- 29 minutes ago
Lost in the Twin Game
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I fold. Avery's yours for tonight.
00:03You're willing to give her up?
00:05Since you like her, I'll gladly step aside.
00:09Although, we've been together for almost a year.
00:11If you think she's secondhand, no need. I'll take her.
00:19Fine. Then enjoy yourself tonight, brother.
00:23As soon as Liam left, the room immediately came alive again.
00:28Logan, are you serious?
00:30You chased Avery for three months, went all soft for her, and you're already bored?
00:32It's not even been a year.
00:35A bet's a bet. And besides, she's just a girl.
00:38So Avery wasn't anything special to you after all.
00:44At first, she was. Hard to get. A bit high and mighty.
00:48But now, she's no different from the others.
00:52Still the same. Behaves like a damn dog in front of me.
00:55Hey, Logan. Next time, can I have a turn with her?
01:02But Logan, what if Liam actually gets to her? What then?
01:08He won't.
01:08They say he didn't even touch a girl back at military school. Ice-cold type.
01:12That's not necessarily true, though.
01:14He did look at Avery a few times when she wore that dress showing her legs.
01:17He just hates girls who try too hard to show off.
01:20Bet on it then, Logan. You in?
01:22Don't forget, Avery is obsessed with me.
01:24She'd rather die than let another guy touch her.
01:26If you really want to bet, you better be ready to lose everything.
01:29Logan stood up and walked out.
01:31A pretty cheerleader was already waiting outside the door.
01:34He shoved her against the hallway wall and kissed her hard.
01:38No one noticed that I, the subject of the twins' bet, had already heard everything.
01:44If he could openly bet me away to another guy, then I meant absolutely nothing to him.
01:50And if I was stupid enough to make a scene, and embarrass him in front of everyone, I'd
01:56be the one paying the price.
01:57Everyone knows Logan's family had endowed the athletic center of our school.
02:01His name was on the donor wall in the main hallway, in letters bigger than most people's
02:06futures.
02:07That's why he could break rules, get into fights, and cause trouble at school without
02:12ever getting expelled.
02:14Someone told me there had been a ballet dancer before me.
02:17Logan had chased her for months before she finally said yes.
02:21He spoiled her.
02:22Let her get away with things no one else could.
02:26For a while, everyone thought that she'd gotten the notorious bad boy to settle down.
02:31But less than six months later, he got bored and messed up with other people.
02:38The ballet girl slashed the tire of Logan's motorcycle, making a scene in front of half
02:43the school.
02:48A few days later, she fell during rehearsal.
02:51She lived, but she was paralyzed from the waist down.
02:55Her whole life finished.
02:58She withdrew from Stonebridge High before the semester was over.
03:02Officially, she'd transferred to a performing arts academy in another state.
03:07Unofficially, nobody wanted to talk about it.
03:10Back when Logan was chasing me, someone told me that he had been quietly looking into my
03:15scholarship.
03:16If he wanted to, he could make my life at this school a living hell.
03:20I had said yes to him because I was afraid of saying no.
03:23I had stayed with him for a year, keeping my head down.
03:27And now he'd put me in a card game.
03:30I went back to the guest room and lay down on the couch, pulling the blanket over myself.
03:35The door opened, footsteps across the room, and then the smell.
03:39Clean and unfamiliar.
03:41Not Logan.
03:42You should sleep in an actual bed.
03:48Finally, I've been waiting forever, Logan.
03:52Have you been waiting long?
03:53Hmm.
03:54My head is killing me.
03:56You'll feel better once you get something in your stomach.
03:59I'm tired.
04:00Take me somewhere.
04:01You smell different tonight?
04:03Do I?
04:04Yeah.
04:05It's better though.
04:06Actually better.
04:07A lot.
04:08Glad you like it.
04:12Two days earlier, I hadn't known Liam Hayes existed.
04:16Logan never talked about him.
04:17In fact, he seemed almost wary of him.
04:20Mrs. Patterson introduced Liam in AP Lit.
04:22Transfer student.
04:24Previously enrolled in Vermont.
04:26Joining us for senior year.
04:27The rumors spread fast.
04:29He'd been kicked out of multiple schools.
04:32He'd hospitalized two guys in a fight and had no marks on him afterward.
04:35He'd been at a military academy before Vermont.
04:39He had a 4.0 and no one at his previous schools would say much about him.
04:43Which people interpreted as either very good or very bad.
04:47At dinner, I sat next to Logan.
04:49Liam sat alone at another table.
04:51Near the end, his eyes moved to me.
04:53Just for a second.
04:55He didn't talk to anyone before leaving.
04:57I had no idea why he would agree to something as ridiculous as Logan's bet.
05:02But one thing became clear the moment I heard that bet.
05:04If I wanted to walk away from this game those rich guys were playing without getting hurt,
05:09Liam might be my only way out.
05:11I had just stepped out of the bathroom when Liam pulled me into his arms from behind.
05:28You're unusually impatient tonight, Logan.
05:33Change how you call me.
05:36Then what do you want me to call you?
05:40What do you usually call me?
05:42Your name, Mr. Hayes.
05:45And I've called you Baby.
05:49Then tonight call me Sir.
05:53Sir?
06:19Say it again.
06:21Say it again.
06:23Say it again.
06:27Logan.
06:28No, not that.
06:32Sir.
06:34Sir.
06:38Don't stop, Avery.
06:40Don't stop.
06:41Sir.
06:43Sir.
06:47The next day, I opened my eyes to full daylight.
06:50Every part of me ached.
06:52The kind of all-over soreness that goes bone deep.
06:55The room was empty.
06:57Liam was gone.
06:58I didn't know when he'd left.
07:00Through the glass, I could see the back lawn below.
07:02And Logan standing in it.
07:04I picked out a dress with an off-the-shoulder neckline, revealing the marks on purpose.
07:13I'm going to go to the office.
07:13Hey.
07:14What's wrong?
07:20Can you go get me some medicine from the infirmary?
07:22What for?
07:22What hurts?
07:23Last night, you were really rough.
07:26I didn't realize until the shower.
07:27There was...
07:28It bled a little.
07:29It really hurts.
07:32Say that again.
07:33What bled?
07:34Last night.
07:35It was a lot.
07:36You were...
