Black and White are twins with a powerful connection. After their parents' separation, though, White's father took him out of the country, their family effectively severed in two. It isn't until fifteen years have passed that White-now grown-returns to Thailand.
One day, seemingly from nowhere, White feels an agony like death. He recovers in the hospital, but they're unable to determine the cause. Then he picks up a call from a childhood friend, Todd. Todd tells him that Black is in a coma following a vicious attack and he learns that Black is in a motorcycle gang. Unable to endure the harm done to his brother in silence, and suspecting it was one of Black's close friends-Sean, Gram, or Yok-who betrayed him, White disguises himself as Black to root out the traitor.
But White doesn't know his brother as well as he thought; he's not behaving like the Black Sean knows, distrustful and uncaring about the feelings of others. Sean's suspicious. The difference gets under Sean's skin and makes him feel things he shouldn't.
Everyone had a reason for their actions, right?
Todd had made the mistake of thinking he understood Black and using that knowledge against him. He'd compounded that mistake by underestimating him. But when he left the hospital, a little worse for wear, the only person willing to stand by him was Black.
It made no sense. It was in Black's best interest to walk away and never look back. Instead, he stuck close to Todd. Too close if he was honest. Proximity could breed all kinds of things Todd wasn't ready for.
He might have appreciated the care and consideration but when it moved beyond that, to something far more intimate, Todd had to figure out what he wanted before he was swept up in whatever game Black was playing. His life depended on it.
-Excerpt-
"It doesn't matter if I care or not. It matters that I'm here." He said with the same disinterest he showed in everything. "If you look around, you'll notice, there's nobody else here."
"So what? You'll make sure I'm comfortable before you smother me with a pillow?"
"Did it ever occur to you that if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead?"
"Yeah."
That's why none of this made any sense. It made me even more uncomfortable than my broken bones and bruised body. Leaving me floundering when he refused to offer any explanation.
Published: 23 January - 3 February 2023