“First off, don’t take out your anger on the officer. He’s just doing his job. Second, what makes you think I have something to do with it?”
“Because you have no other reason to be here, Eddie. Amber fucking kicked your stupid ass to the curb, and my sister… well, you fucked up your chance with her too. So why the fuck are you sitting here ruining my day even further with your presence?”
For a moment, his backbone straightens, meeting my glare with one just as angry. Then his face softens for a fraction of a second, just long enough for the stone to crack.
“Because she’s dead, Poppy. Pippa is dead.”
My jaw unhinges, going slack. Eyes widening seconds before everything goes black.
I don’t remember flying at him or knocking him off the couch. I don’t even remember the words that follow eventhough they leave my lips with ease. “You lying son of a bitch!” My punch ricochets off his jaw, but I barely feel it. He doesn’t budge, or move, or even stop me. He takes the hit, allowing me to continue punching him, taking out all my frustration on his firm chest like it’s a speed bag.
Officer Johnston stops me before I can land another hit. “Ma’am, sit down!”
“Fuck you!” I scream at the top of my lungs, my heart racing, my anger only getting worse as I rip my arm out of his hold. Then I force myself to look at Eddie again. The bastard who dares to sit there and act like he gives a fuck when I know he doesn’t. “You don’t get to stand here and tell me she’s gone. Not after what you did to her!”
My idle hand flies again, this time drawing blood as I connect with his lip.
“Hit him again, and I’m going to arrest you, Ms. Kiplinger.”
His threat only stops me for a second. “How’d she die? Tell me?”
Officer Johnston forces me to sit in a chair, and I do it unwillingly. “She fell from a very high height. I’m sorry.”
“My sister hated heights! You’re lying. You have to be. She wouldn’t have risked her life like that!”
Eddie meets my angry gaze, wiping the blood from his mouth, his chest heaving in angry puffs. “And yet she did.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Think about it, Poppy. She was fucking obsessed with me, so obsessed she waited until my wedding day to reveal what happened between us. She was fucked up in the head. When I told her I didn’t want to be with her, she lost it, begged me to change my mind, especially when I called off our friendship. She couldn’t take that, so she fucking called me, told me shewas standing on top of Rattlesnake Mountain and had nothing to live for…”
My stomach twists, not wanting to believe or hear any of this. “Pippa would never kill herself.”
“I’m not lying to you, Poppy. That’s exactly where I found her, standing on the edge of the cliff, staring down at the city as if she was seeing it for the first and last time. When I got close, she backed up to the edge, telling me to not come any closer.”
“It’s your fault!” I holler out, the pain finally hitting me. That hollow feeling of loss I felt in my chest… it was her… my fucking twin. She’s gone. How the hell can she be gone?
“I know.”
“If you hadn’t messed with her head, she’d still be alive,” I cry out, the tears already falling in angry rivers.
“Maybe so, but it still doesn’t change the fact that she forced me up there, hoping I’d choose her instead of Amber, begging for forgiveness I couldn’t give.”
“So, you let her die?”
Officer Johnston cuts in before I can react. “No, Ms. Kiplinger, he tried to save her life. It was an accident. I don’t think she truly wanted to kill herself, but she was too close to the edge, and the ground beneath her gave way. Eddie caught her and tried to pull her up, but he just couldn’t hold on long enough.”
“I fucking hate you!” My breathing increases, heart stuttering and racing all at the same time. I’m a mixture of emotions… despair… fear… anger… hatred. I feel them all like they’re a part of me, filling the blank, empty spaces my sister’s absence has left me with. “You killed my sister! My twin! My fucking whole world!”
“I didn’t want her to die. I put that on everything that means something to me,” Eddie tries to reassure me, the pain in his eyes looking more like regret than actual sincerity.
“Like Amber? She meant something to you, and you threw her away like a fucking grenade!”
“Don’t bring Amber into this. This isn’t about her! Do you have any idea what it feels like to feel someone’s life slip out of your hands? I do! It fucking haunts me, Poppy. I can’t even blink without seeing her screaming for me to hold on, begging me not to let go.”
Eddie’s cheeks turn a pale shade of green, and he drops back onto my couch, holding his head. “I need to sit.”
“Don’t you dare make yourself the victim! Not now. Not after taking my sister’s life. You bastard! I won’t let you do this.” I lunge at him again, fists flying, my tears unruly and unable to fight.
