Taurus: Book 3 in a Young Adult Paranormal Romance Series (The Zodiac Twin Flame Series) (6 page)

Chapter Nine

‘We think you need to go to rehab.’

Pisces stood in front of everyone. Eleven of them stood in the middle of the living room, looking down at me as I sat on the sofa. My fists clenched into balls as I watched their self-righteous shuffling. Had they pulled straws to see who would tell me that I needed help?

‘Why do you think that?’ The words pushed through my teeth.

Pisces avoided looking me in the eye by glancing behind her. There were no partners in the room, and thankfully, Sophie was at work. When I had seen her the night before, she had calmed me. We had spent the evening drinking and laughing. She had made me forget everything.

‘You drink a lot. You smoke weed and recently, you’ve been taking heavier drugs.’

Even Aries was less cocky than his usual self. It must have been serious.

‘I’m fine. I don’t smoke or drink any more than the average person who smokes and drinks.’ My denial was met with plenty of raised eyebrows. Even the normally jovial Leo was straight faced.

‘Would you consider going to rehab? Father said he would pay for a private—’

‘Stop!’ I jumped up from my seat. ‘Leave me alone. I don’t have a drug problem, and even if I did, it’s none of your business.’

Going to walk past them, I paused when I saw Cancer hovering on the edge of the group. She looked torn as I gestured with my head for her to follow me. The others were silent as we left the room.

‘Taurus, they’re only trying to help. You—’

‘Shut up,’ I interrupted, leading her through the kitchen and out the front door.

‘I have to get to work,’ she said as I strode away from her.

I froze on the pavement. Only last night, her lover boy had made me stop still with his words. Why was I doing everyone else’s bidding? Biting on the side of my mouth, I resisted the urge to tell them all to piss off. I wanted to storm back into the house and tear it down. What would they do if I ripped apart their precious home?

‘Matt wants to see you.’

The gasp travelled to me, followed by the sound of her light footsteps.

‘You’ve seen him?’ she asked as she stood in front of me.

Her long blonde hair fell back as she looked up into my eyes. Glancing away, I nodded, cringing when Kerry approach us.

‘We need to go,’ I muttered.

Cancer turned to follow the direction of my gaze. Kerry rushed over, greeting us with an excited air about her.

‘Cancer, we have an hour to get to Big Ben,’ I said before they could get into a conversation.

‘Oh, I’m heading there myself.’ Kerry linked her arm through Cancer’s and pulled her towards the station.

Tucking my hands into my pockets, I followed behind them, admiring Kerry’s knee high boots.

‘Is Sophie not coming?’ she called over her shoulder.

‘Why do you ask that?’

It wasn’t like Sophie was joined to my hip. We had only been seeing each other for a week.

‘It’s just unusual not to see her draped over you.’

I fell into step beside the girls as we paid for our tickets. Kerry’s words got my back up. Sophie was…I wasn’t sure what she was, actually. She made me laugh. She was pretty and good in bed. That’s all that was needed, wasn’t it?

‘Taurus, are we meeting Matt now?’ Cancer asked.

We climbed onto the train, holding onto the railings overhead, instead of taking a seat.

‘Yes,’ I replied, looking pointedly at Kerry.

Cancer shrugged, her eyes lighting up at my answer. Kerry asked her who Matt was. Cancer started to tell her about the man, leaving out the fact that she had met him when we held him captive.

Aries would have wanted me to listen to her and find out what had happened between them, but I tuned her out. Her voice was annoying as she gushed about the man. I didn’t see what the big deal was.

‘How are you feeling after the other day?’ Kerry asked me when Cancer had finished.

She moved closer as more people climbed on the train. Her head came to my shoulder, just like Sophie’s. Her nose was slightly crooked and her lips were fuller than my new birds’, but she was still pretty.

‘I’m fine,’ I said, taking hold of the peak of my cap and lifting it to scratch my shaved hair.

Cancer launched into a tirade about how they thought I should go to rehab. Physically biting my tongue wasn’t enough to stop myself from saying something.

‘If I need to go to rehab, you need to go to a looney home for messing with the enemy,’ I snapped.

Kerry blinked up at me as the train came to a stop and we all stumbled.

‘Don’t worry, I’m used to it,’ Cancer said, linking arms with her friend again and dragging her onto the platform.

I didn’t care what they whispered about as they walked ahead. My fingers twitched against my legs. The joint in my pocket was calling my name. I ducked my head as people pushed past me. The shiny floor of the station mesmerised me as I kept Cancer’s shoes in my eye line. It felt like people were staring. Watching me as if I had something to hide.

‘You need to tell me what happened,’ Cancer said as we made our way to the underground. ‘How did you set up this meeting?’

My gaze darted around to see if there was anyone following us. Tourists chattered amongst themselves as they decided where to go next.

‘Why did you have to bring her?’ I whispered loudly, gesturing at Kerry.

She was speaking to a couple that were trying to get to London Bridge.

‘I didn’t. She just tagged along. Don’t worry about her. Matt won’t even notice.’

Her cheeks glowed red when she said his name.

‘Isn’t he married?’

Her little smile fell from her face. She stared down at her feet as the train pulled up. Kerry joined us as we filtered on. I hoped we would be able to lose her.

‘Please tell me,’ Cancer said, tugging on my arm.

‘He caught me outside the pub. He asked me to arrange a meeting. I agreed.’

Her eyebrows lowered. I looked away from her and straight into Kerry’s eyes. I blinked at the same time she did and quickly glanced back at my sister.

‘Why would you do that for me?’

I wasn’t going to tell her that I wanted to meet Nick. Even if he couldn’t help me, I was fascinated by him. What drove him to torment young people? Was he sick in the head?

‘Let’s go,’ I said, leading the girls off the train and towards Big Ben.

