by Erin Trejo
The door opens slowly and she walks in, pulling the shirt over her head and tossing it to the floor. Without another word, she walks past me, grabbing my hand on the way and pulling me toward the shower. We both step in and the heat hits me. She spins around, pressing her hands to my chest as I lower my head to look her in the eyes.
“Something I’ve learned a long time ago is, you can’t choose your fate. It’s always been written in the blood that covers your hands. It doesn’t matter how hard you want to change it, you are who you are and who you were meant to be. No one can change that for you.” Her words don’t settle me. In fact, they piss me off more because I know my fate isn’t a part of hers. This life, these people, they will suck you dry and leave you for dead if you don’t follow their rules.
“Fates change,” I tell her, watching her as her hands slide over my chest and down to my cock. She grabs it in her hand, slowly stroking it as she shakes her head.
“No, they don’t. In the end, fate always wins. We’re born to be something, to do something, and that’s just God’s plan for us. We don’t have the power to change it so whatever it is you’re thinking about me and you, don’t. There’s a connection, that part is undeniable, but we aren’t fated to be together, Steele. We’re merely two dancers on the same stage but we will never share the spotlight.”
17
Whisper
“I heard you were sexy as hell at Intensity the other night,” Shane says as we walk down the hall. I’ve avoided the Alder boys the last few days in search of what I need to know.
“Yeah, it was hot. Are you going to the Halloween Bash?” Shane shrugs but then looks to me.
“Is Callan going?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Then I probably won’t.” Annoyed with her whiny shit, I turn to walk backwards and stop in front of her.
“You know what, I like you Shane. You are probably one of the most down-to-earth people that I’ve met here but this shit is annoying. You want him. You love him, so stop being such a goddamn baby and go after him. I don’t care what happened in the past between you two and frankly it’s not my business. Be who you are meant to be, Shane.” Her mouth falls open as I spin around and walk away. I hurry through the halls and into the library before I can be seen. I need more information than what anyone is giving me. All I’ve heard is that I’m supposed to be here. I don’t know what the hell that means but I intend to find out.
I stopped and asked the librarian where I could find books on the history of Rolling Springs. She happily directed me, but she’s been lingering close by ever since.
I’ve read through page after page about anything and everything. The founding families are the Alder’s, the Macron’s and the McLean’s. From what I can find, the Weatherly’s married into the Macron family but were later run out of town because they didn’t stick to the rules which are still vague. I search and search until my eyes cross and I drop my head onto the table in front of me.
“What are looking for?” I snap my head up at the woman’s voice only to realize it’s the librarian.
“Uh, just looking.” She fingers the books and glances around before sitting across from me.
“The Alder’s basically run this town. McLean is the mayor but that doesn’t really mean much. The McLean family was second to come to Rolling Springs. They made a place here, a home. The Alder’s accepted that because they needed to branch out into the world. Their sole properties, houses, businesses were here and eventually those would fill up. They were smart, the older Alder’s. They allowed the Macron family to come into their world based solely on the fact that they were from old money. Their connections ran deep.”
“And the Weatherly’s?” I ask curious to know more.
“Ah, the Weatherly’s married into the Macron’s. Long ago one of the men fell for the lovely Weatherly. Nancy was her name. She was a nobody. Not of wealth, not of their class. The McLean’s let it happen, but the Alder’s and the Macron’s didn’t agree. They despised her and that turned into a war. A war that ended in blood and the Weatherly’s being removed from Rolling Springs,” she says. I’m so confused.
“So, Rolling Springs is all about money?” She smiles and glances around once more.
“Rolling Springs was built on money and darkness. The Alder’s own many billion-dollar companies. They dip into everything from aviation to banking. Their reach is far and their money is powerful, but with power comes the dark side of things. Once you cross them, you aren’t safe.”
“Do you know who I am?” I blurt the question out without second guessing it.
“You’re stepping into a world that I’m not sure you’re ready for. If you were smart, you’d walk away now.”
“I can’t,” I whisper, thinking of what Nathan had said, what Steele had said.
“I know. The Macron family… they had ties to people outside of Rolling Springs, other families. Their main goal was to take over Rolling Springs forcing the Alder family out.”
“What? How could they do that?” She shrugs.
“They had more pull, more money, more alliances. Carson Macron was a force to be reckoned with. He was powerful in his own right. There’s fear in the founding families. Fear that if just one Macron returns to Rolling Springs that the Alder’s will lose everything, including control of the town.”
“Why? What does one Macron have to do with anything? Surely they can fight one.” She smiles and shakes her head.
“This particular Macron isn’t just a Macron. She’s also a McLean. Which in turn makes her stronger than any other family here.” It all hits me, making me dizzy.
“Am… oh, my God.”
“Welcome to the world, Whisper Macron.” My heart leaps into my throat. She begins to stand when I reach out and grab her wrist.
“How do you know me?” Straightening her spine, she holds her head high and smiles.
