Chapter 2

MIRANDA

"Are you crazy, Miranda?" Ramone asked, covering his little friend.

I pointed at him and then at the thing whimpering in the corner of the room. I bit my lip, overwhelmed by the disappointment of what my sister had done. My own flesh and blood.

I don't know why I was surprised. After all, I had already been betrayed by my own "mother." I just didn't expect Amanda to be capable of doing this to me... Honestly, I would have rather been cheated on with my slutty neighbor who was always throwing herself at Ramone than with her...

That familiar lump began to form in my throat, a sign that long hours of crying and uncontrollable sobbing were coming, and it was getting worse by the second. In a futile attempt to keep my emotions in check, I looked at Ramone.

Feeling my heart bleed the entire time, I couldn't stand to look at her and see her honey-blonde hair in the total mess of someone who had just been fucked. Looking at her made this nightmare more real and unbearable.

Suppressing the sadness and heartbreak into a cold calm, I controlled my breathing and, with nerves of steel, remembered what my dad always used to say.

"Never lose focus, control your body and your emotions."

And that is exactly what I did. With steady hands, I pointed that small but deadly weapon back at my "ex-fiance." The years of training at Aunt Zelda's small farm in Texas came to mind, all the target practice and basic self-defense that Richard Taylor, an Army Sergeant of the First Battalion, had taught his little girl so she would know how to defend herself when necessary. I immediately gripped the gun properly so the recoil wouldn't hurt me, and cleared my mind.

Thinking or feeling were for later. I gestured toward his things with a nod of my head, and with a low voice, I said:

"Both of you, grab your things and get out of my house."

"Your house?" Ramone asked cynically, but as soon as he saw me flick off the safety, he swallowed hard and said with a hint of fear, "Honey, put that down. Let's talk. Don't do anything hot-headed."

His voice was soft, as if trying to calm a wild beast.

Little did he know that this beast was untamable.

"In less than thirty minutes, I want you, you piece of shit, and this..." Not finding a word to call her, I said the first thing that came to mind. "...thing out of my house."

"Miranda..." my younger sister said quietly.

I felt my body go rigid. Her soft voice, instead of bringing out my protective sisterly side, did nothing. That side of me didn't exist anymore. I looked at her, and whatever she saw in my expression brought more tears to her eyes as she cried copiously. My little sister, the one I sacrificed so much for so she could have everything she wanted when our mother abandoned us as kids. The girl I gave up my own wants for so our dad could give her what she wanted. The one who made me take on the role of "mother" since I was a little girl, died right there in that instant. I didn't kill her. Amanda didn't need me to put a bullet between her eyes to die; she just needed to screw my fiance. A bitter smile tugged at my lips.

Ex-fiance now. I wouldn't marry that man for all the money in the world. Looking into those gray eyes that showed regret and guilt for what he did, my heart didn't waver in the slightest. Even before this, I didn't feel love for him anymore, just a passion that satisfied me in bed, and his body and pretty face played a big part in that. After all, imagination is everything.

Now, not even that could erase what happened here. Ramone had managed to destroy whatever feelings I had ever had for him. Imagining being touched by him turned my stomach in the worst way possible.

"What are you waiting for? Get out of my sight," I asked dryly.

"Miranda, baby, I... look, you can't blame me! This is entirely your fault that this happened!" Ramone said, pulling on his pants.

"Mine?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "How exactly is this my fault? Did I force you to stick your little dick in my sister?" I scoffed.

"Honey, it was six weeks! Six weeks! What did you expect me to do?"

Amanda looked shocked at Ramone, and if this whole situation wasn't so bizarre, I would have laughed until my stomach hurt. How could this idiot be so cynical?

"NOT SCREW MY FUCKING SISTER!"

"Miranda..."

"Enough," I growled, looking at Amanda, who was frowning in disgust seeing my "ex-fiance" acting as if she were entirely to blame for this. I couldn't hold back a sarcastic smile when I said, "Take a good look, Amanda. This is the bastard you spread your legs for; to him, you were nothing but a placeholder."

Amanda looked at me, her light green eyes welling with tears, her cheeks flushed with shame. Something deep down in my heart ached at the pain I saw there. A fleeting desire to hug her and murmur soft words, telling her everything would be okay, passed as quickly as it came. Before that stone wall I built around my heart could crumble, before I lost my mind, I said for the last time:

"When I get back, I don't want to see you here."

Leaving that house, getting into the car, slamming on the gas, and running over the neighbor's garden gnome, the only refuge I could think of in that moment was the person I counted on for both the good and bad times.

My best friend, Andrea.