“You always gave him too much credit,” West said.
Remi sighed.He couldn’t tell West what he meant without letting on that he knew their secret, so he just laid there.
“He texted me that he was sorry on the day he died,” Remi said.West knew this.Remi had told him before, but it felt like the only thing he could use as proof.
“Yeah, I know,” West said.“And he should be sorry for what he did to you.”
He was sorry for what he did to you too.
Remi knew it to be true.He knew the hurtful and terrible things he heard in his head that sounded like his brother’s voice weren’t the way Emerson actually felt.
Maybe itwastwin telepathy or some kind of inner knowing, but Remi knew Emerson loved them, except knowing that didn’t erase the wounds from the past, and Emerson was dead.He wasn’t around to clear it up.
Remi interlaced his fingers and squeezed them together to keep words from spilling out and making West feel worse.
“I think Emerson would like Skye,” West said.
“What?”
“I think he’d like her because she makes you miserable just like he did.The douchebag would be happy that someone else can make your life horrible.”
“West...”Remi didn’t like this.Didn’t like the lines on West’s face turning down.He recognized the beginnings of a bad trip.“You were smiling at Emerson before,” he said, trying to get them to happier topics.“Why?”
West grimaced.“Because seeing him means that I’m not going crazy every time I think I hear his voice.”
Remi’s heart pounded; he felt the pulsethud thud thuddingthrough all of his limbs.
He sat up on his elbows and watched West.He opened his mouth to say something—anything to stop whatever turmoil West was in.The image of West in a white padded room, talking to the walls, made Remi panic.What if Skye hadn’t been lying?What if that crystal ball had really shown the future?What if West really needed help—
The spiral of his desperate thoughts halted as two things happened at once.
Liam had finally crawled onto the dresser, and Ollie encircled his arms around his calves and carried him to the center of the room so Liam could grab onto the hanging ceiling light.He hollered in excitement as he started swinging from it.
Then the door slammed against the wall, and Skye came storming in, which caused the plaster of the ceiling to crack, and Liam crashed to the floor.He would have landed on the bed, but his body was bent at the wrong angle and instead he sprawled upside down on the floor.
All of this happened in agonizing slow motion.
Remi wanted to get off the bed to check on his friend, but he got distracted by Skye.She was fuming, throwing her hands in the air, yelling at them.Her wings were out—the thin silky skin glittered, and her sexy tail swung around in agitation.The pointed black horns on top of her head looked lethal.He wanted to drag the pad of his finger along the tip and feel the kiss of pain.
A soft smile curled on Remi’s mouth.He had the most insane desire to collapse in her arms, to confess all his sins, all his worst thoughts, all the terrible things he’d done and would continue to do.He wanted to lay his head upon the lap of his executioner.He wanted Skye to pet his hair as he confessed.
Sometimes I can’t breathe when you’re around, but it’s even worse when you’re gone.
Remi managed to convince his muscles to crawl him to the end of the bed.He reached out to touch Skye’s wings, but his hand went through air like they weren’t actually there.
“What the fuck are you doing?”Skye yelled and rounded on him.“What the hell is wrong with you guys?”
God, she was beautiful.Her brown hair fell down the sides of her face, the ends curving in just below her breasts.Her golden-brown eyes made him want to pull her close and curl up next to her.
Remi smiled.His heart felt bigger, like his chest was expanding and the organ was squishing his insides.“I think I’m tripping on acid.”
Skye centered her glare on Jillian.“You did this!You gave them acid.”
He hadn’t noticed when Jillian reappeared.
“I didn’t give them anything!”she said, her palms in the air.“They got it from Levi.”
Skye sighed and rubbed her eyes.“Devil damn me, that was the worst bargain I ever made,” she muttered.
