by Lee Heaven
I continued to chug from the bottle as I wallowed in the pain that I was being lied to. I was pretty well drunk when Jimmy showed up at the house thirty minutes later. I took one look at him and scowled. Then my phone rang. I looked at the screen to see Tyler’s name.
“You fucking lying bastard!” I screamed into the phone and hung up before he could say a word. My phone rang again immediately. I chucked it across the room hitting the wall just beyond Jimmy’s shoulder, smashing it into pieces.
I got up from the couch and wobbled over to the stairs. I heard Jimmy’s phone start ringing as I hit the top stair. I turned into the first door I found and thanked god it was a bedroom. I stumbled to the bed angry as fuck. All he had to say was there was a small possibility that Cage was his. That there was a small chance that that drunken night, where he swears that it was a brunette, that it may have been Emily.
Did he think I wouldn’t have stayed? I would have. This was before me. It’s not like he cheated on me. This was before me, what could I do. All he had to do was tell me the truth. It’s the fact that he lied to me what has me so mad.
I chugged the last of the Jack Daniels, dropping the empty bottle to the floor before dropping onto the bed. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t, all I could do was pass out in a drunken pissed off mood.
~~~
I could smell him. His fancy, expensive cologne wrapped around me and pulled me into him. A second later I felt his warm body wrap around me. He didn’t say anything, he just held me. Just placed a kiss on the back of my neck every once in awhile. This was my Tyler. The one I fell in love with. The one who showed me how he felt. The one who never lied to me. The tender loving man who stole my heart with one kiss.
This wasn’t the man from the past few hours. This wasn’t the man who lied about having a kid. This wasn’t the man who stood in front of me and lied about having sex with his ex. This wasn’t the man who stole my happiness and broke it into a million pieces by one lie.
This was a dream. I sank into Tyler as I dreamed of him whispering it will be ok. As I dreamed of Tyler telling me that it wasn’t a lie, that the test can be explained, that maybe the test was wrong. Dream Tyler only whispered a few words. I sank into dream Tyler’s body as it was going to be the last time I felt his arms around me.
~~~
My eyes opened when I startled awake. I was going to be sick. It was just like almost a year ago. Had too much hard liquor and staring at a white ceiling that wasn’t familiar. The churning in my stomach grew and I tried to remember if there was an on suite bathroom or if I was going to have to make it to the bathroom across the hall. I turned my head and the clock glared at me with a menacing quarter to five in the morning. Just beyond the clock was a cracked door with the light on sending a soft ray of light into the room.
My stomach churned again sending me to my feet and running toward the light praying that it was a bathroom and not a closet. I pushed the door open and thanked god it was a bathroom, a lot smaller then the bathroom at Tyler’s apartment, making it to the toilet this time my stomach let go. My hair was pulled back and a hand rubbed my back.
When I was done I turned my head and rested it on the toilet seat. I was afraid to open my eyes and see Tyler. I was afraid that this was going to be the same way it happened a year ago. But it wouldn’t end the same way. I wouldn’t crawl in bed with him. I wouldn’t be wrapped around him as I slept and I wouldn’t be having a passionate kiss with him in the morning. I opened my eyes about to whisper his name, only to find Jimmy standing at the sink in a pair of tight black boxer briefs. Jimmy was a walking wet dream. He was covered in delicious muscles and tattoos. All of us girls have spent hours drooling over him. Before Sarah got pregnant she used to run with him, she said even in the cold weather she would bug him to take off his shirt so she could look at his sweat glistened body. Thankfully his girlfriend, Chelsea, who was one of our best friends, was good with us ogling her man. Hell, we did it to all the boys whenever we could.
He walked over with a wash cloth and pulled me back from the toilet wiping my face. Tears burned my eyes as I thought of that night when Tyler did the same thing. There was no holding them back as he grabbed the tooth brush and brushed my teeth for me. Jimmy lifted me and put me on the bed. I was going to lose it if he lay down next to me. It was just too much like that night with Tyler. But he just sat next to me and held my hand. He didn’t say anything, just sat there holding my hand as I cried myself back to sleep.
