I spring for Destiny and tackle her to the ground. I straddle her and pin her shoulders down. She claws at my face and I feel a nail slice through my cheek.
I grab her arms and pin them to the floor next to her head, a trickle of warm blood courses down my face and drops from my chin onto her T-shirt, where I hover above her.
“No, stop!” she screams. “Get off me!”
“Destiny,” I say, “calm down.”
“No!” she begs. “God, no. Please.”
I glance at Lilah as Destiny kicks and bucks against me. She’s just getting her bearings, pulling herself to a sitting position against the couch. She looks through a mask of shock at her sister, writhing on the floor, then back at me.
But then Destiny stops screaming. A low moan, like a wounded animal, tears up her throat and she twists on her side under me and curls into a fetal position. I ease up my pressure as she wails, a cry from the depths of her soul.
Lilah crawls over and tentatively reaches for her shoulder. There’s already a red welt rising on her left cheek. “Destiny?”
Her sister only curls tighter into a ball.
I lift myself off her and touch Lilah’s face. She flinches away in pain as I brush my fingers over the bruise. “You okay?”
She nods, but her attention doesn’t leave Destiny. She pulls her sister’s shoulders into her lap. “Something’s wrong.”
Destiny’s still moaning and a trail of spit trickles from her open mouth onto the carpet.
“I’ll call an ambulance,” I say, grabbing my phone and dialing 911.
It’s only a few seconds later, after I’ve given the dispatcher the address and said it’s a medical emergency, that I hear sirens cut through the still outside. A cop is the first to arrive, followed a few minutes later by an ambulance. By that time, Destiny’s cries have trailed off. She’s basically unresponsive when the paramedics check her over and load her onto a stretcher. Lilah goes with them to the hospital, and when the dust settles, it’s just me and the cop. His name is Steve Shaw and he was a few years ahead of me at Oak Crest High.
He takes a look around the room, then looks at me. “Okay, Bran. Why don’t you start from the beginning and tell me what happened here.”
If I were a good person, I’d tell him everything. But I’m not. “Destiny Morgan works for Mom at the bar. We…dated.”
He gives me a skeptical look, because everyone in this town knows me and my reputation. “You mean you had sexual relations with her.”
It’s not a question, but I nod. “Things didn’t end well. She thought I was into her sister. I was worried and came by to check on them and Destiny had some kind of breakdown.”
“I was the first responder, but someone else had already broken the outside door in.”
Again, not a question, but he’s clearly waiting for an answer. “That was me. I heard them fighting and Destiny wouldn’t let Lilah open the door for me.”
“Did either Miss Morgan have reason to be frightened of you?”
The truth is, Destiny was terrified, but only after I was restraining her. It was almost as if it triggered some memory and she went somewhere else in her head.
I shake my head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Then why wouldn’t she have just let you in? Why did you feel you had to break the door down?”
My lips press hard together. “She just didn’t want me near Lilah. She was jealous.”
His gaze becomes more focused on my eyes, looking for the lie. “Did she have reason to be?”
Moment of truth. “I kissed Lilah.”
If he figures out how old Lilah is and decides to poke into it, I could end up in a world of hurt.
He takes a deep breath but manages to contain the eye roll. “Regular Payton Place.”
“We were in L.A. and her friend was on that show, The Voice. We got caught up in the moment and I kissed her. It was caught on camera and Destiny saw. She went batshit, threatened to move them away from here,” I say, gesturing at the boxes. “I heard them fighting and I was worried for Lilah’s safety, so I broke in the door.”
“And then Destiny just…” He shakes his head. “What?”
“She was screaming at me, then she swung at Lilah. Nearly knocked her out. I jumped on her and she started screaming, then crying. Went from there into what you saw.”
He nods slowly and pulls out a pad, jotting some notes. “Don’t go anywhere, Bran. If everything checks out, then you’ll be fine, but I need to talk to the sister first.”
I start toward the stairs. “Got a tool kit in my car. I’m gonna just nail this door shut for now.”
He takes one last look around and follows me to the door. “I’ll be in touch.”
Chapter 26
Lilah