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Megan

Holy fuck—it was her It had to be

But she was there, and she was … walking over? Holy hell, she alking over

He stood sloondering if she kneas hian had never looked at his twin quite the way she used to look at Cody, quite the way she was looking at him now

Ahh, fuck, his groin was heating

She was a woman now—a very sexy woue his mind from now on

He hadn’t planned to look for her Not after social services took him away—he sure as hell hadn’t returned for that He was just plain bad luck, should let the girl continue on hatever kind of life she was leading, which was for certain better off without him in it

She should stay away from a problem like him

True, he had become a cop Homicide detective and all that

He was supposed to be a good man, but the same blood as that of a killer ran in his veins, and he knehat he really was Soiled Unfit And responsible for what that sick bastard had done

Thoughts of his twin brother made his lips curl in disdain Theirs had been a complicated relationship, spawned by parents who did not pretend that doing things halfas okay They liked to challenge their other son to become more like his responsible brother, but he never seemed to make it to the bar they raised

This did little to encourage sibling harmony between the two, and somehow Cody, as the eldest, had felt compelled to allow for Ivan’s rebelliousness Until that day What Ivan had done was so sick, so twisted, there would be no going back from it

“I killed thean to the lake, intent on stealing a first kiss from her Cody would not have believed hi there, in a crimson pool Dead

Dead at his brother’s feet

“I told you I would” Ivan had looked at him with hard blue eyes, a monster with Cody’s own face

And deep down, Cody feared that a monster lived inside him, too

One thather virginity, the virginity of the only girl he really cared for Thewith his oo eyes what Ivan had done, urged him to hide his brother, to protect him

Maybe that an hadn’t been there, her face pale and frightened, her eyes round as moons The horror and pain he felt that day, that she be witness to what had become of the Nordstroms, made hiet he’d ever had the last name Nordstrom

But his parents’ sightless eyes, staring froround, seemed to yell their disappoint to make amends

“It was my fault,” he told her, when Ivan dropped the weapon and ran “It’s allas he could, until the first officers on scene pried her away

Those were the last words he ever said to her before his new family clai hi, he could hardly raise his face to see his neighbors, knowing they all thought: One of those boys did it