It Wasn't Me

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  His face dissolved into a mask of horror.

  “What the fuck is this supposed to be again?” I growled.

  Downy started to laugh. “Your uniform. Congrats.”

  Jonah did not look amused.

  Not in the least.

  Chapter 12

  When you’re excited to see your sisters, and then realize that both of them are wearing your clothes.

  -Text from Piper to Jonah

  Piper

  I was nervously twitching in my seat as I watched my sisters walk into the pizza parlor.

  They looked around for all of two seconds before spotting me.

  I grinned when I saw both of them.

  That grin quickly fell off my face and I narrowed my eyes.

  “Are you seriously both wearing my clothes?” I gasped.

  Where had they even gotten them from?

  Then I remembered the bag that I’d left at my parents’ place, and I narrowed my eyes.

  They both started to laugh, and I couldn’t help myself. I laughed with them.

  “You should’ve seen your face,” Phoebe said as she scooted into the booth across from me. “We saw that sitting there a couple of days ago, and it was just like old times.”

  “Yeah,” Pru said. “You…what the fuck is that on your finger?”

  Ahh, it took her all of two minutes to notice.

  I’d honestly expected it before any words had been spoken. My twin was getting rusty.

  Speaking of, she’d put on some weight…

  “Why do you look pregnant again?” I found myself asking.

  Phoebe choked.

  My eyes went to her, and now that I was looking at her more closely, she also looked like she’d put on some weight.

  “Ummm,” Phoebe said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Actually, I was talking about Pru,” I said, sounding amused. “But I really feel like you both are keeping secrets.”

  Pru sighed. “I was going to tell you. But then we heard about Dad, and all that went down, and then you ran off to Vegas before seeing us and it just got delayed.” She paused. “But we’ll talk about us and getting pregnant again in just a second. How about you tell us about that tattoo on your ring finger, and why you look like you got good sex.”

  I would not blush.

  I would not blush.

  I would not blush.

  Shit, I blushed.

  “You popped your cherry!” Phoebe cried out loudly.

  I looked at the ceiling instead of staring around me to see who all had heard my little sister say that so loud.

  But, in the end, I couldn’t help myself. I had to know.

  Taking a look around, I was dismayed to find quite a few pairs of eyes on us.

  I turned to look at my sister and glared.

  She bit her lip.

  “Why is it always you that screams out the most embarrassing thing?” I questioned. “How the hell do you expect me to tell you about these things if you do this?”

  Phoebe had the decency to blush.

  “I’m just so excited.” She practically bounced in her seat, looking as if she truly was sorry. “I’m sorry. I just…I’m so proud of you.”

  “So the ring…” Pru pushed.

  I sighed and dropped my hand onto the table.

  Then pulled out the wedding ring from my pocket and set it down next to my hand.

  Phoebe gasped. Pru leaned forward and picked up my ring.

  I waited for both of them to process this new information.

  “When did this happen?” she asked. “In Germany? Please tell me it isn’t that creepy fucker that kept telling you that you had pretty nostrils.”

  I winced.

  There had been a soldier that’d been coming to the clinic to be seen, and he had been a little too obsessed with my nostrils.

  It was honestly the weirdest thing ever.

  “Um, no.” I immediately said. “I…”

  My phone on the table vibrated, and before I could snatch it up, Phoebe beat me to the punch and lifted it to her ear.

  “Hello?” she answered, trying to sound like me.

  She’d done that before.

  Quite a few times, but none of it in recent years.

  “Uhhh, yeah,” Phoebe said. “She’s right here, and she’s okay. I just answered for her because I wanted to know what in the hell was going on, and she isn’t telling me anything. Do you know what’s going on?” Phoebe paused, listening for quite some time before she continued. “Yeah, we’re at Pizza King on Sixth Street. We just got here, actually. Pru was late because she has morning sickness out the ass. We had to pull over twice on the way over here.” She smiled. “Yeah, we’ll be here. We have enough room.”

  With that, she placed the phone back onto the counter, then looked at me expectantly.

  “Why does your husband sound like a hottie?” she asked. “Did you actually manage to talk to a man that has some substance to him? And not one that likes the shape of your nostrils, or one that is obsessed with his bunny?”

  Okay, so I’d had kind of bad luck when it came to boyfriends. There was a reason that I hadn’t had any long-lasting relationships, and that had a lot to do with the fact that I got tongue tied when I got around anyone that was even remotely attractive.

  “How do you know it’s my husband?” I questioned. “That could’ve just been my friend.”

  “He immediately asked where you were and if you were okay,” Phoebe drawled. “He then said that if I didn’t put his ‘wife’ on the phone, he was going to find me and make me wish I did.”

  I covered my mouth with my hand and started to snicker.

  “He knew immediately that it wasn’t you,” she said. “That’s good news. I just hope that he can tell the difference between you and Pru.”

  “Hoax can,” Pru supplied.

  Phoebe snorted. “Y’all haven’t truly tested it out. Your entire relationship Piper has been gone.”

  That was true.

