Identical Disaster (The Sterling Shore Series Book 8)

by C. M. Owens

  She laughs while looking over her shoulder at me, then she goes into the closet and shuts the door.

  “Definitely not this tactic. Normally I have lengthy phone conversations with a guy before meeting him, or I go on blind lunch dates when my mother gets too insistent.”

  Leaning back, I tug off my shorts and toss them aside, staying in nothing but my boxers. When she walks out, her eyes go straight to my body, but my eyes are on her body.

  She’s wearing one of my shirts again, and it’s touching her at mid-thigh. I really hope shorts aren’t under there this time.

  She stares at me, and we reach that awkward moment where each other is waiting for the other to make a move. The mood is kind of killed now that we’ve been talking about Bora.

  “I’m going to grab something to drink. You want anything?” she asks.

  I catch a glimpse of black shorts under the shirt, and I stop myself from going downstairs with her.

  If she didn’t had on shorts, no way would I let her go downstairs where Dustin and Cody might see her like that.

  “A beer would be nice,” I say, feeling like a nervous kid all over again.

  She looks a little shaky while walking out the door, and I half groan, half smile at how off-step I feel around her.

  I’m not acting like me at all.

  Chapter 27

  BO

  Just as I finish using the bottle opener on Jax’s beer, a shadow falls over me, and I jump when Cody comes into the room.

  “Scare you, Bo?” he asks rhetorically while placing heavy emphasis on my name. Guess Jax told him.

  “Little bit,” I mumble while going back to the fridge to hunt for a water.

  When I lean back up, I bump into a body that is standing way too close, and I jerk away from Cody as he chuckles.

  “What’s wrong, Bo? Do I keep scaring you, Bo?” he asks, but it sounds like a taunt.

  “Why do you keep saying my name like that?”

  “I don’t know, Bo. Why are you here with Jax, Bo?”

  I’m not sure if he’s a protective friend, a stingy friend, or just a guy with a crush on his friend. None of the above makes me feel comfortable around him.

  “I should get back upstairs. Jax is waiting for me.”

  Just as I turn to walk out of the kitchen, Cody moves quickly and fills up the doorway, blocking my path. Taking a step back, I watch as he moves toward me with a predatory gait.

  “Jax is waiting for Bora. Not you. You look like your sister, but do you fuck like her? Bora’s a wild one. I don’t picture you being a wild one. I do picture you being a liar, and I do intend to find out what’s going on before you fuck with Jax’s head. He’s already not acting right.”

  There are warning bells going off in my head like crazy right now. I know nothing about him or what he’s capable of, and I’m alone with him.

  “Are you threatening me?” I ask, getting ready to scream for Jonah or one of the other guys who will be within range.

  His eyebrow cocks. “I’m not going to physically hit you, if that’s what you’re asking. Never touched a girl like that. Never will. However, I am threatening to expose you for whatever game you’re playing. No one is as good as you’re pretending to be. At least Bora wore her bitch on the outside.”

  I want to tell him he’s acting like a dog who shoves his nose up an owner’s butt, trying to make sure he doesn’t miss one single scent. For once, I’m glad I just stew on what to say instead of saying it aloud. Calling someone a butt sniffer sounds immature even in my head.

  I have no idea what his problem is, and it’s definitely not worth an argument. Testing his words about not hitting a girl, I shoulder by him. He keeps true, never once touching me. But that doesn’t stop him from calling out to my back.

  “If something seems too good to be true, it usually is,” he states, acting like he’s onto me.

  The problem is all my secrets are already out, so he’s a day too late for this.

  When I get back upstairs, I debate telling Jax about what Cody just said. I don’t decide what to do until I walk in to see him watching TV with a boyish grin on his face as he glances over at me.

  “Movie night?” he asks as I hand him the beer.

  “Sounds perfect,” I tell him, especially since I’m definitely not in the mood for anything else, thanks to the butt sniffer.

  Chapter 28

  JAX

  Bo is pretty much lying on top of me when we wake up, and I let my hand run down to her ass. Since we got here, I’ve been having to deal with my own needs. I even found an empty room for the occasion when I got tired of the shower.