07:36I'm really sore.
07:37Like, everywhere.
07:38You were so different last night, though.
07:40Like, really different.
07:41Better.
07:42I don't know what got into you, but I really liked it.
07:44I even cried.
07:45I begged you to stop, and you didn't.
07:46You were so mean about it.
07:48But also, I kind of didn't want you to.
07:51I'll go get something.
07:52Stay here.
07:54He was gone 40 minutes.
07:55I'd gotten takeout from the cafeteria and was eating in my dorm room.
07:59I was halfway through when I noticed someone outside.
08:01I saw Liam coming up the path.
08:03The two of them weren't actually that hard to tell apart.
08:06Liam was slightly taller than Logan.
08:08Broader through the shoulders.
08:09More solidly built.
08:10And the jacket he had on today was the same cut as Logan's.
08:13From a distance, the similarity was close enough.
08:16Hey, Logan.
08:17Did you bring it?
08:25What medication?
08:27Stop pretending.
08:28I told you.
08:29Last night you hurt me, and I need...
08:33I just remembered I should see how bad it is first,
08:36so I can tell the pharmacist what to get.
08:39You don't need to be embarrassed.
08:40It's not as if I haven't already...
08:42I'm not talking to you.
08:47Okay, I'll stop.
08:48I mean it.
08:50What exactly are you two doing?
08:55His face went through several things in a row.
08:58All of them controlled.
08:59None of them good.
09:00Liam, Avery, what exactly are you two doing?
09:03Liam?
09:04Logan, I got the wrong person.
09:06You weren't wearing your glasses today.
09:08I thought you were him.
09:11Avery, you're hopeless.
09:12You can't even tell your own boyfriend apart.
09:14I'm sorry.
09:15Liam, I'm so sorry.
09:16I really did mix you up.
09:17It's not your fault.
09:19Twins get confused all the time.
09:20Logan, you shouldn't have snapped at her.
09:22Whose fault is it she's so dense?
09:24You share a bed with someone for a year and can't recognize them?
09:26She's only met me once.
09:27Mixing us up is normal.
09:28Fine, I'll apologize to her.
09:32Go back to the room.
09:33Let me see where you're hurt.
09:34I'll put the ointment on for you.
09:36If I had it right, Logan had spent last night with another girl.
09:40And now, he wanted to put his hands on me.
09:43A wave of nausea rose up, sudden and violent.
09:46I forced it down, hard.
09:49Take it off.
09:50Lie down.
09:51Logan, why are you being so harsh with me today?
09:54In our year together, maybe to keep me fooled,
09:56maybe out of some sliver of something real,
09:59Logan had always been gentle.
10:00Are you still mad that I mistook your brother for you?
10:02No, you're overthinking it.
10:04I'm just worried about your injury.
10:06Is it still bleeding?
10:07Let me see.
10:08The truth is, when Logan first chased me,
10:10I kept saying no.
10:12I only said yes in the end because I was afraid.
10:14Someone had made a point of telling me about the girl before me,
10:17the dancer.
10:18Avery, be careful.
10:19Don't really set him off.
10:20I heard he's been digging into your family.
10:22People like Logan,
10:22we couldn't afford to cross him in 10 lifetimes.
10:25I was afraid of dying.
10:26I was more afraid of living through something worse than death.
10:29So I accepted him.
10:31And for a whole year,
10:32I'd kept my head down,
10:33careful with every step.
10:34And Logan had been good to me,
10:36devoted even,
10:37so much that sometimes,
10:38I let myself dream impossible things.
10:40I lost my grip on reality.
10:42But I never imagined that lowering myself this far
10:45would buy me nothing
10:46but being handed off to another man
10:47like a chip on a table.
10:49My head was a tangled mess.
10:50Logan pressed me down to sit,
10:52then crouched in front of me.
10:53He looked down,
10:54took hold of my slim calf.
10:55You must have worked me up last night.
10:58Otherwise,
10:58why would I have been so rough?
11:00And parted my legs.
11:01He laughed softly and glanced up at me,
11:03then slowly began to lift the hem of my dress.
11:05I turned my face away
11:06and bit down on the inside of my lip,
11:08swallowing the sickness churning in my stomach,
11:10just as he was about to pull away
11:12the last thin layer of fabric.
11:14Logan!
11:15Come to the study, now!
11:17Liam's voice,
11:18from the hallway,
11:19heavy with warning,
11:19and a thread of barely leashed anger underneath.
11:22Logan muttered something that might have been a curse,
11:24but he stood up at once.
11:25Put it on yourself.
11:27I'll go deal with him.
11:28I took it and watched him leave the room.
11:30Only then,
11:30like a prisoner granted a stay,
11:32did I let out a long, ragged breath.
11:34My phone buzzed beside me.
11:35I picked it up.
11:36A text from an unknown number.
11:38This is Liam.
11:39Save my number.
11:41I stared at the small words on the screen
11:43for a long moment
11:44before I typed back,
11:45okay.
11:46Liam didn't reply,
11:48and Logan didn't come back to the room.
11:51He called me from the campus instead.
11:53Something had gone wrong
11:54at his father's sportswear subsidiary,
11:56the one his family had set up,
11:58and he had to fly out for a few days.
12:00I could hear the strain in his voice.
12:02It sounded like more than a small problem.
12:05For me, at least,
12:06it bought a little room to breathe.
12:08The next morning,
12:09I got ready to head back to school.
12:11I'd barely come down the stairs
12:13when I ran into Liam again.
12:14This time,
12:15he was wearing his glasses.
12:16Nothing at all like the man
12:18who had kissed me so gently that night.
12:20I greeted him the way I had
12:21the very first time.
12:22Morning.
12:23Heading back to school?
12:26Yeah.
12:27It's on my way.
12:28I'll drive you.
12:29I started to refuse,
12:30but he went on.
12:31Logan's gone,
12:32as his brother looking after you
12:34is the least I can do.
12:35Eat something first.
12:36I forced down a few bites
12:38and set my fork aside.
12:39Liam said nothing,
12:40just turned and walked out.
12:43I shouldered my bag
12:44and followed.
12:49When the car door shut,
12:50he reached up
12:51and pressed the button
12:52raising the privacy partition.
12:55Liam?
12:56Nerves flickered through me.
