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  He was my family.

  Yet… he was already becoming a problem.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Miles

  My eyes drifted open to bright fluorescent lights. I could hear my heart beating on the heart monitor and I felt something tight squeezing my arm.

  When I turned my head slowly to the left, I saw Lila standing there with her eyes dropped to the blood pressure cup.

  “How long have I been out?” I asked in a low voice as I tried to ignore the overwhelming tiredness that didn’t seem to want to release me.

  She looked up and then pulled the blood pressure cuff off my arm. “About a day.”

  I watched as she walked over to the cabinet and opened it, putting everything inside and then closing it. With her back to me, she spoke. “How did you know to come here?” she asked before she turned around to face me.

  Despite my exhaustion, I answered her. “I knew everything. Before I moved to Georgia, I lived with a guy named Joel, who I thought was my real father until Jennifer told me the truth, “ I paused as the memory of those years before Ray walked into Twisted flashed through the forefront of my mind before I continued, “I was probably sixteen at the time, but he was drunk one night and accidentally told me that he wasn’t my father, but he was Mila’s and Micah’s. At that time, Jennifer had already divorced him and he told me that she lived in Arkansas, so after high school, I went to find her,” I paused to take a deep, achy inhale and then went on, “She told me everything. She said that you were a nurse and that you had a private practice here. She also told me that she was actually my aunt and my real mother lived here. She wasn’t sure where, since they hadn’t spoken since our mom left me with Jennifer, but I found out on my own that Kevin worked at Twisted,” I said truthfully.

  Lila’s gaze burned into mine as she let this little bit of information process and then she responded, “How did you make it out of that warehouse alive?”

  An unbearable rage ignited through my blood as I thought about how I got here. I might have been completely out of it when I arrived here, but I remembered everything. I remembered what Jax did, and I wasn’t sure I could ever, would ever, forget it.

  At first, I was in shock that it happened the way it did, but then I had time to think about it and I realized that Jax had did it simply to save Jayson. That had been the only thing that mattered, no matter what the cost was. I didn’t have to agree with what he did or even forgive him, but I could understand it.

  “Miles,” Lila’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I blinked up at her before I responded with the only answer I could give her right now.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  She tilted her head to the side, “I know everything too, Miles. There is no reason to keep things from me.”

  I held her gaze steadily. “I guess I just got lucky.”

  “Yeah, but Kevin and my father aren’t going to stop until they get rid of you,” She went on.

  I didn’t answer, but I couldn’t worry about that right now, because there was something else that was more important. And I had to know the answer before I vanished for good.

  My son.

  Jaxson clearly made it out of that warehouse somehow, partly thanks to Lila, but I had no idea if he had gotten Jayson out.

  And I needed to know that.

  I looked up at Lila as she watched me. “That night Jax was brought here, who was with him?” I asked.

  She blinked as if this question had taken her off guard. “Um, there was two girls and a kid,” she said.

  Despite the fury I felt coursing through my veins, a tiny bit of relief mixed with it. I had no idea how Jax managed to walk out of that warehouse with Jayson since he was supposed to kill me, but I couldn’t bring myself to care at this point. All I knew was that Jayson was back with Ray.

  Lila took a deep breath. “How did things get so messed up?”

  My anger swelled as memories of who I really was surfaced. “I don’t know.”

  I took a deep breath, ignoring the sharp pain I felt when I did and then asked the question that has been burning in the back of my head since I found out about her, “How are we related to Lesley?”

  She leaned back in the chair and pulled her legs up until she could wrap her arms around them, “After Mom left my father, she married Lesley’s dad. They’ve been together for a few years now.”

  “Does Lesley know anything?”

  “No, I never told her,” she said.

  My gaze fell away from her and I glanced at a spot on the ceiling instead as I tried to process the fact that I had a damn stepsister, who I nearly crushed to death. I couldn’t believe she had even tried to catch me. The girl was fucking tiny with big round gray eyes, long straight hair, and legs that went on for miles.

  She was also annoying as fuck.

  My mind drifted from Lesley to the fact that her father had married my mother, a woman I didn’t even remember. The only thing I knew about her was that her name was Kelly Cross, or at least it used to be.

  As I laid there, I tried ignoring the collection of aches and pains that rolled through my sore and battered body, but it was hard. Which caused my thoughts to switch back to Jaxson and what he’d done. He had no idea how close he’d come to actually killing me, which clearly had been his intention, even if he hadn’t accomplished it.

  After he shot me, I ran to save him from me. If I had stayed, he would be dead right now and that had never been my intention. He needed to get back to Ray and save Jayson. Not me. I wasn’t the man she loved or needed, and I knew that.

  Once I was away from the warehouse, I actually ended up breaking into a vet’s office and stole as many medical supplies as I could before I treated myself the best way I knew how. Pulling the bullets out of myself without any pain medication was a bitch, but somehow, I managed. After that, I parked on some random dirt road and passed out in the Cadillac only long enough for it to turn daylight out.

