His Other Half (Patches Tarkio MC, #3) - Debra Kayn Page 0,74

All morning, he'd grown quieter until she worried about where his thoughts were taking him. She'd suspected he fought the blues from being laid up. The doctor had given him pain pills, and she'd guarded them, making sure he took the dosage at the right time, afraid he'd take too many at once—she'd seen many of her people get hooked on prescription drugs—and with Paco having an addiction problem, she wanted to make sure treating his pain wouldn't cause more problems for him.

Though getting his motorcycle back seemed to have given him something to look forward to, and she was happy for him.

Knowing what he'd gone through and seeing all his wounds when the doctor had stripped him down after arriving at the clubhouse, she was sure she'd lose him after finally getting him back to his club.

She'd never seen someone so tortured and hoped never to again.

"I come here because..." He brought her hands up and kissed them.

Something about the way he held on to her scared her. She wanted to ask him what was wrong. He'd already told her this was his special place.

"Sweetheart?"

"I'm right here."

He raised his gaze. "My sister is here."

"Your...?" She stopped herself from asking more when she remembered he'd told her that his sister had died.

"Her name was Penny. She, uh, was my twin sister." He blew out his breath. "We got separated and put into different foster homes when we were seventeen years old. It was the only time I'd been away from her."

"Oh, babe." She held his hands up to her mouth and pressed her lips against his knuckles.

"I promised I'd find her once I turned eighteen years old." His voice thickened. "I was the only person she had. I swore I'd always take care of her."

Her heart pounded, trying to piece the story together before he could say what had happened. She couldn't imagine losing a sibling, much less a twin.

Her people believed twins were opposing forms of good and evil, often partnered to perform a quest and balanced each other out, never to be separated. To lose one, there would be much suffering, and the balance would lean one way.

"When I finally found her, she was running with the wrong crowd. At first, she wanted nothing to do with me, preferring to stay with them." He grunted.

Seeing him having a hard time talking about Penny, she kissed him. "You don't have to talk about this."

He cleared his throat. "I took the time to find a way to make money. I rented an apartment. I had everything set up for Penny to come and live with me, and the next time I contacted her, I found out there was a guy in her life. He was selling her on the streets. It took some time to convince her to come with me."

She gasped.

"She was scared and thought he'd kill her if she tried to leave. She wanted a few days to figure out a way to leave him safely." He leaned back and tilted his head toward the sky.

The cords on his neck bulged. She used that second to close her eyes. He needed her to listen, and she would. But it wasn't an easy thing to hear knowing the outcome already.

"I gave her three days. When I went back, prepared to get her away from him, I found her beaten unconscious." He exhaled harshly. "I lost it. They kicked the shit out of me, and in my rage, I killed all three men. But I was too fucking late. By the time I crawled over to her, she was gone."

She let go of his hands and cupped his face, bringing him closer. Saying sorry wasn't enough. The pain he held inside of him was something she couldn't take away. He'd lost his twin. The only family member he'd known.

Her heart broke for him.

He was young at the time. An eighteen-year-old boy, a year and a half younger than her now, and he'd had to live with her death his whole life.

"I couldn't tell the authorities, because I'd left three dead bodies in that building. I don't even remember how I got my sister out of there. But I brought her here. She's buried about a hundred paces up the canyon. There's no headstone, nothing to show that she rests there."

"She's on her journey, babe. She's free." She held him close, kissing the wetness from his scarred cheeks.

"I failed her."

"No, you tried." She held him in front of her. "It was