1. One Day You Will Be Mine

When someone left without saying goodbye, they left you with unsettling emotion in the pit of your stomach, causing you to wake up in the middle of the night wondering why they had chosen to leave.

When someone left without saying goodbye, they made you question yourself of what you had done that sent them away.

When someone left you without a word, your heart is never the same.

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It was around two in the morning and everyone in the neighborhood was already asleep. Everyone but Kelsey Ferreira. Her eyes were wide awake, staring at the ceiling as her forefinger was tapping against the edge of her bed rhythmically, in time with the rain outside beating against the window.

“It will be all right,” she told herself repeatedly while trying to control her labored breathing. Maybe if she had said it enough times, it would be true.

Kelsey shut her eyes in agony. She hated the rain, she always had. She hated how her heart pounded loudly against her ribcage with each falling drop hitting the roof. But most of all, she hated the fear creeping in deep inside of her. The fear of knowing that the one she had thought would never walk away, someone she thought would never leave her, had actually left her.

Another flash illuminated the entire room, squeezing out a scream from her lungs and this time, the thunder had arrived even closer to the lightning, hinting that the storm was pulling closer. 

It was too loud, too violent. It was too much.

Kelsey curled up into a ball on her bed. Her arms wrapped around her bent knees so tightly as if she was about to shatter. Her breath grew harsher. Panicked, labored, with the slightest touch of a whimper. 

The thunder shook the entire room, and her body flinched with such torment that she was convinced she would not make it out alive. Lightning tore through the night, flashing the room with a sharp burst of light. 

It had been stormy too on the day her mother had left.

* * *

Ten miles away to the south, about thirty minutes drive, a guy with dark brown eyes and darker colored hair was sitting on his bed. His eyes were glued to the screen of the phone in his hand. Every now and then a bolt of lightning lit up the room in a flash of brilliance before the entire room exploded with a dull boom of thunder.

Flynn Ascott loved thunderstorms. Hard to tell why. Maybe it was proof that there were things that humans could not control. Or maybe because often it mimicked his mood and the boiling anger inside him. He closed his eyes briefly and let out a deep, sorrowful sigh.

As he reopened his eyes, he leaned back on the leathered headboard of his bed, regarding his phone with a thought as he made circles on its screen with his finger. It had been a long day, he agreed to the bad weather. He was emotionally and physically exhausted. After another five minutes of nothingness and just him glancing at his phone, he tossed his phone carelessly on the mattress beside him and got up.

He positioned himself by the window, both hands digging into his pockets as he looked out at Elliott Bay beyond. Misty clouds clung to the darkening Seattle skyline. The 2:05 ferry slid through the water, loaded with cars and passengers, and headed for Bainbridge Island. Even from the seventeenth floor, he could still hear the traffic and horns being pressed by angry, impatient drivers, courtesy of living in a metropolitan area. Only a few people could afford this kind of lifestyle, and he was one of them, just like any other Ascott in the country.

Yes. He was Flynn Ascott. The heir of the Ascott LLC here in the United States. The only heir, mind you since most of the distant living Ascott's were living in the U. K. and they had their own empire.

But he had not always been Flynn Ascott. He had been born Tyson Vincent and if what that woman on the phone had said was true, he had a twin brother.

Bah, how ridiculous.

Flynn did not want to believe it to be true, he loved being his own authentic self, yet a picture speaks a thousand words, and that woman had presented more than one picture which showed a guy who looked just like him wearing clothes that he would never wear. He truly had a twin brother — a living being who looked exactly like him, and to be frank, he found it quite uncanny.

All of his life he had felt special. Right now, he was not sure anymore and that thought alone scared him. As he moved to the bar, he tried his best to forget about it and grabbed a bottle of beer from the mini fridge. He uncapped the bottle, raised it to his lips, and tipped his head back. Swallowing the familiar taste of Guinness, he let the liquid remain in his mouth a while before swallowing it.

He had been adopted, and he had a twin brother, so what? If that woman thought. That by telling him about his brother would make him forgive her for putting him up for adoption, well, she thought wrong. It had only made him hate her even more. After all, what kind of mother decided which kid to give away and which to raise? How could she as a mother decide which one was worth keeping and which one was to give away?

Flynn downed another swig of his beer and straightened his shoulders, pushing such unpleasant rumination from his mind. No, he decided, he did not need this complication right now. Not when he was at the top of his life and could do whatever he pleased. The only mother he knew was Nancy Ascott and she had died eight years ago. He had grieved about her and he had moved on. He certainly did not need another mother, let alone a twin brother.

