Page 9 of And Twice as Twisted
She nodded, placing her glass on the bar and squeezing out the door, as I watched the cars below. Normal people finishing their workdays and heading home to their uncomplicated families. Exhaustion swept over me. Placing my forehead against the cool glass, I shut off my mind and eyed the building across from mine. Lights were turning off and people were leaving for the night. Curiously, I looked to see if there was someone as pathetic as I was in that building too.
“Are you kidding me? That’s the fucking dress I told you to take off last night!” Heavy footsteps charged towards me.
“I don’t like you like that,” I mumbled, as his large hands reached out and pulled me to his chest.
“Please, like I’d ask to look at what’s practically falling out of thisscrapof fabric.” He jostled me around. “Basically incest in a thousand-dollar dress.”
“More like two thousand.” My stomach sloshed with each step.
Placing me on my feet for a second, Al straightened my dress and then threw me over his shoulder. He spoke softly to Evelyn, confirming she had a ride home before walking into the elevator.
“If you’re gonna puke, you better warn me,” he grunted.
“Then put me down. This doesn’t feel good.” A descending elevator was painful enough, but this position made it ten times worse.
A second later, I was on my feet and tucked into his side as he attempted to get me out of the building without everyone staring. “Sit.” He tossed me into his car with little care for the jostling, and my stomach continued to jar with the sudden movement.
“Take me… to… my apartment.” I curled into a small ball, my ass on the floor and my head resting against my arms on the seat.
“Nope. Compound.” The car lurched forward as he pulled away from the curb. “Mommy’s orders.”
“Alvin. No. Not doing this. Not tonight.” Everyone needed to back the hell off me.
“Sienna, you just need to put all this behind you. He isn’t going to leave the family, so you might as well get over it.”
Because it was that goddamn easy!
“I’m astounded that I’ve never realized how much of a prick you really are.” I kept my face pressed across my arms. “I almost died thanks to him. My father is in agony over Octavia’s disappearance, knowing it’s his fault. Add my brother’s bullshit into the mix, and it sounds like a terrible fucking dinner party. No thank you.”
“Grow up, Sienna.” He sighed, as ifIwere the problem.
“Run along and do your master’s bidding, lap dog. I was stolen, beaten, stabbed, and almost died because the man Ilovehas a past. Now he’s treating me like a pariah. I’msorrythat I can’t just wake up and act as if Apollocutting meout of his life is so simple!”
“Sienna!” His anger didn’t come close to my own.
“Hey, Al?” When he looked down at me, I smirked. “Fuck you.” And then I proceeded to throw up the entire bottle of whiskey, and the remnants of my lunch, all over his front seat. I barely heard the sounds of him yelling over the noise of me purging my soul.
If it were that easy, don’t you think I’d heal myself?Se solo.
Chapter 4
SIENNA AGOSTINO
“Stop sulking.” Two words. That’s all I got. Several weeks had passed since I threw up in his car, but Al was still barely speaking to me.
“I’m not.” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.
He liked to pretend he didn’t dry heave the entire way home. I did destroy his fancy new Audi, and I am pretty sure he’ll never be able to drink whiskey or eat salami again. He wanted me to buy him a new car, but I told him he could get fucked. I did, however, tone down my drinking and spend all my time split between work and the gym.
And finding Octavia.
Her second call since her disappearance turned all my focus to finding her. It was Octavia, for all intents and purposes. It was my baby sister on the other end. I knew the resigned, submissive tone that started the call. But by the end, she was unrecognizable.
“Sienna, please stop looking for me,” Octavia whispered into the line.
“Octavia! Oh, God! Where are you?” I rambled on, kicking off my heels and running for my office door.
“Sienna!” she barked and the confident, angry tone stopped me in my tracks. “You don’t get it. I don’t want to be found.” Gone was the meek and mild sister I knew, and in her place was someone who sounded… a lot like me.
