“That isn’t going to happen. We don’t have a common ground on which to start over. You need to go now.”
“Why?” she whispered, her gaze flinty. “Are you expecting someone?”
She knew. In that moment, he was certain of it. Toni—yeah, call her by the name her sister used—Toni knew he’d been with Livie.
“I’m not playing your games,” he said.
She stepped an inch closer, gazed up at him, her lips pouty and seductive, her eyes still as cold as steel. “It’s not a game. I want you. It doesn’t have to be anything permanent. It’s just sex.” She licked her lips, making her gloss sparkle. “I want it. It’s all I think about. But once I’ve had it, I’ll be over it. You’ll be rid of me then.”
“Forget it.” He didn’t move.
She was so close, her nipples brushed his chest. He felt nothing, no automatic tightening in his groin, no heat like wildfire across his skin. Nothing like he felt with Livie.
“I know you want it,” she whispered.
“Don’t waste your breath.”
“I don’t need to,” she said softly, smiling, then she looked coyly past his shoulder.
He knew, though there’d been no sound, no gasp, no word of reproach, just the sweet scent of Livie in the room.
* * * * *
It was utter perfection. The horror on Livie’s face. Her eyes wide, her lips slightly parted, she stared at Bern with a pathetic little pucker on her brow.
Toni seethed. She wasn’t sure whether it was with delight or anger.
“I knew you were seeing someone behind my back,” she snarled at Livie. “You stole him just like you steal everything from me.”
Livie stared, her mouth working like a fish.
“Hey.” Bern grabbed her shoulder. “Leave her alone. She didn’t have to steal anyone from you. You were already history.”
She wanted to smack him. His words were so callous, stripping her raw. But they were perfect for Livie, grinding home all the guilt her big sister would feel.
Toni wrenched away from Bern and stalked the room, until she was right in Livie’s face. She lowered her voice, but the venom was just as lethal. “He was mine, and you took him. You knew all along, didn’t you.”
“No.” Livie put out a hand as if she were trying to ward Toni off. “You were seeing Reese. What does he have to do with Bern?”
Toni stabbed her finger in Bern’s direction. “It’s his middle name.” Then she turned mean. “Or didn’t you know that about him?” She leaned in. “He knew, Livie. He must have known. He probably enjoyed having both sisters, playing us off against each other.”
Then she felt Bern’s hand close around her arm hard enough to bruise. “That’s enough. Get out of my house. Now.”
“Livie,” she wailed. “Are you going to let him do this? After everything I told you about him, all the things he did to me? Remember it all? I told you everything.”
Livie, her pathetic big sister, was still staring, her eyes glassy with moisture.
“Come with me now,” Toni urged. “Prove you didn’t know what was going on. I can forgive you if you really didn’t know. We can be like we were before, just you and me.” She flashed a look at Bern. His dark brows furrowed together, his jagged face made uglier by a threatening glower. He looked like the devil. “Don’t let him come between us, Livie. He isn’t worth it. That’s what you told me. Listen to yourself.”
Bern propelled her to the front hall, threw her out into the night, slammed the door behind her. She wasn’t beaten. She’d ruined it for Livie. Her sister would be crawling home in a few minutes, begging forgiveness, claiming she didn’t know. She’d remember everything Toni had said, how Reese made love to her, how good he was, all the dirty sexual details. Livie would realize Toni had been with him right before she was. Oh yes, she’d put two and two together and get five. Bern would deny it, but Toni knew her sister. Livie would believe her. All those naughty details Toni had so deliberately fed her would eat her alive.
Toni ran down the street to her car. She’d parked out of sight, this very thing in mind.
She climbed in, locked the door. Then she rolled up her sleeve. He hadn’t left bruises. Too bad. It would have been another nail in his coffin. Not that it mattered. She’d known he wouldn’t take her back. But she’d screwed him over good; Livie would never believe a word he said, not ever again.
