Page 59 of Trouble

Audrey was still snug in my arms, like a warm, solid reminder of why I’d done what I had to mytwin.

It’d hurt so fucking much to hear the hatred in his voice last night. He kept it together around Audrey, we both did, and I guess I’d stupidly thought that meant we could start to slowly work it out. I’d been so wrong, and it’d cut me so fucking deep to see how much the only person I’d ever shared anything real with hated myguts.

Well… the only person besides the soft woman still sleeping soundly in myarms.

I kissed her still T-shirt-clad shoulder and wished she’d be comfortable enough around us to sleep naked, but knew it was too much to expect. I hadn’t had a chance to try to sort anything out with her yet, and as much as everything inside me ached to have her hold me back, I knew I had to clear the air with Liam first. I owed him that much, after how terribly I’d betrayedhim.

Even if he was being a royal prick aboutit.

I pulled my arm back from where Audrey had been using it as a pillow all night, careful not to disturb her even as the limb prickled with pins and needles from having been forced into the same position for so manyhours.

She murmured disapprovingly in her sleep, but settled down when I pushed my T-shirt from yesterday under her head. Both Liam and I’d only brought one change of clothes, and it needed a wash, but would do as a pillow for now. She obviously wasn’t much of a camping enthusiast, and I’d noticed how stiffly she moved after a night on the tarp. If we’d had any idea she’d be coming along back when we packed in case of having to leave town, we’d probably have found some way of making things a bit more comfortable. But we hadn’t known, and she was stuck with what little comforts we could provide with the bare minimum we’dbrought.

It was also why I was getting up at the bloody crack of dawn, despite the yearning to stay snuggled up with Audrey for a few more hours. We’d packed food for two people to live off for a month, no more, and fishing gear to make that stretch a while longer if necessary. With Audrey here, we’d have to start fishing much sooner. Liam and I might be okay with living off a low-calorie diet for a week or two, but I wasn’t about to let my future wifestarve.

I slipped fully out of the sleeping bag, lamenting the loss of Audrey’s warmth when the cool morning air wrapped around my bare legs and torso. But when I moved to grab my pants and spare T-shirt out of my pack, I noticed something dark and sticky covering everything from my navel and down across my thighs in viscous splatters. It looked like…blood?

My brain froze for half a second when I realized what it was. I was covered in blood. But I feltfine…

Audrey.

I’d never felt terror as deep into the marrow of my bones as I did when the truth hit me like a ton ofbricks.

It wasn’t my blood—it wasAudrey’s.

Frantic, I ripped the sleeping bag off her to see where she’d been hurt as I called out for my twin. It didn’t matter that we weren’t on good terms then—all I could process was that Audrey was in trouble, and I neededhim.

“Liam!”

My shout didn’t just wake my twin with a start—Audrey sat up with a spasm, her eyes wide and unfocused as she looked at my frantic attempts at getting her legs free from the sleeping bag without jostling her too much. It was splattered with blood, too, and so were herknickers.

“What’s going on?” Liam was out of his own sleeping bag and by my side before Audrey could even get out a startled,“What the hell?”his brows knitted with concentration as he took in the scene. The second he noticed the blood, he turned white as asheet.

“Baby, you’re bleeding,” I said, trying to speak as softly as my panic would let me. “Where does ithurt?”

“It doesn’t,” she said, alarm making its way to her voice, too. She tried to see, but Liam pushed her down on her back and pressed a hand on her shoulder to keep herstill.

“Best if you don’t move, love,” he said, his voice rough with the same choking terror I felt thrashing in my gut. He looked at me, and I saw naked panic in his eyes. “We’ve got to get her to ahospital.”

I nodded, feeling sick to my core. Neither of us knew how far away the nearest hospital was, and we had a thirty minute hike to get to the car. Not to mention the risk of being seen in public—our father’s reach was very long, and even in Wales we couldn’t be certain. But that was just a risk we had totake.

Working together, we began to gently ease Audrey’s underwear down her thighs. If we could, we’d have to stem the bleeding before we tried to moveher.

However, we didn’t get very far before Audrey made a squeaky little sound and swatted our hands away with surprising strength. “Stop that, you imbeciles!” she hissed. “Rightnow!”

“Audrey—”

“I’m not dying, what the actual fuck!” She pulled at her panties, managing to wedge them back up to cover her fully. “I obviously got my period. What’s the matter withyou?!”

Liam and I stared at each other in numb disbelief. The adrenaline was still coursing through my veins, making it hard to fully grasp what she’dsaid.

Liam looked at the blood-soaked sleeping bag to where she was covering her smeared crotch with her hands, a mix of embarrassment and fury on her pretty face. “Are you sure? It’s so muchblood…”

“Yes, I’m fucking sure!” Audrey pulled her legs underneath her and scrambled to her feet. “God, have you two ever had a biologyclass?”

My twin and I stared mutely after her as she stomped out of the bothy. My heart was slowly starting to regain its normal speed, and my head felt light with relief as the adrenaline started to wearoff.

“She is going to hate us forever, isn’t she?” Liam said. A snort escaped him, halfway between amusement and exasperation. “Fuck.”

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