overlooks downtown LA.
“Well…” Vincent exhales along with a plume of smoke. “If you’re not here to party, what are you here for?”
I press my back up against the glass of his sliding glass window. Slipping my hands back into my slack pockets, I raise a leg, resting it behind me, adopting a casual pose that’s so at odds with the way I’m feeling inside.
“Had an interesting discussion today with a Dr. Poppy Aster.”
I wait for him to react to the name, to the news that I know, but he doesn’t. He raises his brow, taking another puff from his blunt, waiting for me to go on.
“Am I supposed to know who she is?”
I search his gaze for the truth. His eyes are bloodshot and heavy lidded. He’s already high, and telling by the dilation of his pupils, he’s already done a few lines as well. He either has no clue who I’m referring to, or he’s a damn good liar.
“I know about your frequent visits to the mental institution. That’s what I’m talking about. It was clever of you, keeping her whereabouts to yourself. Wanted to finish what you started?”
A crease forms between Vincent’s brows. Confusion crinkles the corners of his eyes. “Why the fuck would I visit a mental hospital?”
A dry laugh escapes my throat. “You know exactly why. Your name has been on the visitors’ log for weeks. The doctor told me you’ve been visiting all too frequently.”
Vincent stares at me for a beat, looking completely puzzled. Until it clicks. I watch it happen, when understanding dawns. His eyes glint, something dark infiltrates his gaze, and he presses his lips together in a thin line.
“How frequent have my visits been?” The way he asks the question, with a slight edge to his voice, has all the hairs at the back of my nape standing at attention. I straighten, pushing off the wall.
Something that feels strangely similar to panic flares in my gut and I lash out at Vincent. Clasping him by the collar of his shirt, I slam him up against the wall, my forearm pressing against his throat, cutting off his air supply.
I search his gaze, looking for answers in his dark, almost black eyes. Endless pools of sins and debauchery. He’s supposed to be my brother, but as I stare down at him, I realize we haven’t been brothers for a very long time.
“Do it,” he chokes out beneath the weight of my arm. “You’ll be putting me out of my misery.”
My brows crease at the odd statement. With a frustrated growl, I shove away from him, putting much needed distance between us before I snap his neck. He bends over, choking from the lack of oxygen. When he rights himself, I see it in his eyes.
My nostrils flare as realization dawns on us both. “It was him, wasn’t it?”
“That sneaky motherfucker,” Vincent seethes, referring to Zach. “I’ll kill him.” The way Vincent says it, it isn’t just a statement, it’s a promise. This whole time, I thought the two have been working together, but I was wrong. Zach has gone rogue on all of us, including Vincent. The two have always shared a complicated relationship, for whatever reason, but it seems now, something has changed, and the two friends who were always like brothers are falling apart.
That sneaky motherfucker, indeed. Not only is he pretending to be Vincent to save his own ass, but he’s taking matters into his own hands. And I can’t have that.
Past
“Girls, let’s go! Your dad is in the car waiting.”
Madison and I scramble to gather our stuff. We’re headed to the beach today. It’s become somewhat of a family tradition. One we always do near our dad’s birthday. Pismo Beach for the day. Madison and I have made a habit of collecting seashells each year. She wants to be a marine biologist. I’m not sure what I want to do yet, but I’m sure whatever it is, I’ll follow in her footsteps, just as I always do.
It’s a bit overcast out here today, so there are not many people on the beach, but Madison and I still strip out of our clothes and sprint straight for the water, splashing each other as we go. Happiness fills my chest as we slip underneath the ice-cold water for a swim, our bodies shivering, our lips turning blue, but still, we welcome the sensation, becoming one with it. I know she feels the same. Just as I know the sky is blue and