The Wild One

by Taylor, Theodora

  “Still…that’s really brave to change career paths at our age. I’m proud of you.”

  “You’re pretty cool yourself. I mean you’re a physical therapist, right? And other than the asshole husband, you seem like a really great person. From what I’ve heard, everybody loves you.”

  “Oh, whoever told you that is really kind…”

  She trailed off then, perhaps realizing, as Roxxy had in that moment, that the person who had told her that was still in the room, and moreover had been under the impression she was Layla for the past two weeks.

  Roxxy turned to Andrew. “Again, I just want to say how sorry I am. I know you’re thinking right now that you were sleeping with an imposter, but please believe me when I tell you—I’ve been pretending to be somebody else, somebody cooler and sexier than I really am nearly all of my adult life. But the person who’s been with you, the woman who fell in love with you in under two weeks. She’s real. And I have never felt more real than when I was with you.”

  But the way Andrew was looking at her, it was like a stranger was staring her down. “You lied to me,” he said. “You lied to me every single day you spent under my roof.”

  “Yeah, I did,” she admitted. “But I didn’t lie to you about the important things. Like how I felt about you. I never lied about that.”

  In what Roxxy could guess was an unfamiliar gesture of solidarity, Nathan placed a hand on Andrew’s shoulder.

  “I can see how you’d be taken in by her. She looks just like Layla and maybe she really believes what she’s saying. We’ll give her mother a few hours to get here, then we’ll take it from there.”

  Andrew looked at Roxxy like she was a piece of toxic waste, then he gave a stiff nod, acquiescing to Nathan’s suggestion.

  Roxxy reached out to Andrew, who had said goodbye to her with such love in his eyes the last time they saw each other. That now felt like eons ago.

  “Don’t touch me,” he said, his voice hard as nails. “You can stay here until your mother arrives, then you’re leaving with her. I don’t care who you fucking are. I never want to see you again.”

  CHAPTER 23

  “I don’t care who you fucking are. I never want to see you again.”

  Andrew’s words reverberated through her head over the next few hours, which Roxxy spent alone, after once again taking solace in the hay barn. But this time when the barn door opened it wasn’t Andrew, but Layla.

  “Oh good, you’re here,” she said. “A few of the ranch hands told me you might be.”

  Roxxy winced, thinking of the ever-present ranch hands, all of whom had thought she was the woman now asking how to find her. “Is everyone mad at me?”

  “No,” Layla answered, sitting down beside her. “Just really, really curious. You can kind of tell it’s taking every ounce of politeness they have not to grill me about what’s going on. But it’s not so bad. You should come back out. We could go to dinner. You probably haven’t had anything to eat all day, right?”

  Roxxy smiled despite herself. “You’re being really nice. And I have no idea why after what I did. You should be even madder at me than Andrew.”

  Layla rubbed her back. “Andrew’s not just mad, he’s embarrassed. And he feels like you tricked him on purpose.”

  “I didn’t,” Roxxy said.

  “I know you didn’t. I believe you.”

  Roxxy blinked. “You believe me?”

  “Yes, and I think Andrew will eventually come around, too. We just have to give him some time. Having your mom come and tell us the whole story will definitely help.” Layla cut herself off. “I guess I should be calling her our mom. I already feel connected to you, but I’m finding it hard to believe my mom is still out there living and breathing.”

  Now Roxxy reached to take Layla’s hand. “She is, but don’t get your hopes up when it comes to her. She’s not exactly what you’d call maternal, and growing up with her was no picnic. She makes other stage moms look like Suzy Homemaker.”

  “But she raised you, right?” Layla said, hope burning in her eyes. “And you’re successful?”

  “Yeah, she raised me but it’s looking like she abandoned you. And if I know my mom, she’ll say it’s because you weren’t able to sing at the age of three. My earliest memories are of going out on audition after audition. And I have a feeling she’s going to dump me like a useless boyfriend once she finds out I’m going back to school.” Roxxy didn’t realize how bitter she was about all of this until she said the words, “If I wasn’t making her a ton of money, I don’t think she’d want anything to do with me.”

