by C. M. Owens
It was the first time I ever realized she truly did love me. It’s also one of the things people miss when they look at her and call me a doormat. They don’t know about the bond a twin shares. They don’t understand it until they’ve felt it.
One day I’ll tell her about my tattoo, because sadly, I secretly want her to have one that matches. Why? The hell if I know. Resurrect Freud and get his opinion, because I don’t understand the psychology stuff. I’m just a designer.
“Oh! Look at these!” Mrs. Marshall gushes from beside me, thrusting her phone in my face.
I lean back so that I’m not seeing double, and my hands push into the sand as I stare at the baby clothes on the screen. Sheesh. She went from trying to discard the trash to trying to marry it to her son.
“Yep. Adorable,” I say with a forced smile.
I’m not having her grandkids. Crazy, fickle woman.
I’m also not telling her that at this moment. Eventually Jax will get to be the bearer of bad news. When he figures out I’m not the wild girl he thinks he brought.
“Let’s swim,” Jax says right against my ear, startling me so much that I freaking squeal.
I turn to face him, and our noses bump. He’s smirking for some reason, but I don’t know why.
“O…kay…”
I let him pull me up, and I don’t protest when he laces our fingers together.
“Your dad says there’s a private cove somewhere around here. Feel like a little fun?” he asks, bouncing his eyebrows suggestively. “He said you know the way.”
Pretty sure my feet turn into lead, because they stop moving, and I fall. Face first. Into the sand.
Told you I suck at life.
“Shit!” Jax says around a laugh.
I slowly raise up, seeing sand on the ends of my eyelashes and tasting the grit of it on my lips.
“You okay, babygirl?” Dad calls from down the beach. I turn to see the asshole grinning at me knowingly.
Some fathers want to pinch off a guy’s head off for screwing their daughters. My dad made jokes like he would, but then he tells Jax about the sex cove. That’s what Bora has always called it.
My dad is the kind of dad who is loving the hell out of the fact I’m pretending to be the reckless, sexy Bora, when… Hell, I can’t even remember the last time I had sex.
Jax hauls me back to my feet and back to my current situation, and I glare daggers at my smiling father.
“You okay?” Jax asks, still chuckling while wiping some of the sand off my face.
“I can’t swim,” I blurt out randomly.
“Yes you can,” he says, confused. “We swam at my gym’s pool… Remember? It was the one and only time you’ve come to the gym.”
He arches a brow, and I clear my throat. “I mean I can’t swim today.”
See? I suck at being deceptive. And improv is so not my strong suit.
“Why?” he asks slowly, looking at me like the sand has somehow made me lose IQ points.
“Because… Because… Because sharks!”
Yeah… Said that too loudly.
Mrs. Marshall starts screaming, “Where?! Sharks! Where?”
Freaking eh.
Jax cocks an eyebrow at me, as my father assures Mrs. Marshall there are no sharks. “Drama queen, today, Bo?” Dad muses aloud.
Asshole. Asshole. Asshole!
“I mean, there will be sharks,” I tell Jax quieter, trying to dig myself out of my sandy grave. “I… They can smell blood from miles away. Like fifty miles or something.”
Yeah… No clue about sharks, so I’m just throwing out made-up facts.
“You bleeding?” he asks, suddenly more concerned and serious as he starts looking me over.
“My period! I just started my period! I’m bleeding something fierce,” I blurt out, wishing so badly that I could just shut the hell up and die. Maybe I need to slice my thumb and let a shark eat me for real.
Death, please be kinder than life.
My face feels like it’s on fire as Jax’s eyebrows go up. “Since this morning? Because… Well, you were fine this morning.”
I turn around to see my father doubled over as his entire body shudders visibly. He’s laughing! I hate him.
Mr. Marshall looks like he’s swallowed a bug, and he jerks his eyes away from me. Mrs. Marshall frowns, probably doing math in her head and realizing I won’t be making those rockstar grandbabies anytime soon.
