Taurus: Book 3 in a Young Adult Paranormal Romance Series (The Zodiac Twin Flame Series) (3 page)

I glanced at Cancer. She shook her head and gestured towards the living room. I would keep quiet for now. I knew how overbearing Aries could be. He’d been giving her a hard time recently.

‘I’ll be there.’ I followed my blonde sister out of the kitchen.

‘You can’t tell anyone you saw Matt,’ Cancer whispered.

‘Matt?’

She huffed as she slumped on the sofa. I didn’t know his name was Matt. Why was she getting irritated with me?

I stood over her, scratching the stubble on my chin. She was asking me to keep something from the family. Our father had only just been rescued and she was keeping some sort of secret about one of his kidnappers.

‘You have to trust me,’ she pleaded, looking up at me.

I didn’t know Cancer that well. She usually hung out with the other half of the siblings. We had formed into groups of six, although we still ate dinner together as a whole family.

‘If you want me to keep your secret, you’re going to have to tell me what’s going on. Why are you protecting someone who works for Nick?’

Her eyes widened as the boys in the other room shouted about their game.

‘You’re a good cheat, Gemini!’ Aries shouted.

‘I was being honest before. It’s a love note.’ She opened her bag and pulled the paper out. It was a big piece of paper folded several times. I could see that there was a fair amount of writing on it.

‘You mentioned before that you thought he was your twin flame, but isn’t he married?’

My words hit her in the heart. I could tell by the way she put a hand on her chest and rubbed. I didn’t see what the problem was. He was married, so she should just forget about him. It obviously wasn’t going to happen when he was attached to someone else. Why would she even want him?

‘I didn’t know he was married when he was in the attic. We spoke a lot…’

As her sentence trailed off, I wished I had a joint on me. Why couldn’t it have been one of the others that had taken the note for her? I couldn’t be bothered with her crap. It had nothing to do with me.

‘Okay, I’ll keep your secret. I’ll probably forget once I’ve had a smoke anyway.’

She launched from her seat and threw her arms around my neck. I stiffened but didn’t return the gesture. ‘Thank you. I promise to sort it out.’

Shaking my head, I left her. I didn’t want to know any more than I already did.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever known you and Cancer to gossip,’ Aries said as I poured myself a drink and picked up my beloved crisps.

‘Her friend has asked me to be her personal trainer. It looks like I may have a job after all. We’ll see if she turns up at eight o’clock tomorrow.’

My head was held slightly higher than when I had left. A part of me hoped that Sophie would turn up, just so I could rub Aries’ nose in it.

‘Eight o’clock in the morning? Good luck with that,’ Gemini said, chuckling along with Aries as he shuffled the deck of cards.

‘How would you know what time I get up?’ I replied. ‘You’re never here in the mornings.’

Gemini shook his head and dealt the hand. ‘A stoner sleeps all sorts of hours.’

‘That’ll do,’ Aries chastised as I went to open my mouth.

Downing my vodka, I poured another one. I might as well do what they expected me to. With my crisps cradled in one hand and my drink in the other, I made my way towards the hall.

‘Taurus,’ Aries called as I was about to leave the room.

I paused but didn’t turn around.

‘Good luck with Cancer’s friend tomorrow. I mean that.’

I swallowed as I nodded once and left them to their game.

Chapter Three

The show had started. Aries stood up as Father sat at the head of the table.

‘Father, something happened when you were with Nick,’ he announced.

My buzz had plummeted as soon as I had taken my seat at the kitchen table. They had cooked a lavish roast for dinner. I couldn’t be bothered with it.

‘What is it?’ Father asked, eyeing up the steaming joint of beef.

Reaching forward, I picked up the carving knife. A dark skinned hand reached out and took it from me. Glancing at Aquarius, I had to squint my eyes to try and focus on him.

‘There was an accident at work.’

Aries lifted his trouser legs to reveal his metal prosthetics. They were connected above the knee. He was smirking as Father choked on his wine.

‘Aries reckons that the only reason you weren’t rescued earlier was because he was out of action for so long.’

Everyone turned to me. Father raised his eyebrows as Aries returned to the table. The silence made a welcome change.

‘Firstly, I want to thank you all for going to so much effort to rescue me. I knew you could do it. Being with Nick was interesting. Aries, I’m sorry to see that you’ve gone through such an ordeal, I…’ he put a hand to his mouth. ‘I should have been there for you.’

‘You were locked up, how could you be?’ I said.

‘Taurus, I see you’ve…changed…’

Father didn’t need to disguise his disgust. They all showed it whenever they saw me. They had forgotten how much—

‘Actually, Taurus and Gemini were very active when I was recovering. Taurus stalked mother,’ Aries said, glaring at me when I glanced over.

Father put down his glass of red wine and shook out his napkin. Laying it over his lap, he proceeded to pull up the arms of his suit jacket. ‘I’m hungry,’ he announced.