“We’re half-sisters, Whisper. We share a father, although I was left as much as you were. I found my way back here many years ago under a new name, a new identity. I haven’t been found out yet and I’d appreciate it if it stayed that way,” she says, her tone turning cold. A sister? I have a sister?
“Why would you want to come back?”
“I don’t know how to answer that, Whisper. I never belonged anywhere else. I’m Crystal, by the way.”
“Why? Why were we dumped?”
“Don’t you get it? Don’t you listen?” she hisses, leaning down into my space. “We are nothing! We are bred between two of the most hated families in Rolling Springs, Whisper!” I open my mouth to say more but there is nothing. Everything I thought I knew about myself, my life, it’s all lies. It’s all fucking lies and now I’m being used by the ones I trusted, if only slightly. Closing the books, I stand and pick them up, passing them back to Crystal.
“No one will find out anything. Would you mind putting these back?” I ask her. She takes the books from my hands as I shrug my backpack over my shoulder and walk toward the door.
Who the hell do they think they are? They want to play games with me, I can play them just as well. They think they can break me? Let’s see how they like it when the tables are turned.
18
Steele
I’m afraid of what my dad has to say. I’m afraid of what might be happening now. We’ve kept him out of the loop and as far as he knows, we were still looking into things with Whisper. I can only imagine that he has heard more. It’s not like I was hiding the fact that I was with her.
“Where’s your head at, Steele?” Ray growls after I missed the last pass. I can’t think straight. My head is a complete mess with what might be going on and the words that Whisper said in the shower have burned deeply inside of me. They stung but she’s right. We will never be in the spotlight together because she’s better off on her own.
“Why don’t you go out there and play?” I roar before heading back onto the field. We run the play and when I’m hit, I get pissed. Pulling my helmet off, I stor
m at the other player. The crowd is screaming and so is the coach. Knox appears in front of me, shoving me back a step but I just brush him off and keep going. Grabbing the other guy by the front of his jersey, I’m ready to rip his head off. This isn’t the first time this game that I’ve gone off either. The ref comes over, waving his hands before I’m being grabbed and pulled back.
“You’re out, Alder!” he calls out. I flip him off, grab my helmet and storm off the field. No one follows me and I’m glad for that. Callan and Knox need to stay in and play if we’re going to win this one. As soon as I’m in the locker room, Shane appears.
“Care to make a statement?” she teases.
“Fuck off, Shane. Get the hell out of here.” I sneer. She takes a step back when I say more, “It wasn’t your fault you know?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You and Callan. He was doing what he was told to do. He didn’t want to hurt you.” What the hell am I doing? Digging myself deeper into the dark is what I’m doing. I’m fucking myself over and I only have her to blame. Fucking Whisper!
“I don’t care. He could have stood up to your dad, Steele. He didn’t have to hurt me in the process,” she snaps.
“Like hell he didn’t. If you believe that than you are stupider than I thought!”
“Go to hell, Steele. All of you! You all have choices!” I don’t mean to react, I just do. I have her pinned against the wall in seconds, breathing heavily.
“Let her go,” I hear Whisper call out. I grin at Shane before slowly releasing the hold I have on her. She doesn’t move, just stands there in shock of what I’ve just done to her. All the while, Whisper comes closer. I pull my pads and jersey off, tossing them onto the floor when she steps in front of me.
“What the hell is that about?” I want to snap at her too. I want to slam her against the wall and fuck her until she admits to being mine, but I can’t.
“Questions. It’s always about the questions isn’t it?” I ask, watching her closely.
“If you have something to ask me, Steele, just ask.” She’s different. Something is different with her, I can see it in her eyes.
“Where have you been the last few days?” I don’t know why I’m asking. I don’t know why I care. When that little smile tugs across her face, I can feel the air around us shift.
“Shane, you can go,” she says, dismissing her friend like she was never meant to be here. Shane hurries off out of the locker room, but my eyes stay locked with Whisper’s. “I thought we needed a little break from each other,” she adds.
“A break? Why?”
“Why not? Things were getting too heated, Steele. Too complicated,” she tells me. The only thing complicated is her.
“Is that right? So you ran from me?”
“No, it wasn’t like that. I’m here, aren’t I? I needed space. I needed to figure things out,” she admits.
“What things?” She sighs and runs her hand through her long dark hair as she thinks over what she’s about to say.
“Things Nathan said to me didn’t make a lot of sense. When he’d mention things…” she trails off.
“Like what?”
“Do you know who I am, Steele? Like who I really am?” There it is. The question that I knew would come at some point.
“You don’t understand what’s happening here, Whisper.” She steps into my space, grabbing me around the neck and pulling my lips to hers. I let her kiss me. I let her take whatever kind of aggression she has in her out on me because after this, I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“I want you, Steele,” she whispers against my lips. I lift her easily, she wraps her legs around my waist. Carrying her into the back where the showers are, I let her fall to her feet. She watches me while she pulls her jeans off and kicks her shoes to the side. I wriggle out of my game pants and pull my boxers down before moving toward her. She doesn’t say a word as I lift her effortlessly and slide into her. She gasps, clinging to me like her life depends on it. Holding her hips in my hands, I pump into her. Whisper pants as I fuck her against the shower wall. Neither of us say a word and that’s probably for the best. Each thrust feels like it’s the last. Something is morphing between us, pulling us apart and I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with that.
