Taurus: Book 3 in a Young Adult Paranormal Romance Series (The Zodiac Twin Flame Series) (13 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Love had turned Nick into the person he was today. That technically wasn’t true. It was heartbreak that turned him into someone that wanted to destroy love and all that was good.

‘You’ve been disappearing off somewhere,’ Gemini said.

He was lounging on his bed. His shirt was undone, showing a toned stomach and a smattering of hairs. Why he always insisted on wearing a shirt was beyond me. When I chillaxed, I wore my no-sleeved T-shirt.

‘My mind isn’t really here at the moment.’ I picked up the red tie that rested on the dresser.

Sophie’s funeral loomed. Her family had asked me and Cancer to attend. Apparently, she had told them about us in the week that she had been with me.

‘I meant physically. I’ve seen you sneak off a couple of times. Where are you going?’

Gemini fiddled with his usually pristine hair.

‘To train,’ I lied.

He nodded, not doubting me. What else would I be doing with my time? He would never guess that I was getting high with our enemy. Flicking the tie over my neck, I began to thread it through.

‘Let me do that for you,’ Cancer said, coming into the room.

For once she didn’t cringe. There would usually be a cloud of smoke to greet her.

‘I’ve noticed you’re not smoking as much,’ she said, pulling on my tie to make it neat.

Shaking my head, I rubbed a hand over my face. ‘No, I’m cutting down.’

It was true. Nick said that if I took other drugs with the one he gave me, it wouldn’t work. So far, I had only drunk alcohol since starting my new drug journey.

‘That’s really good.’ Cancer patted my shoulder.

I was tempted to snap. Instead, I turned away when she glanced at my shaking hands. My dark jacket had been dry cleaned. It was almost stiff as I slipped it on.

‘Let’s go,’ I said, saluting Gemini as we left.

Cancer walked ahead of me. She wore a little black dress with a smart jacket. Her hair was down past her shoulders. The sound of a sniffle came back to me as she led us out of the kitchen, down the steps and onto the pavement.

Scorpio waited with the car. We had converted it from an old post office van. I was gutted when we had to change the colour from red to black to be less suspicious.

‘I’ve got to go to work, so I thought I’d drop you off on the way,’ he said, running his hand over his soft blonde hair.

We climbed in, not speaking as Scorpio drove us to the church. He was a much better driver than Leo but not as good as me.

‘Thank you,’ we called when we finally got to our destination.

I stood for a moment, watching the people file through the church doors. I didn’t know any of them, yet I had been sleeping with their loved one. A week was so insignificant to most people. It was a splash in time. However, Sophie had made a huge impact on me in that week. She had taken notice and accepted me. It felt crappy knowing that I would never get to know her. It was gut wrenching to know that it was my fault that she died.

‘What are we doing here?’ I asked Cancer.

She took my hand and squeezed as a couple went by us. ‘We’re paying our respects,’ she hissed.

Shaking her off, I went to turn away from the church. She grabbed my shoulder and spun me back.

‘You have to face this. For once in your life, face up to reality. She died for you, so you will pay your respects.’

Her words made me freeze. She died for me. But why? Did Nick really think she was my twin flame? It was a question I hadn’t thought to ask him. Not that twin flames were real, but he seemed to think they were.

‘You’re right.’

Her eyes widened. I rarely admitted when someone else was right. Because it was a rare occurrence. All my life, I had known most things, but the more I got into Nick’s psyche, the more I doubted everything I had conditioned myself to believe.

‘I wish I had that recorded. Will you say it again so I can record it on my phone?’

She linked her arm through mine as we went inside the church.

‘Don’t push it.’

Sophie’s parents approached and gushed about how Sophie went on about us the week before she died. They sobbed when Cancer told them a tale about how they had met. They turned to me. I couldn’t speak. What could I say? I was banging your daughter?

‘Taurus, I know you didn’t know Sophie for long, but she was smitten with you.’

I nodded. My throat closed, which made me cough. A car pulled up in front of the church.

‘She’s here,’ her mother said, grasping her husband’s arm.

We went to our seats as the coffin was brought in. My head was fuzzy. The music played, speeches were spoken, but through it all, I asked myself why. Why did people have to die? Where was Sophie now? Why did I have to be lumbered with a crazy family and enemies?

‘That was nice,’ Cancer said as we left the church and followed the procession to the graveyard.

She wiped at her red eyes with a tissue. I hadn’t even noticed her cry. She had known Sophie for a lot longer than I had. I should have been more supportive.

‘Taurus, who’s that?’ she asked, gripping my forearm.

Following the line of her gaze, I caught sight of a man in a black outfit. Sophie’s killer. He was hiding behind a tree in the far corner of the cemetery. How dare he show his face at his victim’s funeral? I squeezed Cancer’s hand and went to move across the grass. She pulled me back, shaking her head quickly.

‘I have to go and kill him,’ I hissed into her ear.

People glanced at us as we stared each other out. My sister was right of course. I couldn’t make a run for the man in the middle of a funeral.

‘Matt’s here, too,’ Cancer said, plastering a fake smile on her face.

Searching the area with my gaze, I spotted Matt beside the church. What was he doing here? My temper simmered. My skin heated. I was ready to explode. When I saw Nick again, I was going to lose it. We were at a funeral for goodness sake!

‘We need to sneak off as soon as she’s in the ground,’ I whispered so that only Cancer could hear.

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. ‘You’re as bad as them!’

She pushed me as a sob escaped her. People had stopped trying to be subtle and now stared at us. I hadn’t meant to offend my sister. It was just how I was. Sophie was no longer with us. We had to get on with life.

‘Are you really that heartless?’ her words were whispered.