Had enough time passed for me to go back to my room? I had to be up early. One more joint before bed would be okay.

‘Nick will never stop, but he is tired. I could see it in his eyes. He’s waited twenty years for the chance to keep you apart from your twin flames. It’s taken its toll.’ Father thanked Aquarius as he put the carved meat on his plate.

When I picked up my fork, my hand was shaking. I let it drop to the plate. The loud clash made everyone look at me. I tried to smile, but it was too much effort.

‘What if we moved away? Not just up the road but to another part of the world?’ Scorpio said, shoving a Yorkshire pudding in his mouth.

‘He will find you wherever you go. I heard him talking to another man called Matt…’

My gaze shot to Cancer as she looked at Father.

‘He said that he might hand over some control to him. He wants him to stop the next couple from uniting. He said that if Taurus finds his twin, he has to kill her.’

I was still staring at Cancer, so I didn’t notice them watching me. Father’s words slowly sank in.

‘Why is he worried? It’s not like I’m going to—’

‘You never know when you’re going to meet someone,’ Father interrupted.

I shrugged. Even if I did meet someone, I wouldn’t be with them. No one would want to be with a junkie. There was no point worrying about it.

‘Matt said the Dysfunctionals are getting weaker. The other twin flames are awakening to why they are here. Nick’s worried because the energy on earth is changing. There’s still a lot of confusion to the real purpose and mission of a twin flame. Even in this room. But things are different this time round.’

Father’s speech made me want to slink down in my chair and under the table. It was a load of rubbish. There was no such thing as a mission. We came to the planet to live. Why did they think we were special?

‘Can we kill Matt? Would that make it harder for Nick?’ Aries asked.

Cancer let out a squeak. Aries frowned at her. As realisation struck, he rolled his eyes.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me? Matt is your man?’

Father sat up straight. The others burst into noise as they all spoke at once. I closed my eyes and leant back in my chair. The food on the table was being devoured. I wasn’t that hungry. There was only one thing I wanted to do.

‘That could work to our advantage,’ Aries shouted over everyone.

The room fell silent, so I opened my eyes.

‘What are you talking about?’ Father’s voice was cold as he stared at Cancer.

She shrunk in her chair, balling up a napkin in her hand. It was a habit she had developed more recently.

‘Cancer has a thing for Matt. We captured him a few months ago, but he got away…’ Aries trailed off.

‘He got away?’ Father glanced at each of us as we avoided his gaze. The sound of knives scraping against plates was the only noise in the room.

‘I let him go.’

Cancer’s confession drew a gasp from almost everyone in the room. She hadn’t admitted it before, but her guilt obviously weighed too heavy on her.

‘I got butchered in the process,’ Leo announced, standing up and shoving his jeans down to show our father the scar on his thigh.

‘I’m assuming you have a good explanation for letting him go?’ Father addressed Cancer.

I started to drum the surface of the table with my palms. I was getting bored of the business talk. Not all of us were fascinated with Nick and the stupid twin flame rubbish.

‘Taurus…’ Father warned.

I pushed my plate out of the way and leant my head against the table.

‘I thought he was my soulmate. I was mistaken,’ Cancer answered.

From my vantage point on the table, I could see Father. He rubbed his eyes and sat back in his chair, abandoning his roast dinner.

‘Why did your mother have to keep you so sheltered?’ He sighed.

‘Actually, about that. She was the one that found out where you were…technically. She helped us with the layout of the house. That’s why we knew what bedroom you were in.’ Aries looked our father in the eye, daring him to say something.

‘Why did she do that?’

Father had gone pale. I’d never seen him swallow so hard before. It was like Mother had some sort of power over him. Aries and Antony acted the same ever since they had got into relationships with their girlfriends. I would never let a woman change me.

‘She’s left Nick. She lives in a flat in London. We know where she is, but we can’t tell anyone. Nick will more than likely go after her, so she’s changed her appearance.’

I blinked. It was getting hard to stay awake. My bones pulled me to the ground. The conversation was boring.

‘Why did she leave him?’ Father asked.

Aries coughed.

‘Because she’s realised that what she did was wrong.’ Pisces spoke from the other end of the table. It sounded like she was miles away.

‘Taurus, are we boring you?’ Sagi asked.

The sound of my name brought my attention back to the room. I sat up quickly, knocking over my glass of water. It flew everywhere. They moaned my name as I attempted to mop it up.

‘You’re so useless!’ one of them announced.

I thrust my seat back and stood.

‘Sit down,’ Father said kindly.

I ignored him and sprinted out of the room. I wouldn’t sit there and allow them to—

‘Taurus!’

My bedroom door was directly in front of me. Cancer had followed me. I didn’t want to talk to her. She had her life. I had mine. I ignored her and threw open my door, slamming it shut behind me.