Viv… Viv is covering her face as her body shakes with the same silent laughter as my father’s. When I turn back to face Jax, he’s still looking at me like I’m a crazy girl.
Probably because I am.
“Yes. Since this morning,” I lie. That lie ledger needs to be started so I can keep track. My period just ended, so there’s no chance of actually getting away with that lie if he tries to surprise me and inspect.
He frowns like he’s disappointed, and I almost decide it’d be worth a hypothetical shark attack to get in the water with him. But the sex cove is the sex cove for a reason. I swear that thing has mystical powers and arouses you the second you walk in.
“Come, Jax. Let’s surf,” Dad calls out, finally helping me instead of making my life harder.
Sighing and running a hand through his hair, Jax kisses me quickly and moves toward my father. I’m just making myself more suspicious by the second. Fortunately, there’s no way he can figure out who I am.
Just as I near the group again, a few of our family members (Yes, the people who work here are like family.) come out with surfboards. Dad and Jax take one, and surprisingly, so does Mr. Marshall.
“Bo and I used to surf when she was little. She was always athletic until she hit puberty,” Dad says on a sigh as his mind travels down memory lane.
“Really?” Jax asks with a smile.
I just sit down and let Dad talk. My mouth isn’t functioning properly today, and my brain is on a sabotage mission. Bora doesn’t even have a period because of the shot she takes for birth control. I’m really glad Jax doesn’t seem to know that fact.
I mean, what two-week couple talks periods?
“Really,” Dad says solemnly. “Her sister used to surf with me, too,” Dad adds, but his eyes widen the second the words leave his mouth.
I choke on air, and I slap my chest to dislodge the air bubble that has gotten trapped. Jax’s eyes narrow on me, and his mother’s brow furrows.
“You have a sister?” Jax asks, tilting his head.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Dad, for once, looks apologetic. I want to slap him.
“Yes,” I say quickly.
“Younger or older?” Jax prods, taking a surfboard and propping up on it.
Swallowing down the knot, I finally answer honestly. “She’s younger.”
I don’t say that it’s only by a minute and twenty-two seconds. (Yeah, we flew out of the birth canal. No C-section.)
“Why aren’t there any pictures of her like there are of Bo?” Mrs. Marshall asks.
There are pictures of her, but since she looks like me—
“Because Bo is the prettier one,” Dad jokes, but I groan because no one here will get that joke since they don’t know we’re identical twins.
Dad clears his throat when awkward silence descends, and he motions behind him.
“Surfing. Yeah. Going to go do that now.”
Worst. Vacation. Ever.
Chapter 15
JAX
Her period was the last straw. Bora doesn’t have a period. She’s bragged about this numerous times. Something about her birth control shot.
If she doesn’t want me touching her, then just say it. But why act like she can’t tear her eyes off my body, then turn cold the second I want to let her feel any part of it.
My mother screaming this morning was the only thing that stopped us. I thought. Now I wonder if Bo would have iced the heat the second things got good.
None of this is making sense, and that damn tattoo… No way is that fresh. I’ve ha
d enough to know there’s no way in hell that one isn’t long healed, and it’s even slightly faded.
As everyone else laughs and chats on the back terrace for dinner, I head inside to find Viv’s damn phone. Why she can’t get it herself, I don’t know.
It takes a few doors to finally find her room, but I do, and… Holy shit. This is a very bright room. It looks more like Bora than the other room.
Red-orange is on the walls, and deep purples, and forest green… It’s like the prime colors exploded in here. And there are tons of pictures of Bo on the wall. Damn. Her dad really must think she’s the pretty one.
That’s a shitty thing to say when you have two daughters though.
Numerous hairstyles and colors have me lifting an eyebrow. I think she’s had every color imaginable. Even blue.
Just as I grab Viv’s phone and start to walk out, I back up to reexamine a picture that catches my eye. My mouth goes a little dry when I see Bo in a prim and proper business suit with none other than Kode Sterling’s arm draped around her shoulders.
