And with that, she walked out of my office.
FORTY-SIX
TINA SUCKS
Naomi
I went straight to the restroom to repair my face. Knox Morgan sure did a number on a woman’s makeup. After I cleaned up the sad clown face and reapplied my lipstick, I gave my reflection a long, hard look.
The tiny shards of my broken heart were now ground into a fine dust thanks to Knox’s confession.
“No wonder,” I whispered to my reflection.
There were things a person never got over. We both just wanted someone to love us enough to make up for all the times we hadn’t been enough. It felt like such a waste that we could feel the way we did, but neither of us could be that person for the other.
I couldn’t make Knox love me enough, and the sooner I got over that, the better. Maybe someday we could be friends. If I won the custody hearing, and if Waylay and I decided to make Knockemout our permanent home.
Thinking of Waylay, I dug my phone out of my apron to check my messages. Earlier this week, I’d approved a messaging app for her laptop so she could text me if she needed to. In return, she’d downloaded a GIF keyboard on my phone so we could exchange GIFs throughout the day.
“Oh, great,” I groaned when I saw the dozen new texts.
Silver: Nice undies.
Max: This better mean you guys are making up!!!!
Mom: Six flame emojis.
Fi: We’re covering your tables so feel free to have as many orgasms in Knoxy’s office as you need.
Sloane: Lina just texted （along with nine other people at the bar）。 Did that son of a bitch really carry you off like he was a caveman? I hope you rearranged his face and his balls.
Waylay: Aunt Naomi, I’m in trouble.
The breath in my lungs froze when I read the last text. She’d sent it fifteen minutes ago. With shaking hands, I fired off a response as I rushed out of the restroom.
Me: Are you okay? What’s wrong?
There were a lot of reasons an eleven-year-old could think they were in trouble, I rationalized. It didn’t mean there was an actual emergency. Maybe she forgot her math homework. Maybe she accidentally broke Liza’s favorite garden cherub. Maybe she’d gotten her period.
I also had three missed calls in the last five minutes from an Unknown number. Something was wrong.
I headed for the kitchen and scrolled through my contacts for Liza’s number.
“Everything okay, Naomi?” Milford asked as I hustled for the parking lot.
“Yeah. I think so. Just have to make a quick call,” I said before pushing through the exterior door into the cold night air.
I was getting ready to hit Call when headlights from a car blinded me. I held up my hand to block the light and stepped back.
“Naomi.”
My arms dropped limply to my side. I knew that voice.
“Tina?”
My twin sister leaned out the driver’s side window. I felt like I was looking in the mirror again. A fun house mirror. Her formerly bleached hair was now a dark brown and cut short in a style similar to mine. Our eyes were the same hazel. The differences were subtle. She was wearing a cheap fake leather jacket. She had multiple earrings in both ears. Her eyeliner was thick and blue.
But she looked as worried as I felt.
“He’s got Waylay! He took her,” she said.
My stomach dropped, and a wave of nausea crested as every muscle in my body tightened. “What? Who took her? Where is she?”
“It’s all my fault,” Tina wailed. “We need to go. You have to help me. I know where he took her.”
“We should call the police,” I said, remembering I had a phone in my hand.
“Call ’em on the way. We gotta move fast,” she said. “Come on.”
Operating on autopilot, I opened the passenger door and climbed in. I was reaching for my seatbelt when something furry clamped over my wrist.
“What are you doing?” I shrieked.
Tina grabbed my other arm, her fingernails digging into my wrist. I tried to pull away but wasn’t quick enough. She snapped the other cuff in place.
“For the smart one, you sure are stupid,” she said, lighting a cigarette.
My evil twin had just handcuffed me to the dashboard with furry sex cuffs.
“Where’s Waylay?”
“Relax.” She blew a stream of smoke in my direction. “The kid’s fine. You will be too if you cooperate.”
“Cooperate how? With who?” I yanked against the cuffs.
She let out a cackle as she pulled out of the parking lot. “Pretty funny, right? Found those in a box of sex toys in my old asshole landlord’s storage unit.”