Chapter Four

My leg muscles were tight as I reached down to touch my toes. It had been a long time since I had trained properly.

‘Nice arse.’

I stood up and leant back when Sophie stepped right up to me. Her head came to my chin. Her boobs almost touched my chest.

‘Errr…morning.’ I didn’t know what else to say.

She smiled as she put her arms around me. I stayed still, not sure why she was hugging me.

‘Good morning! I’m looking forward to getting fit!’

I fiddled with my cap as she stepped back and did a few star jumps. Her tight leggings stretched and her jumper rose to reveal her rounded stomach. It was summertime but it was cool first thing.

‘You might want to put your hair up,’ I said. The blonde mass was beautifully styled.

‘I’ve just blow dried it.’

She pouted so I shrugged. What did I care if she got sweaty around her neck?

‘Okay, it’s been a while since I dropped out. We need to do a—’

‘I already have an assessment by a professional trainer,’ she said, pulling out a pile of paper from her drawstring bag.

I stopped moving.

‘Why are you bothering with me, then?’

She giggled as she waved the paper under my nose. ‘Because I can’t afford the one I had.’

A part of me wanted to tell her to bugger off. If she already had a trainer, she didn’t need me. I wasn’t a professional and never would be.

‘Don’t be like that,’ she said, obviously reading my facial expression. ‘I really need some motivation. If you do this with me, it will really help.’

Her smile was cute. Her head was bent backwards as she stood in front of me.

‘If we do this, we do it my way. I’m happy to use this, as I’m not qualified, but we do things the way I say.’

She jumped up and down. I had to restrain myself from snapping at her to pack it in.

‘We’re going to have a lot of fun.’

My heart started to pump as she winked at me. I had never been around a girl that was so forthcoming. For a moment, I was tempted to tell her to forget it. An eighth of cannabis was sitting in my bedroom, ready for me to smoke. I missed my morning joint.

‘Are you going to read that?’ she asked, pointing at the paper clutched in my hand.

I had to get away from the house. Sophie was stretching out in front of me. She turned away from me to use the wall for support. Her arse was enough of a distraction to make me think twice about leaving her to smoke.

‘Let’s go for a little run,’ I said, starting off towards Clapham Common.

She overtook me, sprinting at full pelt. The cars beeped at each other in the street. The office folk were on their way to their corporate jobs. I could never hold down a job that took away my freedom.

‘Come on!’ Sophie yelled from ahead.

I ignored her. It had been a while since I had been for a jog. There was no way I was pushing myself past my limit on the first day. I knew how my body worked and what pace was best for me.

‘Why are you going so slowly?’ She panted when I reached her.

I jogged on the spot as she got her breath back.

‘Listen to your breath. Listen to mine.’

She glared at me and pursed her lips. It seemed I had a bit of a princess on my hands. A pretty little princess, though. Training her would be bearable if she kept bending over.

‘You’re not funny,’ she said, reaching for my cap.

I spun away from her before she could grab it off my head. ‘And you’re not tall.’

She let out a cry of outrage and launched at me. Her arms came around my chest and her legs wrapped around my waist. Her boobs pressed into my back. Her hair brushed against my neck as she hung on.

‘What are you doing?’ I laughed.

‘I might not be tall, but I’ll kick your—’

I put my hands under her knees and started to run with her. The squeal that left her mouth went straight into my ear. I tried to duck away but her arms clamped around me as she held on.

‘Stop!’ She giggled.

The park was ahead, so I took her inside. She took the cap off my head, so I dropped her. She was panting as I walked backwards.

‘I like your shaved head. You should leave this off more often.’ She put the cap on her head. I couldn’t help smiling. It suited her.

‘I can think of a much better way to get fit,’ she said.

My eyebrows rose as she walked with her hands on her hips.

‘I would say great minds think alike, but no one can match my intelligence. Especially not a girl.’

It took a moment for the words to sink in, but once they did, I allowed her to come for me. I was having too much fun to stop teasing her.

‘You are so…’

She ran forward and threw her fist into my arm. It rebounded. She grabbed her knuckles as she came to a stop.

‘Can’t match me in strength either, can you?’

‘There is one thing I can match you in,’ she said, cocking her head to the side as she sucked the skin on her hand.

I froze. Her eyelids lowered as she looked me straight in the eye. I liked a girl that was down to earth. My throat moved as I swallowed the saliva that filled my mouth.

‘What’s that then?’

The corners of her lips lifted into her cheeks as she took her hand away from her mouth.

‘The bedroom.’ She spun away, swaying her hips as she walked off.

My mouth hung open as I watched her leave. I had known her for five minutes and she was the first woman to ever shut me up.

She stopped suddenly and glanced over her shoulder. ‘Are you going to take me to yours? Or are you afraid I’ll beat you?’

She didn’t have to ask twice. It wasn’t every day a woman offered herself to me. Who was I to disappoint a princess?