What the fucking Twilight Zone hell?
Her hair is almost five inches shorter here, so this had to have been taken before she moved to Sterling Shore. Hell, she hasn’t lived there long at all.
Sick of the mysteries, I pull out my own phone and call the son of a bitch. I need answers.
“What’s up, gym douchebag?”
“Did you really just call me a gym douchebag?”
“It’s how I have you programmed in my phone.”
Rolling my eyes, I take a closer look at the picture.
“Got a question for you.”
“Good for you.”
“How do you know Bo Brendon?” I ask, deciding not to drag this out.
“Business. I bought stock in her fashion line years ago. We’ve been friends ever since. She’s awesome and nice. Why?”
“Have you fucked her?”
No idea why I’m suddenly getting all jealous and shit. I don’t care who Bora fucks. Well, I didn’t. Not until the past few days when she suddenly can’t seem to figure out if she wants me or hates me.
He laughs like I’ve asked something funny.
“Nah. Did fuck Bora, but Bo and I are just friends. Don’t you ever fucking bring that shit up to Tria, either. She knows, but I’d rather her not think about it.”
It takes a second to process what he says, but when I do, my blood runs cold in my veins.
“What?”
“I said not to bring it up to Tria. She’s actually about to do business with Pretty Posh. They’re expanding their makeup line, and they’re going to add Tria’s brand to the Pretty Posh collection. It’s a huge deal that will get Tria in more stores than she ever thought possible. The last thing I want her to focus on is that—”
“Shut the hell up and repeat the part about Bora.”
“Fuck, dude. What the hell? I fucked her. Like three or four years ago. So what?”
“But not Bo? I’m confused, that’s what.”
None of this is making sense, and yet it’s making perfect sense.
“Bo is a sweetheart, so no, I didn’t fuck her. All this happened long before Tria. I was hung up on Rain at the time and not looking for a serious hookup. Bora was just a fun time, and she uses men who allow her to. It was just a couple of times. What’s the fucking deal?”
“Bora and Bo… Are they twins?”
He laughs, and I start wondering if I’m going crazy.
“Of course they are. Identical, in case you haven’t noticed. Nothing about them is different. Like at all.”
Except for a motherfucking fairy tattoo, their lips, their expressions, their laughs, and everything about their personalities is completely different. I’m almost positive Bo is actually a little taller. Her head comes up just under my chin when she’s barefoot.
Kode’s laughter tapers off as my fist clenches at my side.
“What’s going on? Why are you asking about the Brendon twins? You mixing things up with one of them? If it’s Bo, you’d better be fucking nic—”
“Long story short, I was dating Bora, but somehow Bo landed on my doorstep, pretending to be Bora. How well do you actually know them, because I’m fairly fucking positive I’m being played.”
He’s silent, then I hear him move the phone as he laughs. It takes him a second to get back on the phone, and when he does, he’s still snickering.
“Sorry, dude. You’re not getting played. You’re getting dumped. Bora is a bitch. She doesn’t even bother breaking up with a guy when she’s done with him. Bo does it for her to keep the guy from being strung along.”
Some of the anger lessens, but then more confusion hits.
“If Bo dumps a guy for Bora, then why is she with me in Hawaii right now?”
Silence.
Yeah, now I’m not the only one confused.
“That… I don’t know. Want me to ask Bora? We’re meeting for a shareholders thing today.”
I think it over for a second, then shake my head. “Nah. I don’t want you saying a word about this to anyone. Keep this quiet. Hell, don’t even act like you know I’m in Hawaii.”
“No problem. But you want my best guess about what’s going on?”
“Not really,” I tell him before hanging up. I have enough conspiracy theories of my own.
My phone rings, and I groan before picking it back up. There’s nothing I hate worse than fakers and being lied to, and Bo is nothing more than an imposter and a liar.
“What?” I snap as I answer my phone.
