Page 210 of Kiss the Villain

And for some reason, I don’t recall how I used to be before he came along. Or don’t want to recall.

The crisp air bites at my face as Mom adjusts the collar of my jacket, her hands trembling slightly. “You should stay with us a little longer,” she insists, her voice soft but resolute. “You’re not completely healed yet.”

“I’m fine, Mom.”

My injuries are now hidden beneath Band-Aids, and though the stitches remain, they’ll come out soon enough. And then I’ll be left with scars the shape of fucking Kayden.

“My point still stands.” Mom hugs me and I have to lower myself so she can wrap her arms around my neck. “I love you, darling. You know that, right?”

“I do.” I pat her back. “Love you, too, Mom.”

She steps back, dabbing at her eyes, and Dad instinctively draws her into his side, his strong, silent presence grounding her. She has the kind of beauty that stops people in their tracks, a rare, ethereal kind that I inherited in its male form.

“Take care, Glyn, honey.” Mom hugs Glyn. “I’m going to miss you boys,” she murmurs, embracing Kill next, who, unsurprisingly, refused to leave until I do.

Clingy.

Not sure what type of conversation he had with Dad, but he’s been looking at me weird. As if I’m an entirely different person that he can’t wait to dissect.

Last night, he came into my room while I was going through old pictures I took of Kayden when he wasn’t paying attention. What? I didn’t mean to. I kind of…feel too empty. I just needed to recharge for ten minutes.

It ended up being an hour.

Until Kill interrupted me.

Mom and Glyn were in the kitchen, so without his two favorite people on earth, he probably decided to annoy me.

Kill sitsbeside me on the bed, his shoulder to mine as he stares at the large window overlooking the garden. “Do you really resemble me more than you resemble Dad?”

“Dad told you?”

“Yeah. But Grandpa hinted at it several years back. He said something like ‘Remember, you always have your brother. You’re more alike than you realize.’ I thought he was trying to build some stupid brotherly shit. I never thought it was because he knows you better than anyone else does.”

“He helped cover up murder for me.”

He tilts his head in my direction, his eyes lighting up. “How did it feel?”

I lift a shoulder. “Euphoric, but only for a few minutes, though. Then it was just…the void again.”

“Is that…why you never killed again? Because the void came back so fast?” There’s a strange deepness to his voice, an eagerness almost. This is the side I share with Killian. If he hadn’t been such an outward person who loved advertising his neurodivergence, I would’ve been more comfortable talking to him.

It’s not really about the threats he regularly made. That was his way to demand my attention since I usually ignored him. It’s that, despite our similarities, I’m more private than he is and don’t enjoy having others’ noses in my business. I also despise how he can hurt Dad.

I don’t like that.

But now, the words just spill out. “It’s because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop if I started, and someone as beautiful as myself isn’t made for prison.”

He bursts out laughing. The sight is so curious. He looks so happy. Ecstatic. His shoulders vibrate, and he even wipes the corners of his eyes.

I’ve honestly never seen Kill this happy, not even when we were kids.

“What?” I pout. “Iambeautiful.”

“I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“That you thought yourself to be more beautiful than me.”

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