Raleigh stole more than my hard-earned money growing up; she stole my first love, Ansel Sawyer. It was an all-consuming, rose-tinted type of existence, and I loved Ansel from the first day of high school. It took two whole semesters before I could bring myself to even return his morning greeting. I battled my crippling shyness, and on one walk home from school, we got to talking. If my head had concocted the perfect boyfriend, talking had sealed the deal. He was funny, smart, and too handsome for my teenage hormones. He asked me to go to his house party, and I couldn’t sleep for a week. I’d never felt so high, so happy, and the night of my very first high school party I’d never felt so devastated.
Raleigh had read my diary. She thought it would be fun and humiliating to get me to my first party and make out with my boyfriend. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing. Raleigh didn’t hide her vile intention, she smiled and laughed out as I froze in the hallway, staring at Raleigh grinding down on Ansel who now had his tongue so far down her throat he could probably taste the evil running through her veins. Even as twins, there was no mistaking us. Raleigh had a sharp, cropped bob, and I deliberately kept my hair at waist length.
How could they be so cruel?
I stumbled out of the house to the echo of laughter, and even six blocks away, I still heard the ringing of betrayal in my ears. I fell asleep to that sound and woke the next day, changed. She told me that she had seduced him the night before the party, and when I asked why, she smiled and replied because she could. She told me he told her that he loved me. I cried and she stroked my face and told me she did it for me. She said he didn’t really love me if he could be tempted by a quick, meaningless fuck. They broke my heart, and she never looked at him again, and I never looked at her as my sister after that night.
“I trust him.”
“I know, but do you trust Raleigh?”
“Not as far as I could throw her, but Joel I trust with my life, and this weekend he’s taking me to his favourite place in the world. Apparently, he’s got some news.” I explain.
“Well, that makes two of you,” she mutters, snapping her mouth shut, and the look of horror on her face lessens the sting of her flip comment. She is instantly at my side, the dress on the floor and her hand holding mine. My eyes glisten with fresh tears. “Oh, babe, it’s going to be all right. Reggie, it’s going to be fine.” I suck back the sobs once more bubbling at the back of my throat.
How can she know that? I don’t know that, still I take the comfort for what it is and pull myself together. I pull back and unceremoniously wipe my runny nose with the cuff of my sweatshirt. Oh, wait, I mean Joel’s sweatshirt.
“I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine,” I wave my hand and physically shake myself, clapping my hands to draw attention to my new focus. “Now what should I pack for a weekend in the woods?”
“I think the little cocktail dress might be overkill, more like checked lumberjack shirts and jeans. Although, are you planning on leaving the cabin at all? From what I understand, he’s not called marathon man for nothing.” She grins, and I blurt out a dirty laugh. It feels strange and welcome, even if her comment makes me groan.
“God, that place for rumours. It’s like a massive mothers’ meeting, and you don’t even work there.”
“I’m dating a doctor, so I kind of work there. Please don’t tell me that rumour isn’t true… please, please, tell me you bagged a unicorn in the stamina department.” She clasps her hands together in prayer.
“No comment.”
“You’re no fun.” She nudges me back on to the bed, and I fall back laughing. A dark shadow sweeps over my closed lids and I get a tingle on the back of my neck that I recognise before I even open my eyes.
“Oh, trust me, she’s a lot of fun, and Harper, for the record, that’s not a rumour.” Joel leans over to plant a soft kiss on my gapping mouth. I don’t know whether I’m mortified he heard us talking or terrified he heard us talking.
“Joel, you’ve been here the whole time?” I ask trying to keep my tone indifferent, my eyes dart to Harper, and we both exchange a look.
“No, just got here. Heard mention of stamina and just knew you ladies were talking about me. Why? What did I miss?” His brow furrows, and he tilts his head expectantly.
“Nothing!” We both snap. His frown deepens, and I try and brush off the highly suspicious behaviour with a lame excuse. “Just planning my weekend wardrobe.”
“Because you’re worried the bears might be wearing the same dress?” he quips.
“There’s going to be bears?” I ask with a genuine degree of fear.
