Filthy Pride: Dark Bully Romance

by Savannah Rose

  “I tried, but she wouldn’t even look. It’s like, she NEEDS to believe that Eva is okay. She needs her to get better. I never knew how fragile she was until now. It’s like she just can’t handle the thought that one of her kids isn’t perfect and healthy.”

  “What about your dad?”

  Adam rolled his eyes.

  “You know him. This isn’t a problem with a simple solution. If it were a case of money, he would sign the check without even thinking. But this requires him to be present and available every day. He won’t do it.”

  “I thought after you two rehabbed the Volvo—”

  “It was great while it lasted, but once it was over,” he shrugged. “My dad isn’t really that kind of guy. He cares, but it’s my mom who handles all the day-to-day operations. I need her to be on board, or else it will all fall apart.”

  “And Eva already has her on her side.”

  “It’s like she’s willfully blind. Eva is just playing with her insecurities, trying to help her maintain this image of a perfect, happy family. It’s so sickening. I can hardly stand to be at home with them anymore.”

  “I noticed.”

  His eyebrows shot up and he closed the distance between us.

  “I mean,” I corrected, “you’ve been spotted out a lot…with Angelique.”

  “She’s good company.”

  I nodded and looked away. Saying her name was hard. Hearing him compliment her was harder. But we both needed to remember that he belonged to somebody else now. He wasn’t my Adam anymore.

  I cleared my throat and tried to look unaffected. “So, what do you want me to do, Adam? It sounds like you need to have a serious talk with your mother. I can’t help you with that. She hates me now, remember?”

  “She doesn’t hate you, she just blames you for the accident,” he said.

  “She still won’t listen to me. Nearly crippling her kid doesn’t exactly qualify me to give advice on the best way to handle her whack-job of a daughter.”

  Adam frowned.

  “I’m sorry. She’s still your sister and you love her. I know better.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I’m the one who should apologize. I’m really sorry, Anna. I’m sorry for not listening to your side of the story, and I’m sorry for not coming back to check on you. You were hurt. I shouldn’t have ignored that. I should have been there for you just like I was for Eva.”

  “Facing problems head on is not something you all do well over there in the Randt household.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  We walked in silence a little farther. We were well beyond the most commonly used path. Now the only thing marking out the way to go were sign posts with arrows and faded writing. My plan for Eva spun a windmill in my mind. Adam didn’t know everything, but he knew enough to know that his sister wasn’t innocent.

  “So, I’ve been working on an idea,” I said even though I knew this was something better kept between Damon and me. “But I can’t tell you about it,” I added. “I may or may not have broken several FCC regulations to put it into play. But, if it works out, there will be no way for your mom to pretend that her precious Eva is mentally healthy. She will have to face it.”

  “Really?” He looked a little panicked.

  “The only problem is, she might not be able to handle it. It’s going to be big and it’s going to be public. And I get that this is your sister, but -”

  Now, Adam frowned. “If you do that, it’ll break my mom.”

  I tried to fight my conscience. I wasn’t the bigger person anymore. “Maybe you can act as a buffer and help her deal,” I said, turning away from him.

  “No! Anna, just call it off, whatever it is!”

  I sighed and then turned to face him.

  “I can’t. It’s too late. The genie is already out of the bottle, Adam. I admit that I didn’t think too much about how your mom would handle everything, but even now, I don’t think it’s a bad move. The only reason Eva is like this is because you keep trying to coddle her instead of making her face her reality. Your mom is the same way. Let’s just rip the band-aid off now and get it over with.”

  “Eva has already hurt enough.”

  I stomped my foot like a child. “And so have I, Adam. So. Have. I. Eva doesn’t get to win. Not this time. And call me little, call me small, but for once in my damn life, I need revenge.”

  “Once in your life,” he huffed, and I knew exactly what he was talking about. “Don’t be this person, Anna.”