I awoke an hour later. Jimmy was lying on the bed next to me, still holding my hand. I slid out of bed and walked out of the room and down the stairs. I grabbed Jimmy’s phone off the coffee table where he left it. It looked like he had been sleeping on the couch. Stepping out on the back porch I pressed Maggie’s name. I would call Sarah but she needed he rest with those babies reeking havoc on her body.
“Hello,” a male sleepy voice answered the phone.
“Tobias, can I talk to Maggie?” I whispered.
“Are you ok?” He asked.
I hummed at him and there was some shuffling as he woke Maggie up. “Hey,” her sleepy voice came across the phone. “Are you alright?”
“I’m sorry to be calling so early in the morning. I just couldn’t sleep. I feel like I’m going insane. I don’t even know why I came here. Now I’m pacing his back yard before the sun is even up like some idiot.”
Maggie giggled, “I know that feeling. I was there myself a few months ago. Go to the right side of the sliding door. Chin high row of bricks, sixth one from the left, pull it off.”
I did as she said and found a secret little cubby. Inside was a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I pulled the pack out and lit one up. Inhaling I relaxed. It had been close to twelve years since I quit smoking but that first drag of nicotine had me relaxing. “How did you know?”
She laughed. “Jimmy said you went through the bottle of Jack Daniels already. That was the first thing I went for. Then he said you were sleeping, that was what I did second. Third was when I woke up in the middle of the night feeling antsy and was outside pacing, that’s what you were just doing. The cigarette was next. Just don’t fall asleep with your bodyguard no matter how good looking he is.”
I heard Tobias growl and Maggie giggle again. I wasn’t sure what that was about, but it couldn’t have been good by the sound of Tobias. There are a few things that happened while Maggie was gone that she refuses to talk about.
“Did you talk to Tyler?” I asked after a couple of drags.
“Yeah. He’s a mess. Let’s just say not only are the rest of the dishes broken, but now Tyler has to buy a new fridge. Decker is not happy. I think we’re going to have to stop hanging out there soon. We keep destroying the place,” she says.
I could picture the destruction that Tyler left. I could picture Decker being mad. “Did he explain?”
“He did. And it’s believable. Did he not find you? He said he was going to Jacob’s to talk to you hours ago.”
My dream. Was it real? Was Tyler really here with me? Did he come to explain and I was to drunk and passed out to listen to him? Where was he when I woke up an hour ago? “I have to go?” I said as I stubbed out my cigarette and pushed out of the chair.
He has to be here. He has to be somewhere. But why did Jimmy help me when I was throwing up? Why didn’t Tyler help me? Was Tyler in the room? Did he go wake up Jimmy? I didn’t think about it until now, Jimmy never would have heard me throwing up.
I walked back into the kitchen and closed the door behind me. I walked into the living room heading toward the steps. I stopped dead in my tracks. There he was sitting on the couch. The couch that was empty just an hour ago as I grabbed Jimmy’s phone from the table. He smiled as my eyes met his. “Come sit, let me explain.”
I sat on the couch next to him. He handed me a photo. Looking down I saw a picture of Tyler. Much younger, but it was Tyler, he was probably sixteen years old. Looking like the typical high school jock. Clean cut, prepp
y fashionable clothes, probably bought at The Gap. He didn’t have the muscles that he has now but he was defined. Exactly the opposite of who I would have dated back then.
Standing next to him however, was the type of guy I would have dated. The bad boy, the boy who didn’t follow the rules. Hair overgrown and shaggy, dyed an electric blue color. Baggy clothes, ripped jeans, black biker boots untied. He looked like he belonged in a rock band.