Her nails dig into my shoulders as I feel her pussy clench around me.
“Steele,” she moans as I come apart inside of her. She clenches again and I feel her walls constrict around me as she gasps for air. Her whimpers will forever be burned into my memory.
“I know who you are,” I whisper in her ear before biting her earlobe. Once again, she clamps down around me and moans.
“Who am I?” she asks breathlessly.
“Whisper Macron.” Her body tenses as I slowly pull out of her and let her feet fall to the floor.
“How did you find out?” she asks, looking up at me as I grab my boxers and head toward my locker to grab my clothes. She follows behind me, her clothes in her hand.
“I’m not some stupid jock, Whisper.”
“I know that,” she snaps as she pulls her jeans and shoes back on. “So what are you going to do about it?” I look over at her as I pull my clothes on before sitting on the bench to put my shoes on.
“That’s the thing, I don’t know. If my dad finds out, he will order us to kill you.”
“He has to know,” she adds.
“No, that was our job. We were supposed to find out. How long have you known?” I’m curious now. Not that it makes a difference to me, I don’t plan on letting her walk away as easily as she thinks she can.
“Not long.”
“What are your plans now that you know?” I ask grabbing my bag and throwing it over my shoulder. I motion for her to follow me when all I really want to do is snap her goddamn neck for avoiding me and fucking with my head. Either way, she follows me out to the SUV and climbs in the passenger seat. Once I toss my bag in the back and settle in, I glance over at her.
“What am I supposed to do? No one wants me. It’s pretty clear that my family shit on me when I was born and threw me away. They never wanted me.” There’s a hint of sadness in her tone that bothers me. Whisper has nothing to be sad about. She just learned who she truly is. That in itself should have her smiling and jumping with joy.
“You couldn’t be here,” I finally admit. While she’s been searching, so have I. I didn’t want to tell her the truth until I had every piece of this fucked up puzzle in my hands, but I can’t keep this from her either.
“What do you mean?” Now I have her attention.
“You weren’t just a Macron, Whisper.”
“I know, I’m a McLean too.” I chuckle at how she says it. Like it means nothing.
“You don’t get it do you? The power of both of those families could tear this town apart, Whisper.”
“Except for the small fact that they didn’t want me!”
“The affair was fucked up. In this world, affairs happen but bringing a child is never accepted. They had to get rid of you or they would have all lost their places.” Not that it makes it any better but that’s the truth.
“This is all stupid. It’s all bullshit,” she says, sounding completely over all of it already and it hasn’t even begun. I slip my hand across the seat and grab hers in mine before taking a deep breath and blowing it out.
“Shit’s going to get a little more complicated,” I warn her.
“Why? What more could there possibly be?” Her eyes meet mine and a slow dark smile pulls across my face.
“My dad.”
19
Whisper
My knee bounces as I sit in the seat next to Callan and Knox. I don’t know what’s happening here. I don’t know why I am supposed to be here, but in the middle of the room is an octagon ring that looks like something out of the MMA. My stomach churns and rumbles as I wait.
“Why am I here?” I ask looking up at Knox.
“You’ll see.” His jaw tics and I know that’s a
sign that something is wrong. No one will inform me of what that is though.
“This is bullshit. I’m leaving,” I snap, shoving out of my seat. Knox grabs my wrist and jerks me back down roughly, digging his fingers into my flesh.
“You aren’t going anywhere. This is all on you, Whisper.” The growl that leaves his throat scares the shit out of me. I’ve never heard him like this. I swallow hard as groups of men shuffle into the room, taking up the seats that were left vacant minutes ago. I watch the way they all move, filing in like they are in for a big show.
“Is Steele fighting?” Knox looks away but when I turn to Callan, he nods.
“It isn’t what you think.”
“Is there anything you three can’t do?” I ask teasingly but the tone in the room is dark. Something’s not right. “What the hell is going on, Callan?”
“He lied, Whisper. We all fucking lied to our dad and Steele is taking the punishment for it. He made his decision,” Callan says looking straight ahead. There’s no emotion in his eyes which startles me. Callan has always been the nicer of the three, always smiling and playing but not now. He’s hard as stone and his face a mask I can’t read.
“What do you mean?” I ask, not sure if I really want the answer to that.
“You’ll see,” Knox says grinding his teeth. I watch and wait, hoping like hell that nothing bad is about to happen but I can feel it in the air. It’s almost a slap in the face when I see a group of men walk out with shorts on and their hands taped. Is there more than one fight? Where is Steele? I glance around when I see him, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck from side to side. My insides tremble when I see him stand on one side but no one else moves in that direction.
