Identical Disaster (The Sterling Shore Series Book 8)

by C. M. Owens

  She leans closer as she gazes out at the ocean. “My dad’s name is Vince, my mom’s name is Val, and my... um... friend’s name is Shanna.”

  She started to say something else, but I have no idea what. I’m just shocked that she told me that much. In five minutes, I’ve learned more about her than I have in two weeks. And people call me private.

  This trip might have been a bad idea, because now I want to ask her more questions. What happens if she turns out to be more than just a hot time?

  The last thing I need is a serious relationship of any kind. My gym is still somewhat new, and my time is getting to be more of a rarity these days. This trip is the last of the free time I’ll have for a while.

  Bo nestles in closer, making me grin. She’s never much for cuddling, so it’s actually a little sweet to see her doing it. Especially since there hasn’t been any sex.

  Yet.

  “What has you opening up tonight?” I ask, frowning at how she tenses against me.

  “I thought talking would be better than our usual interactions, given the fact your family is downstairs. Your turn to talk. Why does your mother think I’m a gold digger?”

  I burst out laughing, admittedly a little shocked, and she leans up to gaze at me, seeming honestly confused. I roll my eyes as I lean forward and kiss her swiftly, loving how much softer her lips have felt. It’s as though they’re a whole new set of lips, even though they look exactly the same.

  “I suppose it’s because I’m set to inherit the family ‘fortune.’ My father owns a decent sized business. It’s not Sterling money, but it’s still a chunk. She’s going to think any woman without a severely wealthy family is after my money, but I’m not going to take over the business. She’s just the only one who hasn’t figured that out yet.”

  I decide not to mention the fact that my mother has already stalked her and learned of her living situation. I could tell Mom that Bora… er, Bo and I have a sexual relationship and little else, but that might cause a major meltdown.

  “Who’s to say I don’t have a severely wealthy family? In fact, I could be independently wealthy and have family money at the same time.”

  The challenge in her eyes is intriguing, but I’ve seen her small apartment. Not to mention, she usually takes the bus to my house. I’ve never even seen her car, if she has one.

  “I’m not judging. You could be flat broke. We’re just having fun, which is nicer than the way you usually lay it out there. It’s not like either of us is looking for something serious.”

  The look in her eyes confuses me. Usually she’s too busy talking dirty to have a real conversation. I’m positive this is the first time we’ve ever spoken about anything of substance.

  “You don’t think much of me, do you?” she says, a disappointed look marring those sexy, soft lips. I prefer her smile. The smiles I’ve seen on her today have been genuine, warm, and damn near unmanning.

  “Because I don’t think you come from wealth? Why are you getting so defensive?” I ask.

  She shakes her head, acting as though she’s shrugging it off, but the disappointment still resides in her eyes. Even in the dark, it’s easy to see. What’s going on?

  “Skin deep,” I hear her mutter.

  What?

  She’s calling me skin deep? She’s the shallowest person I know. And where did that come from?

  I laugh humorlessly while she moves over on the small couch. The air out here just got stuffy.

  “Picking a fight with me on the first day?” I muse, trying to defuse the situation.

  “No. Just reminding myself about the truth. This is skin deep. Nothing more. So I shouldn’t be getting so... um... well, I think that’s enough. You can go to bed if you want to. I’m sure you’re tired. You haven’t slept as much as I have.”

  Getting so what? Just the other day she was telling me I was getting too clingy because I asked her to spend the night. It was raining, and I didn’t want her having to wait on a bus. She refuses to let me drive her home. Hell, I’ve only gone to her apartment a few times, and that was because we were closer to her place than mine on those occasions. She kicked me out the second we were done. We’ve never once spent the night with each other. She also called me clingy for inviting her on this trip, but I had ulterior motives for this.

  “Yeah,” I mumble, deciding to skip the argument. “I’m pretty tired. You staying out here?”

  The flight must have really screwed with her head, because she’s not acting like herself at all.

