My twin sister had done a lot of stupid shit in recent years. But this might be the stupidest. I drove all the way from Satan’s Sons territory to the middle of bumfuck nowhere to find her…
I thought, when she ran away, it was to get a fresh start. Not make more mistakes.
Then again, this is Abby. The girl who dyed my hair in the middle of the night as a sisterly fuck you. She’s never done anything the normal way.
If you had told me two years ago that this is how it would all shake out, I would’ve called you crazy.
I was the wild child who fucked around with MC guys and ran away all the time.
Not Abby. Abby was always knee-deep in her books and studies, always such a shy Goody Two-Shoes.
Now?
How the tables had turned.
I’d decided, in the end, to stay to take care of Dad after Abby and Reaper both left. Not like I had much of a choice.
I’d been busy lately studying my ass off while my sister…
Well, from the look of it, she’d decided to go all-in with a particularly sketchy-looking crowd.
As I made my way up the driveway in my car, I saw the guys with their suits and sub-machine guns and golden chains…
And I felt like I’d been transported to some gangster movie. I double-checked my phone, hoping—no, praying—that I’d made a mistake.
The only reason I even knew how to find Abby was because she’d forgotten to disable the Share My Location feature on her phone. And I was the only one she’d ever shared it with.
Nope, this was definitely the right place.
And scarier yet. What my sister was doing with them...
“You must be Abby’s sister.”
The man was smooth, I’d give him that. His eyes had a way of grabbing you so you couldn’t look away. Like a venus fly trap—even if it meant your doom.
“And you are?” I asked, pursing my lips.
I didn’t want to shake his hand. I didn’t come here to make friends. But it was as if my body had a mind of its own. Because the next thing I knew, my hand was in his.
“Amazing,” he said, eyes twinkling. “You two are twins and yet...so radically different.”
“Are we?” I asked.
“Yes, you have a...a sad beauty about you, Kim. While your sister…”
“What about me?”
I spun around, pulling my hand out of Damon’s grasp, the spell broken, to see Abby walking up. I almost gasped at the sight of her.
Gone were the beautiful golden locks of hair. Now, it was dyed pitch black. Where her eyes had once sparkled with curiosity, now they looked like empty voids.
Lifeless.
“Abby…” I whispered, eyes tearing up. “You’re okay, you’re…”
“I see you’ve met Damon, sis,” she said, giving me a quick cursory hug. She was clearly pissed and surprised that I’d shown up. But she didn’t want to show it. Not in front of Damon.
“He says we’re family,” I said, shooting him a glance.
“Good thing it’s not customary to fuck your family then, isn’t it?” she said, glaring at him.
But Damon only grinned in response. “I’ll let you two catch up,” he said, then with a nod to me. “I’ll be seeing you, Kim.”
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving us alone.
“Well?” Abby said. “Now that you’re here and all, you want a tour?”
Kim led us back to the restrooms, click-clacking in her sensible adult shoes, parting the seas with poised hands.
I hated the fact that Kim was here. It’s not that I was unhappy to see my sister. We’d actually grown a lot closer before I left town a few months ago than we ever were growing up.
But…
If she could find me, my father surely could too. And I did not have any intention of seeing him. Or anyone from my past for that matter.
Especially not Kade.
Even though I missed him so much, it ached. So much that at night, I’d wake up and find myself crying like an idiot. So much my whole body still yearned for his touch.
His lips, his tongue, trailing against my neck. His fingers, rough and calloused, twisting my nipples. His cock throbbing, plunging, cumming inside me...
We had just entered the safe confines of the loo when Kim turned and grabbed my hand.
“Abby, listen,” she said. “I don’t think this is you.”
“Kim,” I warned. “Don’t—”
“Will you just listen to me for a second?!”
I sighed and nodded, seeing that Kim had something important to tell me. Something that wasn’t just about me.
“What is it?” I asked.
Her hands subconsciously moved down to her tummy, and she suddenly looked pale. “Right after you left, Abby, I… I found out I was pregnant.”
A breath escaped my lips.
I’d been so focused on forgetting my past—Reaper, Dad, Kim—all of it, that I hadn’t spared a thought for anyone but myself.
Kim, pregnant? With…?
“With Trigger,” she confessed, reading my mind. “Again.”
Expecting that answer, but still speechless, I just said, “Whoa. Kim…”
“It’s okay,” my sister responded quietly. “I took care of it.”
We were both silent for what felt like hours, simply staring at one another. There were no words. There was nothing I could say to make this better.
I had been the one to go with her to the clinic when we were sixteen. This time...
My sister had gone through something traumatic, and I hadn’t been there to take care of her.
I felt all the coldness and poison inside me dissipate for a moment as I was reminded how much I fucking loved her.
