The Lies That We Tell

Chapter 6

“I have to be honest,” I tell my brother as we ride the elevator up to the penthouse suite. “Until I saw him laying on the floor covered in blood, I thought Tate stabbed himself so we don’t suspect him.”

“Does he think we suspect he is the one behind all this?” Rhyann asks. Her back rests against the wood paneled walls, her arms crossed over her chest. She pulled the cluster of bobby pins from her hair on the drive over, and aside from her tattered dress, she looks like shes the calmest one in the elevator. For someone who barely escaped a kidnapping, twice, and after seeing her childhood best friend unconscious in a hospital, she seems to be holding it together pretty well.

“We didn’t say anything to him, but if you ask me, him tracking your phone makes him look pretty sus.”

“No one asked you,” Devon snaps as the elevator dings and the doors begin to slide open. “Come on.” Devon doesn’t look back at Rhyann and me, he grabs her hand and leads her out down the hall to the single set of double doors.

I know my twin better than anyone else, and everything thats happened tonight has him fucked in the head hard. When Rhyann first came home, after the first kidnapping attempt Tate and I both wondered if and when he would snap, go back to the dark place he lived in for so long after Gemma was killed. Tonight might have been the night to send him there.

The suite is spacious, its bigger than the apartment I share with Dev and Tate, and that is two large apartments combined. There’s a chefs kitchen near the door, carpeted steps lead down into a sunken in living space, and the far wall is floor to ceiling windows. A fully stocked bar is stationed near the large windows, and Devon heads straight for it.

“Come on princess, lets explore,” Rhyann gives me a rueful smile as I take her hand and lead her to the door on our right.

“She needs to get out of that dress and shower,” Devon yells from the bar.

“You can shower after we see what this place has to offer.” I give her a wink. The bedroom is the size of an average hotel room with a queen size bed in the middle of the room, a tv and dresser facing the bed, and there’s a small en suite bathroom to the right.

“I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hotel room this nice,” Rhyann admits.

“Really?” I try but fail to hold my laugh in when I stop and look her in the eyes.

“Really,” Rhyann laughs too. “Papa was always so frugal, and insisted on us living like normal people. ‘Just because we have money, doesn’t mean we have to flaunt it’ he would say.”

Her copper red hair glistens in the lighting of the room. There was a moment tonight that I worried I’d never get to see her again, never get to touch or smell the beautiful fiery hair of hers. “You really scared us tonight, you know that princess?” my voice is low as I sweep a renegade strand of her red hair from her face.

“I was scared tonight too, Liam.” Her voice cracks, showing just a little of genuine fear. She’s so good at hiding her emotions, keeping her feelings under the surface. It’s something I’ve always admired even when it drove us all to the point of insanity.

“But,” my hand slides to the nape of her neck, my fingers tangling in the mess of her hair. “You’re here now, and we aren’t going to let anything happen to you.” She closes the space between us. My lips press against her soft forehead and I breathe in every scent of her. The fresh smell of cucumber and grapefruit lingers under the cold scent of gasoline and metal— the only evidence left of her experience tonight. Small arms wrap around my waist, her full, perfect chest rises and falls as she finally lets the wall down and sobs quietly into my chest. “Shh, it’s okay Rhyann, it’s okay to cry.”

“I was so scared,” her voice is muffled by my shirt.

“I told you she needs to shower,” a gruff voice says behind us.

I turn my head and glare at my brother. Devon stands in the doorway, his collar unbuttoned, the cumberbund and coat long gone. The small scar on his face visible and red. It gets like that when he’s angry or drunk. I have a sinking feeling he’s both right now. “She’s going to. We just wanted to check out this room before we head upstairs,” I tell my brother.

“Come with us,” Rhyann says peaking around my side. I don’t need to see her face to know that she’s smiling up at him. Devon has always made her smile in away that Tate and I couldn’t. He’s also hurt her in ways that the two of us never would. “Please,” she releases her hold on me and stretches her hand out to my twin.

“I’m going to the apartment, you need clothes.” Devon turns to leave, but Rhyann chases after him.

“Please Dev, don’t leave us. Not tonight.” Rhyann pleads. “I’m sure this place has robes I can wear until we can have someone bring us clothes tomorrow.”

“Liam and I need clothes too,” is all Devon says, but he doesn’t take his eyes off hers. I watch the two of them as she silently pleads with him not to leave, and he fights a war inside his mind. The two people I love the most in this world standing right in front of me, their love and desire for eachother written all over their faces, their bodies, and in the wordless conversation between them.

“I’ll go,” I speak up. If I stand here and watch the two of them a minute longer, I will be the one to die tonight, of heart break.

“No,” they both say in unison.

“I need you too, Li.” Rhyann looks from Devon to me and back to my brother. “I need you both. I was stupid to leave either one of you at the ball. Please don’t leave me tonight.”