Page 76 of Running Winter

Chase shook his head at me warningly, and I lifted my hands in exasperation.

"What gives?"

"Rayna, sit down," Chase commanded, and she did, but not before she sent me an apologetic glance. "Rafe, you know that Rayna is adopted, right?"

I vaguely recall a conversation in school about it once, so I nodded.

"So, she requested her birth records, and of course, they took a while to come," Chase and Rayna exchanged a glance, and it was then that I noticed the marks on her throat.

Deep red fingerprints.

Oh, fuck.

That explained why Chase was burning holes in the floor, pacing. "But when they came, it showed she had a twin."

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed as Rayna remained expressionless.

"A twin brother."

I was intrigued now, and I lifted my eyebrows impatiently.

"So his name is Leigh Hurley, and he grew up in New York. Rayna found him, and he came here. Hence why Rayna disappeared for a few days, to meet him."

"On your own?" I asked with disbelief, and she nodded glumly. "What is it with you? Six am wood walks on your own by a deserted lake, now meeting random guys on your own?"

Was this girl asking for trouble or what?

God, she was infuriating.

Rayna nodded before Chase continued.

"Anyway, it turns out that the twins, Rayna and Leigh, were part of some kind of social experiment."

"Fuck off. Like nature-nurture shit?"

I couldn't believe that.

The twins in our family were incredibly close; my mother was one of them. There was no way she could be parted from Uncle Zane, ever.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry, I have to confess to listening in," declared a voice from the doorway, and I looked up to see Mom standing there, tears shining in her eyes. "Would you like to come into the kitchen with me, and we will have a chat? Girl to girl. Twin to twin."

Rayna nodded eagerly, tears spilling down her cheeks. It struck me then that she hadn't spoken with an adult about this situation, and I sent Mom a grateful look.

It didn't matter how old you were. Sometimes you just needed someone to tell you it was going to be alright.

"Holy shit," I repeated when they left the room. "What the fuck happened to Rayna’s neck?"

Chase shook his head with anger, folding his arms as he did.

"So her brother turned up with Hetty, this strange girlfriend from New York. Rayna thinks she is clinically insane, bro. As soon as Rayna fell asleep that first night with her brother, Hetty attacked her. Tried to kill her, actually."

"Holy shit."

"Will you quit saying that?" Chase barked, falling to the sofa beside me. "He's a bad egg, Rafe."

"How bad?" I twisted towards him, my eyes meeting his.

"Well, he’s been in and out of juvie all of his life. His parents were sadistic fucks, and adopted him just to look like the perfect pillars of society. They abused him every day."

---