“Probably not.” He takes my hand and pulls me from the bed, wrapping his strong arms securely around me. I meld to his body and have to suppress the audible groan of pleasure because he feels so damn good. His ego is such that the last thing he needs is to know he has to do so very little when it comes to making me moan. He tips my chin up with one finger, and his piercing hazel eyes bore into me. “Come on, what were you talking about, Reggie? You both look like you’ve raided the entire Maryland factory, not just the cookie jar. So damn guilty.”
“Really, it was nothing.” I shake my head and try to turn away. His fingers are replaced with fully cupped hands and intense scrutiny.
“Have you been crying?”
“No…yes, a little, It’s nothing, just hormones gone crazy.”
“Hormones?”
“Must be a twin thing.” I offer this as a lousy explanation, although the volatile mood swings and ridiculous emotional meltdown could easily be the result of hormones. I look over to Harper who nods sagely, reading my expression as I internalise and come to this somewhat plausible conclusion. “Ghost symptoms,” I add with certainty, as if that makes all the sense in the world.
“I’ve heard of that. Well, just as long as you don’t get fat.” He grins but wisely steps away from the self-confessed hormonal female with a kicking right hook.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m kidding,” He holds his hands up in defence, as if that will protect him. He steps backward and I can almost see synapses firing at lightning speed as he fetches the shovel to dig himself out of this particular hole. “I don’t care what size, shape, colour you are as long as you’re mine.” His back hits the wall, and I rise to my full five foot six and glare at him. He sucks in a breath when I lurk forward and kiss him on his nose.
“Nice recovery.” I flash a wicked grin and chuckle when his whole body relaxes.
“I thought so.” He lets out a nervous laugh and pulls me back toward him, smashing his lips to mine in a proprietary kiss that makes me tingle in all the right places. When he releases me, I am a hot, flushed mess and a little dazed. “I’m going to jump in your shower and then we’ll head out.”
“You’re packed already?” My voice is rushed with mild panic.
“Relax, baby. It’s not the complete wilderness; it’s my family cabin, and I have clothes there. Besides, trust me, all you’re going to need to bring is that sweet ass.” He grabs my face and crashes our lips together, eating up any words that dare venture forth with his hungry tongue. He dominates the kiss, and I just let him. He’s like a hurricane when he enters a room and never fails to leave me a breathless wreck when he departs.
“Wow,” Harper sighs.
“Yeah…”
“He’s so—” She leaves the word hanging, and I have to agree.
“Yeah.” I sigh, and after a few silent seconds, she steps up to me, breaking my dreamlike revelry. Her voice is hushed and sincere.
“I don’t know what you are going to decide, Regan, but my advice, for what it’s worth, is to forget everything for this weekend, Relax, enjoy the wild, and ride that ass like there’s no tomorrow.” She winks and gives me a little shoulder shake. I pinch my lips together and force a smile she’s clearly waiting for.
“Not sure I can forget, but I like the rest of that plan.”
“It’s not a plan; it’s doctor’s orders.” She plants her hands on her hips and fires her most stern glare at me, which just makes me chuckle. She can be intimidating, just not to me. I’ve known her so long, dragged her head from a toilet bowl too often, and carried her drunk arse home one too many times for her to be anything other than my super supportive best friend.
“You’re not a doctor, Harper.”
“Not a medical doctor but I’ll have a PhD soon, and this soon-to-be-doctor orders you to fu—”
“Yes, yes, I did understand the advice, and I’ll take it under advisement.”
“You need a second opinion. I’m pretty sure Cam will agree with me.”
“The fewer people know about my fuck-up the better, Harper.”
“But this is Cameron.”
“I know, but he’ll look at me that way he does, and I don’t think I could take that right now.”
“Oh…the look. Okay, but that’s only because he loves you.”
“I know. I will tell him, just…just when I know what it is I’m telling exactly, that’s all.”
“Okay, I understand.”
I pick out some clothes I think will be suitable and start to shove them in my overnight bag. Harper sits on the bed and unpacks everything I have just packed, folds it neatly and repacks like a proper adult.
