my head at the headboard. Brad came in and did this an hour ago, leaving my chest heaving with anxiety, and wondering if he’s going to leave me here all night. The fear of the unknown is clawing at me.
The bastard even locked the door so that Lexi can’t come find me. There’s a party happening downstairs. Our foster parents are out of town, and I know that everyone is drinking and partying.
I figured I’d lock myself in my room to avoid them, hoping desperately that Brad and Luke would forget about me.
Unfortunately, that was too good to be true.
“Silva?” Lexi asks, knocking on the door.
Dropping my head back on the pillows, I stifle a sob, my arms already beginning to fall asleep because of how I’m tied to the headboard. The only thing I can do is pretend to be asleep. My door is locked, she won’t break in without a reason.
“Are you really asleep?” she sighs. I can hear the soft sound of her body leaning against the door, and tears spill over my cheeks as I listen to her.
I’m doing this so that she never has to know what it feels like to be me. Just because we’re twins, doesn’t mean we need to go through the same bullshit that life throws my way.
