Page 132 of This Blood That Breaks Us

The sun was almost up when I snuck into my room. The night, though fun, hadn’t made me forget about Her in the slightest. I’d been itching to get home and see Her. Not that I’d ever tell Her that. She probably knew though. She was in my head. Iwondered what it meant. Could She hear my thoughts? Was it a one-way street? She seemed able to tell what I was doing, which made it that much more enjoyable to piss Her off.

When I opened my bedroom door, a dark figure was sitting next to the fireplace. Will was alone and waiting.

“Someone let you out of your cage?”

“Where the fuck were you?” He was instantly on his feet.

“Should you really be asking me that? Remember,I’mthe chosen one.”

“Fuck you. Tell me.”

“I was fucking a girl. Happy?”Happy.What a strange word.

Will covered his face with his hands and sighed. “You weren’t with Luke?”

“Uh, fuck no. I wasn’t with Luke.”

William stared at me with a clenched jaw, like he was trying to gather what to say and simultaneously set me on fire. I wasn’t in the mood.

“Will you tell me what you want to tell me so I can get on with my day?”

“You don’t feel that?”

“Feel what?”

He grabbed my collar and forced me up against the wall, paintings fell and cracked in their frames.

“Careful,” I hissed. I felt hollow and numb. Like if Will pushed me a little too hard, I might tear his head off.

He shook me, and I let him.

“You didn’t feel anything? I pulled this out of the laundry.”

He revealed a shirt. Luke’s shirt from yesterday that was crumpled into a pile. The thick scent of blood coated the entire thing.

“So?”

He slammed me harder into the wall, and I grabbed his collar, snapping the buttons close to his neck. A flash of heat trembledin my fingers. I wanted to gut him for touching me that way, but I let him speak.

“You are going to ruin your life if you don’t snap out of it. Listen to me.”

“Snap out of what? This is me.”

“Do you think you’re special? That you’re some ‘chosen one.’ They’re brainwashing you to be their perfect little lap dog, and you’re letting it happen.”

I pushed him and he pushed me.

“Don’t grab me again or I’ll—”

“Oh, you still feel anger, huh? Well, how about this. You left Luke last night, and he’s fucking miserable, and he has no one to help him.”

“Luke is an adult. He doesn’t need me to help him.”

“No. Of course not. Good thing he spent all that time taking care of all of you for you to abandon him in his time of need. I guess that’s your destiny. The twin that fucks over his brother when things get a little too hard, is that what you want to be known for?”

“I’m not my brother’s keeper.”

“That’s your life motto, you jackass.”