The traffic was loud. I kept my head low as we crossed the road and came to a stand on the pavement beside Big Ben. I hadn’t specified a place to meet but knew that Matt would find us.

‘Why are you here then, Kerry? Do you have a meeting?’ I asked.

Cancer hit my arm. I didn’t flinch.

Kerry glanced down at her sandals before looking me square in the eye. ‘You’re pretty rude, aren’t you?’

‘I can be much ruder,’ I replied, dismissing her by turning my back and searching for Matt.

‘Just ignore him, he’s always like that,’ I heard Cancer say.

It wasn’t technically true. I was sometimes nice to people. I didn’t really remember the last time I was, but there had been a time.

‘There he is,’ Cancer squeaked.

I spun to see Matt crossing the road. He ran between cars, causing them to beep at him. He didn’t wear his typical black outfit, which surprised me. He must be hiding the meeting from Nick.

‘Cancer,’ he called as he pushed his way through the people littering the pavement.

She stood still. Her eyes watched his every move. She was frozen. She bit her lip as he came to a stand in front of her.

‘You better—’

‘I don’t have time to stay. Nick has followed me. Come with me. Let’s run off together.’ He grabbed her hand and tried to pull.

I thrust myself between them. We were eye to eye. My cap almost knocked into his head.

‘Why the hell did you come if you knew Nick was following you?’ I hissed.

He shook his head. His eyes tried to look past me, but I blocked his view of my sister. How dare he put her in danger?

‘Leave him alone, Taurus!’ she shouted, yanking on my arm.

There was a scream up the road. The hustle and bustle of the street outside parliament was hard to take in. The screech of rubber wheels on concrete sounded nearby.

‘We need to go,’ I said, spinning to the girls.

Kerry was hovering, her wide eyes fixed on the three of us. Why was she still there?

A car door slammed. I caught sight of a man in a black outfit jumping out of the vehicle that had come to a stop.

‘Run!’ I shouted, grabbing both girls and propelling them through the crowd.

The river Thames wasn’t far, so I went towards it. Cancer whinged as I dragged them behind me. Kerry was silent, so I didn’t check on her. We bumped people, ignoring their complaints. A gunshot sounded, followed by the siren of a police car.

What the hell was Matt thinking? He must have done it on purpose. Why hadn’t I realised that he was setting us up?

‘Let me go!’ Cancer shouted as we ran across the road towards the river.

Glancing behind, I caught sight of Matt close behind us. In the distance, two men gave chase. They had guns in their hands. They struggled to aim them as they ran through the people.

‘Just keep running,’ I called back when Cancer ripped out of my grip.

Matt caught up and took hold of her hand.

‘You set us up!’ she screamed, trying to get away from him too.

The men were gaining on us. We reached the concrete walkway so I stopped and spun back towards the men, dragging Kerry with me. They were about to cross the road so I aimed my hand, focused my attention on the roots of a nearby tree, and felt into the energy. When I was hooked in, I thrust my arm down.

‘What are you doing?’ Kerry puffed beside me.

Nothing happened. The tree should have fallen across the road. I had willed the trunk to tip by moving my arm, but it didn’t work. My brain was fuzzy as the men started to run over the road.

‘Go!’ Matt shouted, pushing me.

I blinked. My mind wouldn’t clear, so I did as he said.

‘Cancer!’ I called as I left Matt behind.

She didn’t answer. Glancing back, I swore under my breath as Matt dragged her away. The men split up. It was a smart move, but I didn’t want to leave Cancer.

‘We need to find somewhere to hide.’ I panted, glancing at Kerry.

Her lips were white. She nodded once. ‘I know somewhere.’ She puffed.

Another gun shot was fired. Kerry squealed and tried to duck. I swept her up into my arms and carried on. We didn’t have time to freak out. She was light, but I struggled to breathe. I was so unfit. If I had still been training, I would have been able to run for miles.

‘He’s falling back but still coming,’ she said.

She watched over my shoulder as I darted into the tube station. People frowned at us as we rushed past.

‘Now go out the other entrance. I have a friend’s key to her flat just over the road,’ Kerry shouted.

I did as she said, swearing when we almost ran straight into another man with a black outfit. He wasn’t expecting us to emerge so he wasn’t able to grab us. He gave chase as we shot across the road. Cars narrowly missed my legs as I threw us into the communal door that Kerry indicated.

‘They’ll know we’re in here,’ she said as I dropped her to her feet.

‘We don’t have a choice, I can’t keep running.’

My chest burned as I tried to pull air into it. I coughed as she led me up a flight of stairs. She fumbled in her bag as she ran, digging out a set of keys.

‘Is your friend not here?’ I asked.

I couldn’t hear anyone following us. The entrance door didn’t open behind us. I hoped the men had given up.

‘No, she’s gone travelling for a few months,’ Kerry said, letting us into a small flat and slamming the door behind her.

I went to the window. My shoulders relaxed when I saw that the view was over the street we had just crossed. The men that had chased us stood across the road, looking up at the building.

‘What the bloody hell was that about?’ Kerry shouted.

Flipping my cap off my head, I threw it on the small sofa. My muscles were on fire. I paced the tiny living area before returning to the window. The men lounged against the wall of the river, right next to the steps that lead down into the tube station. It looked like they had set up a guard post.

Kerry stood in the kitchen doorway, her hands on her hips. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed hard. My blood was pumping. I glanced away from her, wishing that it was Sophie standing in front of me. The adrenaline started to leave me as I surveyed our surroundings out of the window.

‘Is there a back entrance to the building?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she said, moving to the sofa and letting it catch her as she fell back.

Smacking my lips together, I moved towards the kitchen. I needed water. My breath was returning to normal, but my heart rate was still doubled.