  While I was away in Germany for two years, my twin decided to meet, fall in love, and get pregnant with Hoax. Hoax, a fuckin’ hottie biker motorcycle man that was a part of a motorcycle club.

  “That’s true,” I admitted. “But Jonah’s highly observant. I’m fairly sure that he’ll know without a doubt who is who.”

  “You want to test it?” Phoebe bounced in her seat.

  I pointed at my hair.

  “My hair is curly as fuck, and this one has apparently been straightening hers out lately.” I gestured to my sister. “There’s no way in hell that he’s going to be fooled.”

  Phoebe frowned and started to look around, but her eyes came to a rest on the display case across the room with the store’s apparel in it.

  “Oh, a hat!” she cried. “I’ll be right back.”

  Pru looked at me once Phoebe left.

  “I can’t believe you kept this from me,” she pouted.

  I lifted a brow and she flushed.

  “It’s not the same,” she argued. “You’re freakin’ married. I’m just pregnant for a second time. There’s a big difference there.”

  I sighed. “If you say so.”

  “I do,” she argued.

  “Here, put these on, quick!” she cried out. “I just saw a man pull in on his bike, and he was looking around like he wanted to kill something. I’m fairly sure that’s your husband.”

  I rolled my eyes. “What makes you think that?”

  I put the hat on anyway as did my sister.

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure why we were playing this game.

  But I wanted to prove my sister’s wrong.

  I wanted them to know that Jonah would know instantly who was who.

  And when Jonah walked in, spotted our table, and walked directly toward us, my heart started to pound in my chest.

  The sight of him was debilitating sometimes. I wondered if he understood t
he amount of magnetism that came from him.

  Phoebe stood at the side of the table, her arms crossed, as she watched Jonah walk our way.

  I was half turned in my seat, watching him come, and trying not to beam.

  “Hide your hands,” Phoebe whispered.

  I did, placing them in my lap and shoving them under the table.

  I heard my sister do the same from across the table.

  “Hi, I’m Phoebe,” Phoebe said, introducing herself.

  Jonah stopped and shook her hand, nodding. “Jonah.”

  “Jonah,” Phoebe grinned. “It’s nice to see you. Have a seat. I’m going to grab a couple of menus.”

  With that, she left but turned around halfway to see where Jonah sat.

  And it wasn’t with me.

  ***

  Jonah

  I watched as Piper’s face fell from across the table and frowned.

  I looked over at the woman that was next to me and said, “Why is my wife frowning?”

  The woman next to me started to laugh and yanked off her hat.

  Piper did the same and looked at me with a sheepish expression.

  “You sat next to my twin, and I thought for sure that you didn’t realize that she was her, and I was me,” she admitted. “Why did you sit over there?”

  I gestured to her seat. “The seat beside you would place my back against the door, and I don’t like that. I want a wall at my back. Plus, I like to look at you.”

  The honesty in my answer surprised her, causing her to grin.

  “That’s sweet,” the woman at my side said, holding out her hand awkwardly from beside me. “I’m Pru.”

  Phoebe took the seat across from me and handed me the menus.

  She was grinning, too.

  “I’m glad that I was wrong about you,” she said. “Now…how about someone tell us what in the hell is going on. Also, why do you have paint on your hands?”

  I grumbled a ‘fucking painting team building bullshit’ to them, and they took it all in stride, thankfully not asking me to expound.

  Two hours later, I was in a much better mood than when I’d left Piper earlier.

  She’d changed into jeans and a t-shirt, and I found myself thankful that she’d thought ahead.

  “You want to go for a ride?” I asked.

  She looked at my motorcycle, then back at me. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  I pulled her into my body and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to hers, loving the way she practically melted into me.

  In fact, I loved it so much that I hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings, so we were both startled out of the kiss when we heard a bellow come from behind us.

  “Get a room!”

  I turned to see Phoebe practically hanging out the window of Pru’s Suburban.

  Piper flipped them both off and got laughs.

  “See you tomorrow, sissy!” Phoebe blew her a kiss, then disappeared back inside the vehicle before rolling the window up.

  I shook my head and redirected my gaze back to the woman beside me.

  I was staring at her with fascination.

  “What?” she asked curiously.

  “You’re different when they’re around,” I said. “As if you’re comfortable in your own skin.”

  She frowned at that comment. “I’m comfortable in my own skin when they’re not around.”

  I curled a stray piece of hair behind her ear and said, “You are. But they make you seem less guarded. You don’t think about what you’re saying before you say it. I like it. It’s not a bad thing.”

  She took a step away from me and gestured to my bike. “Why were you so mad when you came in?”

  I sighed and walked over to the bike.

  “Let’s get out of here and I’ll tell you.” But when I looked over at my bike, a flinch hit me right in the gut. “I don’t have a helmet.”

  She frowned. “You don’t ever wear one?”

  I shrugged. “No.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “How does it make you feel that I’ll be riding without one?”

  Her eyes narrowed, and I knew she thought that I wasn’t going to answer.

  I surprised her by saying, “I don’t like it.”

  My mouth twitched.

  “Why don’t you like it?” she pushed.

