Entering the back of the cabin, I scrunch my face in displeasure. It smells of dust mites, mold, and old age. Obviously, the guys haven't been getting the maid here. That's what happens when Jordan is the new boss around the block. Unlike Cassidy, he’s not a neat freak.
I head to the main floor, knowing where everyone hangs out. After everything that's happened, I'll be amazed if Lennox or Jordan aren’t here.
When I hit the top of the stairs, I’m met with Lux.
My worst enemy.
That’s a stretch, though, isn't it? Enemies would insinuate he matters, and he doesn't. He's hot, the one thing I’ve been enthralled by, but he’s ugly, too, and spoiled, angry, explosive. All toxic traits that have driven me to the brink over the course of our lives.
"The fuck are you doing here?" he practically spits. Hatred ripples around him, his body heaving with each stomp of his feet. He would look like a child if he wasn't such a brute.
"We need to settle this shit, DeLeon. This can't go on. We have duties, people to protect, and lives we don't want cut short."
He scoffs, derision tracing every part of him. "There's no way in goddamn hell I'll ever forgive you."
"Forgive me?" I bark, laughing haughtily. "What about me?"
He's the betrayer. The fucking Judas.
"Yes!" He closes the distance, and agony unfogs my brain. Grabbing the lapels of my polo, he breathes heavily in my face. "You told him!"
"What are you talking about?" My voice rises to match his tenor. If he wants to yell, I'll throw it back. This is bullshit.
He drags me with him toward the pain wall. It's big enough to make every member flatten against while we take hazing and punishments. Our parents would deny it, but there's something to say about the design.
"Maxim!" he practically cries. I've never witnessed heartache as heavy as the one in his eyes. "You're the reason he's fucking dead!"
My shoulders drop of their own accord, almost as if defeat is their only answer. Turbulent anguish prods at my chest. Maximillian Edgington. Lennox's first love. The guy I crushed on first. Lux won his heart. I only ever got scraps of his dick when he was bored with Lux.
Which brings us to our shared hatred.
He got what I wanted, but he never truly had him. Neither of us did.
No matter the loathing, I would never get Max killed. In the end, I wanted him to pick me, to decide my dick felt better, tasted sweeter, and to realize my body would suffice.
We were both fooled.
"I wouldn't have—"
"Shut up!" he spits, his voice heady with desperation. We can't bring him back. No one is that powerful. Not in this reality. "You were jealous."
I nod, admitting it aloud. "But I'd never get him killed for it."
"You fucked him, didn't you?" he hisses, almost as if the words brought him pain. "He let you." My face flames, the redness and insurmountable heat burning my skin with discomfort.
"I did."
Unwilling to offer more, I just let him breathe his hatred into me. Then, I notice Lux's tears, the absolute devastation. For some reason, it hurts me seeing him like that. I want to ease his torment, to soothe his distress, and it comes from nowhere, but all at once.
"Why was I not enough?" he painstakingly asks. His shoulders slump, and he leans into my neck like a lover would. Shakes rack his frame, making him move against me gently, with more sorrow that my heart knows how to handle.
"I wasn't either. Max wasn't a monogamous kind of guy."
Neither are we, I want to supply. It's true. We share a girl. The lot of us want one, and she wants all. Somehow, along the way, we'll have to decide if she's worth the fighting, testosterone, and heartbreak because, let's be honest, loving one girl who only has three available holes and one heart isn't exactly a recipe for happiness.
"I hate you for him not loving me back," he admits against my neck. His lips are so close, and the heat from his exhales has me warm in ways that make zero sense.
How can sex drive a person as much as it does all of us? We're always in this twisted lustful bubble.
His mouth being this close to my pulse makes me want things like his teeth grinding into the skin, his lips sucking and marking me, and his tongue tracing my freckles like his own personal puzzle.
"W-what are we doing?" he stumbles over the words. It's a whispered thought, something airy and fervent, a promise of something further.
"We're working out our differences," I explain.
Turning my head, our lips connect. His are a lot softer than I expected. The air whooshes out of me as we stand there, mouths locked, chests pressed against one another, the hardness of our dicks too near to ignore but too far to do anything about.
"You taste like regret," Lux whispers against my lips. "I've never wanted a flavor more."
He pushes into me, forcing me against the wall. His erection grinds against mine, bringing a moan out of us both. I haven't been with a man since Max. Not again after he died, I've promised myself only pussy, and I've only shared with Pru.
Right now, in this moment, Lux is mine to take. Not someone or something to share with my twin.
We fight for power, his teeth digging into my already split lip. Copper fills my senses, bleeding into my taste buds, and I can only growl in response. It isn't until a loud cat call sounds out that I realize we've been locked in an embrace that could easily end both our lives.
We break apart, shuffling to adjust. When our eyes connect with our intruder, Lux swallows loudly and has the amicable sense to look ashamed, but I don’t.
I’m not scared of my ex-lover’s little brother, and I'm sure as hell not regretting tasting Lux for the first time. Hatred is sweet, like a nectar of temptation and promise of damnation, a sinful duo I'd partake in every day, even if it promised perdition.
"Jordy," I sound out grumpily, wishing my balls didn't feel swollen to the brink of pain.
"Jay," he bites out. "Looks like we're both addicted to my brother's ex plaything." His nostrils flare, the only thing showing his true animosity. "Did Lux tell you I suck a mean cock?"
With that, the room fills with the rest of the Emeralds. My stomach rumbles with worry. We all have explaining to do.
We all have secrets.
We are all several words away from death.
Cassidy, if we could have protected you, we would have. You would have saved us all from what's to come. Too bad trust isn't a shield we all carry. It’s, just a pool noodle in a sword fight to the death.
Fuck.
Chapter Nine
Past
Jordan
"Your father is calling," Jewel, my house lady, announces as she interrupts my sunbathing.
It's been like this for the last two years, him calling me while I’m in another country, being the invisible son. My brother is the golden child, the one meant to rule, and I'm the disappointment. These are the words that play over and over again in my mind. My father's words.
Taking a deep inhale of my joint, I grab the offered phone, wondering what he's called to yell at me for. It's been nearly five months since he's called. He doesn't care what I do as long as the Edgington name isn't used.