  “For a while,” she says on a sigh, not bothering to look at me. Her eyes stay trained on the ocean, but she seems a million miles away.

  “I’ll... er... see you soon?”

  Why do I sound so nervous?

  “Yeah. I’ll be down in a bit.”

  I nod as I stand up, still waiting on her to look at me, but she doesn’t. Her eyes stay fixed ahead, so I leave, warily glancing at her several more times before disappearing into the secret hole.

  She’s just confused the shit out of me. I swear that’s not really Bora out there.

  Chapter 9

  JAX

  Something tickles my throat and burns my nose, causing me to wake up in a coughing fit. A toxic haze burns my eyes, and I gasp for a clean breath that I can’t find.

  A blaring-red three looks at me from a blinking clock, but it’s so foggy. I cough harder, still struggling to breathe, and screams echo through the house. People are screaming my name, but I have no idea what’s going on.

  “Jax!” Dad yells, sounding real damn close, but this thick, burning fog hinders me from seeing him.

  I feel a strong tugging at my arm, just as glass shatters, and suddenly I’m being shoved hard.

  My stomach tilts like I’m falling… I’m falling?

  My breath leaves in a painful rush when I hit the rock beneath me. No… That’s sand. It’s not so soft when you land on it. It always seems so soft between your toes.

  Toes. Sand. Air. What the hell?

  “Jax!” Mom yells, and suddenly a clean breath of air catches me, and I cough harder, feeling a ripping sensation at my chest like it’s being clawed and knifed from the inside.

  Mom falls to my side, clutching my arms.

  “We couldn’t find you. Oh my goodness. I was so worried,” she sobs.

  Why is she sobbing?

  Everything is still so blurry, and nothing is making sense. It’s like being jarred awake in the middle of a dream, stuck between dreamland and reality, but you’re not sure which place you’re in.

  Drunkenly shrugging her off, I stagger to my feet, aching and disoriented. I turn just in time to see the house ablaze as Dad lands on the ground, grunting and groaning as he hits the merciless sand as hard as I did.

  “What the hell?” I say through a cough, slowly finding some clarity.

  “Where’s Bora?” Dad shouts.

  He looks like he’s taken a bath in charcoal.

  I’m still confused when suddenly his words resonate.

  My heart sinks to my toes as I look at the house that’s now in raging flames, the fire only growing stronger by the second.

  “Bo!” Helen screams, panicking as she races toward the house for the girl she doesn’t even know.

  “No!” Dad yells, catching the woman by the waist. “It’s too late.”

  “The roof! She was on the roof when I left her!” I yell, feeling my chest caving in on itself.

  Viv and Mom gasp when the house creaks and cracks, groaning as though it’s about to fall apart at any minute.

  I start running toward it, only to be blocked by flames. Just as I’m about to attempt climbing up the side, I see a shadow sliding down a pole like a fireman.

  “Hot. Hot. Hot,” a voice chants, cursing before a body hits the ground.

  “Bo!” Helen screams again, racing toward the shadow.

  “I’m here,” Bo says through a cough, running away from the house.

  Shit. Fuck. Oh thank fuck.

 
; I stumble in an attempt to get to her, but Helen beats me, and they lock in an embrace like they’re old friends. I finally make it to her, and she launches herself into my arms, holding onto me while she trembles.

  “Get away from the house! It’s going to collapse!” Dad barks, grabbing Helen and shoving us down the beach.

  We all rush away, but I never let go of Bo. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this craziness.

  “The fire department is too far out,” Helen whimpers. “It’s gone. It’s all gone.”

  “What happened?” Bo asks through a cough. “I woke up when I heard screaming. The only thing I could find was that old antenna pole.”

  “Thank God Mick isn’t one for getting rid of things,” Helen sighs, stroking Bo’s cheek affectionately.

  Their interactions seem odd, but considering the house we were in is now up in flames, it’s the least of the oddities tonight.

