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The party is heaving. It’s insane but it’s mostly outside so it’s not so bad.
I watch somebody snort cocaine off the porch railing, and somebody else do a handstand on a keg and drink until beer spills into their eyes.
Nokosi and I stick together, hand in hand as we make our way around back to where the people he knows are waiting. I’m surprised to see Vienna here with Bobby and a couple of the other res kids. They all wave, all but Vienna who glares at me with dark eyes and pursed, thick lips.
I’d love to punch her in the face purely because that face has been kissed by the man I feel so entirely obsessed with. I hope this feeling never dies.
Nokosi grabs us both a beer from the cooler by the steps.
“Try not to pass out on me tonight, huh?” he says, smiling in the dark.
“Planning on sneaking me into your room?”
“Dad’s not home, no sneaking required.”
I wet my lips and grin. “And Nash is picking us up.”
“Exactly.”
“Well then, let’s get toasted.”
“I love toast!” somebody drunkenly shouts, and the house starts cheering.
The fuck?
“People are weird,” I murmur.
“Yup.” We reach his group of friends and I’m introduced to each of them, all but Vienna who won’t look at either of us. She’s really pissed off.
You snooze you lose and all that.
I’ll admit it. I’m smug.
“How long were you two dating?” I ask Nokosi quietly when we sit across from her on wicker furniture.
“Two years,” he replies, and I almost spray my beer everywhere. “On and off. We weren’t dating, we were fooling around.”
I gape at him. “Two fucking years?”
“On and off,” he repeats, grinning at me. I shake my head, but he turns my face back to him. “Two years on and off and I didn’t feel a fraction of how I feel when I’m with you.”
“You mean horny?”
“Well, there is that.” He grins, sliding his hand up my jean-clad thigh. “But I’m talking more about the passion and excitement. Whenever I’m with you, I feel like I never know what’s going to happen.” He winks at me and his smile broadens to one of mischief. “Such as, are we gonna murder someone today? Or maybe rob a bank? Or maybe you’ll push me off a cliff? Who knows?”
I snigger into his shoulder and then rest my healing temple against it.
“I’m not that bad.” Oh, but I really am. This past year isn’t full of good deeds in the slightest. In fact, I can’t think of a single thing I’ve done that’s good. Does saving Nok and Joseph from those assholes at the gas station count? Or did I fuck up my good karma when I robbed them? I drain my beer and listen to the conversation. I’ve never been one to join in in conversations, I like to listen.
They go back and forth, bantering and chatting about things that don’t interest me, until they finally find a subject I can’t ignore.
“Aren’t you a twin, Lilith?” Payne asks and I wonder how he knows that, but then figure Nok probably told them yesterday when I was off school looking after her.
I nod. “Yep. Why?”
“Do you have like a psychic link to her?” a girl beside Vienna asks. I think her name is Marla.
“Psychotic link maybe,” Bobby puts in playfully. I throw my empty bottle at him which he catches with ease and a pleasant laugh, and I catch the new one he tosses back.
My hand aches as I try to twist the cap off. “We do sometimes, like I can usually tell when she’s sad or hurt, even when she’s not around. Not always… but when we were six, she broke her leg when playing at a friend’s and I was at home and I started screaming. I just had this horrific pain in my leg. They had to x-ray both of us despite the fact only she was injured. I was fine but there was no denying the pain we were both in.”
“That’s so weird,” Vienna mutters, rolling her eyes.
“Are you the same in most ways?” the girl beside her asks, seeming to be quite intrigued by us. Some people are. They love the idea of having somebody identical in their life. It’s not always what it’s cracked up to be.
“No, we’re so different.”
“How?”
God, she asks so many questions and I still can’t get this fucking cap off the bottle. “Willow was always the bolder one of us both, super flirtatious. Sexy. Funny. I was always more withdrawn, sarcastic, less likely to join in at parties.” That last part was a massive clue to get them to leave me alone.
“I’m sorry she’s sick,” Ethan says earnestly, leaning over Payne to pat my arm.
“Open this,” I demand of Nok and thrust the bottle into his hands. He gives it one easy twist and it pops open, but it fizzes over from all the shaking.
