Page 66 of Sweetheart: Part One

I was drawn to it, though unable to help myself as I turned it in my grip, instincts in overdrive, as if I could feel the weight of its importance.

Everything else was in place.

His room was pure destruction. And now, I had found my target.

Thiswas the item I had come for.

EBONY

I returned to find my room in disarray.

It was hard to quite convey the rage that doused my system as I looked around, the place that was supposed to bemine, turned upside down.

Vex.

I knew it, even if I hadn’t caught the trace of cherry blossom lingering in the air.

I scanned the room for an age before I found the note.

Catch me before I find the middle, and I’ll tell you where it is xx

Something strange and foreign lit my veins as I read the note over and over. It took me too long to understand.

I got there in the end, scanning the room until I realised what was missing. It was strangely unsurprising that she’d managed to find the most precious thing I owned, as if it was natural.

She was in tune with me.

When I did confirm it, a thrill like I’d never felt seeped through me.

A game. Oneshe’dset up?

I was crossing my room before I could catch myself. A game meant an even playing field.

A game meant I could win.

I knew where I’d find her, and sure enough, I caught her out in the garden. She was sitting before the dying flames in the firepit behind the pool. She looked up at me, lifting a stick and poking the flames.

A taunt.

A low growl rose in my throat as I watched her, hearing the patio door latch behind me. Her chocolate eyes found me in a moment, wide as she took me in.

She knew.

I was going to fucking destroy her—and she’d dared me to.

She was on her feet in a moment, a tantalising figure in the firelight: her loose shirt silhouetted, along with the curve of her bare legs.

Prey.

That was the last thing I thought before she turned and ran toward the maze. The movement set off every one of my instincts.

My aura hit the air, and it was the last thing I felt before I lost myself completely.

LOVE

I felt something I never had before.

My brother, the man I’d given everything for, stoked the flames of something that might just be hope.

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