  “It happened so fast,” Dad says as the house whines and finally starts collapsing. The east end sinks first, the flames gushing through the broken windows. “I smelled smoke in the kitchen, and I went to check on it. It was shooting up from under the cabinets. I have no idea how it started, but it was a roaring fire within minutes.”

  Helen sighs hard as she drops to the ground. “They just coated all the cabinets with fresh lacquer earlier this week. Mick has it done once a year. It probably fueled the fire on.”

  “We’ll have to replace everything,” Mom sighs. “And we’ll need to find another house to stay in.”

  I look at her like she’s lost her mind as I pull Bo a little closer, feeling like a piece of shit for just leaving her on that roof. Obviously I couldn’t have anticipated a fire, but to simply leave her on the roof like that was stupid. Anything could have happened. As proven.

  “You can’t possibly want to continue the vacation,” I say.

  “What good will it do to go home? We’re already here, and there’s nothing but material things in there that we can replace. Dear God. Mick Marsh is going to hate us.”

  Bo snorts, and I look down at her while she shakes her head. At least we agree that my mother is being ridiculous.

  “Mom, we can’t—”

  “I’ll see if I can find us a place to stay. Fortunately, I grabbed my cell phone when your father started yelling. By the time we got outside and realized you weren’t out here, he ran back in. The fire got out of hand quickly. I’ve already called several people—fire department, police department... you get the idea. Everyone is just so far out.”

  She starts dialing numbers like crazy, speaking with her travel agent. She’s fucking crazy.

  “I’ll have to get cash and credit cards sent to us,” my father tells her in between her own conversations. “And ID. We can’t do much without identification.”

  “Are you okay?” Bo asks, ignoring my parents as her eyes focus on Helen. She even takes her hand in hers.

  “I’m fine. My room has a door in it. Mick always worries about my safety, so he has a door in all my rooms in every house. I’ve always thought he was overly paranoid, until this moment. I smelled smoke and ran out. I was trying to find you. I should call Mick, but I didn’t think to grab my phone.”

  Bo reaches into her shorts pocket and sighs as she pulls out a phone. “I have mine. You need me to handle it?”

  She offers Bo a sad smile. “No. I’ve got it. Fortunately, I have all his favorite things locked up safely. He’ll be happy to hear that.”

  She walks away after taking Bo’s phone, and Bo turns back to me, her eyes searching mine for the first time.

  “I was worried you were still in there,” she says softly, swallowing hard.

  “I was too busy worrying about how I was going to climb to the roof.”

  She smiles, though it’s weak, and I lean down to kiss her long and hard. Her fingers thread through my hair, and she tugs me harder, but then she pulls back just as soon as the kiss gets heated.

  Then she slaps the fuck out of my arm suddenly, shocking the hell out of me. I’m a trained fighter, so it’s pretty fucking embarrassing that I yelp and get caught off guard from her tiny little slap.

  I blame the fire.

  “What was that for?”

  “Scaring the hell out of me. When I scream your name, answer.”

  Her scowl is actually a little comical, but it’s not warranted.

  “When did you scream my name?”

  There are several dirty places she could go with that question. If I know her as well as I think I do, this conversation is about to take a turn.

  “Numerous times. I screamed through the roof access hole, hoping you’d answer. Nothing. So then I screamed it from the rooftop. Literally. Nothing. When a house is on fire, answer me.”

  She’s serious right now, and concern is marring her features. I’ve never seen her serious or concerned. About anything.

  “I didn’t hear you. I was a little busy yelling for you and trying to figure out how to get on the roof to save you.”

  She continues scowling for a second longer, but then she melts against me and places her head on my chest. “Jerk. You don’t do something stupid like climb a burning house either.”

  I laugh lightly while hugging her to me. “You’re wearing my favorite shirt.”

  She snickers lightly while shaking her head, and I just continue holding her. That was scary as hell.

  Helen returns, looking a little weary, and hands Bo’s phone back to her.

  “Mick said the fire department will be here in less than five minutes. The alarm alerted them before the phone call.”

  “Was he upset?” Bo asks, sounding timid.