* * * * *
Livie stared at him as if she didn’t know who he was, as if she hadn’t made love to him last night, as if he’d never held her in his arms. The look in her eyes tore at him.
“You’re Toni’s Reese?” Her voice was small. She pursed her lips. She didn’t look him in the eye, but stared at his mouth, as if she’d miss his answer if she didn’t keep a close watch.
“Reese is my middle name. And yes, I dated Antonia. I didn’t realize she was your sister until—” He stopped, knowing his words were burying him.
“Until when?” she prompted.
“The other night. You called her Toni. I should have realized it the first day you and I talked, but—”
She didn’t let him finish. “But you knew for sure on Monday night.”
“I suspected.” He ached to touch her. He knew if she let him, there was a chance, but as he raised a hand, she flinched.
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“No,” he admitted.
He saw a hint of Toni’s steel in her eyes. “Why?”
“I didn’t know how.” It was an idiotic answer. The only thing he could say that would have been worse was that he’d been afraid.
“She broke your windshield, didn’t she.” It wasn’t a question, and it was the last thing he expected her to say.
“Of course it was.”
“She was watching us.” Her voice was flat, as emotionless as her eyes had become.
“Probably.”
She took a deep breath, and this time, she didn’t flinch from his gaze. “When exactly did you stop seeing her? In relation to me, I mean.”
He felt the tension in his gut easing. There was hope. Maybe everything wasn’t lost. “It had nothing to do with you. She was...” He paused, considering the wording.
He took too long and Livie completed the thought for him. “She did something crazy.”
“Yeah.”
She sighed, shook her head. “She always does.”
He reached for her then, but she sidestepped him, moving closer to the front door. “She doesn’t know how to keep men.”
“Livie.”
She held up a finger. His heart turned over. It didn’t matter whether she believed him. It didn’t matter if Toni had filled her head with lies. He would lose her anyway.
“I knew this was a mistake from the beginning,” she said softly.
He would not let her go, grabbing her arms, hauling her against him. “It’s not a mistake. We are not a mistake.” He stopped short of saying he was sure they’d been lovers in the past. That would really set her running. “The mistake was seeing her first. But I didn’t have sex with her. I never touched her.”
Putting her hands between them, she held him off. “That’s not the issue. Maybe if you had, she would have gotten tired of you. But you didn’t give her what she wanted.”
“Livie, I couldn’t touch her.” He wrapped both arms across her back, anchored her to him. He needed to taste her, put his mouth to hers, shut her up, take her, show her that Toni didn’t matter.
“You have to let me go,” she said simply. She didn’t struggle, just held him at bay with her calm, emotionless tone. How could she not feel? How could she let him go so easily?
“I’m not letting her do this to us,” he insisted. But she was so cold in that moment, he couldn’t even put his mouth on hers.
“It’s not the first time,” she said.
“She said you stole her boyfriend.”
“No, I mean it’s not the first time she’s made me give someone up.”
“I won’
t let her this time.”
“She’s already done that. I have to go. You have to let me.”
“You can’t let her do this.”
He had her so tight, she had to pull her hand from between them. She cupped his cheek. “Let me go, Bern.”
He wanted to howl. But he eased his grip on her, allowed her to step back.
“Bad things happen if Toni doesn’t get what she wants,” she said softly.
“You know how crazy that sounds.”
She swallowed hard. The muscle along her jaw rippled as she clenched her teeth. “I know. I just don’t know how to stop it.”
“Why do you let her do this to you?”
“She’s my sister.”
Her answer wasn’t good enough. “She’s twisted.”
She nodded slowly. “I know,” she agreed, backing toward the door.
He had no words to make her change her mind. It wouldn’t have made a difference if he’d told her about Toni the moment he’d figured it out. The outcome would have been the same if he’d never met Antonia at all. Ultimately, this was all about Livie and the happiness her sister would never let her have.
