Chapter 16
1963 Words
“If you could be whoever you want to be, who would it be?” I ask as Leo and I stare into the night sky.
“Anyone?”
“Yeah, anyone,” I chuckle.
“Honestly,” he says, “I don’t know. I think I’m okay with who I am.”
“I am too,” I smile into the night.
“Are you happy, Li?”
“What do you mean? Of course, I am happy,” I say turning my head so I can look at my brother.
Whenever one of us couldn’t sleep or didn’t feel so good, we would wake the other and lie down wherever we felt it was safe to stare at the stars. Not that you could see that many here in the city, but we liked to imagine there are millions of them.
“Sometimes I wonder if we are doing something wrong,” he says, “you and Ty for example. It bothered him that I was always around and you guys broke up eventually. Do you think we are too close?”
“Dude-,” I shake my head at him, “-we are twins. We are a package deal. And it’s not like you were always there when I was with Ty. It just didn’t work out,” I shrug.
“Same thing happened with Lilliana,” he states, “she hated you,” he adds with a little laugh.
“She was a stupid b***h,” I mutter at the thought of his ex-girlfriend. We never got along. It just wasn’t meant to be. “You didn’t like her that much anyway, right?”
“Maybe,” he chuckles, “she was a lot of work.”
“See. And in the end, there will always be you and me! Someday someone will be okay with our twin thing,” I say and wholeheartedly believe in what I just said.
“Tell me-,” I continue and look back up at the night sky, “-what would your dream girl be like?”
He laughs, “she’s beautiful of course. Not as annoying as you, but funny nonetheless.” I nudge him with my elbow but smile at his words.
“I think she’s a blond. Don’t ask me why, but I think I’d like that. She’s not that into sports, yet she would be there every single time to cheer me on when I compete.”
“She sounds great,” I smile.
“What about you? Who’s your dream boat?”
“Mhm,” I hum thoughtfully, “he’s rich of course.”
“Of course,” Leo laughs.
“And he’d be tall, dark, and handsome. He’s a daredevil who knows no fear. I think he’s an FBI agent or something like that.”
“A rich FBI agent. Sure,” he laughs, “I think what you're describing sounds more like Batman.”
“I’d take him too,” I chuckle, “I could be his cat woman.”
“I guess we’ll end up bitter and alone because our expectations are way too high,” he sighs dramatically.
“So what?” I shrug and take his hand into mine, “we will never truly be alone. You’ll always have me and I’ll always have you.”
“Yeah. I guess that much is for sure,” he says squeezing my hand back.
***
I stare at my fingers, trying hard to remember how it felt when Leo held them in his. I hate that the memories fade. You know that he held your hand and you remember that you liked how familiar and reassuring it felt. But you can’t remember the actual feeling. It’s just an idea of something that once was.
“Liah!” Vincent snaps at me, “concentrate! What’s up with you today?” He hates when his students aren’t focused. But I just can’t seem to get it under control. My thoughts jump from Leo to Alex and back. I keep wondering why Lex hasn’t called me yet and where the heck Josh is.
“I’m sorry,” I sigh, “my head is not in the game today,” I halfheartedly punch the air, but I drop my defenses, and Vincent groans in frustration.
“Maybe we should call it a day,” he suggests, “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“How about we go for a round?” Both Vincent and I turn to the owner of the voice. Josh -speak of the devil- climbs up into the ring with us.
“You should warm up first,” I mutter.
“Just go easy on me,” he chuckles and I manage a small smile. Vincent leaves us alone, but not without checking if I’m okay with it first. I nod at him and he walks away.
“Everything okay?” Josh asks, “you look tired.”
“I am,” I admit, “I couldn’t sleep the last couple of nights.”
“What’s up?” He asks cautiously.
“Don’t worry. This has nothing to do with you,” I say rolling my eyes at him, “I’m just… things are messy.”
He nods and rises his hands, taking his stance. I mimic him as we go for an easy round of sparring. Mostly just dodging the other's half-ass attempt to attack.
“Did you find something new?” I ask, my voice low.
“Not yet,” he says shaking his head, “are you sure you want to be involved? You still can turn around and never look back. I promise I do all I can to-,”
“No!” I interrupt him, “I have to do this!”
He sighs softly, but nods.