  “I’m already this person,” I said and shrugged, like it didn’t matter. Maybe he was right. And maybe I’d come out of this hating myself just a little. But Eva…she ruined so much of me. She deserved this.

  The more I spoke the more disgusted Adam looked.

  “You can’t do that to her. I understand you wanting to get back at Eva and me, but mom really liked you.”

  “I really like her too,” I began. “But, I can’t make omelets without cracking a few eggs. You tried it the nice way. You tried being the good son and the understanding brother. Now try it my way.”

  “And what’s your way?”

  “I can’t tell you the details.”

  “Anna! What the hell are planning on doing?”

  Adam had me by the shoulders now. There were tears in his eyes. Fresh tears that would fall sooner or later. My throat tightened and a war in my head wreaked havoc.

  “What she did was fraud.”

  “What did she do?” Adam asked. “Because not taking her pills isn’t something that you need to get back at her for. Not taking her pills has nothing to do with you.”

  “She has to answer for what she’s done, and your mother has to see her for who she really is. The best way to put an end to all of this is to expose her. People like her, Adam, they only get worse.”

  He grabbed my wrist and looked down at me with desperation.

  “What did my sister do to you, Anna?” he asked, and his voice was so small it almost broke me.

  “Adam, please just trust me. Please. In the end it will get better. I promise.”

  I tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go.

  “She’s my sister.”

  “She’s obsessed with you.”

  For a second, Adam looked like I’d slapped him, but then his face shifted and he shook his head. In his eyes, I could see that he knew it was true.

  “She’s my sister, Anna.”

  “Exactly. She’s your sister. Not your girlfriend. Not your wife.”

  “My twin sister.”

  “And even twins grow up and lead their own lives. Start their own families. Next year, you’ll be off to college. Next year, I’ll be off to college. Next year, Eva will be too. And if she’s not held accountable now, what do you think will happen when she’s out in the real world? How many lives do you think she’ll ruin when the world doesn’t tick the way she wants it to? She needs to know that she can’t get away with everything for the rest of her life, Adam. She needs to understand that!”

  I sounded like a vengeful spirit from a Japanese movie. I was hating myself even as I spoke what I honestly believed to be the truth. The color drained from Adam’s face and he let go of my arms. He took a deep breath and shoved his hands in his pockets.

  “Okay, what do you need from me?”

  I nearly fell over.

  “What? No! Nothing! I’m not going to get you involved!”

  “Why not?”

  “She’s your sister.”

  He clenched his jaw and looked down at me intensely.

  “Is Damon involved?”

  “No.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Anna.”

  “I…he…”

  “Please, Anna. Don’t lie to me. Is. Damon. Involved?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Then I want in, too.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “How do I know I can trust you? You might just sabotage me to protect her.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,”
he insisted. “I would never throw you under the bus.”

  “Yeah right! It wouldn’t be the first time!”

  He flinched and I instantly felt like an asshole. I really had to reign in my temper. He was already hurting. I didn’t want to add to his pain.

  “I deserve that,” he said. “But listen, if you want me to trust you, to believe that you are doing the right thing for everybody, then you need to trust me a little as well. I won’t let you down this time. I promise.”

  I wanted to believe him. The hedge that I’d grown around my heart was getting hard to maintain. It was a big risk, but for him, I used to be willing to risk it all. Now I was double guessing myself.

  “Let me talk to Damon first.”

  “Okay.”

  I took a few steps away from him and dialed Damon’s number.

  “Hey Anna! What’s good?”

  “Adam wants in.”

  “What!” I could hear his voice echo around him.

  “I know. I know. If we bring him in its risky for the both of us. Eva can play him like a fiddle. Even if he doesn’t have any intention of betraying us, she might manipulate him into doing just that.”

  “Hmm.”

  “So, what do I do?”

  “Bring him in if you think he means it, but don’t tell him the details. Just give him a task. Stick to the plan. We’ll talk more later.”

