The entire time, I listen to her, but I’m not even sure if the words are reaching me right.
The fact that Calvin is my biological father.
The fact that Dad willingly chose to be my father.
The fact that Mum wasn’t a saint as I tried to convince myself.
But most of all, one fact remains with me through the whole retelling.
One fact revives my heart and allows it to beat.
After Kim finishes talking, she stares up at me with that spark in her eyes, the hope and excitement I thought I killed once upon a time, but they still find their way back to her life.
This time, I have no intention of murdering it. If anything, I’ll protect it, thrive on it.
“So?” she asks.
“So what?”
She grabs my arm. “You have nothing to say?”
I smile at her impatience. Some things never change. “Like what?”
“Xan!” she snaps.
My palm finds her cheek, and my thumb strokes the puffiness under her eye. This means she was crying before coming here.
Once again, I made her cry.
She leans into my touch like a kitten and sighs.
Kim and I are the same in so many ways. We’re both broken, flawed, and have unsatiated hunger.
A hunger so furious, it chips at our souls.
A hunger so strong, nothing but the other one can satiate.
“Does that mean you’re not my sister?” I ask the question she’s wanted to hear since she ran all the way here.
“Not at all. Not even close.”
“Thank fuck.” I tilt her head up and capture her lips with mine.
29
Kimberly
Xander devours me.
I don’t even have to open my mouth or participate or do anything.
Both his hands are on my face as he sucks my soul into his, or that’s what I think happens with the way he nibbles on my lip, how he dances with my tongue, how he robs me of air.
He pushes me against the wall and I moan in pure bliss as my back hits the solid surface. My legs wrap around him as he lifts me up and my arms wind around his neck.
God. He’s so strong and agile, his waist taut and narrow and perfect for my legs.
Or is it?