“Watch your feet,” I tell him, “you keep crossing them when you move. That’s how you lose balance. If you move forward-,” I gesture in my direction, “it’s front foot first, back foot follows. And the other way around,” I move back to emphasize what I am talking about. “And you need to keep your weight on your toes so that you can move faster.”
He smiles at me, “you are amazing, you know that?”
“Because I dare to correct you? I’m trying to help.”
“I know. You are much better at this than I am. I am fully aware.”
“Oh,” I wasn’t expecting that. Usually, guys hate it when I tell them they are doing something wrong. “Thanks,” I smile hesitantly.
“Have you eaten yet?” He asks.
“Not yet, why? Are you about to punch me in the stomach?”
“Why the hell would I do that?” He asks shaking his head, “I was more thinking about grabbing a bite to eat.”
“Makes more sense,” I chuckle, “are you in for take-out? I don’t feel like mingling.”
“Fine by me,” he says with a quick nod. “Meet you back out here in ten?”
“Fifteen!” I say taking off my gloves and starting to unwrap my hands.
Once I showered and changed, I meet Josh outside, leaning against someone’s car. He smiles at me and I can’t help but wonder why he’s being this nice to me. I probably should be more suspicious of him, since he told me that he’s an undercover agent.
I am pretty sure that’s classified information. So why did he tell me? I’m no help, I’m no witness. I’m just the girl desperate enough to do about anything to find out what happened to her brother.
“What are you in the mood for?” He asks walking beside me, “there’s a crazy new vegan store a few blocks down.”
“Vegan? What are you? A psychopath?” I get vegetarian. People do consume too much meat and the animals deserve better. I get that, but Vegan?! That’s just insane!
“No,” he chuckles, “I just thought it could be an interesting experience.”
“Please experience that without me,” I say, shaking my head at him.
He looks amused. I never noticed that he has dimples when he smiles. It gives him a boyish charm. It’s cute.
“So you don’t feel adventurous, huh?” He teases.
“There’s a difference between adventurous and being suicidal!”
“Not really,” he chuckles, “now, I’m hungry! Tell me what you want?”
“Something spicy,” I grin, “is that adventurous enough for you?”
He has a happy laugh. It’s almost infectious. I smile a little when my phone buzzes in the pocket of my jeans.
I’ve had two missed calls from Alessandro. I wanted to call him back later, but I guess it’s urgent.
“Hey, what’s up?” I answer the call.
“Finally. I was getting worried! Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. What’s wrong?”
“I got a call from upstairs today. I got a serious warning not to look into the Milites Mortes.”
“What do you mean?” I ask stopping in my tracks, which earns me a curious look from Josh.
“I mean that I got a call from my boss. I never spoke to him in the four years I have been working here and today he called me warning me to stay away from things that do not concern me or else I would have to deal with the consequences.”
“He threatened you?” I ask and wrap my hand around Josh’s arm to stop him. He frowns at me. I know he has been listening to my conversation, even though he pretended not to. “What kind of consequences was he talking about?”
“I assume he was talking about my job. But I don’t want to find out what else was implied. I hope this shows you how serious this is. I want you to stay away from this! This is dangerous, Liah. I don’t know what Leo has gotten himself into, but you will not make the same mistake, do you understand me?”
I stay silent.
“Liah!” Lex growls. I can tell he’s on edge and with a heavy sigh, I decide to lie to him. He doesn’t have to know what I am up to.
“Okay. I understand.”
“Good. I have to go. Take care, Liah.”
I hang up the phone and glance at Josh whose dark eyes are filled with concern and curiosity.
“They are everywhere,” I say a little stunned by the realization.
“Who is?”
“The Milites Mortes. I asked my stepbrother to look into it and he just got warned off. By his boss. Like his upstairs big boss.”
„What’s his upstairs big boss’s name?” Josh asks. I can tell that the name is about to go up onto his evidence wall.
“I’m not sure, but he works for Townsted & Krane.”
“That’s a big law firm,” Josh states with a gleam in his eye. Like a predator that caught the first whiff of its prey.
AN// I hope you're having fun with this so far and I hope that you're hooked and maybe feel like Ghost (meaning me) deserves a little something for the work I've been doing. So, this is my weird way to announce that Ghost will soon go on PRT. I hope I'll still see you around and read all of your amazing comments.
- Writer
