Her Tiger Twins

by Bonnie Burrows

  She opened her eyes again and this time he turned her face so that she had to look at him.

  “Did I fall asleep?” she asked innocently.

  “Sort of.”

  “My head hurts.”

  “I’m sure it does.”

  “What happened?”

  She struggled to keep her voice neutral, but it quivered nonetheless. She hoped that he would attribute it to the injury and not get suspicious.

  “I don’t know,” he said, handsome face looking genuinely concerned.

  Samantha’s stomach turned.

  “I found you laying on your front porch, and I tried to get you to the hospital, but the storm is too violent.” He reached out and cupped her cheek tenderly. “It would be awful if I wrecked the car and we both needed to go to the hospital.”

  “Where are we?”

  She tried to sit up, her head reeling so that she didn’t need to fake that reaction either.

  “Try not to move too fast. I’ll get some ice and I’ll be right back. Just wait right here, okay?”

  “Okay.” She smiled sweetly at him, looking into his eyes with the best puppy love expression she could muster under the circumstances. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

  He reached out, cupping her cheek so gently. He leaned down and pressed his lips to her ear.

  “I’d do anything for you,” he whispered into her ear.

  There was a flash of recognition in the darkness. Her eyes closed, the weight of the man on the bed, everything about this moment was exactly the same as it had been before. Samantha’s eyes flew open, but he’d already stood and left the room. He left the door open when he passed through the door, his silhouette dark against the soft light that made its way down the hall from the living room.

  Samantha’s heart was pounding against her ribcage. She’d recognized that whisper, and the feel of the man hovering inches above her for the rest of her life. A single tear spilled over her cheek as Samantha fought down the new wave of panic that was coursing through her. This was worse than she’d originally thought, as if there was such a thing as worse than her current situation. Somehow, life had thrown her the ultimate plot twist and she’d completely missed it.

  Grant wasn’t just another stalker; Grant was her stalker. She didn’t know how, but he had found her.

  She was in even more danger than she’d ever imagined.

  *

  “Did you get a hold of her?” Jacob asked his brother as he finished up the last work email and closed his laptop.

  “It keeps going straight to voicemail.”

  “Maybe it’s the storm. The weather reports are all saying that it’s pretty bad in the mountains.”

  “I guess that makes sense. Or maybe she shut her phone off so we couldn’t contact her.”

  “That’s a possibility,” Jacob admitted, “but Samantha seemed pretty straightforward. If she didn’t want anything to do with us, I’m pretty sure she’d just say so.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “How many times have you called? You don’t want to look desperate,” Jacob teased.

  “Just tonight. I think you’re right about it being the storm. That makes a lot more sense.”

  “And it’s less paranoid than you assuming that she’s turning off her phone on the off chance that we might call her.”

  Dylan rolled his eyes at Jacob.

  “I get it, Jake. I don’t expect you to see what I see in her, but I don’t know. I think she’s special.”

  “They’re all special.”

  “I’m being serious here. You didn’t feel it? How being with her felt so,” he paused, searching for just the word, “right?”

  Jacob took a deep breath, shaking his head and letting his gaze fall.

  “All kidding aside,” he said, “I felt it, too. Being with her didn’t feel like some forced fantasy, or a night of passion followed by a morning of regret.”

  “And leaving her felt so weird, didn’t it?”

  “What are you saying, Dylan? Are you in love with her?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  Jacob didn’t answer, but Dylan saw it in his eyes. Whether he was willing to admit it or not, he was in love with Samantha.

  “So what now?” Jake asked.

  “The ball really is in her court. Until we talk to her, I don’t really know what the next move is.”

  “If there is a next move.”

  “You’re always so skeptical.”

  “And you’re always so willing to trust.”

  “So what do we do if she’s not interested?”

  “We do what we’ve always done.”

  “Can you do that? Because I’m not sure that I can. Not after spending time with her.”

  “You may not have a choice if she’s not interested. It’s her loss, I guess,” Jacob said. “But I would be a liar if I said that I wouldn’t be disappointed. I really enjoyed spending time with her.”

  When Dylan didn’t say anything, Jacob continued.

  “Have there been any hits on the dating site? If Samantha isn’t interested, we should move on. Don’t you think?”

  “I don’t, actually, and there’s not going to be any hits online,” Dylan said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I switched our account to ‘unavailable’ when we got home from her house the other day.”

  “What the hell for?”

  Dylan shrugged.

  “I can’t really explain it. I just don’t think anyone else is going to measure up to her, so why even bother?”

  “Then send her a text or something then leave it alone. She’ll contact us or she won’t. It’s just that simple.”

  “What should it say?”

  “Are you serious, Dylan?” Jacob laughed and shook his head. “Man, you’ve got it bad. Give me the phone, I’ll take care of it.”

  He swiped the phone out of Dylan’s hand, typing quickly and hitting send.

  “What did you say?”

  “Simple. I asked her if she was free to hang out this weekend.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yep. No need to make it complicated.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “I’m always right,” Jacob said.