  Layla gave her a sympathetic look. “Let’s just wait and see, okay? Sometimes people come off a certain way, but then they surprise you. For example, even Nathan’s brother thought he was a jerk who only cared about himself. To tell you the truth, even I kind of got that vibe off of Nathan when we first met. But then he turned out to be the most loving man. I feel so lucky we found each other again and got married. I’ve never been so happy.”

  Roxxy didn’t answer, just gave Layla a sideways look. Nathan had accused Roxxy of being delusional when she finally told everyone the truth, but he might want to look at his own wife. That man was a jerk, and Layla acted like he’d hung the stars in the sky. Still, she’d rather have a crazy-but-really-nice sister than none at all, so she went back to Andrew.

  “You really think Andrew will forgive me someday? He made it pretty clear he has no time in his life for liars.”

  Layla snorted. “Andrew’s a very kind man, but he’s no saint. About a year into our college relationship, I started developing feelings for Nathan that I could no longer deny. But when I tried to break it off with Andrew, he kissed me in an attempt to show me he was just as passionate as Nathan. Nathan walked in on us and jumped to the conclusion that I had slept with him but decided to stay with Andrew, and he ran out before I could explain. Shortly after, I got pushed down the stairs and lost my memory of both Andrew and Nathan and everything that had gone down between us. Nathan continued to believe I had chosen Andrew over him for ten years, and Andrew never told him the truth. He even got married to his wife, Diana, and let Nathan suffer the entire time because he didn’t think Nathan deserved me.”

  As much as she loved her sister, Roxxy had to point out, “I’m kind of with Andrew here. You’re great. Your husband definitely doesn’t deserve you.”

  Layla shook her head with stubborn pride. “I know he’s a little rough around the edges and harsh. But I love him, and Andrew knew that. He purposefully kept us apart for nearly a decade. Then it all came to a head when he asked his wife for a divorce. She thought we were back together and tried to shoot me. If I hadn’t rushed her at the last minute, and she didn’t accidentally end up shooting herself, I’d be dead right now instead of sitting here talking to you.”

  “Whoa,” Roxxy said. She had known the back story everyone kept referring to would be dramatic, but—“Are you sure you’re not living in a soap opera come to life? Because that’s some cray-cray drama right there.”

  Layla laughed. “I know, right. And now I’ve got a famous twin? I’m surprised Lifetime hasn’t made a movie about me yet.”

  Roxxy laughed, too. “I know people. We could make it happen.”

  Layla giggled even harder. “No, that’s okay. People are still stopping me on the street to ask me about that story with Andrew’s wife. I really not trying to invite any more attention.”

  When their laughter finally died down, Layla said, “My main point is, if I can forgive Andrew for all of that, then he can forgive you for not telling him the whole truth from the beginning. Andrew has been very careful with women since his last wife turned out to have…” Layla, whom Roxxy was beginning to see, was unfailingly kind, searched for the most polite term, “…major issues. And don’t forget, he dumped his girlfriend to be with you.”

  Another wave of guilt. “I didn’t ask him to do that.”

  “Exactly. There has to be more to his feelings than thin
king I was available. The way he talked to me when he thought I was you—there was more passion in his anger than I’d seen from him in our entire relationship. And I saw the look on his face when he walked in on you and Nathan kissing. You really hurt him.”

  “And that’s a good thing?” Roxxy asked, shaking her head in confusion.

  “Yes!” Layla insisted. “When you love somebody, I mean really love them, then you don’t shrug your shoulders and wish them well when they tell you they want to be with someone else. Andrew loved me, but when I asked him that second time to let me go in order to be with Nathan, he didn’t put up a fight. Like at all. And even when I admitted to cheating on him with Nathan, he was more concerned with winning me back from his brother than what I’d done. He never really got angry with me. It was more like he was angry because Nathan had one-upped him.”