As I stared at the picture it hit me what I was looking at. It was a picture of Tyler and his brother. Not just any brother. His identical twin brother. They looked the same. Had the same twinkling electric blue eyes. Everything was the same. If it wasn’t for the clothes and dyed hair you would have a hard time telling them apart.
“Theo. Younger by six minutes,” Tyler finally said. “Mom said even in the womb she could tell how different we were and that we weren’t going to get along. We never did. Opposites all our lives, as you can see from the picture.”
I had to laugh. These two were so opposite is was funny to think they were twins. I looked at him with laughter in my voice, “I totally would have chosen your brother over you in high school.”
He laughed, “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Tyler, I‘ve known you almost a year now. Why haven’t you ever talked about your brother?”
He sighed taking the picture from my hands and looking at it sadly. “We don’t really talk. Haven’t in almost eleven years. Not since mom and dad died. In ways I think they were the only thing that held us together that long.” He sighed again. “It doesn’t stop him from using my name and our looks to get what he wants. Women see him and automatically assume it’s me. He doesn’t feel the need to correct them either. Sleeps with them and moves on.”
Somehow I had made my way closer to Tyler and I was now sitting next to him. Pressing into his side, wrapping my arm around his.
“Emily knew about Theo, met him a couple of times. Tried a few times to mend the rift between us. It’s the only thing I can think of. Darlin’ I swear on everything I have, I never slept with Emily again. DNA is the same because as identical twins we have the same DNA. It’s the only thing I can think of. Come with me to Vegas tomorrow after the game. We’ll find my brother, we’ll get it all straightened out. “
I nodded my head at him as I settled into his side. Wrapping his arms around me we settled into comfortable silence.
Tyler didn’t talk about his family much. I knew both his parents were killed in a car accident years ago but besides that I had no idea about his family. To learn that he had not only a brother, but an identical twin is just mind stopping. But, even on top of that, his brother was the “Evil” twin.
Did I want to go and meet this twin? Did I want to go and see what this man was really capable of? If I wanted answers I had to go with him and find out if what he is saying is true. I needed the answers and it was the only way.
I guess I’m getting on a plane and meeting Tyler’s twin brother.
Chapter 12
Tyler gives my bouncing leg a reassuring squeeze as the plane’s tires screech as it tries to slow down. This was my first time on a plane since I was a child and it was the most nerve racking flight I could remember. Not because flying made me nervous, but because I was meeting Tyler’s brother. His twin brother, who seems to use Tyler’s fame for his advantage, and not always a good.
I place my hand on top of his as I look up into his electric blue eyes. I can tell just looking at him he doesn’t want to be here. Can I blame him? No, I can’t. I wouldn’t want to come here and ask my brother who I hadn’t seen in years if he had anything to do with getting my crazy ex pregnant. I smile at him, hoping to calm both mine and his nerves, but I can tell it doesn’t for either of us.
I go through the motions as the plane stops at the terminal and we unload our bags from the storage bin above our heads, we only packed the two carry-ons, as we only plan on spending the night. I barely notice the stares and girls screaming ‘I love you’ at Tyler as we walk through the airport towards our rental car.
I barely noticed as the car pulled out of the spot and we traveled down the road. I expected to head into the heart of the city, expecting his brother to have a penthouse apartment somewhere along the strip, but we headed to north instead. I watched as we passed gated community after gated community, till Tyler finally pulled up to a security booth and pulled out some type of card swiping it through some reader making the gate rise to allow us to pull forward.
I whispered Tyler’s name as we pulled into the driveway of a huge Spanish style house. No, house isn’t the right word for this place. I don’t even think mansion can explain how huge this place is. A huge courtyard with huge Spanish marble slabs leads to an even bigger glass and wrought iron door. Tyler slipped a key into the lock and turned it pushing the door open and ushering me inside.
I looked at Tyler with the silent question of where are we and he answered immediately. “This is my house. It was the first thing I bought after I received my first big league contract.”
