“Never,” he agreed, sliding the blade down my skin. Redness pooled, spilling over and to the ground.
Taking the knife, I held his wrist and copied the wound he'd made on me. Neither of us grimaced. We felt too alive, too indestructible, to crumble. “We'll never put each other at risk.”
Jacob pushed his fingers into mine, palms linking, blood mixing. We were connected in a fashion that extended beyond family. “Why do people fight?” he asked me, but it didn't sound like a question.
“Greed,” I said. “Suffering.”
Nodding, he gripped my palm so fiercely his knuckles went pale. “People fight and hurt each other because of jealousy. We'll be different, okay? Let's make a pact.”
The wind felt good on my damp throat. I thought of that birthday cake, our names sharing the frosting. “We'll share everything. Okay?”
With a new world stretching before us, our lives on a road painted with the tainted brush of murder and sin, Jacob and I shook hands. We wouldn't be like the people who had tormented us. We would take care of each other.
We would share everything.
Life had been hard. We'd made a choice we couldn't take back. The murder would weigh heavy on both of us, in different ways. But our bond—it was unbreakable. It was special.
No one would ever make us question it.
And if someone learned what we'd done—who we were—they had to die.
No risks. No mistakes.
The bond was all we'd ever had.
- Chapter 39 -
Marina
––––––––
“Until now,” Kite said, standing over me on the edge of the bridge.
Jacob still held the knife, the tip leveled on my chest. It was hard to see, my tears made everything blurry.
Their story was painful. Kids who had fallen through the cracks and been forgotten. Two young boys who had committed an act so violent, they'd had to abandon their old lives, abandon the capacity to have a normal life.
They'd been determined to cut a place for themselves in a world that had been so cruel to them. I understood who they were.
I was the only one who'd been given a chance to understand.
The night Kite had held his gun to my temple and told me so confidently that I would never be ready to shoot Lars, he'd spoken from experience. If Jacob hadn't stepped in, Kite would have been murdered by his own uncle. He would have been the body left in that construction site.
Lifting my head, I stared at the river rushing under us. “It was here,” I whispered. “This was where you killed him.”
“Yes,” Kite said. He was having trouble looking at me.
I wiped my face on my shoulder, sniffling helplessly. “What happened to you guys... it was fucking awful. I'm so sorry.”
Fingers cupped my chin. Jacob rubbed the tears away, staring straight into the centers of my eyes—into my beating heart. “Don't be sorry. That was a long time ago. We didn't tell you the story so you would pity us.”
A twinge went through my chest. That's why Kite won't look at me. “I don't pity you,” I said, desperation making me raspy. Kite twitched, his jaw turning—I could see his profile now. “I just never knew how... how similar we all were.” Dammit, I just kept crying. The strain in my ribs was at its breaking point. I'd sob if I didn't control myself. “Please... I don't want to die like him.”
Kite spun, a tornado of charcoal and copper.
He embraced me roughly, his nose in my hair and his cheek damp. Was it just my tears soaking us? “Idiot,” he hissed at me. “You won't die alone in a hole. That way was for him. Only him.”
I couldn't breathe, and not because of how fiercely he held me.
Cold metal brushed my wrists; Jacob's knife. The ropes fell away, my cells tingling as sensation returned. Jacob crouched behind me, his chin on top of my head. “Do you understand what we're offering you?” he asked me.
My lips moved, the single word a cracking wheeze. “Life.”
“More than that,” Jacob whispered. “Beyond life itself.” Gently, both men helped me to my feet. Together, they blocked out the moon and the stars. That was fine.
To me, they were their own source of light.
“Lift your hand,” Kite said.
The blade was razor-sharp, but it didn't scare me. Nothing compared to what I'd been through. There would be no pain here, only hope.
I offered them my palm.
Kite clasped my wrist, while Jacob sliced my flesh. It was a burst of heat that shot up my spine. In wonder, I saw my own blood fall to the ground.
The same spot these two men had made their pact so long ago.
Flipping the handle towards me, Jacob offered the pocketknife. They weren't smiling, their eyes reflected the intensity of this moment.
I knew what they were telling me to do.
Taking the blade, I cut Jacob's hand, then Kite's. My body was awash with hyper-senses; shocking chills, fresh air, the scent of our rusty essence. I didn't resist when they took my fingers, our palms caressing, blood mixing.
“Why are you crying?” Jacob asked.