In five long strides, Flynn snatched the phone off the bed and unlocked it. He then proceeded to erase the messages she had sent him along with the photos of his brother, Tyler Vincent and blocked her number. If somehow she managed to contact him again, he would change his number. He would do whatever it took to keep her away. It was a payback for her giving him away when he was merely a baby.

His life had been good without them and it would stay that way if only he could pretend that they did not exist. If he could pretend that he had been born as Flynn Ascott.

* * *

It was around lunchtime when Kelsey Ferreira and her best friend, Bryson Thomas, were sitting with a group of cheerleaders at the center of the Northern High cafeteria. She had finished her food and was just sipping her orange juice out of its box.

“You are very lucky to have someone like Shane,” said Bryson Thomas, Kelsey’s best friend. “Out of all Northern High and its surrounding, I think he is the only decent guy around.”

“You think so?” She smiled, throwing one glance at the table next to theirs where Shane was sitting with his football buddies, then gave her best friend a hug. “I am sure you will find one too for yourself, Bry.”

“Considering every gay guy around is currently enjoying their stay in the closet, I do not think so, Kels.”

“Hmm, maybe I should let our resident bad boy, Flynn Ascott, have a taste of me.” Bryson wiggled his eyebrows teasingly. “Who knows, maybe he likes it.”

Every neighborhood had one. Every girl had that one bad boy that caught her attention once upon a time. Here in Northern High, they had their most notorious bad boy, Flynn Ascott.

“Oh, please,” said Rachel Matthews, the head of the cheerleaders, “Flynn is straight as a bowstring. I can testify for that.”

“Too bad it did not work between you two, Rach,” commented Lindsey Stanton, who immediately received a death glare from Rachel. “You both looked good together though,” she quickly added to appease her friend. After all, her fate in cheerleading business fell to Rachel’s hand.

“I think so too. But well, the thing about Flynn is that he has commitment issues,” said Rachel with a shrug. “And I am not going to be the one to tie him up.” A nasty look formed on her face before she tossed her gaze at Tabitha Lawson on her right. “At least I dated him for a few weeks, unlike Tabitha who got dumped right after they had sex.”

Kelsey placed her now emptied juice box on her tray and fought the urge to roll her eyes. Flynn Ascott was just any other typical bad boy. They always treated the girls like shit and had been with most of the girls at the school. They would make butterflies flutter in your stomach but after they were finished with you, they would toss you aside as if you were yesterday’s trash. Yet despite all of this, the guys feared them and the girls swooned over them. Even those who were dumped and left heartbroken still did this — which was quite illogical.

Most of the cheerleaders had dated or had sex with Flynn at some point. Some pretty girls outside the cheerleading squad had done that too. Albeit Flynn had been in Kelsey’s orbit for a while, she had never paid any attention to him. Not when she had Shane. Kelsey and Shane had been dating for two years and she was convinced that she was helplessly in love. She was not the only person who was convinced that they both were matched in heaven by the angels.

Plus, not noticing Flynn was easily done considering they only shared one class together anyway. After lunch, she said goodbye to Bryson and walked to her locker. She switched out her books for the next class then walked to her class. Lindsey, one of the cheerleaders, was also in the same class as her and she gave her a smile before taking the empty seat next to her. Although Kelsey was not best friends with the cheerleaders, they were on friendly terms. She hung out with them sometimes and they never tried to steal Shane away from her.

Mrs. Rodriguez, their English teacher, soon joined them. “Good afternoon. For today, I would like us to start on Pride and Prejudice. It is a classic and even though I know some of you have watched the movies or TV series, I still want you to read the book.”

Kelsey could hear Patrick, one of the jocks who sat behind her, sneered, “Keira Knightley is hot. Even I watched that shit.”

English. It was one subject that she and Flynn shared. When she had first come into the class, she had not seen him and until now, there was no sign of him. Fifteen minutes passed before there was a knock on the door and Flynn walked in.

“Where were you, Mr. Ascott? The class has started for a while.”

“Family matters,” he replied curtly then took an empty seat behind Lindsey.

“Whatever it is, you should inform me beforehand,” said Mrs. Rodriguez with a huff. “Nonetheless, we are reading Pride and Prejudice. Begin immediately, Mr. Ascott.”

“I can not promise anything,” he replied, trying to get under her skin and piss her off.