  I knew at that point that I had to find a place to shack up until I could figure out what to do next, so I rented a hotel room for a week. During that time, I tried to keep my injuries clean, but I hadn’t been able to. It wasn’t until I started feeling the dizziness, weakness, and saw the amount of blood that still seeped from my injuries that I realized I had to get to Lila’s.

  I knew she could help me or I hoped, but before I could come here, I had to ditch the Cadillac. I had barely been able to walk the rest of the way here, and ended up collapsing by her door.

  Luckily, she had found me and now here I was.

  “How are you feeling?” Lila asked me after the long stretch of silence that had filled the room around us.

  I took a deep breath and listened to my heart beating on the monitor. “Sore and tired.”

  “I can give you something for the pain if you want and it’ll probably take you a bit to get your energy back and make a full recovery,” she said.

  Without looking at her, I responded. “No, I’m okay.”

  Lila didn’t say anything for a long moment, and I realized that my answer had probably taken her off guard, but the truth was that I enjoyed the pain, because without it, all I felt was the numbness. The undeniable truth that to everyone I loved, or cared about, I was dead and buried.

  But it was a goddamn lie.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lesley

  “Noah, I’m not wearing this. I look ridiculous,” I said as I examined the short jean skirt that barely covered my ass cheeks in the full-length mirror in my bedroom late that afternoon.

  He laughed from where he lounged across my bed in all his six-foot-three glory. “It’s a high school party, Les. Not your grandma’s tea party,” he said.

  I glared at him through the mirror, which only caused him to laugh again. Rolling my eyes, I looked back down at my outfit. The skirt was way too short for my liking, but he had done a good job at helping me pick out a top. The light blue tank made my eyes look brighter than they actually were and instead of wearing my hai
r in a messy bun like I did almost every-day, I had curled it just enough that it flowed over my shoulders in waterfall waves.

  I had to admit, I looked good but that was the point. It was not like me to draw unnecessary attention and wearing this to a high school party where there would be drunk jocks would definitely do just that. The last thing I wanted was for Lucas to punch one of his teammates in the face for looking at me the wrong way.

  “I can’t wear this,” I said again.

  Noah groaned and then shifted until he was lying on his side, using his hand to prop his head up as he met my gaze through the mirror. “Look, I know you’re more of a leggings, sweatshirts, let’s cover every inch of my skin type of girl, but you are wearing this tonight. Trust me. I might like guys, but I also like girls and if I wasn’t obsessing over your newfound stepbrother then I might actually try to have sex with you.”

  My mouth dropped and my eyes widened.

  He barked out a laugh and then rolled back onto his side. “I’m just saying.”

  Closing my mouth, I blinked and then tried to find the right words. After a moment, they finally escaped. “But I thought you liked Brad?” I said.

  He shrugged. “I mean I did and Brad’s cute, but he’s not your stepbrother. Like holy fuck, that man is danger walking and I love it.”

  A shiver ran down my spine at that thought. Noah had no idea how accurate that statement about Miles was. I could see it; he could see it. But I wasn’t sure it was the type of danger either of us needed in our lives.

  This thought sparked the next words I spoke without my consent. “Hey Noah, just… be careful. You know, around Miles,” I said.

  He turned his head to meet my gaze in the mirror and a weird expression had taken over it. “Uh, what do you mean?” he asked.

  I shrugged and looked away from him to examine my outfit again. “I don’t know. There’s just something off about this whole situation with him and I think we should be careful around him. That’s all.”

  Noah didn’t say anything for a long moment, which caused me to look at him again only to see a wide grin playing across his face as he watched me.

  I blinked. “Why are you smiling?”

  He shrugged one shoulder but elected not to respond.

  Frustrated, I spun around to face him and brought out my “You better tell me right now” glare. “Noah…”

  The grin never faded and then he spoke. “I think you find his danger as attractive as I do. I think he pulls at that little curiosity bug I know you have and it’s cute.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but realized that what I was about to say was a lie, because he was right. Miles might pull at the curious girl inside me, but that didn’t mean I trusted him, or I would let myself find out just how much danger revolved around him.

  “See?” Noah picked up on my silence and then laughed before he stood up, making his way over to me in a few steps.

  I lifted my gaze to his and tried not to smack that grin off his face.

  “It’s okay, I mean he’s your stepbrother. Not your real brother. You guys aren’t blood related, so if you were to go all out and bang him, then it wouldn’t be weird or anything,” he said.

  I gasped at that thought and tried to push those images out of my head as quickly as they had come. “Noah! That is so not what I meant! I’m with Lucas, and Miles is my family. That’s, yeah, just no. That will not happen,” I said.

  He lifted his hands and placed them on my shoulders, so that they were pushed down before he responded. “Whatever you say, Les.”

  I shook his hands off and then walked around him, heading to my closet. “You’re very disturbing sometimes. Miles is like way older than me and that’s just not going to happen.” I said as I grabbed my Converse sneakers out of the closet and slipped them on, while bracing one hand on the doorframe.

  “Fine, I was willing to share him but more for me I guess,” he said.

  Once my shoes were in place, I stood upright and looked over at him. “He’s all yours, now can we change the subject?” I asked.

  Noah walked back over to the bed and flopped down on it. “When is Lucas supposed to be here?” He asked.

