Living the Life of Riley | ✔

Chapter Thirty Two

"I swear to God if you tell anyone, you'll be begging for mercy." He held his hands up, with the spatula flying in the air.

"Damn." He jogged and grabbed it before coming back. "And don't worry, I don't want to incur your wrath. We remember what happened."

"Good."

"I don't know why you hate your birthday so much. Why don't you want to have a party?"

"Because I don't." I'd never celebrated my birthday without Kaya. This would be the first year, and it just didn't feel right. We were twins, and we'd done everything together and for the past eight months we'd been separated. I didn't like it.

"So what about when Tristan asks about when your birthday is?"

"I'll just tell him he missed it. Simple." I shrugged. I wasn't really fussed. Seventeen was an odd number – I still couldn't go to a pub and buy a drink. Technically, I could actually hold a full driving license but that was it. It was a very awkward age. "Who even told you?"

"The little guy."

"The little guy?" I repeated. "You mean Harvey?" To be fair to Thom, Harvey was tiny. I was about 5 feet 5 inches, and he just about reached up to my neck. There was no meat on him either – I'd seen him topless in a pool and it was frightening. He was literally bones. But it wasn't like it was his fault. Harvey had told us he just had a superfast metabolism. I believed him. He ate so much and never gained any weight. It was so unfair.

"Is that his name? Then him." Thom added some sausages (finally) to the barbecue instead of just keeping them on the side. "How old is he? He looks like he's fourteen."

"He's sixteen. Couple of months younger than me. I think he's in the year below. I don't know. I can't remember." I'd never been in any lessons with Harvey when I was in my old school so I had no idea. "Uh, where is everyone? Do you want me to get them?"

"No, they'll smell the food." He spoke the next words carefully. "Tristan and Kelly are checking something out."

"What's so interesting out there?"

"It's just a hunch that Kelly has."

"A hunch?" Had something been happening behind the scenes? I mean, I spent a bit of time here when Thom and Beau had finished school but nothing had ever seemed... unsafe or off. Was I losing my intuition? Frowning, I wondered if I was... I'd never suspected anything about Will and look what had happened – I'd slept with and been impregnated by a stalker. "What does Kelly even do?"

"He's head of security for us." I rose my eyebrows and Thom froze, his metal spatula stuck under a hamburger.

"Why do you need security?"

"I meant for my dad's company." He sheepishly laughed. I narrowed my eyes but I didn't say anything. This was the fifth time Thom had slipped up, revealing more and more about the secret they were hiding. I hadn't pressed Tristan to tell me about what Will had been hiding or why he had so much information on me. But I had a feeling I'd be finding out soon.

Before I could press Thom subtly for information, I felt two arms wrap around me. I leaned back and tilted my head up.

"Hi." I grinned.

"Hi." Tristan smiled back.

For the past two months, we'd rarely argued. It was kinda nice but I did miss the arguing... there was something about how intense it was that I liked. But then again, I barely had the energy for anything.

"Shouldn't you be sitting down?" He asked and I puffed my cheeks out before answering.

"I've been sat down all day and I'm starving."