12:58He took off his glasses
12:59and set them in the storage box.
13:00How's the injury?
13:03Better.
13:04A little better.
13:05My face went scarlet
13:06in an instant.
13:07If it's healed,
13:08use this.
13:12No!
13:12No, I don't need it!
13:14Logan already put medicine
13:16on it for me.
13:17There was nothing
13:18on Liam's face,
13:19which somehow
13:19made him more frightening.
13:21Take it.
13:22This one works better.
13:23Really?
13:23I don't need it!
13:25Logan was already upset
13:27that I mixed you two up.
13:29If he found out
13:30I took your ointment too,
13:31he'd yell at me for sure.
13:33Liam looked at me steadily
13:34and slowly lowered his hand.
13:39You care about him that much?
13:40I pressed my lips together.
13:42He's my first boyfriend.
13:45He's always been so,
13:47so good to me.
13:48Letting a sweetness
13:49I didn't feel
13:50rise into my eyes.
13:51I really love him.
13:53Liam let out something
13:54that might have been
13:55a low laugh.
13:55Or maybe I imagined it.
13:57He didn't look at me again,
13:58just leaned back,
13:59gaze fixed calmly ahead.
14:00He didn't say another word
14:01the whole drive.
14:02When we reached
14:02the school parking lot,
14:03I thanked him quietly.
14:04Thank you for today.
14:05I'll go in now.
14:07Liam nodded faintly.
14:11I turned without thinking,
14:12straight into those
14:13clear, dark eyes.
14:15This ointment
14:15is the best there is
14:16for scars.
14:17Use it on the one
14:18on your calf.
14:19How do you know
14:19I have a scar on my calf?
14:21He didn't answer.
14:22He just placed the tube
14:23in my hand.
14:24I sat frozen for a second,
14:26then opened the door
14:27and got out.
14:28Liam got out after me,
14:29not looking at me once
14:30as he headed
14:31for the school building.
14:32I stood there a while
14:32before I took out my phone
14:34and answered Logan's text.
14:35I miss you too.
14:36Are you really not back
14:37for another 10 days?
14:39About that long,
14:40but I'll wrap it up
14:41and come home
14:41as fast as I can.
14:42Okay, I'll wait for you.
14:45Time crawled forward.
14:46Those 10 days without Logan
14:47were strangely peaceful.
14:49Liam never came near me once.
14:51That night started to feel
14:52like some absurd dream.
14:54Sometimes I even wondered,
14:55had it really been Liam?
14:56A person like that?
14:57So far above everyone.
14:58Untouchable.
14:59Why would he play such a vile game
15:01with his own brother?
15:02Friday afternoon,
15:02Logan texted to say
15:04he was going back to campus
15:05that night
15:05and told me to wait for him.
15:07Stonebridge had a handful
15:08of senior residence suites,
15:10small private rooms
15:10in the old dorm wing,
15:12the kind the legacy family's kids
15:13always ended up with.
15:14Logan's was one of them.
15:16I let myself in,
15:17showered,
15:17and lay on the couch
15:18scrolling my phone,
15:19waiting,
15:20and somewhere in the waiting
15:21I fell asleep.
15:21I don't know how long.
15:23The sound of the door woke me.
15:25I sat up, bleary,
15:26and saw a tall figure
15:27walking toward me
15:28against the light.
15:29With him came that cold scent
15:30from that night.
15:31He came closer.
15:32No glasses.
15:33Exactly like that night.
15:34I reached out,
15:35asking to be held.
15:42Why are you back so late?
15:44I'm so tired from waiting.
15:46His breath seemed to catch.
15:48Then the arms around me
15:49tightened all at once,
15:50hard enough that I hissed.
15:56You're hurting me again.
15:58You're hurting me again.
15:58I only just healed.
16:00Don't you dare be rough
16:01with me tonight, Logan.
16:09Liam caught my chin.
16:10I couldn't fight his grip.
16:14What did you call me?
16:15So I had no choice
16:16but to turn and face him.
16:18His scalding breath
16:19brushed across my nose.
16:20My lashes trembled,
16:21and then he kissed me,
16:22soft at first.
16:25Do you miss me?
16:26But the gentleness
16:27gave way fast
16:28to a sudden storm.
16:29I do.
16:30I answered,
16:30blurred.
16:32Miss who?
16:33Say it clearly.
16:34I miss Logan.
16:35He bit down hard
16:36on my lip.
16:37The pain made my tears
16:38spill over.
16:39I glared at him,
16:40wounded.
16:40But before the name
16:41could leave my mouth,
16:42he stopped it with a kiss
16:43deeper and more reckless
16:44than before.
16:45And when I was fully pinned
16:46beneath him,
16:47claimed by him,
16:48only then did he take
16:49my face in his hands
16:50and brush the tears
16:51from the corners
16:52of my eyes
16:52with his thumb.
16:55I couldn't stop sobbing.
16:58Avery,
16:59I'll ask one more time.
17:01What do you call me?
17:03Sir, sir.
17:04Do you like it
17:05when I treat you this way?
17:07I cried so hard
17:08I choked,
17:09wanting to shake my head,
17:10but he kissed me
17:10until I couldn't move.
17:12All I could do
17:12was nod,
17:13whimpering.
17:13Only then did his kiss
17:14gentle again.
17:16Now from now on,
17:17I'll treat you like this
17:18every day,
17:19alright?
17:19You'll hurt me.
17:20It hurts like that.
17:21You were never this
17:23rough with me before.
17:24He pressed me
17:24to his chest.
17:27Did I hurt you tonight?
17:28Then did it feel good?
17:30I bit my lip,
17:31cheeks burning.
17:31The body doesn't lie.
17:33I couldn't deny it.
17:34Liam had given me
17:34a pleasure Logan never had.
17:36Maybe it was
17:36the forbidden thrill,
17:37or maybe I'd never liked
17:39Logan that much
17:39to begin with.
17:40It felt good.
17:41Something dark and hungry
17:42flared in his sated eyes.
17:44He flipped me
17:45beneath him again.
17:45From now on,
17:46only do this with me.
17:48Alright?
17:49I laughed
17:50under my breath.
17:51What are you talking about?
17:53Of course only with you,
17:54Logan.
17:55Don't say the name.