  I hope this doesn’t mean a lawsuit.

  “Very. He was upset that the alarm didn’t warn us sooner. It’s designed to bellow loudly if there’s even a hint of smoke that reaches it. It never made a sound. He’s a little freaked out, more so than I expected. He’s flying out to come check on me since I told him I was staying with you until you got situated. I tried telling him not to worry, but he’s impossible. It might be a day or two before he can get away, but he’s definitely coming.”

  I stare, puzzled, trying to decipher their conversation. She speaks as though she knows Bo, and Bo keeps acting as though she’s close to her. She’s just a rockstar’s assistant. Right? Why is she so worried about Bo?

  “Nothing,” my mother says, suddenly returning, and breaking me out of my query.

  “Nothing what?” I ask absently.

  “No hotels nearby have any openings. It’s apparently a big time of the month, and they stay booked during the next four weeks. Olivia is checking private homes on this side of the island, but it’s unlikely she’ll find anything. So I called the airport. The soonest we could leave would be in five days. All the flights until then are booked. Apparently there are just as many leaving as there are coming. I don’t know what to do other than to ask her if she can find us a hotel anywhere at all, no matter how far away or rundown it is.”

  She turns to my father and points at him. “This is why we should have a house of our own here. I told you it would be a good investment. We come here once a year.”

  She thinks they have Sterling money. Dad has more money than most people, but nowhere nearly enough to waste it on vacation houses he’d only visit once a year. I wish he’d let her deal with balancing the checkbook just once.

  He frowns at her while exhaling harshly. “Once a year doesn’t make me feel like buying a house. Besides, I like staying on the different islands. We’ll find a place, dear. Olivia gets paid a lot of money to be good at her job. Just give her longer than ten minutes, and she’ll find us something.”

  “There’s just a house burning down over there. No big deal,” Bo mutters under her breath. Then she clears her throat and speaks louder. “You’ll never find anything this time of year. At least not within driving distance. There are at least twelve conventions on this side of the island alone. But… I have a place.”

&nbs
p; My jaw drops. She has a place? Here?

  Helen smirks when she sees all of our faces, but I have no idea why. It’s as if she’s in on Bo’s secret, but they only just met. This is all so confusing, and I feel like I’m missing a chunk of the puzzle.

  “You have a place… Here?” Mom scoffs, her eyes completely full of disbelief.

  Sirens come into hearing range as Bo nods and looks toward the origins of the sound.

  “Yes. The fire ruined the cars, so give me a minute to call a driver. By the time he gets here, we should be finished answering all the questions the local officials will have.”

  She walks away, leaving all of us stupefied and dumbfounded. “She has a place?” Mom whispers, her eyes scolding me. “The girl lives in a cracker box. How can she have a place in Hawaii?”

  I shrug, feeling just as surprised as she is. Bo’s comments from earlier rattle around in my mind. She hinted that she might come from money or have money. Well, I’ll be damned. I feel like I don’t know her at all.

  Chapter 10

  BO

  “Just make sure all the pictures of Bora and I together are gone,” I say into the phone, making sure none of the Marshall family has moved this way.

  They still seem stunned. I really, really, don’t want them to know who I am, but desperate times... Well, I could put away all the pictures, but they’d figure it out eventually, and then they’d freak out twice as much.

  Dad’s house has been featured on numerous television shows, and it’s been in several magazines. Considering Mrs. Marshall is a major groupie, she’ll probably know it as soon as she sees it—as long as she’s not still in shock. At least it won’t look like I’m lying when they see some proof—photographed proof. But they don’t need to know I have a twin. That would give everything away to Jax.

  “I think I have them all out, Bo. But I’ll do another sweep to be sure. Will you be staying in your room or your father’s?” Jane asks.

  Gross. Never ever will I stay on that bed.

  “My room. No one needs to go in Dad’s room. All of the guest rooms are enormous with bathrooms attached. They’ll never even realize that they don’t have master suites. Thank you, Jane. I really appreciate this.”