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“You never wanted me to be your sister,” I whisper, my lips pulling down in sadness.
He must have reached his peak, because he reaches forward, his fingers threading through my hair. He squeezes his hand into a fist, my hair tangling through his fingers and pulling tight. “It doesn’t matter whether you were my sister or not. I always knew where you’d end up.”
I tip my head back, the heat from his hand burning my skin alive. “And where is that?”
“With me.”
His other hand goes to my hip, and he pulls me forward, straight into Castle Pointe. The town pulls me in, and my heart settles, whether it’s this place or this person in front of me, I don’t know. But every worry, every stress, every bit of heartbreak fades.
Completely.
“What happens now?” I whisper against his lips. “I have to go home.”
He pulls me closer against him, my body becoming flush against his. “You are home.”
I step back, frowning. He can’t do this to me. I don’t want to be his puppy. The one he can drag back and forth however he pleases. “My home is in Fargo. Castle Pointe stopped being my home the moment you dropped me and my mom on our asses. With nowhere to go and no one to turn to.” Anger flushes through my body, remembering the weeks after we left and how hard it was for the both of us to find some semblance of life.
I take a deep breath. “I may never get over you, Malik, but that doesn’t mean I’ll ever forgive you for what you did.”
His eyes narrow. “You blame me for killing my father?”
My eyes widen. “No. Not at all. You aren’t to blame for that.Not at all. It’s the fact that you treated me like such a piece of shit. Like me… likewewere nothing. Like we meant nothing. Did I mean nothing to you?”
He says nothing.
I shake my head. “This was a mistake.” I spin around, ready to leave Malik behind once and for all. I don’t need him. I don’t know why I ever thought I did.
He swoops me off my feet, spinning me around until I’m pinned against his car. My back arches on the hood, and he leans over me, seething teeth and bared lips. “Know this, Vera. I let you go once. Not because I wanted you to, but because I needed you to. I needed to pick up the pieces that were left of my town, and I had to do it by myself. You were always going to come back to me. You can deny it and say you never planned to, but I knew. I knew you’d walk back into Castle Pointe one day, and when that day came, I’d never let you go.” He leans down, his lips brushing against mine. “And that day is today.”
41
MALIK
Itear down the road, my eyes pinned in my rearview mirror as Vera’s car drives slowly behind me. I fear that I’ll blink, and she’ll disappear. This fear, this worry, is a new emotion in my chest. Not one I knew I even know how to produce.
But it’s here, and it’s thick. I can’t get rid of it no matter how hard I try.
I pull through the gate, rolling up to the house that finally feels like home again. Not for anything I’ve done, but for the girl who pulls into the driveway behind me.
She didn’t want to come.
She told me she wanted to go back to her hotel and meet up tomorrow. But I know her. She’ll get cold feet and she’ll flee back to Fargo before sunrise. She’ll be lost to me again, and possibly forever.
I couldn’t risk that.
I pull to the side, allowing her to pull closest to the front door. Switching off my car, I slide out, heading to the front door and opening it, stepping inside.
My chest settles as the sound of her feet step through the door.
I watch her from the corner of my eye as she looks around the house, looking for subtle differences. There isn’t much that’s changed, I’ve left most of the house the same. But I’ve taken down a few things here and there, a few pictures, a few ancient knickknacks that held no purpose to me.
“It feels… weird. Like I never left, but it also feels like it’s been so long since the last time I was here. Like centuries. It’s just a surreal feeling.”
“Get used to it, because you aren’t leaving again.” I don’t look at her face as I slip off my shoes, walking into the kitchen and pulling a bottle of scotch from the counter, pouring two fingers into an already awaiting glass.
I knew I’d need it.
When my PI called me last week and told me her plans, I haven’t been able to peel myself out of this daze. I’ve been shit at work and shit at home. I’m supposed to run a company, and the back-to-back conference calls and meetings have been me half-assing shit because I can’t focus on anything besides my stepsister.