“I know you joked about the twin thing, but it is kinda’ spooky that you two got pregnant at the same time, don’t you think?” I freeze as she quietly voices the thought that’s been frying my brain since I found out.
“When I was little, Raleigh and I were so close, inseparable. It was my biggest childhood fantasy, that we would both have babies at the same time, and they’d grow up to be as close as we were. However, I saw husbands in the picture, though, so I know it’s definitely a fantasy.” I snort.
“Well, that, and she turned into a massive bitch,” Harper adds without a hint of irony.
“Yes…that too.”
Harper leaves, and Joel has taken my bag to the car while I make my bed when I hear voices in the living room.
“Back the fuck up, Raleigh.” Joel’s clipped tone isn’t remotely playful. I step into the corridor so I can hear the interaction, and I catch glimpses of Joel, with Raleigh almost pinning him to the kitchen island. A look of horror mixes with disgust and distorts his handsome features into something ugly, a little like my sister’s behaviour.
“What are you afraid of, Joel? That you might like me more?” she coos seductively.
“That I might catch something, more like.” He slaps away her finger that was trailing down the centre of his t-shirt and leans even further back.
“Aw, don’t be like that. You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“I’d have to be missing serious brain matter to want you, that’s for sure. Raleigh, if I have to tell you again to back the fuck away from me, next time I come around, I’ll have a fucking restraining order. I’m not now and will never be interested in you.”
“You’ll change your mind.” She steps away, her singsong response enough to churn the acid in my stomach and make me shiver from tip to toe.
“You’re delusional as well as certifiably insane if you think for one moment I would prefer a crazy bitch like you to Regan. How you two shared the same womb is a medical miracle.”
“Raleigh, what are you doing?” I walk into the room just as she is about to pounce once more on Joel. She holds her hands up in mock surrender.
“Uh-oh, we’ve been caught, Joel, hands well and truly in my cookie jar.” She snickers behind her hand.
“Jesus, Raleigh, can you even look at yourself in the mirror without hurling? I’m your fucking sister, and you’re hitting on my boyfriend right in front of me,” I yell as bile and rage bubble to the surface. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to fight for what’s mine. I just didn’t think I’d still be doing it in my twenties.
“In fairness, I thought you were in the car.” Her action causes my jaw to drop.
“Oh, my bad. For fuck’s sake, Raleigh, Joel is not some high school boy with testicles for brains. If he wanted you, he’d have you. We’re all fucking adults here, but he doesn’t. Get it through your head, he doesn’t want you. Period!” I stomp close to her and jab my index finger against her bony chest. She arches a brow, unfazed by my righteous anger. I let out a resigned breath when I accept the futility of trying to reason with her.
She swishes her hair and begins to turn away. I reach for her elbow and soften my voice. “Don’t you think you’ve got enough going on in your life right now without fabricating more drama?”
“You’re right. How could I ever compete with little miss goody fucking two shoes?” She snatches her arm free and practically snarls her venom in my face.
“What the hell, Raleigh? There is no competition. I think that’s what you don’t get. I’m your sister; I love you and we are not in competition.” Exasperation weighs my shoulders down as she refuses to hear what I’m saying.
“We were always in competition, Regan. The only difference between you and me is that I know I’ve already won.” She pinches out a tight sadistic smile before walking to her bedroom, closing the door, and turning her hard-core drum and bass music up to full volume. She probably thinks I need to study. Not this weekend. I let out a heavy sigh and step into Joel’s wide-open arms. I sink into his hold, squeezing him right back and taking every ounce of comfort I can from his strong arms.
He speaks after only a few seconds. “What did that mean?”
“Your guess is as good as mine, unless you have actually slept with her.” I tip my head back as he looks down, horrified.
“Don’t even say that. My balls literally just crawled back into my body. They are going to need some serious coaxing, or this is going to be a very frustrating weekend.” He takes my hand and pulls me to the door.
“Oh, I’m sure I can persuade them to come out and play.” I brush my palm against the front of his jeans and give his cock a firm grasp through the thick material.
“That’s my girl.” He hardens in my hand, and I have to suck my lips closed at the warm sensual feelings racing across my body as he reacts to my touch. It’s instant. I did that.