“I’m going to give you my best guess anyway,” Kode drawls. “Bo is a sweetheart. If Bora was going to dump you, and you had this shit planned, then Bo went in her place because she’s nice like that. Hurt her, and I’ll have to break your face. Just once, though, because I still need you training me.”
Rolling my eyes, I hang up again. I’m not worried about Kode breaking my face. As good as he is, he can’t land a punch on me unless I let him. Not that I’d tell that ego of his that I allow him to get shots in.
Bora might be a bitch, but she was always brutally honest with me. Bo… Bo is here posing as her sister and making me look like a fool. Plus, she seriously underestimates my intelligence.
You know how they say you can find anything on Google? Don’t trust that. A quick search on both their names gets me nothing. I mean not even a tiny mention. At least not of them.
It’s like they don’t exist. Unless they use aliases, they don’t even have social media. Pretty Posh has another name listed as CEO, and not one mention of Bora or Bo.
Kode knows they own it, though. I know Kode knows his business. More importantly, they’re doing business with Tria and he’s an overprotective beast where she’s concerned, so they have to be legit. So why doesn’t Google know the twins?
There’s only one way to learn anything about this incredibly private family and what Bo could possibly gain from this charade. I’m about to see how far she wants to go with this little game.
Bora once accused me of being too nice. Well, this nice guy can play dirty, too. Very dirty. And Bo seems to shy away from anything sexual.
Time to play.
Chapter 16
BO
Jax has been eerily quiet since dinner. In fact, I don’t think he’s said more than two words. He eyed me across the table once he came back with Viv’s phone, but every time I’d look at him, he’d look away.
Apparently me being on my “period” is equivalent to having the plague. Which is fine with me. Definitely fine.
That’d be easier to believe if I didn’t feel a pang of disappointment each time he walked by me and didn’t attempt to touch me. Hell, he barely makes eye contact with me unless he’s staring when I look his way.
Looking around the house, I notice him missing, and I walk outside with a heavy sigh. I guess I’m only good for sex, and now that sex isn’t on the table, he has no use for me.
“Wondering why you came on this trip?” D
ad asks as he walks outside and shuts the door behind him.
“You really are psychic,” I mumble before turning back to watch the ocean dance under the moonlight.
“I have my clairvoyant moments,” he quips.
We walk around the corner, staying out of the way of the front door. No one can see us unless they walk over here. I’ve always loved this private little nook.
We both stare down the beach, and the waves drown out any sounds that might escape the house. Suddenly, we’re not alone. Helen appears, and she smiles at both of us as she takes a seat.
“Thought I’d find you two out here. Sorry I’ve slept the day away,” she says, staring out at the beach with us.
“I was just telling Bo that she needs to tell the boy the truth,” Dad announces.
“No you weren’t.” I look at him incredulously, and he shrugs.
“Was about to,” he adds innocently.
“Don’t think that’s a good idea,” I mumble. “Besides, it’s just for a few weeks. Looks like he’s avoiding me, so things just got easier.”
We all sigh in unison, and Dad takes a long draw off his beer.
“Call your mother. She’s good at this shit.” Dad acts like he’s just spooned out divine knowledge.
“Mom doesn’t need to know about this,” I point out. “I can’t get ahold of her right now anyway. No telling where she is, and you know she doesn’t have a cell. Anyway, she’d just lecture me instead of advising, though.”
He grins like he’s fond of that, and I roll my eyes.
“She’d also freak out if she knew Bo and Bora’s secret was given over to a man and his family that neither of them plan to continue being around after this trip is over,” Helen adds.
Dad’s smile turns into a grimace.
“Good point. Don’t you dare fucking tell your mother.”
This time, I smile.
Just as Dad opens his mouth to speak again, a loud scream pierces the ocean’s song, and then something thumps loud enough to be heard from out here.
Helen snickers quietly, and Dad grins as he stands up.
“Sounds like Mick just got here.”