She nods. “She did, and she also mentioned that you lived here too.”
Summer failed to tell me that part. “That was a gamble,” I mutter.
“A gamble that paid off, clearly.”
“You’re right. And I’m so fucking happy with the way everything turned out. Now, I get to touch you whenever I want,” I say as my hands grip her ass.
“You have it bad, Ryan,” Taiya jokes, leaning up to kiss me on the jawline. Fuck, she’s sweet. I’m about to show her just how sweet she is when my phone rings, blasting that stupid fox song. Taiya starts laughing, and I know then that it’s her who put it there. I tickle her under her breast, before answering.
Then I head straight to Reid’s to find out what the hell is going on.
*****
Reid stands by the window in his bedroom, staring outside. He has a blank look on his face, and I know straight away something is wrong. He said nothing on the phone, just for me to come over because he needed to talk to me about something. Summer and Taiya are in the kitchen, giving Reid and me some space to talk alone. I love that the two of them understand that sometimes Reid and I just need to be there for each other. It may sound girly, or whatever, but being a twin means I’m connected to him in a way no one might ever understand. And I wouldn’t expect them to.
“What’s going on?” I ask, sitting on the edge of his bed. He picks up a piece of paper and hands it to me without saying a word. It’s a letter. From our father. I glance up at Reid and he nods his head encouragingly. I read over the letter, once, twice. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I growl, putting the paper on the bed and standing up. Reid scrubs his hand over his face, and then looks me dead in the eye.
“We need to find her,” is all he says.
I nod, smiling bitterly. “We will.”
I have a half-sister I had no idea about. And only now he wants to tell us, just spring it on us like this. In a fucking letter. Is she okay? Is she living a good life? Does she know about us? Did our mum know that he cheated on her? So many unanswered questions, and since I’m not going to go to the source to ask for answers, I’m just going to have to try and find them out for myself. Starting with her. Persephone Knox.
I put my hand on Reid’s shoulder, squeezing. “We have a baby sister, huh!”
He smirks a little. “I feel sorry for her already.”
“Tell me about it. So this is how Xander felt,” I say, and we both go quiet, lost in our own thoughts.
“What if she doesn’t want anything to do with us?” he asks suddenly, sitting down on the bed.
“We will worry about that when we get to it. First we need to find her.”
He tightens his lips. “We could have had her in our lives this whole time. Even if it was just on holidays. We would have kept an eye on her, make sure she wanted for nothing. He is such a selfish fuck.”
I nod. “I know.” What else is there to say? Our father is a dickhead; there’s really nothing new there. I have to wonder why he decided to tell us. Probably for us to come and see him to beg for her whereabouts. Maybe he needs money or something.
“How do we know he isn’t lying?” I ask. Reid stands and gets the envelope on the table. He hands it over to me, and I peep inside. Pulling out the small photo, I stare at it. It’s my father, another woman, and a little baby girl. She’s blonde, and cute. I turn the photo over, and it reads ‘Persephone’.
I swallow hard, taking in every detail on the photograph. I don’t know why it hurts, but it does. He had a whole other family. Is that why he hated us so much?
“Stay in the present, Ry,” Reid says, pulling me from my thoughts.
I go rigid. “It’s a little more complicated than that, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but we need to think about Seph now,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.
I pause. “You’ve already given her a nickname?” I ask, my lips twitching.
“That name is a little long,” he pauses, “and ridiculous.”
I nod in agreement. “She needs an R name.”
He laughs. “That’s exactly it.”
“You know, I think we’re going to be amazing brothers.”
I flash him a look that says ‘well, duh.’ “So I guess we start with the internet.”
“We should ask Mia to help,” he says, surprising the shit out of me.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“She’s like the FBI. I remember when we were dating, she would hack into everything, my phone, my email, and track me down at random times.” We both laugh, and I know he’s only messing around, trying to lighten up the situation.