We’re supposed to be careful, and I’ve just destroyed everything.
“I’m telling Mom and Dad.” Ariana whirls on her heel and marches away.
Lucy covers her face in horror. She breathes so rapidly that I think she’s going to have a panic attack. “Oh, God. No, no, no.”
“I’ll take care of her. It’s going to be okay,” I tell Lucy urgently, though my heart is racing with panic.
I get up and off the bed, pull on some sweatpants, and hurry after my sister. “Ariana.Ariana.”
She hasn’t got time to find Mom and Dad before I catch her, so she bolts for her bedroom and tries to slam the door in my face. I shove it open and push my way inside. Ariana backs away from me, her expression furious and pale with shock. I don’twant to be here any more than she wants me here, but her threat to tell our parents what she saw cannot be allowed to happen.
“I knew there was something weird about you two. I knew it. You’ve both got a screw loose. I begged Mom and Dad not to adopt a couple of traumatized street brats, and now you’re screwing. You’re brother and sister. I’m going to throw up.”
“Nothing was happening. Look at me. Nothing was happening.”
“You were naked with your dick in her. I saw everything. I want to bleach my eyeballs. There is no innocent explanation for what you were doing, so don’t even try.”
I pace up the room and back to Ariana. I could threaten her. I could pretend like I’m going to hurt her. She’s not very brave, unlike Lucy who didn’t even flinch when I stabbed a fork through someone’s tongue, or when a warehouse exploded right next to her.
I’ve worked too hard all these years for our irritating sister to mess things up for us now. “How do I make this go away? There must be something you want.”
Ariana raises her eyebrows. “You’re not even going to try to persuade me? You haven’t got one lie to gaslight me with? My eyes were playing tricks on me. She was helping you with a tight hamstring. Put some effort in, you disgusting freak.”
I clench my jaw. We were playing a game, and it got out of hand because of my jealousy. Lucy shouldn’t wind me up about other men touching her. She knows it makes me crazy. “I don’t care enough about you to convince you one way or the other. Just tell me what you want to keep your mouth shut.”
Ariana folds her arms and considers me with narrowed eyes. She’s silent for a long time while my pulse pounds in my ears. “I want a favor.”
“What favor?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” she says with a shrug. “I’ll let you know when I think of something worth my silence. It’s going to be good. If Mom and Dad find out about the disgusting things the two of you are up to, they’ll send Lucy far, far away. They can’t have a dirty, shameful scandal surrounding their perfect boy.” Her eyes widen in a taunt.
I wonder how dangerous it is to promise Ariana a favor, any favor. But this is my fault, and I have to fix it. I haven’t got any choice but to agree.
“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth. “And I have your word that you’ll keep what you saw to yourself?”
She smirks at me. “It’s interesting that you know what you’re doing is disgusting and wrong, and you’re trying to cover it up.”
I take a threatening step toward her, and she moves away with a yelp. Her back hits her bedroom wall. Speaking in a low voice, I warn her, “You can have your favor, but if you go back on your word to me, I will make you pay. You’re my sister, and I’m not going to hurt you, but if you cross me, I will find out who you love, I will break them, and I will make you watch. I will grind your heart under my heel. Do you understand?”
Her face creases in fear, and she trembles as she looks up at me. “You’re a fucking psycho.”
I spread my arms and give her a cold smile. “I’m who our father wants.”
I drop the smile and slam out of her bedroom.
When I get back to my bed, there’s no sign of Lucy. I slide my hand across the sheets and feel the warm spot left by her body. I miss her already. I lay down in Lucy’s lingering warmth and breathe in deeply, my fingers tracing over the sheets like she’s still with me. My fingers brush cotton, and I crumple Lucy’s underwear in my fist. Drawing them up to my face, I inhale, and groan.
Lucy.
She smells like everything I want.
I sit up, push down the waistband of my sweats, and take out my cock. With one hand holding Lucy’s underwear to my face and breathing in her scent, I pump myself furiously. Fast and hard and desperate. If we weren’t interrupted, I could have been making her mine right now. I could know by now the sounds she makes. How her face transforms in pleasure. If she’d say my name over and over or just gasp it once, her nails digging into my back. My beautiful, perfect Lucy.
I come in long, wet ribbons across my sheets.
Panting, I stare at the mess I’ve made. I wonder if she’s on the other side of this wall, doing exactly the same thing as me, feeling just as lonely and frustrated.
I sink down onto the bed with a groan.
