Page 30 of Trouble

“Audrey’s dad’s birthday,” he said with agrimace.

Audrey.

My stomach dropped with uncomfortable foreboding. The little prude he’d picked up from a pub a few weeks ago. I hadn’t asked, but I knew that’s where he’d been sleeping most nights this past week. Withher.

This was the longest he’d ever been with a girl before—that either of us had, and I wasn’t stupid. He liked her. Fuck, he was going to a goddamn family birthday with her now? He more than likedher.

Worry mixed with something else, something dark and painful I didn’t want to prod further twisted in my gut. We both knew we couldn’t afford distractions right now, and getting attached to a bird was about the dumbest fucking thing he could have done. Soon as you cared for someone, they became a weakness. Just look at fucking Marcus—he’d only narrowly avoided death because he lost his head when his girl was indanger.

If that happened toLiam…

The dark thing in my gut clenched and snarled at thethought.

If that happened, I could losehim.

“You’ve been seeing her a lot lately,” I said, keeping my tonecasual.

He shot me a quick glance, and I could tell from the look in his eyes that I hadn’t managed to hide my worrycompletely.

“Yeah. She’s a gooddistraction.”

“Mmhm,” I hummed, not buying it for a second. Multiple birds were fine distractions—one was fucking trouble. “You in love withher?”

If I hadn’t known him so well, I would have missed the millisecond his fingers froze against hiscuff.

“Nah, it’s nothing serious. Don’t worry.” He gave me a brilliant smile before he turned his back on me and headed to the hallway, grabbing his leather jacket on the way. “See youlater!”

The front door slammed shut behind him, and I frowned into the silence that settled in our sharedflat.

That was the first time my twin had ever lied tome.

* * *

Iparked far enough awayfrom the door Liam had disappeared into that when he came back out again ten minutes later hand in hand with a woman, he didn’t spot me. Not that he would have noticed much, the way he was looking down at her as if there was only the two of them in the entire fuckingworld.

The dark thing in my gut twisted when he stopped to brush a lock of her hair away from her forehead. The look on his face, then… of complete and utter worship. He loved her. He loved her the same way Blaine loved his wife, the same way Marcus loved the girl he threw everything away to bewith.

It was like a mule-kick right in my sternum, and I had to clench my hands around the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white to keep myself from keeling over at the strength of the panic that tore through me at thatlook.

A tsunami of emotions warred inside that black pit in my gut, but at the root of it all was all-consuming, mind-numbingfear.Fear of losing the one person in this world that had kept me from giving in to the violence and despair that was our birthright. Fear of being left alone when she either got my twin killed, or if… I breathed deeply when the wave of jealousy so hot it burned my esophagus clawed its way to thesurface.

If this was it for him, if that girl was to Liam what Mira was to Blaine, or Evelyn to Marcus… Then even if we somehow made it through the fight against our father, I would still lose him. It wouldn’t be him and me against the world anymore. She would take my place, andI…

I knew I’d never survivethat.

15

Liam

Audrey’s parentslived a couple of hours outside of London in the sort of neighborhood I’d always mocked: white-washed villas, roses in the front garden, and Audis in the driveway. It reeked of upper middle class and weekend golftrips.

I glanced to the woman next to me, conscious of her bouncing knee and the way she was worrying her bottom lip. “Nervous?”

She flashed me a quick smile. “A little bit, yeah. I know it’s silly. It’s just… I want them to like you. And they’re so judgmental. Is that awful to say? Everything’s got to be a certain way, or it’s not up to theirstandards.”

“Miss Waits, are you implying I’m not every parent’s wet dream?” I shot her a teasing smirk that had her giggling and finally releasing her poor bottomlip.

“I’m implying that you’re very obviously not a rich banker looking to settle down and give my parents two point four grandkids so they can show off to their friends at the golfclub.”

---