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She was quiet for a long moment. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose a child.”

No. Just a sister.

But there was no point in arguing. Nothing I said would be heard.

“You’re right. I do think you’re selfish. I’m going to bed.”

I stood and started out of the room. When I passed her by, she turned and put a hand on my arm. The touch felt wrong and unwanted.

“Brody, one day, when you live like I did for long enough, you’ll understand how I could break all the rules that society and basic common decency have taught us to believe. To want something for yourself, to feel again, the chance of happiness… it’s not selfish. It’s survival.”

I waited until she had finished, before shrugging her hand off and walking away.

Selena

I wokeat five on the dot, my watch vibrating on my wrist. I sat up in bed and looked around. I was far less tired than I’d been at this time only a week ago. I supposed the regular schedule and not drinking were having a good effect on my body.

I half expected Brody to burst into my room and try his trick with the wet sponge, but there was only silence in the house.

Don’t tell me I’m up before him?

A wicked excitement stole through me at the thought of having the upper hand for once.

I got out of bed, careful to be as quiet as I could, and tiptoed into the joined bathroom. I listened at his door, and then carefully turned the handle and pushed it open.

It quietly swung inward. The room was still dark, the drapes drawn. A white noise machine played on the bedside table, hiding the sound of my feet on the plush carpet.

He was a lump in bed, hard to make out from here. I was careful not to squeeze the wet washcloth I’d prepared in the bathroom.

For once, I’d be the one giving the harsh wake-up call. Call me petty as hell, but I couldn’t wait.

I reached the bed and tried to figure out where he was positioned under the covers. A floorboard creaked, but the white noise machine drowned it out.

I carefully folded the covers back from his head. His hair appeared first, and then his cheek. Perfect for a nice dose of cold water. I brought the wet washcloth up and was just about to press it to his face, when he moved.

The lump under the covers suddenly came alive, grabbing my stretched-out hand and pulling me so I ended up across his body and face down on the bed.

“And what might you be up to this morning, creeping about my room, heathen?”

His voice was rough and thick with sleep. His knees were under my belly, and when I tried to push myself up, he shifted and clamped one over my thighs, trapping me.

“Very funny, let me up,” I protested and wriggled on his lap. Not only was this position embarrassing, ass up in the air, but it was having an effect that it absolutely wasn’t supposed to be having. It was hot; I couldn’t lie. Brody chuckled and tapped the small of my back.

“You weren’t considering giving me a taste of my own medicine, were you?”

“Like you wouldn’t deserve it.”

“I’m not saying I wouldn’t, only that you’ll have to get up way earlier to achieve your goals.”

He lifted his leg, and I got up slowly. I still had the wet cloth in my hand. I could still get him.

I lunged toward him, and then, we were falling. I’m not sure how it happened, but one second, I was above him, the next, below.

He landed on top of me, my hand with the wet rag clenched in his grip. His body pressed between my legs, and his weight bore me down into the mattress.

Panic blanked my brain for a second. A pure muscle-memory response. Every muscle locked, and my breath stopped inside my lungs, frozen in place.

Suddenly, I wasn’t here, with Brody, but in a terrifying place up near the border, lured by a guy I’d thought was interested in me. I’d gone willingly into Hell.