Page 109 of Always

“Maybe not, but she knows some of this. You can’t tell her anything more. Got it?”

She looks into my eyes.

Does she see my torment? My subtle sadness? I wish I didn’thave to do this, but I will. I’ll do it for Skye.

“Of course, Braden. You can trust me. With anything.”

Chapter Forty-One

Skye looks so beautiful.

And she’s listening. I know she’s listening because I taught her how to listen when I showed her how to focus on only one sense at a time.

I close my eyes, breathe in.

I go back in time, and I begin to tell a story I’ve never told another living soul.

…

She was beautiful, if you like blondes. I had always favored darker hair.

“They’re both on the prowl,” Ben said to me. “And they’ve got their eyes on us. Might be a lucky night for the Black bros. We can get some high-class pussy.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I said.

“What’s up your ass?”

“Nothing. I’m just not in the mood.”

“Not in the mood for sex?” Ben laughed. “Fine. Have a drink. Have five drinks. I’m going to get me some of that.” He walks toward the Ames sisters.

Identical twins, both blond and beautiful. Ben began working his magic on the one with longer hair. Soon they disappeared.

The other one, though.

She was… I couldn’t put my finger on it. She was staring at me, trying to get my attention all night, but something was offwith her.

Still…I hadn’t had sex in a while. When you worked construction six days a week in the hot sun, you were dirty as a pig and fucking exhausted the rest of the time. What little free time I had I spent researching. I had an idea—an idea that could be big. I just had to figure out how to get it off the ground. With so little time and even less money, it didn’t seem likely. Still, it was my dream, and I spent my off time working on it. No time to get dressed up and cruise for chicks. How could I find women who liked what I liked, anyway? Not all girls let a guy tie them up. At twenty-four, I was getting too old for casual sex. Ben was barely twenty-one and still liked flashing his ID at bars.

This was his scene, not mine.

Ben had heard about the party at the Ames’ mansion through a friend of a friend. When he suggested we check it out, I finally agreed. We’d had the day off work, so I wasn’t dead tired as I usually was. While the time might have been better spent working on my ground floor idea, Ben had finally persuaded me.

The other Ames twin approached me.

I looked around. Shit. No escape. The house was getting crowded.

She smiled at me. “Hi there. Welcome. I’m Addison Ames.”

“Braden Black.”

“Who’s your friend? The one who went off with my sister?”

“He’s not my friend. He’s my brother, Ben.”

“Oh. So what do you do, Braden Black?”

“Construction.”

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