Mrs. Rodriguez did not reply but gave him one hard look. Kelsey doubted it would go far. Flynn never got in trouble, having the Ascott name to back him up whenever needed. It was not fair but it was how life worked.

Out of one corner of her eye, she could see Flynn sitting back in his chair, seemingly relaxed, and did not even bother to bring his book to his class. There was a look of boredom on his face as he leaned forward and decided that it would be fun to mess with the girl sitting in front of him.

Lindsey was squirming from the hands being placed on her side. It seemed that she loved the attention and forgot that this little adventure might get her in trouble with her head of cheerleaders. There were giggles and excessive flirting which slowly distracted Kelsey from her reading.

“You know what, we should meet after class so I could give you a lesson or two.”

Lindsey giggled before replying, “Maybe.”

“Oh, are you trying to put me in suspense?”

She giggled again and gave the same reply.

“Well, let me tell you, if you come, I could make it worth your while. We could go to—”

“If you are unaware, some of us are trying to read,” Kelsey snapped and realized that this was the first time she had interacted with him or at least, close to. She was not sure whether this would get her in trouble or not. Usually, Flynn always sat at the back of the class and watched everyone else like he owned the goddamn place, this was the first time he sat on the third row. The first time they were in close proximity that she could hear his voice and how he made his move. A move that earned him his title.

“Sorry, am I disturbing the minging virgin from her study?” he asked mockingly in his British accent.

Some of her classmates laughed at his remark and Kelsey looked up, wondering why Mrs. Rodriguez had let this on, only to realize that their teacher was not there.

“You have nothing to say? So was I right that you are a virgin?” He teased, letting out a chuckle.

“Unlike you who seems to be lonely all the time, I actually have a boyfriend.”

“Of course, the quarterback, Shane Wells.” There was disgust in his voice which made her wonder whether he had any issues with Shane. “He is a real keeper. How well does Mr. Wells perform in the bedroom, really?”

The class roared in laughter, seemingly to find the resident bad boy hilarious. Kelsey, on the other hand, tightened her jaw and wished that they would all shut up. Even Patrick, who was evidently Shane’s teammate, laughed. There was truly no loyalty on planet Earth, was it?

“Is that how you measure people?” Kelsey turned to face him, tilting her head. “By their ability to perform in bed?”

“Well, that is one of the crucial criteria, is it not? Why would you stay with someone if they suck in bed?”

Kelsey gritted her teeth and snapped, “Maybe if you love them.”

His mouth curved into a devilish smile and he looked as if a cat who just trapped a mouse. “So Shane really does suck in bed, huh?”

The girls giggled and the guys laughed once again.

“I think you are just jealous because he has class,” she paused just to give him a blatant once over then added, “while you clearly do not.”

Any trace of humor left his face and was replaced with anger. He tightly gripped the edge of his desk then rose to his feet. He leaned into her so close that his mouth was almost touching her ear as his breath fanned the side of her face. Her whole body tensed and her heart was thumping loudly.

“You really think so?” His voice was low and at one point his lips did brush her skin. “Hate to break it to you, Princess, but your boyfriend and I are not that much different.”

Shane was nothing like Flynn and Kelsey was sure of it. She would not have dated him for two years if he was anything like the resident bad boy who had no problem littering the school hallways with tears and broken hearts.

“You wish.”

He let out a deep chuckle. “One day you will be mine, Princess, and you know it.” He went back to his seat and as he sat, he gave her a mischievous smirk that seemed to seal his unwritten promise.

Lindsey gave Kelsey a disapproving look before turning her gaze back to the open book in front of her. In all honesty, Kelsey was not sure whether Lindsey had heard what Flynn had said to her or not. If she had, perhaps she would run to Rachel and report this. Still, it would have no effect and Kelsey did not care. It was Lindsey who had started this by flirting with Flynn in the first place and Kelsey doubted that Lindsey could tell the story to Rachel and miss out on this detail.

Kelsey gave Flynn one hard look and mouthed, “Dream on” before she returned her focus to her reading. Soon Mrs. Rodriguez had returned and the class resumed. Although she could feel his eyes on her, she decided to ignore it and pretty much pretended that he did not exist.

* * *

Dear Gentle Readers aka my angels, we meet again. This time it is on another story of mine that I wrote back in 2018 following The Bad Nerd Boy and Irresistible Temptation. For those of you who don't know, Tyler found out that he actually has a twin brother (Tyson) that his mum gave for adoption. That twin brother was adopted by a rich family, The Ascott. Here is Flynn's story. I hope you enjoy it!