  This morning won’t be any different, since Dustin flings my door open, causing me to jerk. Bo is still asleep on top of me, not stirring, and I glare at my friend as he grins and wiggles his eyebrows at me.

  “Breakfast is served. Your mom sent me after you. I don’t think she likes us too much.”

  I snort derisively, because he knows Mom hates him, and Bo wakes up with the sound. Shit.

  She yawns and smiles over at me, but she ends up making some hacking, choking sound when she sees Dustin at the foot of the bed. Dustin chuckles before walking out, and I shrug at Bo when she questions me with her eyes.

  “Hungry?” I ask her.

  She mumbles something about boundaries with my friends before getting up, and she stumbles toward the door without so much as checking her hair. That’s definitely something I like about her. She doesn’t give a damn if she looks like sex out of bed—without the sex. She doesn’t care if she’s the only girl men take notice of.

  She really is the exact opposite of what I’m used to, and I start wondering if it’s a good thing. Bo doesn’t seem like the temporary kind of girl, but she agreed to be with me, knowing I’m a temporary kind of guy.

  Right? I mean, she does know?

  Fuck. I skipped the usual conversation because of the twisted circumstances.

  Later. I’ll deal with it later.

  Right now, I have to deal with the painful erection that won’t go away. Checking the hallway, I head down to the unused bedroom to jerk one off before breakfast. After feeling Bo on top of me all night, it shouldn’t take too damn long.

  I shut the door quietly, but curse when I trip over the small rug. I forget about that bastard every time.

  The room is simple and smaller, and it’s not distracting me from anything as I lie down on the bed and grab my lotion bottle. I grimace, thinking of how pathetic I’ve grown, but the thoughts wipe free from my mind as I start pumping up and down, imagining it’s Bo riding me instead of my hand.

  The way she bites her lip and peers up from under her lashes… Fuck, I love that look. My balls tighten quickly, just as I suspected, and my legs stiffen as pleasure spikes and shoots up my body, raking over me with enough force to make me grunt.

  My hand doesn’t cover the end of my dick in time because of how powerful and fast it hits me. Just as I shoot off like a fucking rocket, the door taps against the wall, bouncing like it’s been opened, and a strangled sound comes from my right.

  My eyes dart to the door, and there stands Bo, Dustin, and my motherfucking mother, who screeches and covers her eyes the second she realizes what she’s seeing. Bo doesn’t cover her eyes, and neither does my fuckwad of a friend.

  “What the hell?!” I roar, scrambling to grab a pillow and cover my cock that is still fucking leaking.

  I don’t even know where the hell my load… Ah hell. It’s on my fucking shirt. Fucking perfect.

  Reaching down, I jerk my shorts up as Dustin doubles over and howls out peals of laughter that almost echo off the walls. He collapses to the floor, heaving for air, and my mother…

  She keeps her hands over her eyes while she calmly steps back and disappears from sight. I try to think of a worse moment in my life.

  None come to mind.

  Man, I’ve fucking fallen from grace. Why the hell didn’t I lock the door?!

  “How long have
you been there?” I growl standing up and casting aside the soiled pillow.

  Dustin can’t stop laughing long enough to speak or breathe, so my eyes move to a crimson-stained Bo who isn’t blinking. She’s just staring with her hand over her mouth, hiding her own amusement.

  Fuck my motherfucking life.

  Chapter 29

  BO

  Jax glares at me, staring like he expects me to answer his question. I work on getting my lips to move so I can answer, but I know I sound mortified.

  “We just got here as you… um… finished up,” I say, swallowing against the lump in my throat. My eyes move to the lotion on the nightstand then back to him, and I continue to do very well not to laugh at him. Unlike Dustin.

  “You have… a spank room,” Dustin heaves, almost choking on his laughter. “That shit shot out like a cannon,” Dustin howls from the ground, laughing so hard he has to clutch his side while rocking back and forth on his knees. “Dead!” he exclaims, tears rolling from his eyes. “I’m dead.”

  Jax rolls his eyes while walking by him and me, and I debate whether or not to follow him.