  Layla patted Roxxy on the back. “Just let your mom—our mom explain and Andrew will eventually come around.” She put her arm around Roxxy’s shoulders and squeezed. “I have a good feeling about you two.”

  For the first time that day, Roxxy started to feel a little optimistic herself. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.” Layla gave her a bright smile. “Just wait and see.”

  And Roxxy found herself smiling back. She didn’t know if Layla’s prediction would come true, but she could already tell one thing for sure. She was going to really love having a sister.

  WHEN A KNOCK SOUNDED ON HIS OFFICE DOOR a few hours after the look-a-like farce went down, Andrew half-expected it to be Layla—the real Layla, not the one who had been duping him for weeks now. The real Layla was the kind of person who couldn’t bear to see others in pain and might insist on coming upstairs to comfort him. She wouldn’t realize that just looking at her was painful for him now, because it reminded him of the fantasy he’d been peddled and how stupid he’d been.

  He didn’t want to hurt Layla’s feelings but called out, “Leave me alone until further notice.”

  His brother came strolling into the room a few seconds later, like Andrew hadn’t requested that the person at the door go away. Typical Nathan.

  “So you like to sulk in your office, too,” Nathan said, looking around. “When I was getting back together with Layla, I clocked a lot of hours in mine. Sometimes it felt like the only place that made any goddamn sense.”

  Andrew slumped in his chair. “If you’ve come to gloat, save it. You can’t make me feel any worse than I already do.”

  Nathan dropped into a guest chair. “Please don’t use the word ‘can’t’ with me. You know how hard I find it to back down from a challenge.”

  Andrew ignored the bait his brother was trying to dangle in front of him. With him and Nathan, it was a thin line between words and a physical fight. But Andrew was feeling too beat down himself to fight with his brother in either way right now, so he stayed silent, waiting for Nathan to get to the point of his visit.

  Nathan shrugged. “Look, I promised Layla before our wedding that I’d work on my relationship with you and I haven’t been doing all that good a job at it. Believe me, she was livid when I told her I’d been trying to get a hold of you for two weeks after you called me, and you hadn’t returned any of my calls. She’s the one who insisted we fly out here and make sure you were all right. Good thing she did, too, or that girl would have gone on tricking you indefinitely.”

  “So you’re here to get a thank you for coming out here unannounced?” Andrew asked him.

  “No, I’m here because you’re still my brother, and even if you did get it on with a crazy clone of my wife, I don’t like when other people take advantage of you. I’m thinking we should sue her for fraud. Take her for everything she has, so she thinks twice before ever pulling this stunt again.”

  Andrew was strangely touched by his brother’s words. “Thanks, but I don’t want revenge. I just want her to go away, so I can forget any of this ever happened.”

  “Okay, how about if I work the revenge angle, and then let you know when it’s done? You’d be surprise how much better revenge can make you feel.”

  “You mean like when you got Layla to agree to leave Pittsburgh forever, because you were so angry at her when you thought she’d chosen me over you? How did that little piece of revenge work out? Last I checked she was still living in Pittsburgh, and with you no less.”

  Nathan glared at him. “Not the same thing at all. Layla was a victim. This chick came out here with every attention of playing you.”

  Andrew shook his head. He wished he could get himself as worked up as his brother right now. He’d love to concentrate on revenge and nothing else. But he couldn’t get past what had happened in the living room.

  When he’d walked in on Fake Layla kissing Nathan, he’d want to punch his brother for even daring to touch her. And even after he realized this woman wasn’t really Layla, it hadn’t stopped him from wanting to throw her over his shoulder, take her up to his room, and show her in every way it was him she wanted and not his brother.

  And when she’d told that impossible story…

  “I want it to be true,” he confessed, though he’d made it a point throughout his life never, ever to share his feelings with his callous brother. “I want her to really be the witness Steve Kass was supposed to drop off with me, because if she really is who she says she is, then maybe I can forgive her.” He shook his head. “You think this is all about me wanting to get with your wife, but believe me, I had let Layla go. I’d moved on. But then this woman showed up, and it was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. My dick gets hard every time she walks into the room. And she told me some things about herself, stuff I don’t think anybody could make up. Plus, she can sing. I mean, really well. She got up on stage at this bar we were at and she had the whole crowd in the palm of her hand.”