My chest constricted. I tried to pull air into my lungs as an image of Sophie running to catch up with me came into my mind. I swallowed hard as we stood next to the hole that would hold her body. I had never had to bury anyone before. I was lucky to have reached twenty one without saying goodbye to anyone.

‘She was really into you,’ Cancer said.

Was she trying to get me to cry? Would she take pleasure in seeing me reduced to tears? She was going the right way about it if she did.

More words were said as Sophie’s coffin was lowered into the ground. I blinked as I tried to clear the vision of her blank eyes. The memory of the life leaving her body was etched into my mind. It had been a wild week. I was sure that I would have fallen for Sophie if I’d had the chance.

‘Ashes to ashes…’ the vicar called.

My heart hardened as the people that were closest to Sophie threw roses onto her coffin. When it was my turn, I watched the red flower tumble and fall into the hole. As I looked up, my gaze shot straight to the tree and locked with her killer. He took a step back, but otherwise didn’t respond. I was coming for him and he knew.

‘Let’s go.’ Cancer tugged my arm.

We said goodbye to Sophie’s parents and made our way towards Matt.

‘I’m going to find the b—’

‘No, we need to see Matt. We need an update on what’s going on with Nick.’

My cheeks heated when she looked up at me. I knew exactly what was going on with our enemy, but I didn’t say anything.

‘I know it’s not a good day but life doesn’t stop for us.’

I nodded and let her lead me to the man that had caused the problem in the first place.

‘I’m so sorry for your loss,’ Matt said as we came to stand in front of him.

I glanced over my shoulder. The man that had killed Sophie was gone.

‘So you should be. If it wasn’t for you, she’d be here.’

Cancer slapped my arm. ‘Taurus, don’t!’

‘He’s right though, isn’t he?’ He only had eyes for Cancer.

They were both stiff around each other. She watched him, glancing away when he made eye contact.

‘How’s your wife?’ I asked, breaking the silence.

He fidgeted with the sleeve of his shirt and looked at the ground when Cancer hit me again.

‘She’s safe,’ he replied.

I shook my head as I took a step away from them. Watching the people by the new grave, I wished for a normal life. It would have been so much easier if I had gone to school, got a job, married and had kids. Instead, I had enemies before I was even born. I had a lifetime mission that I didn’t even believe in and siblings that were just plain irritating.

‘Why are you here, Matt? We need to forget about each other. You have a life. Responsibilities.’

I heard the choke in Cancer’s voice. How it must be to love someone that wasn’t available. How guilty she must feel for stealing the affections of someone that was already married.

‘I don’t want you to come to harm because of me. I didn’t get the chance to tell you when we last met…’ He paused, sighing harshly. ‘I’ve left my wife. We’ve been unhappy for many years. We married very young.’

I shook my head again. Oh, how typical of the man. I didn’t know that much about life. I had been pretty sheltered, but I knew that old trick. Had seen it on television shows and films.

‘That doesn’t change anything. What do you want from me?’

A new respect for my sister formed at her words. I had expected her to melt and go all girly on him.

‘I…don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘I thought we could—’

‘You are joking?’ I interrupted.

‘Taurus!’ Cancer snapped.

I held up my hands and moved away from them. She was right, it was none of my business what she did.

My phone beeped. Taking it out of my jacket pocket, I read the message that had come through.

I hope today wasn’t too hard.

Kerry was sweet. She had wished me luck the night before.

‘We need to go,’ Cancer said, storming past me.

I glanced back at Matt. He looked frustrated. What had he expected? Did he really think she was going to fall into his arms?

‘What was that about?’ I asked.

I didn’t usually care about other people’s business but Matt was one of Nick’s men. Or used to be. I was still unsure what had happened between them.

‘I’m not really sure to be honest,’ Cancer said, linking her arm through mine as we walked away from the church.

Her tone was quiet. Her eyes were wet. She sniffed before she shook her head and smiled up at me. She was tiny. Her frame was half my size.

‘It’s time to move on. From Sophie, from Matt. Let’s promise each other that we’ll help to find each other’s soulmate.’

My eyebrows rose of their own accord, which made her laugh. She was and always would be a sentimental little thing. I had never been close to her before, but our shared secret brought us together.

‘I can’t promise anything, but I’ll help you if I can.’ It was the best I could do. How did I tell her that it was rubbish? Her eyes sparkled up at me. Expecting me to play along with the whole twin flame blah blah—

‘I shouldn’t be encouraging you, but you know what we need, don’t you?’

My blunt fingernails scratched at my scalp. My hair was starting to grow out, which meant I needed to get the clippers out. ‘What’s that?’

‘To get raving drunk!’

I agreed wholeheartedly. Nick had told me not to go back for a few days. I had been fine with his command at first. The more I thought about how much control he had over me, the more it wound me up. What made him think he could get me to do what he wanted?

‘Kerry’s at the pub. She asked me if I wanted to join her. Let’s go!’

I allowed her to drag me to a waiting taxi. As we climbed in, I thought about my life. Cancer was right. It was time to move on. Time to change. I couldn’t sit on my arse doing nothing anymore. All I wanted to do was get high. However, it wasn’t going to help me.

‘We need to celebrate Sophie’s life!’ Cancer declared as the taxi pulled up outside the pub down the road from home.

‘Typical. You bring me to the pub I first met her.’ I laughed.

Cancer screwed up her face as tears came into her eyes. I put my arm around her as we went inside. Kerry spotted us instantly and came over.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, taking Cancer from me and leading her to a table.

The pub was empty. It was the middle of the day. I ordered drinks, including a round of shots. If we were going to get drunk, we may as well get hammered.