17:56His voice dropped hard.
17:58I blinked up.
17:58What's wrong with you?
17:59You're being so strange.
18:01But Liam only let go
18:02of my hands
18:03and gently covered my eyes.
18:06Avery,
18:06I love hearing you call me sir.
18:09Every time you do,
18:10it does something to me.
18:12Call me that from now on.
18:14Always.
18:14And my fingers brushed
18:16an old scar
18:17at the web of his thumb.
18:18Something flickered
18:19across my mind,
18:20fast as a spark,
18:21but I couldn't catch it.
18:22After a long moment,
18:23I answered low.
18:24Okay, sir.
18:27Liam got the dorm wing
18:28to himself,
18:29a word to the right people,
18:30and the floor cleared out
18:31for the weekend.
18:33He stayed with me openly.
18:35Meals in the half-empty
18:36dining hall,
18:37slow walks across the quad
18:38after dark,
18:39and at night,
18:40the endless,
18:42insatiable tangling.
18:43On the third night,
18:44he signed us both out
18:46and drove off campus,
18:47down to the marina
18:49at the edge of town.
18:50We ate fresh-caught fish
18:51at one of the dockside places,
18:53built out over the water.
18:55I drank a lot of the wine,
18:57and by the time we left,
18:59I couldn't walk straight.
19:00Liam carried me back
19:01to the car on his back.
19:03His fingers grazed
19:04the old scar on my calf,
19:05and he asked naturally,
19:09How did you hurt
19:10your leg so badly?
19:12When I was little,
19:13there was this awful kid,
19:14so mean.
19:17His family was loaded.
19:19All the other kids
19:20circled around him,
19:21sucking up to him.
19:22Not me.
19:23The more I ignored him,
19:24the more he wouldn't
19:25leave me alone.
19:29But I wasn't some
19:30idle little rich boy
19:31with nothing to do.
19:33I had to help my parents
19:34run their food stall,
19:36look after my little brother,
19:38change his diapers,
19:40feed him.
19:41He kept pestering me
19:42until I'd had it,
19:43so I got in a fight with him.
19:45I was small.
19:47Couldn't beat a boy,
19:48obviously.
19:50He shoved me down,
19:52and I cracked my leg open
19:53on the edge of a planter.
19:54Blood everywhere.
19:57He didn't get off easy either,
19:59though.
20:01I grabbed his hand
20:02and bit him as hard as I could.
20:04Sank my teeth right in.
20:05My whole mouth was full of blood.
20:07He had no spine at all,
20:09just blod screaming.
20:12He wasn't really bad, though.
20:14Just kind of spoiled.
20:17Afterward, he even brought me medicine,
20:19tried to cheer me up,
20:21said the scar was shaped
20:22like a flower petal,
20:24that it was actually pretty.
20:27And after that?
20:29Don't remember.
20:30He left pretty soon, I think.
20:32Picked up by his parents, probably.
20:35Back then, I had work that never ended.
20:38Who'd remember stuff like that?
20:44I heard Liam say my name.
20:48Avery.
20:49He seemed to say something after it,
20:51but I didn't catch it.
20:54The day Logan actually came back,
20:56Liam set up a dinner.
20:57Liam reserved a private dining room
20:59and put the three of us at the same table.
21:01I asked him, on purpose.
21:04Liam, Logan's been back a few days already.
21:07Why are you only doing this dinner today?
21:09Liam looked at me for a long time
21:11without answering.
21:12I shrank back and ran off to find Logan.
21:14I didn't look back,
21:16but I could feel it the whole time.
21:18Liam's gaze following me.
21:20At dinner that night,
21:21Logan's mood was foul.
21:23Maybe the trip hadn't gone well.
21:25When he reached for his third drink,
21:27I lightly pressed my hand over his glass.
21:29Sir, drink less.
21:31Your stomach's bad.
21:32The words weren't even finished
21:34before two pairs of eyes snapped to my face.
21:36Liam always had impeccable manners.
21:39Even here, he wore a full blazer,
21:41sitting straight-backed.
21:42But now his knife clinked clumsily
21:44against the porcelain plate.
21:46Logan's brow furrowed too.
21:48What did you just call me?
21:53Sir.
21:54Why?
21:55Avery!
21:57Logan!
21:58Logan!
21:58Who the hell are you calling sir?
22:00What the fuck have you been doing behind my back?
22:05You said it yourself.
22:07You said you liked it when I called you that.
22:09Bullshit!
22:10When did I ever say...
22:18You said it with your own mouth.
22:20You said you liked me calling you sir.
22:22You told me to call you that lately.
22:24Liam slowly set down his knife and fork.
22:27He rose.
22:28The pressure rolling off him chilled the room.
22:31My crying dropped away.
22:32An unspeakable terror crawled up my spine.
22:35Maybe Liam's polished surface had fooled me.
22:38He was, in fact, far more frightening than Logan.
22:41I started to shake and couldn't stop.
22:44Liam's gaze landed on me for only two short seconds.
22:47But my whole back went damp with sweat.
22:50Don't bully a girl.
22:52Come with me.
22:53We'll talk.
22:56When the door shut behind them, my phone lit with a text.
23:00From Liam.
23:01Four words.
23:02Don't be afraid.
23:04I'm here.
23:05I looked at those words.
23:06Wiped my eyes.
23:07And slowly lowered myself into a chair.
23:10Then I covered my face and laughed at myself.
23:13Did Liam think I didn't know?
23:14Or that I wouldn't remember?
23:16The day he transferred in.
23:18At the welcome reception the trustees threw.
23:21Someone had congratulated him on his coming engagement.
23:24Some arrangement with another old money family.
23:26He hadn't denied it.
23:28And a man about to be engaged.
23:30Playing a game like this with his own twin.
23:32It was just one last thrill before it was all settled.
23:35Or some indulgence of an ugly little appetite hidden beneath that flawless face.
23:41But what had I done to deserve it?
23:43Why should I be a plaything passed between the two of them?
23:49They'd ended up in an empty classroom in the academic wing.
23:52The corridor outside dark and deserted.
23:56Don't you think you've taken this too far?
23:58Born of the same mother.
24:00Twins.
24:01And yet from childhood, Logan had fallen short of him in everything.