Yet he couldn’t shut his mouth, couldn’t let her leave without putting the truth out there between them. “There’s something wrong if you let her do this.”
“I know that, too.”
Then the door closed, she was gone. And he was alone.
Chapter Fifteen
Livie didn’t start to shake until she’d turned the corner at the end of his street. Her vision blurred and she had to pull over. It wasn’t tears. It was worse, as if everything inside her had shut down. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think. She could only remember the emotions, no longer feel them. That moment when she’d seen Toni so very close to Bern, as if they were lovers. Livie swallowed with difficulty. Then the sudden realization that Bern was Toni’s Reese. All the things Toni had said came rushing back, all those sexual things she’d said they’d done. And the worst, he’d been with Toni on Sunday. Then he’d come to her. Oh God.
But all that emotion was gone. She didn’t feel. In her heart of hearts she knew Toni had lied. Which meant that Toni had known about them. What other reason could she have for lying, except to make Livie insane when she finally understood that Bern had been with Toni? Yes, she believed Bern. She believed that he’d never touched her sister.
When Livie couldn’t find her sister earlier, she’d thought of Bern, how it would feel to have his arms around her, his voice in her ear telling her everything would be all right. She’d run to him. How good it had felt. Toni had ripped that right out of her hands. She’d never even noticed her sister’s car on the street.
She’d told him the truth, that it wouldn’t have mattered how he’d ended things with Toni. It wasn’t about him and Toni. It was about Livie and any man she’d ever wanted. She had no choice, even as she felt herself ripping apart when she walked away from him.
It would go on and on and on. Forever. Until Livie was a dried-up husk, her insides blowing away in the wind. She was tied to Toni because of the night her sister almost died. Toni would never let her forget.
Toni hadn’t liked Roger. Livie could think of him now without any feeling, though she couldn’t think of that night without panic rising. Toni wanted Livie to stop seeing him, and she’d done everything she could to make that happen. First Toni had said he’d come on to her. Roger denied it. Livie had been torn between them. Who to believe? That fateful night, she’d gone out with him to discuss the issue, leaving Toni home, screaming that she was a deserting bitch. She could still hear her sister’s voice screeching at her. Roger hadn’t understood her devotion to her whacked-out sister. He’d wanted her to make a choice, just like Bern had. It was him or her sister. She’d chosen Toni, not just for Toni’s sake or because of her need to help Toni or even with any misguided guilt complex, but because Roger had demanded it of her. Toni had called several times during the grueling evening. Livie had taken the first two calls, Toni begging and pleading and threatening, but with Roger’s increasing animosity, she’d cut Toni short on the third call. She clearly remembered her thoughts: I’m doing what you wanted so leave me alone, you hateful bitch. Roger had grabbed Livie’s cell from her, told Toni that he was going to win no matter what she did. Then he turned off the phone, saying Toni’s reply had been simple: Oh no, you won’t. I’ll make sure she won’t want you. Livie had wanted to tell them both to go to hell. But she thrashed it through with him for another couple of hours before finally telling him it was over. Only then had she’d listened to her voice messages and realized something was wrong. She’d rushed home to find Toni bleeding to death on the bathroom floor, her wrists slashed.
She couldn’t go through that again. It wasn’t even about Toni, it was about her. She couldn’t do it. So really, wasn’t there only one choice? She had to give up Bern. Yet anger boiled inside her. She punched Toni’s speed dial so hard her finger hurt.
Toni didn’t pick up. She wanted to twist the knife. She wanted to make Livie scream.
Why do you let her do this to you?
She’d asked herself that question so many times and had never found the answer. She was simply compelled.
Toni’s cutesy little voice mail message played, then Livie said softly, “It’s done. He’s gone. Just the way you wanted. Now I’m going home to bed.”
She should have been afraid of a repeat of that horrible night, but there was no reason for her sister to hurt herself. Toni had won, and Livie was sure she knew it.