  “Okay.” I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. My instinct was to trust Adam and tell him everything. The problem was, I didn’t trust my instincts when it came to Adam. Not anymore. This was his sister we were talking about. Who knew how far he would go to protect her?

  “Oh, and Anna…is your mom cooking tonight?” Damon asked.

  I smiled. “She is.”

  “Any chance I can get an invite?”

  I had to laugh at his shamelessness. That and the fact that Adam was the only person I had ever met who loved my mom’s cooking. And now, here Damon was, wanting to dig into one of her meals. Either way, having him show up at the dinner table would be a welcome treat for my mother.

  “Why not, she’s always kind to the needy,” I said. It was the truth. Maybe not when it came to me, but still.

  “Excellent! See you tonight.”

  I hung up the phone and stuck it in my pocket before walking back over to Adam who was standing like a grim gargoyle, plastered against the trunk of a giant tree.

  “Did you get the okay?”

  I nodded, feeling somewhat giddy. That in itself should have been a sign that this was a bad idea. The truth was, I missed having Adam. I missed sharing my thoughts, my secrets, my life with him.

  “I can’t tell you everything, but I think I know how you can help.”

  He looked even more gloomy. Like he took my answer as more of a ‘no’ than anything else.

  “Right. I get it. I don’t want to step on any toes.”

  Even though it would damage the relationship between him and his twin sister, Adam seemed to trust my judgement.

  Chapter 33

  NOW

  She was smiling again. She was talking to another man and smiling the way she used to smile when she was with me. I shouldn’t have been angry, but I was. I didn’t just lose her; I gave her away. I walked away from her and now I was learning the hard way how much of a fool I was.

  I watched her face, barely hearing her words as she told me that she trusts me to help her before pulling me in to whisper her plan in my ear. My whole body was vibrating with nervous energy as her lips got close to my face. I wanted to grab her and hide her away someplace dark. I wanted her naked and in my arms. I wanted to kiss her until she couldn’t fucking pronounce Damon’s name or recall how she got here.

  As hard as I was trying to remain calm, I wanted her back.

  And I wanted her back now!

  “It’ll be just like old times,” she giggled as though she wasn’t telling me how to ruin my twin sister.

  What the fuck was I doing?

  What the fuck was she doing?

  What the fuck had Eva done?

  A bitterness rose to the top of my throat and I swallowed hard. So much was changing and it seemed as though I’d picked a side. Blood, they say, is thicker than water. And it is. So why the hell did I feel like even though I was choosing water, I was making the right damn decision.

  Because your sister is batshit crazy, my mind screamed at me. It wasn’t wrong. But, Eva was mentally unstable, wasn’t the right course of action to get her help? Somehow, I didn’t believe that as much as I probably should have. There was crazy in a helpable way and then there was crazy in a vindictive way. Unfortunately, I knew in my gut that Eva was the latter. If left alone, she’d burn the world down, even if it meant getting scorched herself.

  I reached out and touched a hand to Anna’s face, needing to feel her beneath my skin. Needing to ascertain that she was as real as the air I breathed. Thankfully, she didn’t flinch the way I expected her to. Instead, she turned her face to my palm, and I held my breath.

  Every nerve ending in my body was on fire, and I focused on the feel of her soft, warm skin against my palm. I wish I’d washed my hands. I wish we were some place private. The idea of anybody walking in on this moment and ruining it was abhorrent to me.

  “Why can’t we be like this again?”

  She looked up at me with sad eyes, but didn’t say anything. I knew the truth. I ruined it. I’d thrown it all away for nothing. And now, I felt like I was falling into her; like my body was trapped in her gravitational pull and nothing I did could save me.

  Before I had a chance to think about it, my lips were brushing against hers. Her breath puffed against my face and she looked at me with wide eyes. In an instant, I remembered our reality. She had Damon. I had Angelique. We were co-conspirators and possibly friends, but nothing more.

  “I should go,” I said.