  Nathan rolled his eyes. “Congratulations, the woman you were sleeping with is not only a liar and a psycho, but also an American Idol reject.”

  Andrew didn’t watch much television, but even he got what Nathan was trying to say. Being able to sing well didn’t make Fake Layla the music superstar she was claiming to be.

  “I think I knew deep down she wasn’t really Layla, because Layla and I got along, but we never had anything close to the chemistry I had with this woman.”

  Nathan shrugged. “I get it. She’s hot. Believe me, I had a hard time keeping my hands off Layla myself. But you’ve got to understand, her story has about a one and a million chance of being true. If it is, that means, somehow of all the places, this rock star who no one has seen without her makeup could have been sent, it’s to the brother-in-law of the twin sister she didn’t know she had. The odds of that happening are—“

  “Astronomical,” Andrew finished for him, a dark cloud once again settling over him. “I know.”

  But Nathan kept on going. “On the other hand, people become obsessed with people all the time—especially rich and famous people. We were all over the news when that stuff with Diana went down. Anyone could have glommed on to that story and started spinning a fantasy that got out of control. In any case, it’s way more likely she’s completely nuts than Layla’s long lost twin sister.”

  He was right. Andrew knew Nathan was right. And it made him feel like a psycho himself to hold on to the hope that somehow fate had conspired to bring him the perfect woman in the form of Layla’s long-lost twin. But he couldn’t stop himself.

  And when he saw a BMW pull up outside the front of the house, he sat up in his seat. A well put-together black woman climbed out of the car and looked around. Andrew stood up to get a better look at her. Even in the dim light of the setting sun, he could see she resembled Roxxy and Layla enough to have some family connection.

  “She doesn’t look old enough to be their mother,” Nathan said, getting up to stand with him at the window.

  Andrew’s face became grim. “Let’s go get some answers,” he said to his brother.

  CHAPTER 24

  WHEN the door to the barn open
ed a second time, Roxxy stood up, because she thought it might be Andrew. But it was actually Nathan who came through the door followed by Shirelle and then, finally Andrew.

  “Roxxanne!” her mother cried out when she saw her. She ran to Roxxy and engulfed her in a fierce hug. “Thank God, you’re okay.”

  Roxxy was a little taken aback by her mother’s enthusiastic greeting. Shirelle hadn’t hugged her in years, especially not this tight. Maybe Layla had been right about people surprising you. “I’m fine. And thank you for coming,” she said. “Now that you’re here you can explain why you did what you did.”

  Her mother pulled back from her, shaking her head. “What are you talking about, Roxxane?”

  “I’m talking about the twin sister you never told me about.”

  Shirelle squinted at Layla as if seeing her for the first time. “Oh my God, you’re Layla Sinclair, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I am,” Layla said, obviously confused. “And I was under the impression you might be my mother. Our mother.”

  “Oh no,” Shirelle said, backing away from Roxxy. “Roxxanne’s been obsessed with you for awhile now, ever since she saw your story in the paper. And when she spent her life savings to get plastic surgery to look like you…”

  “What?” Roxxy asked. “You’re the one who’s in love with plastic surgery. I don’t even get botox!”

  Shirelle went on like she hadn’t even spoken. “I’m afraid, she became too much for our family to handle. We had her committed to a facility.”

  “Why are you lying?” Roxxy demanded, realizing now that her mother was seriously making up a story about her as opposed to telling everyone the truth.

  Shirelle hung her head in what looked like abject sorrow. “Whenever I came to visit her at the facility, she’d be talking about you and how you should have picked Andrew Sinclair, because obviously he loved you.“

  “What?” Roxxy said. “No, I haven’t! I never even heard of any of you before I came to the ranch.”