Page 35 of Wilder Love
* * *
“You better emailme and text me and keep me posted on everything,” Sienna said. She was dressed for bed in a champagne silk camisole and short set. “I can’t believe he’s doing this to me.”
“You might have fun.” My attempt to cheer her up was feeble at best. I didn’t want her to leave either. Finding out that her dad was shipping her off to an East Coast boarding school for our senior year had hit me hard. I would have no allies at Costa del Rey High now. Dylan would be taking classes at the community college. I would be alone. With Tristan Hart and his merry band of assholes. But that was me being selfish.
“Oh yeah, right. Fun,” Sienna said. “The place sounds like an institution. You’ve seen the glossy brochures.”
“Propaganda,” I said.
“Exactly.”
She shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth and tossed a Starbucks gift card into my lap, her eyes never straying from the TV screen. I tossed it back into her lap and watched Grace Kelly spying on her neighbor on the fifty-five-inch screen in Sienna’s lilac bedroom while I sipped the lychee martini we had whipped up at her dad’s bar. It was our third one.
A loud crash drew my attention to the open window.
“Fuck.”
Dylan lay sprawled across the floor, laughing like a maniac. He stood up and stumbled over to the bed, his eyes narrowed on Sienna.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my brow furrowed in confusion.
“Came to say goodbye to the princess.” His words slurred. “My kingdom for a kiss. Or a kick in the nuts.” Dressed in black from head to toe—black T-shirt, black jeans, unlaced black combat boots, he looked like the villain in Sienna’s fairy tale.
The mattress dipped under his weight as he crawled up the bed and knelt over her. He lit a cigarette and blew the smoke into her face while I stared, dumbfounded, trying to put all the missing pieces of the puzzle together. She plucked the cigarette from his lips and took a drag then shoved him away with her foot. He landed on the floor with a thud.
“Ow. Your floor’s hard as shit.”
His arm reached up and she handed back his cigarette like they did this song and dance every night of the week and were so attuned to each other, no words were necessary. I crawled over Sienna and stared at my brother. He was sitting on the floor next to her bed, his back against the wall, blowing smoke rings into the air with his eyes closed.
I glared at Sienna. “Whatever happened to confiding in each other?”
“It’s… we’re…” She sighed. “He’s your brother. Yourtwinbrother. It just felt weird telling you. Nothing is happening though.”
Dylan snorted. “That’s for damn sure. I’m Sienna’s dirty little secret,” he mumbled. “Not good enough to use the front door. Or meet her parents.”
“That’s not… you know that’s not true, Dylan.”
I scrambled off the bed but not before downing the rest of my martini and slamming the glass on her bedside table.
“Babes—”
“No. We were supposed to be friends. I told you about Shane and all this time you’ve been keeping this from me? This is why I don’t trust people. Every time you let them in, let them get close, they screw you over.”
“Why do you think Daddy’s sending her to boarding school?” Dylan said, his voice bitter.
“Dylan, don’t. Please…”
“Please what? I never got a fucking vote, Sienna.” He laughed harshly. “But then, who would want another St. Clair bastard running around in the world, right?”
My eyes widened in shock. “What?”
Tears poured down Sienna’s cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I wanted to tell you. I was going to… I didn’t want to get in the middle of you and… Dyl—” She was crying so hard her words garbled. I crawled onto the bed and wrapped my arm around her shaking shoulders. Dylan was holding his head in his hands.
Save our souls.
13
Shane
