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I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. My heart pounds having her so close, and nausea ripples through me, but it still feels like she could slip through my hands and I’ll never see her again.
“Myles is one of the strongest guys I know. He knows how to keep himself alive.”
I know this about my brother, but it doesn’t hurt to hear from someone else who knows him.
A knock at the door interrupts us, and I’m not the only one who’s grateful. Aspen sighs with relief. Leo pokes his head in and says, “We need to talk.”
I turn to Aspen and say, “Don’t leave the bar.”
“I won’t.”
I step out of the room and head down the stairs and follow Leo out the back door and into the parking lot.
He lights a cigarette and asks, “What’s your gut saying?”
“It’s not saying anything, or I’m too angry to listen.”
“You’d know if he was gone, though, yeah? What with your freaky bond thing.”
“I fuckin’ hope so. After we were released, I promised him we wouldn’t be separated from one another again. I can’t lose him, Leo.”
He slaps me on the arm. “No one’s losing anyone. We’re going to find him.”
All our lives, mine and Myles's, everyone’s assumed we have some freaky super twin powers. The truth is we don’t have any superpowers, we just know each other the same as we know ourselves. There isn’t a single part of Myles I don’t know or understand. I can tell what he’s thinking by a single look, a single twitch of his eye, nose, or lip. We’ve had thousands of conversations over the years in complete silence. We may be two people physically, but we share one soul. Now that I’m listening to my gut, I feel he’s still alive.
“He’s alive, but we need to move, Leo.”
The urgency in my tone has him nodding.
“We’ll get everyone straight, and then we’re heading out.”
We head back into the bar, and Aspen sits with my Dad as he scours the map.
“Listen up!” Leo hollers. The brothers fall silent. “We’ll hunt in groups of four. Be seen, be heard, and find Myles! Now!”
We’re given areas to search again and brothers scatter. I head out with Dad, JJ, and Shane—Brothers from my home chapter.
We ride to the edge of town and park by the old train tracks where he was taken. At this point, I know everyone’s searching for a body. No one’s said it out loud, but why explore the area he was picked up? But then again, we might see something we missed before. Fuck. My head is spinning.
“When a brother is taken, it’s hard on everyone. I remember years ago when Oak was taken. It was hard but not knowing where my son is, it’s beyond anything I’ve ever known. You told your mom you were doing okay, but we both knew you were lying.”
“What else was I meant to say to her? Cause I can’t imagine my life without him.”
His phone rings, and from the quickness and the few words spoken, I know it’s Grumps on the other end of the line. He slides his phone into his cut pocket when he’s done.
“Your mom is staying with him, and Emma and the kids are at the club too. He expects an update whether we’ve got one or not.”
“As much as Grumps hates it, he can’t do anything from home, and he doesn’t understand why we haven’t dealt with this yet.”
He side-eyes me and admits, “You’ve both been stronger than most ever since you were born. When you’re together, you’re untouchable. And individually, you’re still both strong, but you’ve always relied on one another. Between your twin bond and your bond with Pope, I’ve always felt a little pushed to the side.”
It's not anything I haven’t noticed myself before. When Myles and I wanted to know something or we had a problem, we went to Grumps. It was rare when we went to visit our father. It wasn’t because we didn’t value his advice or we didn’t want hishelp. Grumps has always had this way about him that allowed Myles and me the freedom to be exactly who we are. Dad, along with mom, always tried to set rules and boundaries like parents should.
“You never mentioned anything.”
“I came to the conclusion that if you were going to look up to someone other than me, I’m glad it was Pope. It gave me more time to focus on your sister, not that I did well there either.”
“Victoria adores you. And me and Myles do look up to you, old man. You don’t need to do the whole looking back shit 'cause you think we’re gonna lose Myles.”