Without saying a word, I threw my arms around Kim’s neck and held her as tight as I could.
“I’m so sorry, Kim,” I finally managed, tears stinging at my eyelids.
“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s really okay.”
We were both silent again, holding one another, swaying in my empty room. Just two sisters being there for each other. Nothing more or less.
When I finally pulled away, I looked at my sister in a whole new light. I could tell she looked older, more mature, than when I’d seen her last.
“Kim,” I finally spoke. “I want you to leave this place.”
“I will, Abby,” she said, “if you come with me.”
I shook my head. I might love my sister and feel regret that I hadn’t been there to support her, but I was not tearing my whole world apart right now.
Not when I’d done so much to get to this point.
“I can’t,” I said.
I could see, from the way her eyebrows sagged and her shoulders caved inward, that the answer absolutely devastated her.
But then she pursed her lips in that stubborn way I recognized when I looked in the mirror.
“Then I’m not going anywhere either.”
With that, she turned and headed for the door.
“Kim, I mean it! You need to go.”
Damon was waiting for us outside. Such a creep.
“I’m staying,” she declared over the music to both of us, to my discomfort and Damon’s delight.
“Works for me, darling. There’s plenty of space in my room. Plenty of space for twins, even.”
“Damon, gross,” I spat.
“Oh, also, Abby. Boss wants to see you.”
A tiny part of me secretly wished I could’ve found Abby right away.
But instead, we’d been on the road for hours. Checking every possible spot. Trying every possible lead.
When I disappeared three months ago, I took my already weak social media presence with me. I intentionally unfollowed all of Abby’s accounts to avoid that temptation.
Now, I found myself logging back in and checking all her pages. Seeing her smiling face, staring back at me through the screen, made my stomach churn. But those were old pictures.
She hadn’t posted anything for months.
Some of our men claimed to have seen Abby in a small town nearby. Here or there. This one or that one. So far, no dice.
To make matters worse, the tension between Roach and me obviously ran high. Thankfully, you can’t really talk too much over the roar of two motorcycle engines.
I wanted to…apologize? But had no idea where to start with that shit.
Eventually, Roach jerked his head toward an upcoming highway exit. “Rest stop?”
“Okay,” I hollered back.
We picked a rundown diner. We ordered two cups of Joe and burgers and fries for a late lunch.
The waiter poured our coffee, and then we sat, awkwardly slurping. Quiet besides the diner sounds: clanging plates and utensils, idle chatter.
I took a deep breath.
How does one ask the father of their… whatever, and president of their… whatever, for forgiveness?
“So uh… How’s your… Um, heart?”
“Alright. Better,” Roach said. “I’m smoking a little less. Drinking a little less. Trying to, you know, eat better. Relax more.”
I could hardly see how that was possible, considering the current situation with Abby and now Kim too.
As if reading my thoughts, he continued, “It ain’t easy, no shit. My life has never really been cut out for good health. But the girls are worth trying a little harder for.”
He took a swig of coffee and continued with, “I just love them so much. I can’t die on them anytime soon.”
I could feel the ice stacked between us begin to melt.
“I’ll forgive you one day, boy. I’ll forgive myself one day, too. It’s all just gonna take time.”
I felt my face twitch with a small smile.
Forgiveness. Time.
“Thanks, Roach.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Back at the table, Blake laid out his proposition for me.
Blake was a cold, concise man of logic and reason, especially compared to Damon or Liam. His slicked black hair matched his dark eyes and always sleek suits.
“Abby, you’ve really proven yourself worthy these last few months. Things are getting pretty serious between you and us,” he said.
This felt like a relationship talk. Were we about to start using labels? Call each other Boyfriend and Girlfriend like school kids?
Blake gestured to Kim. “I mean, hell, you’re even inviting guests in to visit.”
“She actually crashed the party. But what are you getting at, Blake?”
He nodded, appreciating my being succinct.
“Well, Abby, are you finally ready to be committed?” he said. “To get your ink? If so, we can head home and Liam can do it right now.”
I’d been anticipating this request.
“What do you mean?” piped Kim, of course, now choosing to speak up.
I wanted to hit her.
But Blake explained, “I mean, get the Hellbound tattoo, which means total loyalty. Lifetime belonging. Once she’s got the ink, Abby’s a permanent part of us, as permanent as the ink.”
Kim looked clearly disturbed by this. “Oh, God. Abby won’t do that. Definitely not. Right, Abby?”
I took a deep breath.
As much as I loved my sister and my dad, I needed a clean break from my past— to reinvent myself. And this was the perfect opportunity.
Letting her shock and disgust wash over me, feeling Damon’s manic giddiness and Blake’s power and authority, I said, “Well, I’m already hellbound. Might as well get it in writing.”
And that was that.
There was no going back now.
