My hand clenched on the phone at the reminder of the ridiculous tattoo I’d avoided getting. I knew I had to, though. It was my idea to make it look like we were only one person, not two of us, much to Abel’s dismay. If I went back on my word now, I’d only open the door for Abel to press more boundaries, ones that undoubtedly be a lot more dangerous.

The people who had known us as children had either died, moved, or didn’t know our family well enough to speak about us one way or the other. However, I’d taken out the people that happened to be threats over time. Each one had helped fatten up my pigs before they went to slaughter. I always found the idea amusing that someone somewhere was eating a piece of one of my pigs that also happened to be part of those I’d known. If they only knew. Now, no one from our childhood remained that would know Abel and me were twins. My lip twitched up at the thought of those few that found their way to the end of my blade.

Cursing under my breath, I punched in the number for the tattoo artist we used. Mick was the only exception to my rule because I’d seen Mick for what he was. It was easy to spot the dark parts of yourself in others. Mick didn’t participate in our games, but he liked to watch, and we had enough dirt on the man to take him down with us if he ever decided to open his mouth.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Came the gruff voice on the other end of the line.

“It’s me. I need to get the tattoo my brother did.”

“Sure, can you do it tomorrow? Say four o’clock,” Mick asked.

I hated the idea that I’d miss something important that Sunshine did, but it was better to get this done before I changed my mind and killed Abel for having the stupid tattoo done in the first place.

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“You’re booked, man.”

I hung up the phone without saying goodbye. There was no point in wasting pleasantries on Mick. My stomach growled, reminding me it had been a long time since breakfast. Sure, I had a few snacks earlier, but I was staying in this truck. Seeing where Sunshine went next was more important than my hunger. The key to what I was doing was creating a timeline and a schedule to follow.