Jules: I’m finished with my appointment. Don’t get angry, but I’m going to Theo’s. I left my locket that has my sister’s picture in it. I’ll grab Mr. Waffles while I’m there.
I scowl down at her message and notice it came in twenty minutes ago. What in the hell is she thinking? Yes, Theo hasn’t been around, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t show up at any time. The thought of her being there and him coming home sends fear racing through me. My fingers fly across the screen to bring up Kale’s number. Something doesn’t feel right, and Kale’s missed calls only makes the feeling worse.
It rings five times before it goes to voicemail. I try again and get the same thing. I hang up and dial Jules’s number next. It only rings twice before it goes to voicemail.
“Fuck!” I yell and launch my work table across the room. Shit goes flying everywhere, but I ignore it as I run out of the room. I really don’t fucking like this.
“Ella!” I yell my sister’s name.
“What’s going on?”
She’s already behind me, following me to the back room. I yank open the door that leads to where my truck is parked in the alley.
“Jules is at Theo’s and she’s not answering her phone. Tell Thomas to come back next week for me to finish. It’s on the house.”
“Wait!” Ella calls as I start closing the door. “What are you going to do?”
“What I should have done the first time he touched her without her permission.”
I leave it at that, slam the door behind me, and sprint to my motorcycle. I break every traffic law as I race toward Jules, my hands cramping on the handle bars. I send up prayer after prayer that she’s okay, and that I’ll have the will to not kill the bastard once I get my hands on him.
The whole way there, I keep calling Jules’s and Kale’s numbers, I’m beyond caring how dangerous it is. I know not to use a phone while riding, but my need to hear her voice is beyond overpowering and every time they don’t answer my anger and worry heighten.
Right as I’m pulling onto Theo’s street, Kale finally answers his phone.
“Where are you?” he asks, sounding out of breath.
“Pulling onto Hellmen. What in the fuck is going on?”
“Dude, get here quick. I think I just heard your girl scream from inside Theo’s house.”
A blistering pain takes residence in my stomach, followed closely by a rage so deep, so all-consuming, I can’t fucking see straight.
“Motherfucker!" I yell and pull on the gas harder then screech to a halt seconds later when I pull up in front of Theo’s house.
Just as I sling my leg over the tank and land both feet firmly on the asphalt, I see Kale running across the yard. I beat him to the porch steps. I don’t stop, just use my forward momentum and my shoulder to bust open the door. It only takes me seconds to see the destruction of the living room and the absence of Jules.
“Came from the back of the house,” Kale says, but I’m already running down the hallway.
My body convulses at what I see. My motherfucking twin hovering over Jules, blood dripping from his fucked-up ear and onto her bare chest as he frantically tries to pull down her pants.
She’s not moving. Not her arms, legs, or even her fucking chest. She’s just lying there, limp. My goddamn heart stops and my lungs painfully deflate.
She can’t be gone.
Fucking hell, she can’t be gone.
I completely lose it. Theo turns at my animalistic roar. Seeing the manic look in my eyes, he scrambles off the other side of the bed. I’m already there by the time his feet touch the floor and my fist is smashing into the side of his face. I follow him down, pleased to see a chunk of his ear missing. My girl put up a fight. I’ll finish it for her.
He throws up an arm, trying to block his face while his other flings out wildly, feebly attempting to hit me. I easily block it and land a hit to his jaw. Blood slings from his mouth and it only makes me want to see more. I want him to bleed out beneath me. He may be my blood, my twin, but he’s dead to me already, and I want to make it real. He doesn’t deserve to live. He’s a wasted piece of trash.
I grunt and bellow as I pound his face until it’s a bloody mess. Bone crunches beneath my fingers, teeth bite into my knuckles, blood sprays my face and chest, and he’s no longer moving. It’s not enough. If Jules is gone, it’ll never be enough. There’s nothing I can do to Theo that will make the pain of losing her easier.
Someone screams my name, but I’m too far gone in my rage to pay them any attention. I don’t stop. I can’t stop. It’s like I’m possessed and there’s no hope for whatever has a hold of me.
A broken cry, a sob of despair, and the scent of wildflowers have my movements slowing. I look up to the bed and see Jules’s face. At first, I think it’s just a vision, like one of my dreams, and my anger multiplies. It’s the blood on her face mixed with tears that breaks through my crazed state. She has a bruise on her temple, smeared blood all over her face, and her cheek is swollen and sporting a scrape, but she’s alive. She has to be because she’s looking at me over the edge of the bed. A dead person can’t do that.
I’m sitting on Theo one second and the next I’m on the bed with Jules. She’s on her knees, and I quickly crawl my way to her. I don’t stop until my legs are on either side of hers and my arms are around her middle. I pick her up and fall to my ass with her in my lap. My body hunches over her, and I cradle her in my arms. I didn’t stop to think of how I must look and her possible reaction to the violence still radiating off me, but luckily, she doesn’t seem to be fazed. She’s actually clinging to me just as much as I am to her, and that feels fucking amazing. I need her in my arms. I’m not sure I would have been able to handle it if she pushed me away.
“Fuck me, Jules. I was so scared I lost you.” My voice is raw even to my own ears.
I rock her gently back and forth as she cries in my arms. I’m man enough to admit my own tears drip on the top of her head. The thought of losing her is paralyzing. I squeeze my eyes shut and push the thought away. She’s not gone. She’s still breathing and here with me.
When I open my eyes again, I find Kale on his phone, hovering over Theo, I’m sure to make sure he doesn’t get up. If he’s still alive. Not one ounce of regret hits me when I think of my brother dead. Maybe it should, especially because what Theo has done is so out of character for him, but there’s nothing.
I glance down at him. His face is covered in exposed meaty flesh and blood. I look at his chest and see it rise and fall.
I bring my gaze back to Kale and see him pocket his phone. “Cops are on their way.” His eyes flicker to Jules. “So is an ambulance. I called a buddy of mine who has an uncle that’s a cop. He’s calling him so they don’t take fucking forever to get here.”
“Thanks,” I grunt gruffly.
My attention moves back to Jules. She’s shaking, but thankfully she’s no longer sobbing, just crying silently. I tangle my fingers in her hair and gently pull her head back. I need to see her face, not only to assess the damage, but also to reassure myself she’s alive.
Before I get a chance to take a good look, she implores brokenly, “Please take me out of here. I can’t stand to be in this room.”
Moving carefully, I slide across to the side of the bed Theo isn’t on and stand with her still in my arms. I cup the back of her head and put it against my chest, careful of the bruise on her temple, before turning back to Kale.
“Make sure he stays there until the cops get here.”
“Already on it.” His eyes are hard when he moves them to Theo’s still form.
I walk out into the living room and gingerly sit on the couch.
“Look at me, baby. Let me see your face.”
She lifts her head from my neck and the damage done to her face breaks my fucking heart. I gave her my promise that Theo wouldn’t touch her again. That promise was broken. Knowing that she came here on her own is unimportant. Theo should have never been able to reach her, and the fact that I wasn’t there to protect her will live inside me forever.