24:05Liam, brilliant in ways ordinary people weren't, had won the affection of every elder in the Hayes family.
24:14And with it, in time, the inheritance.
24:17Logan was left to be a spendthrift wastrel.
24:20Countless people envied him.
24:22And none of them knew how often he envied Liam.
24:26Hated Liam.
24:27And yet, because of a shadow that went back as far as he could remember,
24:32feared him down to the bone.
24:34The contradiction gnawed at him.
24:36Robbed him of sleep.
24:37If I remember right,
24:40you were the one who lost her to me that night.
24:43But you don't touch girls.
24:44You've got no interest in them at all.
24:46I thought you'd never lay a hand on her.
24:48I thought you'd find her dirty.
24:50Logan wouldn't admit the rest.
24:53That night,
24:54handing Avery over,
24:56had been mostly about one thing.
24:59Humiliating Liam.
25:00A girl Logan had grown tired of.
25:02And Liam wanted her in secret.
25:05Did Liam think he couldn't see it?
25:07The first time Liam laid eyes on Avery,
25:10his expression had changed.
25:1218 years as brothers.
25:14And that was the first time
25:15Logan had ever seen Liam's gaze catch and hold on a girl.
25:20He'd even looked at Avery's legs.
25:22Twice.
25:23So Logan had hatched the absurd idea.
25:26Use a girlfriend he was sick of
25:28to humiliate the brother who'd always stood over him.
25:31It would feel good.
25:33A thrill.
25:34What he never expected was that Liam,
25:37a man with an absurd,
25:39obsessive aversion to mess,
25:41would actually touch her.
25:42And he never expected
25:44that the night Liam took her away,
25:46he himself would lie awake the whole night through,
25:50restless.
25:51The cheerleader girl he'd taken away that night.
25:54He'd been certain he'd do something with her.
25:57But in the end, he'd pushed her away.
25:59His whole mind had been somewhere else.
26:02Was Liam kissing Avery?
26:04Touching her?
26:05The way I would?
26:06How would she react?
26:08Could she tell it wasn't me?
26:10Would she yield to him as sweetly,
26:12as obediently,
26:14as she does beneath me?
26:16The thought tormented him to distraction.
26:19He'd gone back to the dorm at first light.
26:21When someone told him Liam had left at six,
26:24the same as always,
26:26he'd been flooded with relief.
26:28But then he saw Avery come down the stairs
26:31covered in marks,
26:32shy and sweet,
26:34complaining that he'd been too rough and hurt her.
26:37And in that instant, he could have killed.
26:40He'd had many girls,
26:41leaving them,
26:43passing them off.
26:43He'd never felt a flicker of reluctance.
26:46He'd assumed Avery was the same.
26:49And in that moment,
26:50he finally understood.
26:52She wasn't.
26:54From the very start,
26:55she had never been like the others.
26:58He'd forgotten.
26:59Avery was the only girl he'd fallen for at first sight,
27:03and then chased in earnest.
27:05And he'd badly underestimated
27:07how much she weighed in his own heart.
27:10Find her dirty?
27:12Liam suddenly rose.
27:13And crossed to Logan.
27:15It was perhaps the first real crack in his composure all day.
27:19The first time a man so sparing with words
27:21said this much at once.
27:23I don't know why you talk about your own girlfriend that way.
27:26And I don't agree that a girl who's had a boyfriend,
27:29who's had sex,
27:30is somehow dirty.
27:33Say one more thing like that about her.
27:35Go on.
27:36Try.
27:42Liam.
27:44You set me up on purpose.
27:46That night you did it deliberately.
27:49Baited me into bedding.
27:50Because you wanted her.
27:52Because you wanted to take her from me.
27:53If you were truly in earnest about her,
27:55no one could take her.
27:57So I'll say this one last time, Logan.
27:59The opening was yours to give.
28:02You put her in my hands.
28:06So what?
28:06You think she'll be with you willingly?
28:07She's poor, badly born,
28:09but she's stubborn to the core
28:10and proud to the bone.
28:11If she finds out you disguised yourself as me to play her,
28:13what do you think she'll do?
28:13She'll hate me,
28:14and she'll hate you just as much.
28:17So what?
28:20If I hadn't taken your bet that night,
28:22hadn't taken her away,
28:23would you have gambled her off to a third man?
28:26I wouldn't have.
28:27You would have!
28:29Other people may not know it,
28:30but you do.
28:31You'd had enough of her,
28:33grown tired of her.
28:34There was a younger, prettier girl
28:35already waiting to spend the night with you.
28:38Say it yourself, Logan.
28:39Isn't that right?
28:40Logan ground his jaw,
28:42breath heaving.
28:43And yet, somehow,
28:44he couldn't get out a single word
28:45in his own defense.
28:51You'd better worry about
28:52getting yourself through this first.
28:55That mess with Father's sportswear line,
28:57the one the boosters front the money for.
29:00If you can't put a convincing story behind it,
29:03you can forget about keeping your spot here at all.
29:08It was you again?
29:09Logan came to it late,
29:11then jolted with the realization.
29:12How convenient.
29:15Liam barely transferred in,
29:16and suddenly,
29:18every project with Logan's name on it
29:20was falling apart at once.
29:22Every step laid out in advance.
29:25For night after night of stolen pleasure,
29:28he turned on his own brother,
29:30and set even the family's interests aside to do it.
29:33What if it was?
29:36If you had a shrirk of skill or nerve,
29:38you wouldn't be at everyone's mercy at every turn.
29:45Do you tell her the truth yourself,
29:47or do I?
29:48Why?
29:49Why our whole lives,
29:51did you have to be one step above me in everything?
29:53You had it good off at that school in another state?
29:55Why did you suddenly have to come back here?
29:57You've got girls lining up for you.
29:58You've got a fiancé who's the most sought-after girl in our whole circle.
30:01Why did you have to come and fight me for Avery?
30:06Standing a step above you all our lives,
30:08that was just each of us playing the hand we had.
30:11You think a single thing you own is something I'd want?
30:15Then what about Avery?
30:16Liam was about to answer.
30:18The study door was suddenly shoved open hard.
30:24I stood there, outside the classroom, numb,
30:28trembling like a leaf in the wind.
30:30My face was bloodless, streaked all over with tears.
30:33A friend had dragged me into the theatre society.