  Checking the time on my alarm clock that sat on the nightstand next to my bed, I saw that it was nearly 9 pm already. “It should be anytime,” I said and turned to the window, pushing my curtains back just enough to see the street outside, but Lucas’ car wasn’t waiting there. I had no idea where the hell he was.

  After school, he had dropped me and Noah off at my house and then took off without telling me anything about where he was going. I only assumed he was headed back to his house, but normally, I would have heard from him by now.

  “Where is he?” I whispered to myself, so that Noah didn’t hear me as I gazed out the window, my mind drifting off to the worst-case scenario.

  As if he somehow heard me thinking, I saw headlights come around the corner and even from inside the house, I heard the rumble of his engine as Lucas sped toward my house, coming to a screeching stop next to the curb.

  “He’s here,” I said and dropped the curtain as I snatched my purse off the bed, shoving my phone, wallet, and house key inside before following Noah out the door. On our way out, I spotted my father sitting in his recliner and I stopped, letting Noah go outside before me. Dad looked up and shook his head.

  “If I was a good father, I would tell you to get your butt upstairs and change, but I’m not going to do that, because I know you won’t listen,” he said.

  I laughed and then rushed over to give him a quick hug, “Love you, Dad. I’ll be back around midnight,” I said before I headed out the door with him mumbling something else about my outfit under his breath behind me.

  He had no idea that whatever it was that he had said, I would probably agree to. Noah was the only reason I was wearing something as ridiculous as this and just like I had thought, when I got into Lucas’ car, his eyes roamed over my outfit before they met my gaze.

  “Wow… are you trying to get me in trouble tonight?” he asked jokingly.

  Noah smirked under his breath from the backseat, but I tried my best to ignore him and keep my attention on Lucas. “No, Noah thought I should wear this. Where have you been?” I asked, changing the subject.

  Lucas shifted into gear, “Sorry, my mom had me running a bunch of errands,” he said before we sped off, heading toward Brad’s party.

  ****

  Moments later, I slowly walked behind Lucas and Noah toward Brad’s house. I could hear the bass of the music as it blasted inside. There were so many kids I knew from school. Some were standing outside with drinks in their hands, while others looked as if they were screwing against the house. Brad’s parents weren’t the typical parents. They were rich, so he basically had a whole cabin to himself and since it was way out in the middle of nowhere, cops usually didn’t bother us and even if one did show up, Brad’s father was someone important on the city council, so they didn’t do anything anyway.

  Uncomfortable with myself, I wrapped my arms around myself, trying my best to cover the amount of cleavage that was showing as I followed Lucas and Noah into the house. Almost instantly, I recognized the song as Til I Die, by Machine Gun Kelly. It wasn’t long before we were standing next to the bar with the entire football team.

  All of them were tall, half-drunk, and loud as hell, so to prevent myself from getting trampled, I let Lucas wrap his arm around my shoulders as he talked about the game that was coming up next Friday.

  Noah, on the other hand, already had a red solo cup in his hand and leaned against the counter, sipping his drink, and watching Brad as if he was thinking of the many ways he wanted to attack him. I swear my best friend was a manwhore. One minute, he was obsessing over Brad and the next minute, he wanted my stepbrother.

  At that moment, my mind drifted back to Miles. Despite my earlier thoughts of him, I wondered how he was doing. And if he was better, would he even still be there the next time I went to Lila’s?


  “Babe…”

  I blinked and looked up to see Lucas holding a red cup out to me with his free hand, “Did you not hear me?” he asked, a questioning look in his eyes.

  “Sorry, I was… thinking,” I said and grabbed the cup out of his hand before I took a small sip of it.

  I had no idea what it was, but it burned all the way down and I cringed, causing Lucas to laugh as he picked his own cup up and tilted it back. He didn’t seem fazed by the drink and went on about his conversation with the team.

  Instead of taking another sip of my drink, I sat it on the table and glanced toward Noah again, but he wasn’t where he had been. Scanning the crowd of people, I looked for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. I tried not to worry, but considering Noah liked to drink, I couldn’t stop the underlying concern that slithered into my veins. Shaking it off, I turned my attention back to the team and Lucas as they chatted.

  This was usually what I did at these parties. I showed up, stood next to Lucas, watched people get drunk off their asses and then went home. That was the highlight of my high school years, but I was okay with being the one in the shadows.

  The outcast.

  The only reason people even knew me was because of Lucas. If it weren’t for him, I would walk the halls like all the other ghosts in my school. No one would accept me if I wasn’t dating him and I knew that, but it had never bothered me. I had never been someone that wanted to be the center of attention. In fact, I felt sorry for the ones who did have it, because it always seemed like they had way more pressure on them than I did.

  After several long moments, Lucas lifted his arm off me and vanished into the crowd with Brad, leaving me completely alone. Shifting on my feet uncomfortably, I crossed my arms again and looked up to see, Josh, one of Lucas’ teammates standing across from me with a red cup in his hand. I didn’t know Josh very well, but I did know that he had never been my favorite and considering the look he was giving me, I was reminded of the reason why.