TWIN PASSIONS: (A Logan Brothers Novel) (5 page)

Gradually people began to
disperse and move off towards the wake. Soon there was no one left,
just the five of us, standing in a line, looking down into the grave
as the rain continued to soak through our black suits.

I felt a growing feeling of
grief as I stood there. My father had always been there for me,
always putting his family first. He'd set me up for life, put me in
charge of one of his businesses, gave me the chance to lead a life
full of success and happiness. He'd had so many demands on his time
and so many responsibilities that my personal time with him had been
short. But I loved him, and he'd been taken away from me, from all of
us. Just like my mother.

And now it was just us, just the
five of us, a ship without a rudder. It would be down to Crash to try
to steer us as best he could.

Without a word Crash was the
first to move, turning around and slowly moving off through the
graveyard. We all followed, stepping after him towards the cars
waiting on the road. Others were still around us, climbing into black
cars lined along the path.

I glanced over the faces, many
of which I knew. Friends of the family, business associates of my
father I'd been introduced to in the past, extended family members
who'd come from far and wide to pay their final respects.

Then there was a face I thought
I knew, a face from the past. The face of a girl I'd known long ago,
a girl I'd never forgotten. It couldn't be her. Why would she be
here? And before I knew it, she was inside a car and gone.

I sat alone in a bathroom during
the wake, the loud chattering of conversation filling the air next
door and through the house. I sat on the edge of the bathtub, happy
for the moment of quiet. We'd only just arrived from the funeral
service and I wanted a few moments of peace before talking to
everyone.

The door handle turned suddenly
and I heard somebody push against it. I looked up quickly.

“
Someone's in here, sorry.
Give me five minutes,” I said.

“
Is that you in there Zack?”
I thought I recognized the voice through the door but it was too
muffled to be sure.

I stood and walked towards it,
turning the lock. The door opened and my breath dropped.

“
Gemma, is that you?!”

My wide smile betrayed the fact
that it was my dad's funeral. I couldn't help it.

She smiled big herself, rushing
in and giving me a hug, her arms squeezing tight around me.

“
What the hell are you doing
here?!” I asked, completely and utterly shocked to see her.
Shocked, but delighted.

Her smile dampened slightly on
her face. “Well, it's kinda weird, I'm here with Cade.”

My heart dropped. “Cade?”

“
Um, yeah, we're kind of
seeing each other now.”

I took a slight step back,
unable to hide my disappointment.
Cade? What the hell was she
doing here with him?

“
Oh, OK.”

“
It's so good to see you
though Zack, it's been so long.” She dragged me in and hugged me
again. I felt a longing I hadn't felt in years.

“
So, how exactly did you and
Cade meet? Did you think it was me or something?” I laughed. It
probably sounded like an awkward laugh.

“
Um, well it was only a couple
of months ago. It did flash through my head that it was you, yeah,
but then he told me his name. I had no idea you had a twin! I've been
dying to see you again ever since I met Cade, but haven't had the
chance with everything that's been going on.”

I guess she must have been
referring to the horrific murder of my father by the drop in tone of
her voice.

“
So why didn't you ever tell
me?! How come you never mentioned you had a twin brother!”

“
I dunno, I guess it never
came up.”

“
Never came up! How could you
leave something like that out. You told me about your other brothers
as I recall.”

“
Did I? I can't remember, it
was so long ago now.”

Actually, I could remember, and
I knew exactly why I didn't mention Cade. He was my twin brother and
I loved him, more than anyone else in the world, but I always felt I
trailed in his shadow. He was always the more sporty one, the more
intelligent one, the twin that dad favored. When we were sent to
different high schools, I put on a front of being upset like he was:
upset to be parted, upset to not see each other at school every day.
In reality, I was delighted to step away from his shadow and out into
the light where I could be just me, not Cade Logan's twin brother.

Gemma shook her head and smiled
at me in confusion. I hadn't seen her for years and yet it felt like
I'd seen her just yesterday. We'd only been kids when we knew each
other, now we were adults, and she was gorgeous.

Even dressed in black, with a
large hat covering her gorgeous brown hair, she looked stunning, her
face pale and lightly made-up. I remembered how naturally beautiful
she was at school, how the other girls started wearing make-up but
she never did. Still, she always looked prettier than the rest.

I'd met her on a summer trip
before starting high school. I remembered the first time I'd really
seen her, up on that stage, a bag of nerves, forced to introduce
herself to everyone. She'd disappeared a little while after, and I'd
found her down at the lake. We clicked immediately, and even shared
our first kiss that night in the water under the stars.

We grew close during that year
as freshmen, spending lots of time together outside of class. But we
were only ever friends. I knew she was too young and innocent for
anything more, even though I began to want to take things further as
we moved into our sophomore year.

I never got the chance. Not
after what happened. Not after I was ripped from the school and sent
to board in another part of the state. I guess it was my fault, but I
never saw Gemma again after that.

It was shortly after the death
of my mother, and I'd gone slightly off the rails. She was killed in
a car crash, and it destroyed me. I started acting out, causing
problems in class, neglecting my studies and getting into constant
trouble. I was put on probation and given a last warning.

If you get into trouble
again, you'll be expelled.

I didn't care, and it didn't
stop me. When I stole a teachers car and crashed it into a tree it
was the last straw. My father was furious, not only because I was
expelled but because I'd stolen and crashed a car. My mom had died in
just the same way, but it wasn't her fault. This was my fault, and I
knew it. He said I was reckless and was putting the family through
even more pain, that I needed more discipline and direction in my
life.