  He jabbed Dylan in the ribs as he passed by.

  “Where are you going now?”

  “It’s late. I’m going to sleep.”

  ***

  Samantha waited until she could hear Grant moving around in the kitchen before she got out of bed. She went straight for the bathroom, hoping to find something she could use to defend herself in there. Stumbling around in the dark, she felt dizzy and a little nauseous still. She felt the wall, trying to find the switch to turn the light on so she could see.

  “It’s behind the door,” Grant said, startling Samantha so badly that she cried out in shock. “It’s a really weird place for it, right?”

  He flipped the switch on and smiled, the expression wicked on his handsome face. Samantha squinted against the glare, resisting the urge to throw her hands up to shield her eyes.

  “Did you want to take something for the pain?”

  “No,” she said.

  Her voice sounded distant and fragile, as if it were not her own. Her vulnerability must have touched him somehow, because his expression softened and he reached out to her. She fought her instinct to pull away, standing her ground and hoping that her act was convincing.

  She was injured and weaker than Grant so the only way that she was going to get away was to catch him off-guard. As much as it sickened her to feel his hand on her arm, if she wanted out, she had to pretend that she wasn’t repulsed by his very existence. It was what one of her characters would have done, and she didn’t see any other way out. It wasn’t like she could defeat him with brute force.

  “You don’t have to take anything strong if you’re worried about side effects. I have basic painkillers that will take the edge off enough so that you can sleep. You need to sle
ep, you’re sick.”

  Sick? Was he serious? He was acting like the attack in my home hadn’t even happened, she thought. Did he really think I’d forgotten? He hadn’t hit my head that hard.

  She raised her hand to her head, looking at herself in the mirror over the sink as she touched the gash in the center of her forehead gingerly.

  “What happened?” she asked innocently.

  “You got hurt when the lights went out,” he said simply, not even bothering to expand on his statement.

  Was he leaving out the obvious intentionally or did he really believe what he’d just said? Samantha wondered.

  The look in his eyes told her it was a little of both.

  He’s going to kill me, she thought. If I don’t get away, he’s going to end up killing me.

  An involuntary shudder passed through her. She trembled for a moment. It just kept getting worse and worse. She was trapped on the mountain with a madman and no one knew where she was. What was worse, help was only a few miles away.

  “I think I need to go to the hospital,” she said.

  “I can’t do that, Samantha. I think we both know why.”

  “I feel so sick. I don’t know if I’m going to be alright.”

  “You’ll be alright. You’re tougher than you give yourself credit for.”

  He held out the bag of ice wrapped in a dishtowel that he’d gotten for her, and offered her a single, tiny white pain killer.

  “Take this,” he said. “You’ll feel a lot better in the morning.”

  “What is that?”

  “Just take it.”

  He handed the pill to Samantha and she held it in her hand for a moment.

  “If I have to, Samantha, I will shove it down your throat. Don’t test me.”

  Samantha popped it into her mouth, pushing it against her cheek with her tongue and swallowing dramatically.

  “Good girl,” he said, smiling at her.

  “I need to use the bathroom,” she said softly.

  “Of course. I’ll wait outside so that I can tuck you in. You need your rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

  He stepped out of the room but left the door open. Samantha ignored him. If he wanted to stand outside of the room and listen to her pee, that was on him. Out of sight, she dropped the pill into her hand and wrapped it in a square of toilet paper while she used the restroom. She flushed, letting the tiny square of paper fall in the toilet and the unused pill spin down into the drain.

  She washed her hands and picked up her toothbrush to brush her teeth.

  “It’s a good thing that you thought to pack everything you’d need,” Grant said, appearing in the doorway once more. “There’s no telling how long we’ll be out here.”

  “Will the medicine help me sleep?” she asked, ignoring his statement.

  “It will. I have some things I need to do, but I’ll stay in the room with you until you fall asleep if you’d like.”

  Samantha wanted to scream. She could handle a lot of things, but somehow, Grant’s insistence that they were just a normal couple going through the motions of a normal life were just too much. She wanted to throat punch him, but she had to play his game if she wanted to survive, even if she felt like she was falling further into the pits of madness with each exchange.

  She took a deep breath, smiling at his reflection in the mirror.

  “You’ve done so much today. Do what you need to do, I can sleep by myself. I won’t even know you’re not there.”

  He smiled back at her.

  “You’re so strong. That’s what I love about you, Samantha. You’re so resilient. No matter what the world throws at you, you just take it in stride. I’m so glad that we found each other. I couldn’t imagine my life without you.”

  Samantha’s stomach turned and she struggled to hold down the rage that was bubbling just beneath the surface. His delusions were so over the top, she had a hard time believing that anyone could possibly believe them. But that was the hallmark of a stalker, wasn’t it? He’d felt a connection with her through whatever interaction he believed they’d had and it just built from there.

  She didn’t even know when that had happened, but from what she’d read she was pretty sure that he could have seen her doing an interview on television or heard her talking on the radio and decided that she was sending him a personal message right then and there. It was a scary thought, and even if she had taken the pill he’d nearly shoved down her throat, she doubted she would be getting any sleep tonight.

