Page 120 of Lilies from Hell

“A beer is fine.”

“Coming right up,” he mutters, walking over to a mini fridge away from the crowd. Then he tosses me a can of Bud Light that I take with a thank you.

The minutes pass amid laughter and more beer. I glance over my shoulder at the little path from earlier, wondering where the hell Grace has gone.

“Hey!” As if I had summoned her, she emerges from one side of the beach.

That side leads to a small forest that isn’t very dense. It doesn’t catch my attention enough to have visited it before. Although the question here is, What was she doing there?

“Sorry I’m late, the traffic is crazy out there.” Maybe the others didn’t notice her nerves as she introduced herself one by one, but I know her pretty well.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you stuck in traffic in all these years,” I say in a low tone, amused. With the way she drives I can already see her flying over the cars.

“There’s always a first time for everything,” she murmurs beside me, taking a long swig from her can of beer.

I burst out laughing, turning my attention to James. He is now smoking a blunt that my brother gave him, his well-built torso exposed, revealing a long scar on his right side. I frown when I see the piercings in his nipples and belly button. Why so many piercings? I look back up into his eyes and look away when he gives me a cocky smile.

“Another one with a death wish,” Grace says beside me with amusement. “At least this one is hot.”

“We’re just friends. We’ve known each other for a long time. He doesn’t have those intentions with me, otherwise he would have told me.”

“Anyway, there’s something about him I don’t like. I don’t like him,” she says, narrowing her eyes.

“Will you try to kill him too?” I scoff. She continues to inspect the rest of the group with her hazel eyes.

Rock music starts blasting the air. I smile when my brother jumps into the water with another boy with brown hair, and I join them with a smile, diving into the water until my head is completely covered.

Seeing him joke around with his friends gives me guilty pangs in my stomach. I haven’t told him anything about our father yet. I don’t know if I’m the best person to tell him, but I don’t like the idea of hiding it until he decides to tell him himself, because maybe it’s something he’ll never tell him. My body shivers in the cool night air as soon as I get out of the water. Finding James holding a towel for me.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” he says before sitting down on the sand. I take advantage of his good mood of today and sit next to him, shedding some light on the mystery that has always surrounded him in my eyes.

“I didn’t know you liked to smoke too.”

“Do you smoke too?” He asks with curious eyes.

“I’m talking about the coke you snort. You’re full of addictions,” I say in a teasing tone. He nods slowly, fixing his gaze back on the road ahead. “It’s bad, you know?”

“Sometimes, even if we know something isn’t good for us, we cling to it just to be happy for a few minutes.” I press my lips into a thin line, feeling my nerves on edge and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end because of his intense gaze. “My brother has been fucking obsessed with you for as long as I can remember, and I don’t think that’s good either. But at the end of the day, there you are, going back to him over and over again. Not even caring that he’s a fucking monster.”

“Which brother are you talking about?” His face changes to a more confused look, being cautious as he speaks.

“You didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Alekei and I are brothers. Full, biological brothers, actually,” he replies with a grimace of disgust.

“And why didn’t you tell me before?” I ask, looking at him once more, comparing his features with the boy I saw in the photo at his house. “You don’t even look alike and you have no contact as far as I know. I couldn’t have known anyway.”

“I know, and believe me, it cost me a fortune to stop looking like him.” His proud smile accompanies his resentful words.

“Why wouldn’t you want to look like him? Why don’t you talk to each other? Are you fighting or something?”

“We just don’t get along. Never have.”

“Why?”