Page 66 of Twice as Twisted

“Why?”

“Because… Duke does.”

“I’m not talking about Duke.”

We stare at each other a long moment.

“I need you too,” I admit at last, going to her. “To keep him happy, but also because… Because you’re you.” I take her hand. “Jane was fine to pass the time, but you… You’re different. You know that. You’re like me.”

“I’m not.”

“Not exactly,” I amend. “But you understand me.”

She stares down at me, not trying to pull her hand away. I wonder how much she still hates to be touched, if she’s finally gotten over her hang up. How many men have touched her since me?

“Then why did you do what you did to me?” she asks, her voice breaking.

“Because I hated it,” I say quietly. “I hated that you figured us out. I thought I had to destroy you. But after losing you, I realized how rare that is. How precious. And I want you with us. Not as my victim, like Jane. Not like before. Like one of us. A partner.”

She stares at Jane still kneeling there on all fours, shaking from the pain, the tube hanging from her ass.

“And why would I want that?” Mabel asks slowly.

“Because I understand you too,” I say. “No one else ever got you like I did. No one let you be truly you. You opened up to me, and I didn’t judge you or make you feel crazy.”

She snorts. “I ended up in a padded room because of you.”

“I’m not going to apologize, if that’s what you’re after,” I say, dropping her hand. “You know it as well as I do. You know that you felt something with me that you can’t feel with anyone else. And that Duke brings out something in you that no one else can. You can have that again. Both of us. Openly. No tricks.”

“You have that with her,” she says, her lip quivering before she bites down on it, her eyes rolling up, away.

“Not even close,” I say gently, perching on the step with her, wrapping my arms around her legs as she stands stiff, refusing to look at me. “We’re not the same without you. I’ve never met anyone like you, Mabel. You’re the only girl who could ever match us—not just me, but Duke too. You understand each of us, but also, you understand both of us together, our dynamic. You complete it.”

She’s quiet a long minute, and then she lets out a soft sniffle before quickly swiping at her nose. “Prove it.”

I’m taken by surprise again, and that same triumph fills me. Not triumph that I beat her, but on her behalf, pride that she is everything I could ask for in a woman, and I have her within my grasp. She’s right that we can’t treat her like before and expect a different outcome. We won that game. This is the startof a new one, and more than that, a new life. One where it’s more than a game, where she gets what she needs too.

“Didn’t I prove myself when I killed a man for fucking you?” I ask. “That should prove how much we want you.”

“Killing other men only proves you want to own me,” she says. “That you will defend what you see as yours by eliminating the competition. Any animal will fight off a challenger to stake a claim over their herd.”

“Then what do you want me to do?” I ask.

“If you love me, prove it by giving up something meaningful to you. If you’re not willing to lose something you love for me, then you don’t love me.”

“Like what?” I ask. “You know I don’t form attachments.”

“Her.”

I look up at her. She’s staring at Jane, her jaw hard.

“You want me to get rid of Jane?” I ask, and even though I was just thinking I hated the pathetic creature, I balk at the idea. I’ve gotten a lot of use out of the hitchhiker. She was my stand-in for Mabel, and even if we have Mabel, sometimes I might need a release that goes too far for a girl I respect.

“Yes,” she says. “If you love me, and you want me to be your partner, you shouldn’t need another girl.”

“And how will you prove you love us?” I ask. “You wouldn’t even say it to save your aunt.”

“I’ve never said I loved anyone.”

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