30:36I'd picked up a little about acting.
30:38It was all coming in handy now.
30:40Avery.
30:42I stared at him blankly.
30:44Then I slowly moved my gaze to Logan's face and held it there,
30:47not blinking,
30:49just letting the tears run straight down.
30:51A man's guilt toward a woman
30:53is a weapon that never misses.
30:56The opening would vanish in a blink,
30:57and right now was the perfect moment.
31:01Logan.
31:02Avery.
31:04Don't come near me.
31:05Avery, let me explain.
31:06I...
31:06Logan, you're my first man.
31:08My first love.
31:08You know how much I cared about you,
31:10how much I loved you.
31:11I could accept that your heart changed,
31:12that you stopped loving me,
31:13but I can't accept that you gave me away.
31:16This past year with you,
31:17I was so happy.
31:18So happy.
31:19No one had ever been as good to me as you were,
31:22and it turns out it was all just a dream I had.
31:25Avery, it's not like that.
31:27Let me explain.
31:27I can explain.
31:30Logan, I'm awake now.
31:32I'll never dream again.
31:34As the last word landed,
31:36I suddenly spun and ran for the second floor balcony.
31:40Below the balcony was a small garden.
31:42The gardener had just turned the soil yesterday.
31:45I'd take only the lightest injury,
31:47but the sight of a girl throwing herself off a balcony
31:50would be devastating,
31:52and I'd bet right.
31:53As Liam and Logan came chasing after me,
31:56I went over the railing without an instant's hesitation,
31:59as though I'd made up my mind to die.
32:01I heard them screaming my name behind me.
32:04I couldn't tell whose voice it was.
32:06In the brief plunge downward,
32:08I smiled, mocking.
32:11The whole campus fell into chaos.
32:13Liam, who was so far above everyone,
32:16who never appeared in public with a single crease in his shirt,
32:19now had mud caked on his trousers,
32:21and didn't notice at all.
32:23He reached out as if to hold me,
32:25then didn't dare touch.
32:27I lay curled on the dirt,
32:29my foot bent at a sickening, swollen angle.
32:32Avery, don't be afraid.
32:34The nurse is coming.
32:42Footsteps came pounding up the path,
32:44then closed in fast.
32:45The school's night nurse, kit in hand.
32:49I'm not going to the infirmary.
32:51Don't help me.
32:54I don't want to see you ever again, Logan.
32:59Avery.
33:05And I don't want to see you ever again, either, Liam.
33:09Once two people have known each other's bodies,
33:11the boy will always carry some thin softness toward the girl.
33:14That sliver of softness was exactly what I wanted.
33:17Let the nurse look at you first, Avery.
33:19Be good.
33:20Not until you promise me.
33:22Or I won't let her touch me.
33:24This is not the time to be stubborn.
33:28Get her onto the stretcher.
33:29Don't move, Avery.
33:32But I wouldn't listen.
33:33At the break in the bone,
33:35the torn skin had split open and was bleeding.
33:38The blood ran slowly down over the old scar on my calf,
33:41staining red that faded.
33:43Faded flower.
33:44Liam's pupils contracted all at once.
33:47In an instant,
33:48the color drained from his whole face.
33:50Stop moving.
33:55I promise you,
33:57neither Logan nor I will ever appear in front of you again.
34:04Sir, I trust you this way.
34:06That day at the campus,
34:07Liam had made that promise in front of many people.
34:10So through all my days in the infirmary,
34:12neither he nor Logan appeared even once.
34:15When I was finally cleared to leave,
34:17the Hayes family lawyer came to see me.
34:19A mild, well-mannered man.
34:21Miss Carter,
34:22Liam says that whatever you need,
34:24you have only to ask.
34:26Anything within his power.
34:28I want a sum of money.
34:30And I want to transfer,
34:32finish school somewhere far from here.
34:34My family was bad.
34:35Two older sisters above me,
34:37a younger brother below.
34:39My father was diagnosed with a serious illness.
34:42Both my sisters had dropped out early to work,
34:44and neither was doing well.
34:46I wanted to give my family a little money.
34:48Enough, at least,
34:49to make their lives somewhat easier.
34:51The money's long been arranged.
34:53As for the transfer,
34:55whichever school,
34:56whichever city you'd like,
34:57it can be done.
34:59Please give Liam my, my thanks.
35:06Miss Carter,
35:08is there nothing you'd like to say to Liam?
35:09I looked down at my own thin wrist,
35:12slender enough that it seemed a light snap would break it.
35:16Like an ordinary girl like me.
35:18In their eyes,
35:19nothing more than a plaything to be traded away at a whim.
35:22Maybe Liam really did like me.
35:24Maybe there was some sliver of true feeling.
35:26But true feeling set against money and standing,
35:29weighs nothing at all.
35:31There is...
35:36Please tell Liam.
35:38I hope the rest of his life is safe and smooth.
35:41Miss Carter?
35:43Nothing else?
35:44But I had already lain back down.
35:46He couldn't linger,
35:47and could only turn and leave.
35:56When I walked out of the infirmary for the last time,
35:59I saw Liam.
36:00He was standing under the row of oaks at the edge of the quad.
36:02He was a gentleman about it.
36:04He kept his promise and didn't come toward me.
36:07Didn't disturb me.
36:09And I...
36:09I didn't look back either.
36:12Liam sank down against the tree trunk and closed his eyes.
36:15It was as if he'd returned to that night.
36:17He had known about Logan's bet in advance.
36:20That was why, so unlike himself,
36:22he'd gone to that absurd party.
36:24So unlike himself,
36:25he'd gambled with his brother that once.
36:27He couldn't stand by and watch Avery.
36:29The truth was,
36:30that night he hadn't meant to do anything to Avery.
36:32But she had put her arms around him.
36:34She had said he smelled good.
36:35And he hadn't been able to stop himself.
36:37He'd lowered his head and kissed her.
36:39And she hadn't resisted in the slightest.
36:41She'd even answered him, sweet and pliant.
36:43In that instant,
36:44his selfishness,
36:45his greed,
36:46had won out.
36:47He'd thought,
36:47basely,
36:48then let me have her once,
36:49under Logan's name.
36:51But some things,
36:52some people,
36:52you cannot touch.
