Their Perfect Match

10

Leon

I balance the box of books in my hands and knock on the door with the tip of my boot. I can hear footsteps approaching and Blake opens the door with a smug smile.

“Figured you’d be by sooner or later” He opens the door wider for me to enter

“I figured she’d be bored locked up in here with nothing but your company” I shrug heading to the living room. I can see the top of her head from the couch, her fiery red hair is pulled up into a bun. She doesn’t look up right away, she’s looking at something.

“Oh brother, how wrong you are. I have everything under control” Blake crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the table.

“I got her one of those k****e thingies. She has thousands of books at her fingertips. I hooked her up with my sss account, told her to buy any books she wants” He shrugs his shoulders

“Yeah I’m sure that makes up for almost killing her last night…” I mutter stupidly.

He pushes off the table and charges at me, grabbing me by the shirt and pushing me against the wall,

“Watch it brother. You might be my flesh and blood but I don’t have any problem with breaking your bones”

“What’s going on over there?” She calls from the living room, we haven’t told her who she really is yet. That’s why I’m here. We decided to do it together, a united front, we thought it would be easier that way. So we can answer her questions better, more efficiently.

“Layla, I’d like to formally introduce to you my other half, Leon” Blake pulls me by the shirt over towards the couch and shoves me down into the chair off to the side. He always has to make himself look like the big man, the strongest one in the room. I'm so used to it by now. I don't let it faze me.

She eyes me for a moment before looking back up at Blake.

“Twins?” Her eyes widen slightly before she stares back at me again, some excitement forming in her sparkling green eyes.

“Born and raised” Blake winks at her, making her blush.

Oh s**t, he’s already gotten his claws into her.

“Layla, we need to talk to you” I say somberly.

She looks at me funnily, setting her k****e down under her thigh, “Okay” folding her hands over her lap, she looks over to Blake for a moment before looking back to me, “What is it?”

“We know who you are” I say without hesitation. There’s no point in delaying it any further.

“Right. I’m Layla. We all know that. I was hired to clean out-” She laughs nervously before Balke cuts her off,

“No darling, we know who you really are” He says gently.

I watch as her eyes dart to the closest door, looking for an escape, then back to us, to her casted leg. I can see the cranks working in her brain, trying to make an escape plan as quickly as possible. I reach out and place my hand on her knee,

“We aren’t going to hurt you Morgan”

“Morgan?” Confusion floods across her face, she looks to Blake for answers,

“Like we said, we know everything” He nods, "It's okay. We aren't angry with you"

“Okay, now I know you are confused, I can admit, I wasn’t honest before with who I was.. My name isn’t Layla, I can admit that, but it isn’t Morgan either. It’s Sarah. Sarah Conrad”

“No, it’s not. The conrads kidnapped you, twenty years ago. Your real name is Morgan Meyers, you come from a very powerful and wealthy family. Your family was attacked, there was a fire. You have an older brother, Micheal. He pulled you out of your home when the fire started, he went back in to try and save your parents, but he was too late to help them. When he came back to you, you were gone. Taken. We aren’t entirely sure why the Conrads took you just to hide you away but there must have been a reason behind it”

She just stares at me blankly, like I’m playing the world’s biggest prank on her right now.

“The fire… it was so hot.. I remember the flames lighting up the sky.. I remember a boy being there…”She trails off lost in thought, looking down at her hands, I can see a glisten in her eyes for a moment.

“So you remember?” I say

“Bits and pieces.. It’s all hazy, I was told the details later on… Told my name was Sarah, said my family died in the fire, I was so scared and confused with everything I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t ask questions. All I knew was that this family took me in, they seemed to be okay for the first bit” Her body shivers and she rubs her arms with her hands in a warming motion.

I grab the blanket and gently lay it over her shoulders, feeling Blakes eyes on me.

“What do you mean, did they do something to you?” He asks

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore” She shakes her head, pulling the blanket around her. Her knuckles go white from clutching the blankets so hard around her, I can’t tell if she’s angry or sad. It’s like a whirlpool of emotions going through her body. I can see them swirling in her eyes as she looks past us.

“Alright, but we will have to talk about it…eventually” I say as I look over to Blake. He is staring at her intensely. She refuses to say anything else or even look at us.

I take my cue and get up, motioning for Blake to follow me. We go to the kitchen,

“Do you think she will be okay?” I ask as I look over at her

“How would you be if you found out you were kidnapped and your family murdered?” Blake snaps at me, his eyes darkening

“Not her whole family, her brother is still alive” I point out.

“Right. Sorry. Kidnapped from your one last living relative, hidden away for fifteen years. Do you ever actually use your brain or is it just for decoration?” He lowers his glare on me.

“You know, I don’t need this s**t” I turn on my heel, walking back to the living room.

“I brought over some of your books. Figured you might like to read a real book as opposed to the electronic s**t Blake has set up for you. But if you prefer the substitution, I can put them in the garage.”

“No..” She shakes her head numbly without looking at me.

I take my queue to leave, getting on my bike and spitting up rocks as I take off down the driveway. I need to clear my head, I don’t even know her, and yet seeing her so miserable on the couch makes me feel something I’ve never felt before. Rage. I’ve been angry before, sure. But this rage inside me, I’ve always pushed it aside, never let it surface before. She makes it bubble up inside me.

It makes it worse knowing that I am partly responsible for making her feel the way she does, I pull onto the highway. I see in my mirrors I am being followed by three other bikers. Their crappy Kawasaki bikes sound like they desperately need a tune up, as they putter down the highway behind me. I release the throttle and pull the clutch, switching gears, sending my bike shooting forward, I release the clutch and re-engage the throttle, watching my mirrors.

The three of them give one another a silent nod and take off in a triangle formation around me. I see the one on the left pull a piece from his jacket, aiming it at me. I weave in between a van just ahead and come out beside a truck, using it as a shield of sorts. The second bike veers beside me now, he is aiming at me, taking his shot. I hit my brakes not a moment too soon, making him miss me by only a foot. I curse out loud as the car behind me hits my back tire, honking at me. I hit the gas and take a hard left, jumping onto the pedestrian walkway. My bike is smaller than theirs and it fits in between the cement pillars whereas their bulky bikes don’t.

A gunshot rings out in the air, piercing pain hits me in the shoulder, causing me to slump forward slightly, my foot slips off the pedal.

Another shot rings through the air, this one misses me , the pedestrian section opens up and they are on my tail again.

The three of them pick up speed and block me against the cement barrier. I have nowhere to go. I look over the edge, seeing the river below us. Knowing it is a stupid idea I plant my feet on my seat and jump from my bike, over the side of the guard rail and into the water.