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“Agh! Yes! Okay, yes, I deserve it, and so much fucking worse.”
Pike turns to face us, ripping his hand from the wall and littering the floor with pieces of it.
“I should have never let it get that far. I should have stopped all this shit a long time ago, but I didn’t. I told Harlow I was saving myself, and for a while, she believed it.” The way he says it lets me know how much even he finds that hard to believe. Pike is far from a virgin; hell, I might be the only one in the group who is at this point, well, maybe Blair. I’m not sure what’s up with him, honestly. Girls love him, but he doesn’t give a single one the time of day. Serena is the only one he lets get close enough to for anything like that, but I don’t think they’ve ever fucked. No, judging by the way she went red just from being against his bare chest earlier, I'd say they definitely haven't.
“We fooled around instead, but I knew it was only a matter of time before she pushed for more. Our parents have been talking about us marrying and a way to tie the pack to her colonization for years. They didn’t give a shit that we were still in high school. They just wanted the power that would have come from tying the two groups together.”
He’s talking a mile a minute. His eyes are frantic as he looks between us, but when he finally lands on Storm, he stops shaking his head.
“It was stupid, and it shouldn’t have worked.” He rubs his hands down his face, groaning in frustration. “One day, she came over to my parents. It was right before we graduated. Storm and I were out in the woods fucking around before we were supposed to meet you guys to study, and she saw us.”
“I should have fucking gutted her like I wanted to,” Storm says, leaning back and throwing his arm over the back of the couch as if he didn’t just suggest he should murder someone. I mean, I get it, it’s Harlow, but even so, sometimes the way he’s so easy to shut off his humanity is almost scary.
“That would have led to more problems, and you know it,” Pike argues, and Storm shrugs. He’s probably right, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t wish he had.
“Harlow just assumed I was gay. She thought that was why I wasn’t willing to sleep with her and threatened to tell my father.”
“How the hell did you keep her quiet?” Lyle asks.
It’s a good question I probably would have asked had I been paying more attention. Instead, I find myself watching my brother. He’s still reclined on the couch, his arm draped along the back, the picture of relaxation. But I can see the truth. The others might be distracted, but I know him better than anyone else. He is my twin, after all, and for as many ways as we might be the opposite, there are almost just as many ways in which we are alike.
I can see the tension in his jaw, and I don’t miss the way his knee bounces.
Is this story putting him on edge?
It’s not until his eyes dart up to the ceiling that I really understand, though.
Serena.
“We made a deal. I didn’t correct her. Instead, I let her believe what she wanted. It’s not wrong, exactly. Storm and I were together, but he wasn’t the reason I didn’t want to be with her.”
He hesitates but doesn’t explain further; he doesn’t need to. We all know Serena is the reason, even if he doesn’t say it.
She’s always the reason.
“I told her I would marry her after college and give her an heir. She didn’t want me, just the power and title. Me and Storm being together wasn’t something she really cared about. She only wanted to know how she could use it to her advantage. If anything, she seemed happy to sleep around and still get what she wanted, and it probably made her feel better thinking I was gay. That would mean she wasn’t the problem, at least to her.”
He slumps back on the couch, looking defeated, but he isn’t done.
“It was obviously a lie, but it bought me time, and that’s what I needed. A way to figure out how to get out of all of this shit and still keep Rena safe.”
“That’s all well and good, but if you’re so worried about Rena and her safety that you’ve dealt with our shit and jumped through hoops for not only your father, but Harlow. Then I’m going to need you to explain what the fuck happened earlier.”
“Lyle.”
The warning in Blair’s tone is clear as he turns his hard gaze toward him.
Blair is about the only one who stands a chance at reasoning with Lyle, and even then, sometimes he’s not enough. Serena has no issue fighting with him, but it never does her much good. He’s so damn stubborn that even when she’s right, he can’t let it go most of the time. But Blair is different. He’s always been the one who watches, seeing what we might miss. Lyle learned to listen to him when we were young, and he’s about the only one, but it doesn’t mean he still isn’t an asshole about it most of the time.
“Don’t, Lyle, me. You know as well as I do, your beast would never go after her like that!” Lyle steps to Blair, and he stands to meet him. They’re pretty evenly matched in height and size, but something about Blair’s calm demeanor always makes him seem more unhinged. Even when Lyle loses it, we know what to expect. It doesn’t happen often, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Blair lose it. He’s like the calm before the storm. Only you don’t know if you’re going to get a tornado or a fucking hurricane. Hell, you could get the apocalypse for all I know. Either way, I don’t really want to find out.
“It’s over. Serena wasn’t hurt, and she forgave him. You need to let it go.”
“Let it go!?” Lyle shouts loud enough that we all pause to listen, worried that Serena might come down to see what we’re arguing about. She hates when we argue, always has, and has no issue storming down to put us back in our place. I’m surprised she hasn’t come down already after Pike took his rage out on the wall. I have no doubt she’s heard us before now.
We listen, but hear nothing. Even if she were blasting music in her headphones, she would have heard us by now. Shifter’s hearing is heightened, and she has the best ears in the house. Which means she’s choosing to ignore us.
The thought stings, and as I look around at my brothers, I know I’m not the only one who thinks so.