36:54After the first time,
36:55you want a second.
36:56You want it without end.
36:57When he heard Logan say he'd take her back to the room,
36:59the last thread in him broke clean through.
37:02He'd thought,
37:02then let me fall all the way.
37:04Even if,
37:05in the end,
37:05she sentences me to death.
37:07But he had never imagined she would sever herself from them both in a way so absolute.
37:11She said she never wanted to see him again.
37:13Liam suddenly opened his eyes.
37:15He looked down at the old scar at the web of his thumb.
37:18The year she had bitten him,
37:19savage,
37:20blood everywhere.
37:21She had said the same thing then.
37:24My second year at college in the city,
37:26I ran into one of Logan's old friends from Stonebridge on the street.
37:29Avery,
37:30long time no see.
37:31What are you doing here?
37:32Come on,
37:32let's eat,
37:32no refusing.
37:33Speaking of which,
37:34I've been thinking about Logan lately.
37:35Do you remember him?
37:36His brother originally planned to send him to a boarding school across the whole country,
37:39but somehow he ended up staying at Stonebridge.
37:41Honestly,
37:41he studied a lot.
37:42He actually businessed his dad left for him now.
37:44He took it seriously after everything that happened.
37:46And another thing,
37:47he hasn't dated one ever since.
37:48There was a party once.
37:49Someone happened to bring up your name and the look on his face.
37:51The truth is,
37:52at first,
37:53I hadn't liked Logan much.
37:54Maybe it was a prejudice I'd brought in from the start.
37:57Toward boys born to that kind of money and standing,
37:59I'd always kept my guard up.
38:01Later,
38:01he was truly good to me.
38:03I was young.
38:03When a golden boy like that lowers himself in front of you,
38:06of course your heart stirs.
38:08But before I could do anything foolish,
38:10reality woke me up.
38:11Though,
38:13he and his brother Liam seem to be on pretty bad terms now.
38:16Liam was supposed to get engaged this year too, I think.
38:18That fell through.
38:19And the girl everyone said he was promised to,
38:22she's gone and gotten engaged to someone else.
38:23I've got class.
38:24Let's do this another time when there's a champ.
38:26Avery,
38:27is there really no chance for you and Logan?
38:29You know,
38:29Logan really was a bit reckless back then.
38:30But from what I know,
38:31you two just had him understanding.
38:32He honestly never slept with that girl.
38:33Could we please not bring him up again?
38:35All right.
38:36Thanks for dinner.
38:36Goodbye then.
38:37Hey,
38:37no need to be polite with me.
38:38Avery,
38:38come back to town and visit sometime.
38:40Everyone misses you.
38:40We'll see.
38:41A black car drove past me.
38:43My step caught just for a moment.
38:45But the car didn't pause an instant.
38:47It sped on ahead.
38:48I looked down,
38:49smiled,
38:50shook my head,
38:50and kept walking.
38:51Waiting at the crosswalk,
38:53the wind picked up.
38:55Hey,
38:55Avery.
38:56I turned without thinking
38:57and looked straight into a pair of deep,
38:59dark eyes.
39:00Liam stood at the intersection,
39:03his black car parked behind him.
39:05Avery.
39:05He wasn't wearing glasses.
39:07Finner than two years ago.
39:09The line of his jaw sharper.
39:11What are you doing here?
39:13Passing through.
39:14Passing through.
39:15This is a college town.
39:16It's at least four hours from your city.
39:19He didn't answer,
39:20just kept looking at me,
39:22his gaze heavy.
39:23Let me drive you back to campus.
39:25No.
39:28All right.
39:32Avery.
39:33His footsteps followed,
39:34matching my pace,
39:36a few feet behind.
39:37What do you want from me, Liam?
39:41I want to talk to you.
39:43We have nothing to talk about.
39:44You promised.
39:46Both of you.
39:46I know what I promised.
39:48Then why are you here?
39:49For a second,
39:50he said nothing.
39:51Then he reached into his pocket
39:52and took out a business card.
39:54If you change your mind.
39:55I looked at the card.
39:56White.
39:57Embossed letters.
39:59His name and a phone number.
40:00I took it and turned it over.
40:02Then I tore it in half.
40:04Then, in half again.
40:05I let the pieces fall to the sidewalk.
40:08Don't come back.
40:09I turned and walked away.
40:11This time, he didn't follow.
40:13I made it two blocks before I stopped.
40:15I leaned against a wall and pressed my palms to my eyes.
40:18My hands were shaking.
40:20When I got back to my dorm,
40:22something fell out of the pocket.
40:23A white card.
40:25The same business card.
40:26He must have slipped it in while I was tearing the other one.
40:29I hadn't felt a thing.
40:30I stared at it for a long moment.
40:33Then I opened my desk drawer,
40:35put it inside,
40:35and closed it.
40:37I flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.
40:39Two years of quiet.
40:41Of nothing.
40:42I thought I'd built a safe life here.
40:44And Liam had found me in three days.
40:47I didn't call him.
40:48I went to class, as usual.
40:50I studied.
40:51I ate at the dining hall with my roommate.
40:53Everything normal.
40:55But lying on my dorm bed,
40:56my thoughts suddenly drifted back.
40:58At the marina,
41:00after too much wine,
41:01I'd told Liam exactly how I got the scar on my calf.
41:05Back then, I hadn't thought much of it.
41:07It was just an old childhood story.
41:09But now,
41:10lying alone in my dorm room,
41:12I found myself remembering it again.
41:14The memory felt sharper now than it had in years.
41:17When I was little,
41:18there had been a boy whose family was richer
41:20than anyone else in the neighborhood.
41:22He was spoiled,
41:23stubborn,
41:24and always surrounded by other kids trying to impress him.
41:27For some reason,
41:28he loved bothering me.
41:29Maybe it was because I never paid attention to him.
41:32The more I ignored him,
41:34the more determined he became.
41:36One afternoon,
41:37he followed me around for nearly an hour,
41:39refusing to leave me alone.
41:41Eventually, I lost my temper and shoved him.
41:43He shoved me back.
41:44We ended up fighting beside a row of concrete planters.
41:48I was smaller than he was and stood no chance.
41:51He pushed me hard enough that I lost my balance
41:53and slammed into the edge of a planter.
41:55The pain came instantly.