* * * * *
Now I’m going home to bed.
That was all Livie had to say after what she’d done? Toni seethed. That’s all? Bitch. Livie was supposed to try to make it up to her. Toni was the wronged party here. They had both cheated her, Livie and Reese. No, he was no longer her Reese. He was Livie’s Bern. She couldn’t let them get away with it. It wasn’t enough that Livie simply stopped seeing him.
But what to do?
Toni had been saving a little present for Livie. Maybe now was the time to give it to her.
Toni had thrown on a pair of lounging pants when she got home and didn’t bother to change. She grabbed the present, still in the big baggie she’d put it in. Wouldn’t Livie be surprised. Although it wasn’t moving much anymore. Maybe the hole she’d poked in the plastic wasn’t big enough and it was suffocating. She shook the bag, woke it from its slumber. Ah, everything was fine.
Time to visit Livie. Midnight was such a perfect hour, the moon bright, the air crisp.
She drove the quiet streets, hitting the freeway. Maybe she should buy a sexy red Mustang convertible. She couldn’t afford it on her salary, but she could probably get Livie to help out.
Except that Livie was pulling away. She might have given up Bern, but she was still turning away from Toni. Now I’m going home to bed. There was something so frighteningly final in those words. Livie would never have done that in the past. She’d have come running. Toni could always count on her for that. She wouldn’t say it to anyone else, but out here on the freeway where she was just another car on the dark road, she could admit that it actually hurt. Livie was the only person who loved her no matter what. Even their mother had left, deserting her daughters for the heat of Palm Springs, but Toni could always run to Livie. Scrambled eggs on toast. Comfort food. A shoulder to cry on. How was she supposed to go on without Livie? She needed her sister.
It was that bastard Bern’s fault. He dumped her then turned Livie against her. If not for Bernard Reese Daniels, she and Livie would have gone on the way they always had. It was his fault. She would make him pay.
She was thinking so hard, she almost missed Livie’s exit. Yanking the wheel hard to the right, she skidded slightly on the blacktop and almost collided with the yellow crash barrels. Somewhere behind her, a furious driver laid on the horn. She raised her middle finger in the rearview mirror.
Her heart was pounding in her chest at the near miss. But she had missed. That was
the point. It wasn’t what might have happened that counted, it was what did happen. People were so freaking concerned with things that never actually happened. Not Toni. She dealt with the here and now. The here and now was Bern. She’d get him, somehow, some way. In the meantime, she had her little present for Livie. It really shouldn’t go to waste.
In front of her, a squirrel darted into the road, then stopped, stunned by her headlights. It hung there a moment, twitching, terrified. Stupid.
Toni didn’t stop. She didn’t swerve. She ran over the squirrel, just a small bump-bump beneath her tires.
“You get in my way,” she said ever so softly, “you pay.”
She’d find a way to squash Bern just like she’d squashed the squirrel.
* * * * *
His lungs were going to cave in, as if all the air had been sucked out of the suffocatingly small room. Darkness closed in on him. With a stretch of his arms, he could touch the stone walls on either side. His throat ached from shouting, but no one had come. No one had heard. He kicked and pounded the metal door. It didn’t give. He scraped at the latch with his fingernails until he felt hot blood. It didn’t open. He was going to die down in this hole. And she would be all alone.
Where he’d only shouted before, now he started screaming.
Bern woke in a sweat. He didn’t like small places, but he’d never dreamed about them before. He’d never woken in such gut-wrenching terror. It wasn’t only for himself; it was for Livie. She’d be alone, and he couldn’t help her.
It didn’t take an idiot to grasp the meaning of his nightmare or why it had come to him at this particular time.
Livie and Toni. Livie’s sweetness, Toni’s venom.
His gut told him this wasn’t going to be a one-time thing. He would suffer from the same kind of nightmares Livie did.
Twisted By Love, Reincarnation Tales, Book 1 Page 12