I was sent away.

My phone was taken from me. I
wanted to contact Gemma but couldn't. I tried sending letters but
never got a reply. I guess I always resented that a little bit. Maybe
she, like everyone else, was sick of me too.

She looked at me now with bright
eyes, full of happiness at seeing me again. Yet there were also
questions behind them, things she wanted to ask me, things she wanted
to say.

Her voice broke the short
silence, the noise of the gathering outside the door just a blur in
my head.

“
I tried calling you, Zack,
after everything, but never heard back. What exactly happened back in
high school?”

I sat down on the side of the
bathtub once more and she followed, sitting down beside me, just like
when we first met, when we first spoke together.

“
You know what happened,” I
said, not wanting to bring up memories of the past, of my mothers
death. I didn't want to face those as well right now, not on a day
like this.

“
Yeah, I know you were
expelled, but why didn't you stay in contact with me? You said you
would. You just, I don't know, vanished.”

“
My dad took away my phone
Gem. Trust me, I wanted to call you, but I couldn't. This school I
was sent to, it was ridiculously strict. I couldn't even get to a
payphone. I tried writing, but...” my voice dropped as I spoke,
“...but I never heard back from you. I just figured that you didn't
want me in your life anymore.”

Her eyes narrowed in confusion.
“You sent letters?”

“
Yeah,” I said quickly, “I
sent a few.”

She shook her head. “I knew
it. Stupid damn parents, interfering in my life. They must have
hidden them from me. They really didn't want me spending any time
with you after everything that happened.”

I hung my head slightly in
shame, the thoughts of my reckless youth now infiltrating my already
vulnerable mind. Today wasn't the day.

“
So you didn't just ignore
them?” I said.
That was some consolation
. “I thought you'd
had enough of me?”

She grabbed my hand and looked
at me through welling eyes. “I'd never do that Zack. You were my
best....friend.”

I lifted my hand to catch a tear
rolling down her cheek. Her skin was soft against my fingers, clear
and unblemished. Like the first time I met her, I felt an urge to
kiss her, to hug her tight. But no, I couldn't. Now she was Cade's.
It was the story of my life.

I heard the door open suddenly
and snatched my hand back away from Gemma's face. We both turned to
see Cade appear in the doorway.

His eyes scanned quickly over
the scene. It must have looked odd, but innocent enough, the two of
us just sitting and chatting on the edge of the tub.

“
Ah, I see you two have met!
Gem, as you can probably tell, Zack is my twin!”

She smiled and stood suddenly,
moving in towards him. He leaned in and gave her a kiss.

“
Yeah, you boys are the
spitting image of each other! Without that dyed hair, Cade, I'd never
be able to tell you apart!”

She spoke quickly, almost
nervously, trying to cover things up.

I caught the expression on her
face, like a deer caught in the headlights. She made no mention of
the fact that we knew each other, speaking as if she'd just met me. I
followed suit.

“
Yeah bro,” I said, standing
up, putting on a front, “you should have seen her face when she
came in. Hilarious.”

I stood and started moving towards the
door.

“
Look, I've been in here too
long. I'd better get out there and start mingling. I'll leave you two
alone.”

I walked past as Cade kissed
Gemma again, her eyes watching me leave before closing. The sight
made my stomach turn. Of all people, why Cade.

Why fucking Cade.

8 Months Ago

Gemma

It was winter time and
Us and
Them
were doing a spread on getting a great body for winter
vacations to the beach.

You don't have to wait until
summer to get in shape! Get fit for Christmas and your winter
vacation, and stay feeling great all year round!

That was the general idea of the
piece, and I had been asked to put together a workout system to help
people get 'bikini-ready' in only 4 weeks. It didn't seem to bother
my editor that I wasn't a fitness and health professional. All she
wanted was something to fill the magazine.

I had begun to get the feeling
that this job wasn't going to be everything I'd hoped and expected it to be. I'd hoped
to be out there interviewing people and gathering the views of
experts so, in this case, perhaps interviewing a local personal
trainer and getting them to write up a routine. I'd get the piece
done, and they'd get a bit of publicity if I included their name and
website in the piece.

But no, it wasn't really like
that. I'd been at the job for about 6 months and it was clear that my
job was to offer filler. Maybe one day soon I'd be given a bit more
responsibility, but not right now. A quick search on Google was all I
really needed to find the information I'd need.

On this occasion, though, I
wanted to get some first-hand info, at least play at being a proper
journalist to see how it fitted. Maybe Mrs Banks, my editor, would be
impressed if I took the initiative? Maybe she'd see that I had a lot
more to offer than simply copying and pasting?

I decided to go down to my local
gym and talk to a few of the personal trainers there. I knew if I
told them I was from the magazine they'd be willing to help me out,
even if I didn't put their names to the article. A simple suggestion
that I might be able to offer them some form of promotion in the
future would get them interested. Personal trainers were always
looking for new ways to increase their client list.

For an hour or so after work
I spoke to a couple of different women working at 
Lift
, the
most popular gym in town. They were both in incredible shape and had
been working in the industry for over 10 years each.

They both had an hour between
clients and were more than happy to talk to me about the most
effective workout systems for quick weight loss and muscle toning. I
knew a bit myself, so wasn't surprised when they said the main focus
needed to be on diet, with exercise a distant second. Nutrition, I
said, was being handled by someone else, so all I needed from them
was an effective workout system.