Page 20 of Twice as Twisted

I scowl at him. “It’s not me, Duke.”

“Then who is it?” he asks, looking at me like he thinks I have the answers.

“I don’t know,” I say. “I haven’t been able to catch her. She’s slipped surveillance a few times.”

“You think it’s her?” he asks.

“I don’t have enough evidence yet,” I say. “But I’m leaning towards it.”

“You need to be careful,” he says, his tone quiet, the most serious I’ve heard it in a long time. “She could be setting you up. If someone found all the surveillance stuff, they’d think it was you killing them. And if she’s behind all those disappearances…”

“I’m careful.” It eases my mind that he believes me without question, that he hasn’t let irrational emotions about me leaving cause him to lose trust in me. I’m certain that he’s right—anyone else would think I was responsible for the disappearances, that I was a jealous creep following her and picking off her dates one by one. But Duke’s always trusted me because I never had a reason to lie to him. He’s more worried that she’ll take me out next.

“Good,” he says. “Because it’s bad enough to lose Dad, but I did it. It was bad enough to lose Crystal. I can’t lose you. Not again.”

“You didn’t lose me.”

“You left.”

“I had to put our plan in motion,” I point out. “To build the foundation we needed to set up our new life.”

“You could have taken me with you.”

“You needed to graduate high school,” I remind him. “I already had all my credits.”

He’s quiet for a minute, fiddling with the audio. “You won’t leave again?” he asks at last.

“If I have to go somewhere… I won’t leave you behind. How’s that?”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“No matter what?”

“No matter what.”

“Good,” he says, nodding to himself. “Because you’re my brother. I need you. Our family doesn’t work without you.Idon’t work without you.”

“And our new family doesn’t work without you,” I say. “You and Mabel and me. That’s what works.”

I know now that I would be fine without either of them. I was on my own, and I thrived just as I always have. But they keep me in check. Duke reminds me that I’m human. Mabel satisfies that side of me.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Duke asks, staring out the side window as we pass another exit to another boring town. “What if she can’t love us anymore?”

“We’ll make it work,” I assure him. “And she’ll love us. She has to.”

This is neither a lie nor foolish pride. I don’t care about love, but Duke needs it, so I will make it happen, even if I have to force her to do it.

He’s silent as we leave the small town behind us, coming up on the last stretch of woods before the state line. Images flash in my mind, and I adjust myself, my pulse picking up speed and my cock stirring at the memories.

A bare thigh. A missing shoe. Her throat under my palms, her life at my fingertips.

On the radio, a news report comes on from Memphis.

“Another body has been recovered, likely a victim of what the police are now calling the Black Widow Killer…”

I don’t like it. I switch to my classical playlist. When we stop, I’ll look into what the cops have found.

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