“Leave her alone, Jess.” Cason’s rough voice surprises us both, and we turn to look at him.
He is standing and using the arm of the couch as support, but I’m not sure he’s going to get any further than he already has given the way his body is swaying back and forth. I hurry over to him and support him by putting his arm around my neck and wrapping an arm around his waist.
“What are you doing, dude? You got wrecked. You shouldn’t be standing up,” I say with a frustrated growl as I try to ease him back towards the couch.
“Narni, thanks. But you can go home,” he says.
As I help him lower onto the cushions, I can’t help but ask, “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Cason, why are you up?” Jade reappears and reaches for Cason as I get him settled in a seated position. His head his tipped back, and I see him wince as he tries to take a deep breath.
“Narni. Go. Home,” he says again. He’s talking to her but his eye that isn’t swollen shit is looking at me. He doesn’t want me to push it, so I look to Narni and nod. She turns and quietly slips out through the door she came in without a word.
I direct my attention back to Cason. “You gonna tell me what the fuck happened?”
“Jesse, Jesus. Give him a damn minute. Can’t you see the state he’s in?” Jade hisses at me.
I know she’s worried about Cason, but my rage is building. I try to keep my anger in check because she’s my twin, and I know she’s worried. “I can see him, which is exactly why I need to find out what the fuck went down right now.”
“To what? Go after whoever did this to him, so you can be the next one to show up beat to hell and back? Don’t you think we’ve been through enough in the last few weeks? Can we at least make sure he’s okay before we start bashing in people’s heads?” Jade’s voice has risen with each question, and by the end of her rant, she’s practically shrieking.
“It’s fine, Jade.” Cason coughs and then clenches his side. I know that look—he probably has a broken rib or two. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”
He slowly adjusts himself on the couch to find a more comfortable position, and Jade helps him get situated. She grabs a pillow for him to lean on, and he’s already swatting her away. He hates it when people fuss over him.
When he finally settles, he turns to me with an intense stare. “It was Marcus.”
My veins instantly turn to ice. Fucking Marcus. How can one man drive me to the point of insanity?
“You saw him?” I asked.
Cason shakes his head but looks at me with pain in his eyes, and instinctively I know the pain I’m seeing right now has nothing to do with his injuries. He’s scared to tell me something. Whatever it is, it can’t be good—not if Cason is afraid to tell me.
“He gave me a message to pass on to you,” Cason says.
I breathe through my nose trying to calm myself. I grind my teeth together and reach for the door. I splay my hands on the frame and just breathe. I close my eyes and brace myself for the words to come.
“What did he say?” My shoulders are tense, and my body is rigid. I hold my breath in anticipation for what Cason will say next.
I can hear the hitch in his voice as he says, “Her pain grows with every step you take to find her.”
“Come on.” I laugh and grab Jesse’s hand. I can’t wait to be in the water, and I pull him toward the swing that he introduced me to only a few months ago. “The last one in has to tell Cason it’s his turn to wash dishes.”
I let go of his hand and start stripping off each piece of clothing until I’m down to my swimsuit. I climb down the ledge and stick my toes into the chilly water. I close my eyes and savor the contrast between the heat from the sun and the cool water wafting over my toes. I’m surprised my thoughts haven’t been interrupted by the sound of Jesse splashing in the water.
I open my eyes and look up to the top of the ledge to find Jesse standing there looking down at me, watching me. This is not the first time I’ve caught him staring. I turn and take a few steps into the water and look back at him over my shoulder. I call out, “You lose!”
Jesse laughs at me before responding. “It’s worth it.”
He removes his shirt and shoes and disappears. I sink into the water and let the cool temperature erase the heat of the sun from my skin and swim out to the deeper area. I dip down, submerging my head for a moment to adjust to the cold water. As I come up, Jesse reappears with the swing in his hand.
“One . . . two . . .” I start to count him down, but he doesn’t wait. He pulls back and jumps into the air so he swings over the ledge and out over the water before letting go with a whoop and backflip. He lands almost a yard from me, and the plume of water that flies into the air as he sinks below the surface splashes me in the face. I can’t stop the laugh from escaping.
I scan the water until he reappears with a grin on his face. It’s a playful look I’ve come to love in the rare moments when I get to experience it. Jesse doesn’t let his guard down much, but sometimes when we’re alone I get to see this side of him. We’ve come out here a few times during school hours just for a break from the messiness of our lives. It’s our escape, just for the two of us. We don’t ever plan it, but on certain days we can look at each other and tell we need it.
“What’s worth it?” I ask as Jesse swims up to me. I wrap my legs around his waist and drape my arms across his shoulders as soon as he’s within reach. He treads water, holding us both up as he smirks at me.
“Every dish I’m going to end up doing for Cason is worth being last so I could watch you strip down to this swimsuit.” Jesse says this as he brings his mouth to my shoulder, slowly kissing me along the strap leading up to the back of my neck.
“You know what is better than this swimsuit?” I ask him as a grin. Two can play this game.
“What’s that?” he says with a smirk.
I reach behind my neck and pull the string out of the knot that is holding my top in place. I feel it loosen and slip apart, and my swimsuit falls. Jesse is momentarily stunned, his eyes on my suit floating on the top of the water. “No swimsuit at all.”
Jesse’s mouth is on mine before I can finish the words. And then on my chin, throat, shoulder. His mouth eventually finds my taught nipple. I tip my head back and moan his name. “Jesse . . .”
“Jesse . . .” I mumble as I open my eyes.
The pounding in my head is so intense I’m sure my skull is going to split open in the very next second. I lift my hand to bring it to my face but a heavy cold metal wrapped around my wrist stops me. I turn my head to see what is holding me back. My tiny reflection bounces off the metal handcuff engulfing my wrist. I blink a few times to focus. It’s then I realize I’m not laying on the usual hard surface I’ve grown accustomed to in the basement. Instead, it’s soft and fluffy, and actually quite comfortable. I focus my eyes again on the cuff and find the other end attached to an iron rod screwed into a wall next to a wooden headboard. I use my other hand, which is fortunately not attached to the wall, to check my head. The hair on the side of my head is matted together with what I’m sure is blood. My stomach churns at the thought of more blood loss. I feel around until I hit a spot that hurts so badly it sends a shock through me that has me wincing. When I pull my hand back, there’s fresh blood on my fingers.