Page 68 of Two Chambered Heart

“What? Oh my god, Kayden, I’m so sorry. I never had a sibling, but I can only imagine what you guys must have gone through.”

Kayden pulled back from her, looking into her eyes. She could see some deliberation playing out across his face. “I think it’s worse than you could ever imagine.”

She brushed a finger along his cheek. “You don’t have to tell me.”

He seemed to come to a decision. “I want to.”

He bit his lip before going on, trying to wrangle some resolve. “Our parents sold me and Jason to a genetic testing facility when we were eight years old. We still don’t know if it was government-run or if it was private, but that was basically where we grew up. The organization had no interest in June, but Jason, he wasn’t compliant. I kind of just did what they asked, let them do their fucked up testing week after week, month after month. But Jason fought like hell in there.

“After a year or so, they were able to get their hands on June. I don’t know if our parents sold her to the organization or if they took her, but… she was only six and half when they brought her in. They used her to coerce Jason.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, pulling at the tendons of his neck.

“She didn’t make it. They killed her, and he blames himself for her death. It broke something in him.” A tremor ran through his voice, pain lacing the next few words he choked out. “She was our little sister, and we couldn’t protect her, but Jason blames himself more than anything.”

Corey was speechless. She hadn’t been expecting any of this. She thought her childhood had been fucked up, but this was on another level.

“You were just kids, Kayden. That wasn’t your responsibility—not yours, and not Jason’s. That facility was clearly illegal and demented. That’s beyond fucked up.”

“I know.” Devastation marred his beautiful features, and her heart ached for him. “There were so many other kids in there with us. It was hell on earth. We were subject to experimentations almost daily, constant monitoring, all kinds of fucked up stuff. But we should have protected her. I know Jason believes if he’d just done what those people wanted, Junie would have been safe. Truthfully, she probably would have. They used her as coercion. To make him stop acting out, they would torture her in front of him. They couldn’t use me like that with him. I was too valuable to them. But with June? They could do what they wanted.”

She had so many questions about what he’d just disclosed, couldn’t even wrap her head around the picture he was painting for her. “How did you get out?”

“They kept most of us on sedatives, but when we were 18, we finally managed to flush them from our system by faking the doses. We were able to coordinate with some of the other kids in there, and we blew the place up. We burnt it to the ground. After that, everyone that got free went indifferent directions. We only keep in touch with a few of them. It was just too much to deal with. Me and Jason haven’t looked back.”

She caressed his cheek, not breaking the eye contact he was holding, refusing to shy away from what they’d been through. “I’m sorry, Kayden. No one should have to live through that.”

“Jason hasn’t really let himself love anyone since. His venom is a defence mechanism as much as it is a weapon. He’s too scared that if he lets someone in, they’ll be used against him again like our Junie was. Believe me when I tell you, Corey, he’s trying to make you hate him so that you’ll stay away from him. And it’s only because he cares too much about you.”

“I guess we’re all broken, then,” she murmured softly, brushing his dark locks off his forehead.

“I don’t want to lose him, too.” It was almost a sob, a choked, broken sound barely audible above the silence.

“You won’t lose him, Kayden. He’s right here, just down the hall.” She stroked his hair, a small gesture of comfort he usually used on her. “Are there other facilities like this that are still around?”

“I don’t know.” Kayden said, and she could see shame cloud his eyes over that. The agony etched across his face was breaking her heart. She smoothed his hair away and held him closer, and he shuddered in her arms.

“Thank you for trusting me with your story, Kay.” He huffed a sad breath into the crook of her neck. It was such a contrast to the Kayden she’d grown used to, his shadows hiding so deep that she’d had to pry them out of him.

Her fingers found the dog tag necklace that he and Jason always wore, fiddling with it while she thought about everything he’d just told her—how shocking it was, and how angry it made her. He didn’t stop her from touching it this time, and she ran her thumb over the cold metal tag, finding an engraving on the back. She traced the word a few times with her finger before peeking a look.

Thick block letters engraved the wordJunebug.

Chapter twenty-six

- Kayden -

Kayden had spent most of the day in bed with Corey. After he’d spilled his guts two nights ago, they’d needed a day to recalibrate. He’d woken to her in his bed for the first time, and it had been so much sweeter than waking in the guest bedroom with her. Somehow, the roles had reversed, and she’d been the one taking care of him. He’d let her, relishing in her soft hands, and slow, languid kisses.

But he could only handlegentlefor so long before he’d had her face down and choked out, taking her from behind. They’d eaten lunch and dinner together in his room, something he’d never really indulged in, due to absolutely not wanting crumbs in his bed. But he’d allowed it for her.

They’d talked and talked and watched shitty reality TV that Corey was surprisingly into. He wouldn’t have guessed that about her, but she claimed she watched it ironically. He didn’t care either way, because as she was watching the TV, he got to watch her. The show had her constantly erupting in laughter, and her laugh was so loud and open it made him giddy. He couldn’t keep his hands off her, so the cycle continued of fucking her in his bed and watching TV to recover, until he’d made her come so hard thatshe’d passed out.

Then he’d panicked that he’d gone too far and had actually killed her, and he’d frantically felt for her pulse, which had fluttered erratically under his fingertips. It had taken a while before the abject horror of the moment had bled out of his system, and he’d cuddled her into the night, holding her tight, finger combing her long hair and unable to stop telling her how perfect she was.

Now he’d woken up feeling energized and much less depressed about his deranged childhood. He felt lighter too, having spoken those words into the world for the first time. Kayden hadn’t told anyone what he and Jason had gone through before, hadn’t ever wanted to open up. He’d kept the story burrowed deep down in the black hole of his heart, refusing to acknowledge it. He’d only allowed it to spill out every now and again like poison, when he needed to remember that society was a piece of shit. But he wanted Corey to know him, because he wanted to knowher.

Jason was probably going to kill him, but he’d deal with that later.

The steam from the shower was spilling out from under the glass. He opened his bedroom door to let Corey know the water was heated, and he was hit with the heady scent of all the sex they’d had the day before. The bed was an absolute mess, and Corey’s tanned, lithe body was stark against the cream-coloured duvet. She smiled at him from her cocoon of blankets, and he had to stop himself from jumping back into bed. She may have turned him into a sex addict. He actually had shit to do today, which was good, because he could only hole up in his room for so long.

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