41:57I looked down and saw blood pouring down my calf.
42:00I remember sitting on the ground,
42:01crying while he stood there looking horrified.
42:04Then,
42:05because I was furious and hurt and eight years old,
42:07I grabbed his hand and bit him as hard as I could.
42:10He screamed.
42:12There was blood on his hand and blood on my leg.
42:15Both of us were crying by the time adults came running over.
42:18A few days later,
42:19he showed up carrying medicine.
42:21I thought he had come to laugh at me.
42:23Instead,
42:23he crouched beside me and stared at the bandage on my leg.
42:27It doesn't look that bad.
42:30It looks like a flower petal.
42:33The day I jumped from the balcony,
42:35the blood ran over that same scar.
42:37Liam's face went white the moment he saw it.
42:40I climbed down from the bed and opened the storage box beneath my desk.
42:44Inside were old notebooks.
42:45Photographs.
42:46After several minutes of searching,
42:48I found it.
42:48That year,
42:49there was a large photograph.
42:51Mr. and Mrs. Hayes.
42:52Logan.
42:53And Liam.
42:54My eyes fixed on Liam's right hand.
42:56At the web between his thumb and index finger.
42:58A scar.
42:59The boy who had called my scar a flower petal.
43:02The boy I had bitten until his hand bled.
43:04What if it had been Liam all along?
43:07Liam's version of that year starts the summer before.
43:10He saw me first at a scholarship dinner.
43:12He attended as a trustee representative.
43:15I stood on stage,
43:16accepting an award,
43:17wearing a dress that didn't fit quite right.
43:19I looked nervous,
43:20but I spoke clearly,
43:22thanked the donors,
43:22and walked off without looking back.
43:24He didn't think much of it.
43:26Not then.
43:26Keep an eye on your brother.
43:29Logan's getting sloppy.
43:30Drinking too much.
43:32Chasing girls.
43:33The family name needs protecting.
43:34Liam arrived in September.
43:36At the private welcome reception,
43:37someone pointed out Logan's girlfriend.
43:39He saw how Logan talked to me.
43:41Casual.
43:42Dismissive.
43:44Your brother's putting his girl on the table tonight?
43:46You coming?
43:47The night of the bet,
43:48he knew about it before it happened.
43:50Liam came.
43:51He told himself he was there to stop it,
43:53to take me out of that room and tell me the truth.
43:55Then I hugged him,
43:56called him Logan and told him he smelled good.
43:58He couldn't stop himself.
43:59He kissed me,
44:00and I kissed him back.
44:01At that moment,
44:02he didn't want to be the good one anymore.
44:04He wanted to be the one I chose.
44:06So he kept up the lie,
44:07night after night.
44:08He told himself it was temporary,
44:10that he'd confess when the time was right.
44:12Then I jumped off the balcony,
44:14and he realized,
44:15the time would never be right.
44:16The lawyer went in the next morning.
44:18Liam had written the check himself,
44:20added three zeros to what the lawyer suggested.
44:22The lawyer came back and said,
44:24she wants to go far away.
44:25He didn't ask the lawyer to pass on a message,
44:28but the lawyer asked her anyway.
44:30Please tell Liam.
44:31I hope the rest of his life is safe and smooth.
44:34Liam went to his room and stayed there for two days.
44:38I didn't call.
44:39I waited a week.
44:40Then two.
44:40Then I found myself standing outside the coffee shop,
44:43where I'd seen him walk in three days in a row.
44:45He wasn't there by accident.
44:47He was there because he knew,
44:48this was where I came on Thursday afternoons.
44:51I pushed the door open.
44:54I walked up to his table and sat down across from him.
44:57Tell me everything.
44:59From the beginning.
45:00The night of the bet.
45:02He told me everything.
45:03He came to stop the bet,
45:05but he kissed me instead.
45:06He kept pretending because he wanted more.
45:08He remembered the fight.
45:09He knew I was the girl who bit him.
45:13Two years.
45:14You had two years to tell me you knew who I was.
45:16It, it matters.
45:17I didn't think it mattered.
45:19Don't come back here again, Liam.
45:20I will.
45:21I'll come back.
45:21Every day if I have to.
45:23I waited two years because you asked me to.
45:25I'll wait two more.
45:27But I'll be here.
45:28I walked halfway down the block and stopped.
45:30I leaned against a wall and closed my eyes.
45:32Liam was the boy.
45:33The one who said my scar looked like a flower petal.
45:36The one I bit.
45:37The one who brought me medicine.
45:38The one who watched me fall and didn't catch me.
45:40I walked back to my dorm and opened the drawer,
45:42looking at the card.
45:43Then I heard someone call my name again.
45:45I looked out the window.
45:46For a moment, I thought it was Liam again,
45:48but I knew it was Logan.
45:51Avery, I know.
45:52I just, someone told me Liam came to see you.
45:54I thought if he was breaking the promise lately,
45:56how things like it to work.
45:57You shouldn't be here.
45:57That's not how promises work.
45:59No, I know.
46:00Two years ago, I was,
46:01I know that's not enough to say,
46:03but I wanted you to hear it from me,
46:04not through someone else.
46:05I don't need an apology, Logan.
46:07What do you need?
46:08I need you to leave, both of you.
46:09I built something here, small, quiet, mine,
46:12and you two show up in the same week
46:13and act like I'm still the girl from two years ago.
46:15I'm not.
46:15I don't want to be.
46:16I know you won't hate Liam either,
46:17but I don't want either of you.
46:18Not anymore.
46:19Not the way you want me.
46:20The boy I'd been afraid of for a year.
46:22The boy who'd thrown me into a card game
46:24like I was nothing.
46:25Who'd stood by and let his brother touch me,
46:27claim me, ruin me.
46:29Is there anything I can do?
46:30You can go home.
46:31Take care of your family's business.
46:33Stop gambling girls away.
46:36Okay.
46:37I meant what I said about you being the only one.
46:40Then he got into a car and drove away.
46:42A week passed, then two.
46:44On the third Thursday, I walked into the coffee shop.
46:47Liam was sitting at the same table.
46:48He looked up when I came in.
46:50I walked over and sat down across from him.
46:52Two years.
46:53You said you'd wait two years?
46:56Yes.
46:57Then start counting.
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