Page 20 of Keeping Our Secrets

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked as he pulled me into his bare chest. “What happened to him?”

“We were driving home late from Jen’s house and a drunk driver ran us off the road. Michael was driving and his side was hit. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I found out when I woke up five days later.”

“Were you close?”

“Michael was more than my brother, he was my best friend,” I told Liam. “We were inseparable.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. He was my twin, my other half.”

“I’m sorry you lost him.”

“Me too.”

No matter how many therapy sessions I went to, I still had nightmares of that night. On nights like this one, I often woke up in a cold sweat, staring off into the dark. When I returned to school after the accident, the sound of a locker slamming would make me jump. It reminded me too much of the sound of the collision.

The stares In the school hallway were the worst.

At first, I had actually considered asking my mom if I could transfer schools. The memories of Michael in that school and at home battered me every day, but since I was already in my last year and didn’t have much left until graduation, I tossed the idea out the window.

“Now that we’re both awake, I think we should talk.”

“You wanna talk right now?” I glanced down at my tank top. “In here?”

“It's not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”

I blushed.

He placed two fingers under my chin and lifted my gaze to his, then he leaned forward and whispered, “Then again, we don’t have to talk at all.”

He pressed his lips to mine. As he deepened the kiss, we moved in slow motion until my head settled onto my pillow. Settling half of his body over mine, he slid his left hand up under my tank top. Heat trailed over my stomach, then my ribs and my breathing hitched as he palmed my breast.

The way his body felt molded to mine, brought me back to the night not so long ago when he had held me just like this. Thinking about it still had me clenching any thighs together. I yearned to chase that feeling once again. It took everything in me not to part my legs and let him inside again.

How he made me feel alive.

Worshipped me.

It was everything I wanted my first time to be and more.

And now I was here under the same roof as him.

Pregnant with his child.

And I hadn’t told him or another soul about it.

There would be no hiding the changes or the morning sickness.

Eventually no one would buy jet lag as the reason for me being tired all the time.

Because fucking hell, I was tired.

All the damned time.

How the hell did my mom do this?

A sudden pang seared. through my chest as I longed for my twin.

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