“Since you’re as silent as you are dumb, I’ll tell you.” My brother grinds his teeth either from anger or pain. “He’s not coming for you.”
He can’t be dead. He can’t, can’t,can’t. “What did you do to him?”
“Nothing. Yet. I’m just saying, he’s either home or on his way there. Wherever he is, he’s not worried about you. Likely whining about the fire. As insufferable now as he was in high school.”
Relief knocks a shaky breath out of me. Duncan really is alive.
“My parents this,my parents that.” Barclay’s mocking imitation of Duncan’s grief is repulsive. “I put up with it for so long because Mom and Dad begged me to take him in. At least I got Ross for my troubles. That was…”
The sentence remains unfinished.
I would’ve told hisfriendsabout how he’s been a murdering bastard since high school. Sadly, that would mean dragging Duncan into it too.
Never. Ross’s murder is our secret. I don’t want the authorities sniffing around the old warehouse, burned corpse or not. No one’s harassing my soulmate.
“Anyway.” Barclay grins, and it’s ugly. “You’re deluding yourself if you think he’s gone searching for you because he loves you. Ha. The only reason I’m counting on him taking the bait is that you’ve been an investment. A wildly expensive whore. Other than that, you’re nothing to him. To me and everyone else too.”
“What about you, Brother?” My chest heaves. Water and probably more blood drip down my chin. “If everyone lovesyouso much, how come no one’s visited you over the past six months?”
Crack.
“These two assholes, how did you even rope them into this?” Maybe being upset with me will make him forget about Duncan.
I might want to break free, but I don’t want Duncan anywhere near my brother. They’ll kill him, these monsters.
Hopefully, he won’t try to be a hero if Barclay does end up calling him. I really, really wish Duncan would just call law enforcement instead of coming for me.
Yeah, right.
“I didn’t rope them into anything. When I told them not to come see me bedridden, they listened.”Crack.“When I needed them, they listened too. That’s what friends are for. Real friends.”
“Real friends, huh?” I’m really pushing my luck now, I know. I can’t help it. He burned Duncan’s house. He hurt him and me for years. “How much do they even know about you anyway? Did you tell them how useless and worthless you’ve become, hmm? How you couldn’t wipe your own ass for a month?”
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Pathetic.
Crack.
Oops, I said that out loud.
You want me to kill someone? For any goddamn reason? I will. In a fucking heartbeat.
No, I have to push Duncan out of my head. Can’t summon him here by thinking of him.
But then my mind jumps to something else, equally terrible.
Terror shoots up my spine. My heart stops beating.
No.
No.No.
“Varn!” I scream at the top of my lungs, panic taking over. How could I forget that he was right there? Protecting me? My baby. “Where is he? What did you do to my dog?WHERE IS HE?”
“Oh, him?” Barclay cocks an eyebrow. “He, uh, Vic kicked him inside the house. Let him burn with the help.”
He doesn’t fool me. Now that he’s low on meds and is hurting, his confidence wavers.