I looked back around the house and noticed the same Spanish marble from outside lined the inside with expensive Spanish tile inlaid. The same marble made columns, reaching up to the ceilings that had to be at least twenty feet in height. Hanging from the ceiling were wrought iron and glass chandeliers that matched the front door. A fireplace stretching one wall with an opening taller than me was adorned with a fancy mantle that I don’t think I could even begin to describe the design on it. The marble floor flowed and changed into shiny wood as the front entrance changed into the gigantic living room. Rich leather couches faced toward a wall that was nothing but sliding glass doors opening onto the patio. A hallway led off to the right of the room, I’m guessing leading to all the bedrooms and bathrooms. To the right was a small staircase leading to a loft that was turned into a library with shelf after shelf filled with thousands of books. The kitchen was next to the stairs and it was bigger than I’d even know what to do with. The cabinets were a rich wood and reached almost to the ceiling. I wondered if anything was in those cabinets. Who could reach them? Even standing on the counter I would need a step-stool. There were two islands. The first had a whole bunch of stools around it with glass shelves on the ends to hold knick knacks and cookbooks. The second was almost identical but was a little shorter and had a stove on one part of the counter. One end was a rolling cart that actually looked part of the counter when it was pushed into its spot and the other end was the microwave. The fridge was built in and matched the cabinets and a double stainless steel oven capped off the cabinet’s right before an arched doorway led into a dining room with a table that could rival the one in Decker and Sarah’s apartment.
A splashing sound turned my attention to the opened glass doors leading to the patio. Tyler was already standing there looking outside. I walked over to him a looked at the infinity edge pool. Beyond the pool was a grassed yard looking out over the land and mountains in the distance. A spiral staircase led up to a patio on the roof above the dining room. Wooden loungers lined around the pool with grey cushions on them, a white towel lay across one and a man was doing laps in the pool. He had a tattoo covering his back, but I couldn’t make out what the design was.
I looked up at Tyler wondering if he knew who the man was swimming in his pool was. But the look on his face told me everything I needed to know. Yes. Yes he did know who it was and he wasn’t happy to see him. I turned my attention back to the pool and watched as the man finished his lap and swam toward the far wall. Placing his hands on the edge and hoisting himself out of the pool. His long lean body dripped with water. He reached for the towel and ran it around his body swiping the water from his skin. He draped the towel around his neck and turned. He smirked as he noticed us standing there.
I froze as I took him in. The tattoos across his chest were bigger and different than the few that Tyler had, but I was looking into a mirror image of Tyler. The same black hair, the same lips, cheeks and the same amazing
sparkling blue eyes. He no longer looked like the bad boy in the photo Tyler showed me, no, now he looked just like Tyler.
His eyes drifted towards me and that smirk turned into what could only be described as a panty dropping smile. His long legs started to move as he brought himself closer to Tyler and me. Something about him made me uncomfortable. He stopped right in front of me and looked down at me. I could see the trouble in his blue eyes and it made me shrink an inch and slide into Tyler’s side, trying to hide from him.
“Who is this little cupcake?” He asked almost sounding like Tyler. “She would look wonderful tied to my bed with her ass red after a good spanking.”
He lifted his hand and reached for me and I stepped back hiding myself behind Tyler. I’m sure he could feel my body shaking as I pressed into his back. Tyler’s hand wrapped around Theo’s wrist, stopping him from touching me, “Don’t touch her,” he barked in a tone that I only heard when he was really mad.
Theo’s lust filled eyes turned angry as he turned to his brother. “What do you want? Why are you here in my house…”
“It’s my house. I pay the mortgage. It’s in my name. I allow you to stay here to keep you the fuck out of my life. But it turns out you’re still in it. Fucking around with my life. Isn’t it time to grow up?”
“What the fuck ever you’re talking about. I don’t give a shit what you do and I don’t give a shit about anybody in your life.” His eyes turned to me. “Unless this little cupcake will let me whip her then fuck her.”
