Chapter 6 (Sienna)

10 Years ago

I’m not sure why that hurts like a sucker punch to the gut. I’ve always felt like an outcast when I was younger. My mom insisted I attend a private school, the kids didn’t like me as much as she hoped.

But I didn’t want her to worry, so I pretended I was the happiest kid on the block. But when I came to stay Liston Hills, I never felt that way. Even though I was the scariest girl in school and I lacked any desire to be nice, I had my cousins and the Stone family too.

And at times, when he came around, I had Kevin. Regardless of our age difference, we had a few moments over the years. Some were bad ones, others were good, but mostly it ended with me running away.

“Come on Sin, it’s almost 1am, I’m sure we still have time for a quick ride. You game?” Kylie grins, and I stare at her brown chocolate eyes that screams of an innocence I’m not sure I ever possessed.

My mother once said innocence was a rare gift to receive upon birth, but the lightest to lose its way. Deep down she knew mine slipped from my grasp years before I even understood what it was.

“I’m always game, Ky, Ky,” I wink and smile as she groans at the mention of the nickname she got from Diamond.

We take less than 15 minutes to get home, and another 10 to grab the keys for the garage and get our gear on to ride.

“We should totally use those new helmets Papa bought,” suggests Kylie, as she goes to grab them, handing one to me. I don’t mention how angry Uncle Marcus is going to be when he finds out we took it without permission. We knew they were ours but I gathered yesterday, any gifts bought would not be handed to either of us. I was still in trouble for swearing Ms Drier, and Kylie was in major shit for knocking her ex-boyfriend.

I push my bike out of the garage as Kylie saddles hers, before the following suit. She has on a black biker jacket, and I have on a yellow and blue one.

Our helmets are the same since Uncle Marcus got them for us and he never treated the kids differently. A car comes up next to us as I’m securing my gloves. I want to roll my eyes when Mason, Natasha and Kevin jump out of the black BMW. I expected Kevin to be in a muscle car, like a mustang, not this sleek sedan. The last time I saw him, almost a year ago, he drove a big Range Rover.

I wonder if he likes the car? When I stayed at the Estate, Kevin was already attending some military camp at 16.

He came home that summer, and I couldn’t for the life of me understand why he always seemed like a fake. We hung out a few times, mostly climbing trees or sitting on the porch having Aunt Hunters famous ice-tea. I recognized his keen interest in anything was just fake because I was a lot like him. I was living a lie that I convinced myself was true.

Yes, I was lying to myself and the scariest part of it was that I was aware of all the reasons I woke up every morning pretending to be someone I was not. But Kevin had no excuse, and even if he justified it in his mind, he was a fraudster. When I was much younger, my dad always said the mind didn’t know the difference between what we told it, and what was real. I know from experience now, that if you tell yourself a lie some many times you believe, is it actually a lie?

I knew from the first day I saw Kevin, something wasn’t right with him. He lacked depth. It was a month after my 12th birthday did I understand how unfeeling he was. Kylie and I were out in the gardens playing with Uncle Hector’s golf balls, and like all kids, we were up to no good.

Kylie suggested we ask Diamond to make us mini explosives. She was in her element and agreed. We attached the explosives to the balls and put them behind the rose bushes, and lily’s so whenever the gardener, Arnold, got close enough we could make it go off.

He didn’t get hurt, and the explosives were really so small.

But Kevin came outside and yelled at us to quit it. Obviously we didn’t listen, and when he stepped near the rose tree, Kylie tripped the switch. She was mad at him, and when she got mad people got hurt.

The ball exploded and a piece of it got stuck in his arm. It looked painful, and we both ran to see if he needed to go to a doctor.

He pulled it out, without so much as a flinch, and I watched him in fascination. A part of me felt strange seeing the blood run down his arm as he stared at his sister. She studied him for a long time, and I just stood there.

I went to touch him after Kylie turned and ran away, but Kevin took a step back. And even though he looked at me, I finally saw it. He was empty. And it scared the living daylights out of me.

I kept a physical distance from him after that day, but my eyes never missed him. My gaze always watched, even in the shadows. Over the years, he learned to pretend I never existed, or maybe I did to some extent, but it was never enough for him to notice me for too long. The moments we shared were too quick, except for that one night.

And it thrilled me. To him, and the other Stone brothers, I was a destructive influence to their sister, Victoria, so they kept her away from me. It was a good thing too, because I was the worst influence. I was a virus, that once I got my claws in you, I infested you from the inside out.

I did it to my mom. I did it to my friends, and I knew I was doing it to Kylie. She didn’t realize it yet, but one day she would, and by then it would be too late.

“Aren’t you gonna go on home to Mama, or are you scared?” Kylie asks Kevin in a mocking tone as Mason and Natasha head inside.

“I was, but I never say no to a ride,” He answers, but there is no thrill in his tone as he stands there watching us.

“There are 2 bikes, and as you can see Sienna and I were about to use them.” Kylie shows her point by slipping on her helmet, and I hold my smile. Well, barely as I follow her direction and fasten my own.

He ignores his sister as he walks closer toward me, and my heart beats double time.

“You can hold on, can’t you?” He doesn’t say my name, it pisses me off. The only reason I bite my tongue is because my Uncle wouldn’t like the colorful words. And, well, Uncle Marcus was in a foul mood with Kylie’s antics. She sometimes had a way of making me look like the good one. Kylie’s anger always came in big disastrous cyclones. People got hurt.

I wasn’t about to add on to that fuck fest. It still boggles my mind that Kylie knocked Dexter Kent. I mean, the guy cheated, sure, but it wasn’t his first time on that roller coaster.

I look at her, saddling her bike, helmet on, form so tall and solid. Kylie didn’t wear her heart on her sleeves and from what I knew, she had the biggest not so secret crush on her step-brother, Vincent Stone. He didn’t stay with the Stones, so I never considered him a part of the family. Nor did I even put him as a Stone. He was nonexistent. Much like I was to Kevin, I guess.

But maybe Kylie didn’t like Vincent as much as she did, if she could get so pissed off with Dexter for cheating on her.

“Yo, earth to bitch, I am waiting,” Kylie yells.

I huff, but slide down my bike and swing my leg off, rushing to grab him a helmet. Kevin saddles the bike and slips his helmet on, and because I really want to ride, I get behind him.

They start the bikes and the vibration of the machine between my legs makes me come alive. The motorcycles were new, superbikes, which were great for speed, not so much for cruising. Which meant a tighter grip on Kevin’s torso was a must if I expected to keep my ass planted to the seat. I’ve seen him ride, and he was all speed and no curtesy.