  “Yeah, just don’t forget to send anything you find my way,” she said, looking at her feet and bringing the conversation right back to where it should have stayed.

  “Yeah.”

  It took all of my strength not to reach out and stop her. I promised her I wouldn’t kidnap her and drag her into the woods, but that was sounding more and more like a good idea as she walked away from me. I ground my teeth and ignored the stabbing pain in my chest and the throbbing ache in my pants. I had to get focused. But then again, getting focused could wait. Here we were in the middle of the woods, surrounded by nothing but trees and more trees.

  “Anna,” I called out.

  She stopped and I was beside her in an instant, pulling her into my arms and crashing her back against the nearest tree. Fireworks sparked in my heart as I kissed her, claiming lips I haven’t kissed often enough as of recent. I didn’t stop there, though. My hands sunk into the waist of her jeans and buried themselves deeper until my fingers were drenched in her juices.

  “I fucking miss you.” I hissed the words against her lips, then dove deep again, not giving her time to formulate a reply. The fervency with which she kissed me, the way she squirmed against my fingers and the forward jut of her hips was enough of an indication that we were on the very same page.

  “We can’t,” she panted. “Not now.”

  I shook my head. God, I knew we couldn’t, but fuck did I want to.

  “Not here,” I said, dragging her lip between my teeth as I pulled away.

  That’s how we ended up in the backseat of my car, with Anna’s heartbeats racing to match mine. For the first time since being with her, I didn’t use protection. It might have been stupid, but even then, it felt like the best fucking thing in the world. Just me and my girl – even if she didn’t really belong to me then – skin to skin, with no barriers between us.

  Chapter 34

  NOW

  My job was simple. Since I was the only person who saw Eva in the flesh every day, I needed to be on the lookout for any cracks in her veneer. My job, essentially, was to spy on my sister and record her when she began to act
out. I still felt guilty about agreeing, but Anna was right about one thing - next year everything would change. We wouldn’t be kids anymore. If Eva didn’t get help now, who knew how many people she would hurt on the way. If she was prepared to harm herself now, what kind of damage would she do to someone else? I tried not to think too deeply about that, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t scare me.

  When I pulled up in the driveway, I gave myself a pep talk before getting out of the car. Lately, I never knew what would be waiting for me behind the front door. Most days it seemed very normal, but some days the tension in the house would be so thick that it was suffocating. The worst problem was that it was never anything overt. The Randts didn’t do open conflict. Whatever stress that had accumulated during the day never got fully vented or even named. Instead, frustration and disappointment ruled the day, even as we continued playing our roles.

  Today I had to hold it together, no matter what I saw.

  When I walked through the door I was knocked for a loop. Eva was back in her wheelchair, sitting in the living room across from mom.

  “What happened?” I asked, not even bothering with the customary pleasantries.

  “Oh, Eva isn’t having a great day. She has some soreness and fatigue, so she’s in the chair for today,” mom said, waving my concern away.

  “A bad day?” I turned my incredulous expression to Eva, who looked up innocently and shrugged.

  “Sometimes, even I get tired. I’ll be fine by tomorrow. I don’t want to push it and risk taking a nasty fall,” she said sweetly. It all sounded very logical, but the look in her eyes was sinister. “We wouldn’t want to have any setbacks now that things are getting better.”

  You didn’t have to be a genius to understand what she was saying. Back off or else. Little did she know, I was beyond the point of no return. I’d given Anna my word, and Eva had already proven to me that she wasn’t somebody worth protecting. As much as it hurt to take sides, I also felt free.

  I’d read somewhere that often cancer patients felt a sense of relief once they got their cancer diagnosis. Many times, they’d been dealing with pain or other symptoms for weeks or months without knowing exactly what was wrong with them. Once they had a name and a proper diagnosis for the cause of their pain, they felt like they had a real enemy they could fight. At the time, I’d have considered it the craziest thing I had ever read, now it made perfect sense.