  “Do you need help getting into bed?” he asked gently.

  He was looking at her hands when he said it. She looked down, only then realizing that she’d been staring into the mirror, hands gripping the sink, knuckles white.

  “I think I can manage. But will you talk to me for a while?”

  “Of course.”

  Samantha followed him out of the room and back towards the bed. She sat down, taking her time laying her aching head on the pillow. Grant pulled the quilt up over her shoulders and tucked her in.

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  “I was trying to remember the first time we met and I couldn’t. Can you help me remember?”

  Grant smiled brilliantly, straight teeth flashing in the dimly lit room. You would have thought she’d asked him to recount the birth of his firstborn, he was so giddy.

  “I can’t believe you don’t remember.”

  “I almost do,” she lied. “The details are so cloudy. I can’t even remember much about yesterday, so I think it’s just my head.”

  He looked concerned at that and Samantha had a brief moment where she thought he might actually take her to the hospital. Just as quickly as it had come, the moment passed and Samantha was right back where she’d started.

  “Of course. I didn’t realize,” he said by way of an apology. “It was at a book signing. I waited in line for what seemed like forever, and you were getting tired. I could tell by looking at you.”

  Samantha closed her eyes, trying to remember exactly where he was talking about. She’d done so many book signings and nothing was jumping out at her.

  “I heard the man beside you ask if you wanted to quit, and do you know what you told him?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “You told him that everyone there had waited very patiently and that you weren’t leaving until every last person had a signed book.”

  Samantha had said that more than once, so she was still struggling to remember the exact time that had happened. She was coming up empty, so she decided to let it go. Whatever connection they’d had then had been in his head anyway. She couldn’t remember something she didn’t experience.

  “When it was finally my turn, I walked up and handed you my book. I thanked you for staying and you said the words that would change my life.”

  “Without fans like you, I wouldn’t be here at all,” they said in unison.

  “You do remember,” Grant laughed.

  “I do,” she said, and it was the truth.

  It had been a very long time ago, and she had forgotten the exchange until he’d reminded her. What she’d said was sincere, but somehow he’d twisted her words into a personal declaration and a moment of connection.

  “I’m glad you shared that with me,” she said. “I’m tired now. Can you close the door so the light doesn’t get in?”

  “Of course. I have to finish getting the house ready. In the morning, if you’re feeling better, we can look at the entire property. You’re going to love it here, and we can live in whichever house you love the best. I only chose this one because it was already furnished. So if you don’t like the furniture, we can order anything your heart desires.”

  He turned to her, cupping her face in his hands and looking deep into her eyes.

  “I want you to be happy, and I’ll move heaven and earth to do that. Just say the word and it’s yours.”

  He leaned down and Samantha panicked.

  “I’m feeling ill; can you get me a cup of
water?”

  He stopped, looking irritated and covering the expression quickly.

  “Of course,” he said, getting her a small glass of water from the bathroom and setting it on the nightstand. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Before she could protest, he leaned down and kissed her cheek and stood to leave. He pulled the door behind him, and Samantha’s heart sank when she heard the lock turn on the door. She didn’t have to turn on the light and look to know that he’d turned the handle around, leaving the keyhole on her side and locking her into the room until he opened the door.

  She balled her fists in frustration, cursing the world at large under her breath. She would find a way to get out of here, even with the door locked.

  She slipped quietly out of bed and went to work. There was a weakness in Grant’s plan, she just had to find it.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  After tossing and turning all night, Mabel finally crawled out of bed at the crack of dawn. She couldn’t sleep anyway, she might as well get up and get things done.

  No matter how she tried, she couldn’t shake the self-loathing she felt for her part in Samantha’s sudden move. She knew that logically, it was Grant’s fault and only he could be held liable for his actions. But as she looked back at the events of the last few days, she couldn’t believe everything that had happened.

  She was angry at her brother, but mostly, she was angry at herself. He’d manipulated her into helping him stalk Samantha, and Mabel couldn’t believe she’d had a part in that, let alone a starring role.

  Mabel went through the motions of breakfast, feeling raw and broken inside. She’d lost the two people she cared about most, all in the space of one day. Sure, they were both alive, but Grant wasn’t the brother she’d known and loved. He was a shell of the man he’d once been; a twisted version of the big brother she’d always looked up to.

  Then there was Samantha. Samantha said she wasn’t mad, but how could she not be? Samantha moved to Barnes Point to get away from crazy fans and city life. Then in came Mabel, serving up her crazy brother on a silver platter.

  “Stop it,” she said out loud. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

  She had to get out of the house and do something or she would go mad. She checked her phone, noting that Grant had never replied to her text the night before. It wasn’t surprising at all. Grant was arrogant and so full of himself at times that he would never consider that he was in the wrong. Grant had Mabel convinced that he had changed in the last year, but she knew now that she had been manipulated. For how long, she had no idea, but it was clear that she’d never really known who her brother was.