Ruby Revenge

“Alex, can we go visit my dad again tomorrow? Please?” Her voice was soft and sweet, and I couldn’t detect a hint of deceit. She had definitely gotten better at covering her true emotions.

“I can’t. I have to work,” Alex replied.

“I could just go, I’d come right—”

“No,” he interrupted sharply. “You can’t go anywhere alone. I’m sorry.”

The crushed look that covered her face must have hit Alex hard because his gaze softened before he glanced at me.

“But maybe Niko could. He’s going to be staying here with us and doesn’t work nearly as much as me.”

“Hey, I work, thank you,” I interjected.

Alex shrugged. “Yeah, but I do more for…you know.”

I did know. Alex was an up and comer in the group. He worked with the elders. If he wasn’t working construction, he was doing anything the group needed. Alex felt like he needed to do more to make up for what had happened. Even though he wasn’t who my dad blamed. It was Geo and I who took the brunt of it. We were the oldest. It was our ceremony. Our planning. Our fault it all went to shit. Since Alex had recovered, I’d taken more of a back seat with the group, tired of the judgments from others. I had gone to the meetings and did all I could when Alex spent those months recovering. I did my part.

Sage looked at each of us with some confusion but thought better than to ask. “Niko, will you take me?”

Her sweet look turned into a glare when she faced me. She needed to be nice to Alex. To pretend she still cared. She didn’t have to pretend anything with me. I’d be getting all the hate in the months to come. Fucking great.

“You didn’t say please.” I smirked at her.

She scowled. “Please.”

“Sure, Sage.”

She rolled her eyes and stomped back into the house. Dropping my attitude would probably make both our lives easier. But I couldn’t deny the heat that rushed through my veins when her sass came out and she matched her attitude to mine. And there was no way I was going to stop acting like myself around my brother just because she was living here. I didn’t want Alex to ever think that I had thoughts about her. Once again, she was Alex’s girl.

Alex glanced at his phone before meeting my eyes. “Dad wants to see me. You good to stay here?”

“It’s going to get old fast if you ask that every time you have to leave.” I put my hands behind my head and leaned back in the chair. “If you’re not here, then I will be.”

He nodded before heading back to his Jeep. The second he disappeared down the road, Sage peeked out the window before coming back outside. She was biting her lip as she stood on the opposite end of the porch.

I arched an eyebrow. “Need something?”

“What did they say? The people Alex talked to.”

“You’re still here, aren’t you?”

She frowned. “Are you incapable of giving me a straight answer?”

“Anything about the group is off limits. You want to ask me about something else, then go for it.” I never should have shared anything with her when I caught up to her in Kalamazoo. She had it in her head that I was a way to get information, and I needed to shut that down.

“Where’d Alex go?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“To see our dad.”

“For what?”

I shrugged. “No idea.”

The hum of an engine brought my focus to the road, and I stiffened when my truck pulled up. I’d been wondering when Geo was going to bring it back. Sage sucked in a breath when she caught sight of my twin as he got out. Her spine straightened, and she looked ready to bolt into the house until her eyes shifted to me and then back to him. My jaw ticked as she leaned against the railing and crossed her arms. I wasn’t giving her the answer she wanted, so she was going to try to get it out of Geo.

“I just got off the phone with Alex. He’ll give me a ride when he gets back.” Geo tossed me my keys before turning his attention to Sage. “For being on the run, you look great. Besides the brown hair.”

She scowled, her hazel eyes going dark. She was nearly vibrating with rage. I didn’t blame her. She knew we were responsible for Lacey’s death. And she looked determined to find out exactly who it was. Hopping up the steps, Geo advanced closer to her, causing a flicker of fear to pass through her gaze.

He reached out and spun a piece of her hair through his fingers. “You really did everything to hide, didn’t you?”

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed, pressing her body into the porch railing, having nowhere else to go as he cornered her. I went rigid, shooting to the edge of my chair. Seeing his hand on her made my pulse spike, and my hands balled into fists. My sudden anger completely blindsided me. That shouldn’t bother me. She was a problem. A problem I was stuck with.