Page 44 of Twice as Twisted

I turn my head, kissing the scars she left on her upper thighs, the “D” I burned into her just inside the hipbone. For some reason, it’s startling to see it still there after all this time. I rest my chin on her pelvic bone so I can see her face. “You know I love you, right?”

She’s quiet for a long moment. “Okay.”

“What do you mean, ‘okay’?”

“What do you want me to say, Duke?”

“I want… You to say you believe me,” I say, pushing my hand up further, under her bra, to cup her little tits. “I want you to say you love me back.”

“Are you checking me for a wire?” she asks, shifting under me.

“I wasn’t,” I say, moving my hand across her chest to the other side. “Now I am.”

“Why didn’t Baron check when you first came in?” she asks. “I told him the feds are watching.”

“Why would you have a wire?” I ask. “You’re the one they’re after.”

“Am I?” she asks, her teeth chattering so hard I’m not sure if she’s really curious, or if she’s taunting me.

I tighten my hold, and a soft noise of pain catches in her throat. “I know you’re fucking with me,” I say. “It won’t work. I’m not stupid, Mabel.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

I relax my grip and nestle against her belly again. “Good. Because I’m not.”

“I know that.”

“Do you know if you can love me?” I ask, holding her little tit cradled in my palm. It’s still warm, but not as warm as it should be. I press my ear to her belly, hoping her stomach will growl and push away her words, ones I don’t want to hear.

“What if Baron doesn’t come back in time?” she asks, threading her icy fingers through my hair.

“He will.”

“What if he waits too long, and we’re frozen?”

“He won’t,” I promise her. “He wouldn’t make a mistake like that.”

“How sure are you?”

I hate that she has to ask me that, that after we drove across the country for her, she still doesn’t understand it’sbecause we can’t live without her. She couldn’t even say she believed that I love her. And if she doesn’t think I do, she’ll never believe that Baron does.

“We should get closer for warmth,” I say, lifting up from her. I kick off my jeans and hand them to her, since she’s shivering much harder, her teeth clattering together and her whole body trembling. Without a word, she slides her skinny legs into them. I know they’re still warm from me, and I like that I gave her my body heat, that I helped her. I pull her back into my arms, wrapping myself around her like a blanket. She doesn’t protest, which gives me hope.

“Tell me what it’s been like,” I say, pressing my nose into her hair. “Since you left.”

The smell of her is so familiar it makes my head spin. How could I have forgotten? Baron would never forget something so essential. Maybe that means he loves her more, that he deserves her, and I don’t. I’m sure he doesn’t remember her brother’s smoky leather scent better than her peaches and cream.

She’s quiet for a long minute, shivering against me. “It’s been horrible,” she says at last.

I squeeze her against me. “We’re here now,” I assure her, kissing her head. “We’re not leaving you again.”

“You didn’t,” she says, and I realize she’s crying. Mabel was never a crier before.

“We won’t let you leave us, either,” I promise her.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she whispers against my chest.

I cradle the back of her head, holding her close. “I’m sorry we missed your birthday,” I say. “I wanted to be here for that, but Baron said we had to graduate.”

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