Page 86 of Stag

Me: Hey, Mar. I miss you. Are you okay? Is there any chance we can just have a conversation and get back what we once had?

Movement caught my eye, and I smiled at Harley and Ghost as they passed me with more painting supplies. Harley had a dab of paint on his left cheek, and another swipe of it in his dark hair. It was oddly cute. I wished Stag had been able to stay here today and work with us. I pictured him with a smear of paint on his face, and that big wide smile of his as he attempted to retaliate.

My phone buzzed in my hand, and I gasped, almost dropping it on the concrete.

“Shit!”

She wouldn’t have recognised my number, and I stupidly didn’t say it’s me, but she’d know. She’d know from my words, wouldn’t she?

Marissa: I miss you too. I’ve made so many mistakes, but I want to fix things. Can we meet up?

Damn. I glanced around me, wondering if anyone noticed me slacking, and if they somehow knew what I was doing right now. What about Grease? If he was monitoring my phones, wouldn’t he know I’d messaged her?

Nobody stopped or bothered me, just nodded, smiled, and carried on with their work. Eventually I walked outside and headed across the dusty yard, towards the rows of motorbikes.

Me: Yes, I think we should, but I’m at the Phoenix clubhouse at the moment. When can we meet?

A minute passed while I waited for her response, and then my phone buzzed again.

Marissa: I’m not allowed there, but if you walk down the road from their gate, I could meet you. We do need to talk and it needs to be now. I miss my twin. You’re a part of me.

She was right. We were connected. We were a part of each other, and staying apart wasn’t the answer. Nobody else could understand our connection, understand us. If we could just get back to the way we were, we could absolutely hang here together again. Maybe she’d find a biker here she liked, and we could be… duh… I was getting ahead of myself. First we’ll talk. Maybe we can undo the harm she’d done so far, and be sisters again, be twins again. Being separated from her, my twin, the other half of my soul, was almost physically painful, because we’d always been together. Was that why things had soured? Could we fix it?

The gates were opening as I approached, and two vans were pulling in, probably carrying more decorating supplies, or carpets, so while they were being directed into the parking area by the gate prospect, I slipped out behind the second van, and headed down the lane. I wasn’t deliberately being foolish. I was certain I could fix things with Marissa, if we could just talk privately for a few minutes. I wasn’t in danger, but I think the first step to fixing things was proving that to her. She’d like the Phoenix members if she just gave them a chance.

She must have been in the area, because by the time I reached the end of the long curving lane that fed into the Phoenix compound, she was just pulling up to the side of the road.

I hesitated for the briefest moment, turning to glance behind me, wondering if I should have done this in a public place, but the fact remained. This was my sister, my twin. She’d never hurt me. She couldn’t. It’d be like hurting herself.

The passenger door popped open an inch and I leaned down to see Marissa leaning down to look at me.

She spoke, but I couldn’t read her lips from the angle I was at. Her head was tilted just wrong.

“Can you sign for me? I can’t… I can’t read you.”

Marissa shot me a huge smile and gestured to the passenger seat as I pulled the door open to lean in.

“Just get in,” she said, moving her head again as she spoke. It wasn’t her fault. She’d have to crane her neck and lean across to be seen. Again, I glanced at the lane leading to the compound, a moment of hesitation that cost me, because when I looked back at her, she was shaking her head, her eyes filling with tears.

“Never mind,” she said, leaning so I could read her again, “We can try another time.”

No. I didn’t want it to be another time. It had to be now. My soul was hurting without my soulmate beside me.

I slid into the seat and pulled the door closed.

“Sorry, it’s just that-”

The car started moving, pulling back out onto the road, and I frantically shoved my seatbelt into place, my heart racing at the sudden move.

“Marissa, what are you doing? We can’t leave here. I’m… I just wanted to talk, but I can’t leave.”

She was saying something, but facing forward as she drove, which was necessary for safety, but effectively cut me off and left me in puzzling silence.

“Marissa, I can’t read you. Pull over so we can talk.” Her lips were still moving, but from her profile, I couldn’t catch a damn word. I pulled my phone out, opening an app Grease had loaded for me, setting it to listen and record, because it’d put her words into text for me.

The messages popped up in rapid succession.

[voice1: All I wanted to do was protect you.]