  “Because the idea of you being hurt in any way is abhorrent to me,” I answered, my hand clenching at my side. “Never mind, we’re just going to go home.”

  She swatted me on the ass.

  “The Harley Davidson store is open until at least seven,” she said. “That’s a couple of hours from now. Ride me over there and we’ll both get a helmet.”

  My jaw worked back and forth as I thought about having to get to the Harley Davidson store. I’d have to fight the fuckin’ traffic that liked to fight each other right around this time as everyone got off of work and tried to get their grocery shopping done before going home.

  “I haven’t worn a helmet since I was fourteen,” I muttered.

  “You’ve ridden a motorcycle since you were that young?” she wondered aloud.

  “Yeah,” I answered. “My parents weren’t the most protective of parents. Hell, there were times that I didn’t even see them for days on end. For them to care that I wasn’t wearing a helmet would be for them to actually pay attention to me.”

  I could tell she hated that I felt that way.

  “Your mom seemed to care when I met her,” she challenged.

  I swung my leg over the bike, then held out a hand.

  “Although I don’t need the hand to mount the bike—I mean hello, I’ve been riding on the backs of bikes for ages. My dad. My grandfather. My uncle. My uncle’s friends? Anyone that I could con into giving me a ride, I took it—I’m going to mount anyway using your hand because the gesture is sweet.”

  I laughed at her diatribe. I also noted that she loved to ride, and reminded myself to always ask her if she wanted to come with me anytime I got that familiar itch between my shoulder blades that reminded me I hadn’t gone in a while.

  “I’m just gonna go ahead and lay this out there but…” She snuggled up against my back. “I really, really like to ride. You might create a monster.”

  I reached back and scooted her ass closer to mine, which in turn caused her crotch to snug right up against my backside.

  She bit back a moan, barely, as I laughingly replied to her earlier comment.

  “Don’t worry, baby,” I said. “It’s a sacrifice to have a pretty little thing like you holding onto me for any amount of time, but I’ll suck it up and deal with it if you can.”

  She reached forward and tightened her arms around my waist, causing her body to be pressed to mine from crotch to chin.

  Taking her non-reply as the order it was, I grinned and started the bike.

  It sounded good. It should, seeing as I’d put some illegal upgrades on it to make it sound good and perform even better.

  Or, more importantly, her father had.

  Her father that still didn’t know that I’d married his daughter.

  “Go, Jonah.”

  So I went, being very sure to pay extra attention everywhere I went. And when we finally arrived at the Harley store, I reluctantly bought a helmet for me as well as her.

  I also went ahead and purchased her a leather jacket that would protect her in case something were to happen and I had to lay the bike down.

  Hopefully that never happened, but I thought it was better to be prepared for the worst than pray that the worst never happened.

  “Thank you,” she whispered when we arrived back outside with my newly purchased helmets. “It means a lot to me that you would make this concession. Thinking about my father’s accident the other day makes me want to throw up. I’m just so glad that he was wearing a helmet. They said that it saved his life.”

  I pulled her helmet out of the bag and placed it on her head, being su
re to tighten the buckles down tight but not too tight.

  Flipping the visor down, I winked at her and followed suit with my own helmet.

  It felt claustrophobic and way too tight, but I sucked it up and gestured to the bike again.

  “Let’s go to the walking trail,” I murmured.

  She clapped her hands. “I heard that they have new ducklings and goslings.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  The idea of her being excited about new baby geese and ducks was laughable.

  Or would’ve been before her.

  Now that it was her getting excited? Well, let’s just say that the idea wasn’t anywhere near as funny. It was cute and endearing.

  I drove around for a good twenty minutes before stopping at the town’s small pond that they stocked for the children once a year. There was also a walking trail that circled the pond.

  It wasn’t much, but it was enough that the place was pretty popular. However, now that it was getting darker, the number of kids was dwindling down to almost zero.

  I pulled over and then gestured to the walking trail.

  “Let’s walk.”

  When I held my hand out to her, she didn’t hesitate to place her hand in mine.

  “Talk to me, Goose.”

  I squeezed her hand.

  “You’re hilarious.”

  “And you’re stalling,” she countered. “Tell me what happened.”

  I sighed, and then told her what happened.

  “When I got there, I was informed in no uncertain terms that I would either take this new assignment, or I was being let go,” I said, sounding just as pissed as I was when I first received the news.

  She squeezed my hand.

  “What do they want you to do?” she asked.

  “They want me to be in the motor patrol department,” I answered. “It’s a new division in the police department. Experimental. Something that they’ve been throwing around for a while. But also, something that they can scrap if it gets to be too much.”

  “Why did they give you this ultimatum?” she questioned.

  “Captain Morgan informs me that the new mayor’s daughter, who is also the shrink on staff that we have to see, suggested that they give us a second chance,” I said. “Every last person that’s on the team has some sort of disciplinary action being held against them. Everyone but my nephew, Lock, who just had the unfortunate timing to join the police department when they needed a couple of extra key players for their experimental program. And since he knew how to ride, he was the logical choice.”