  “I’m not going to have an ounce of dignity left after this trip,” he mutters just loud enough for me to hear. It’s then I realize my body must have made the decision to follow him, because I’m right on his heels when he heads into the bedroom.

  I narrowly miss being slammed by the door, and he grips his hair while keeping his back to me. Then he pulls off his shirt, being very careful to keep it far away from his face while taking it off, and tosses it aside.

  “I’m getting a flight tonight,” he mumbles, and I have to try harder not to laugh.

  “Are you serious?” I ask, keeping my mouth covered because my smile can’t be contained.

  “Hotel might be better. I can’t stay here right now. That’s not cool. At all.”

  I don’t know what to say, so I don’t say anything.

  “Why the hell were you three out there?” he finally asks, still not looking at me.

  “Um… Dustin saw you go in there, and your mother was looking for you for breakfast. They’re going into town… You were apparently taking too long… So… Yeah. I just tagged along. Dustin figured you were just on the phone and needed privacy or something.”

  “Fucker,” he grumbles.

  “Are you pissed that I saw or just your mother?”

  “I don’t care that you saw,” he says on a sigh. “Fucking sick that my mom saw.”

  He groans while scrubbing his face with his hands, and I can’t help it. I lose it.

  When my laughter spills free, he turns to glare at me, but even he can’t hold it back for long. Pretty soon, we’re both in hysterics and wiping our eyes as we fall to the bed, laughing so hard it physically hurts.

  He buries his face against my neck, laughing as he holds me to him, and my laughter slowly tapers off as I start running my fingers through his hair. If his mother hadn’t been there—or Dustin—that might have gone a little differently.

  Instead of being a turn-on, it was… It was hilarious. That’s what it was.

  We lie there for so long that I become convinced he’s fallen asleep on me. Until he finally speaks.

  “Let me clean up. Then we’ll get some food. By now my mother is gone.”

  Laughing lightly, I slowly get up, and he disappears to the bathroom to clean up. I hear the water running for a while before I hear the door open. I turn my head in time to see him just as he drops his shorts and starts to change right in front of me.

  Sitting there awkwardly and waiting for him to finish, I pick imaginary lint of my shorts.

  “Ready?” he asks.

  Nodding, I stand and walk toward the door. I turn to see he has on a fresh shirt and shorts, and I work hard not to laugh at the pitiful look on his face.

  When we get downstairs, Dustin’s laughter finds us immediately. Dad looks over to see us, and a taunting grin turns up.

  “Jerking off in the shower is a much safer way to go,” Dad says, winking at Jax.

  Jax mutters something under his breath as Dustin continues to roll out his laughter. Cody is missing from the fun. So is everyone else.

  Jax practically drags me to the kitchen as my father’s laughter bubbles free alongside Dustin’s. I almost stumble to a halt when my eyes collide with Cody’s.

  He’s looking at me over the top of his coffee cup, and Jax claps him on the shoulder as he lets go of my hand and walks around him to get coffee.

  “Your parents and sister just left,” Cody tells him, never taking his eyes off me.

  “I figured,” Jax grunts, not lifting his eyes to see the intense stare off between his friend and me.

  “Don’t sweat it,” Cody says, breaking eye contact to turn and flash a smile at Jax. “Until you’ve had your ass kicked by a girl in front of your entire self-defense class—that you’re supposed to be teaching—you don’t understand the true meaning of humiliation.”

  Jax starts laughing, and Cody smiles until his eyes meet mine. It’s like he’s showing me Jax is his friend, just in case I missed it.

  Butt sniffer.

  “You two staying in today or going out?” Cody asks.

  You’d think that question was directed at me, considering his eyes are drilling holes through my head, but I know he’s talking to Jax.

  “Staying in. Unless my parents come home. Then we’re going out.”

  Cody snorts, and Jax rolls his eyes. I stand here like the third wheel, which seems to please Cody to no end.

  “You not hungry?” Jax asks, looking up at me as he starts piling some of the leftover breakfast onto his plate.

  I don’t look away from Cody.

  “I’ve lost my appetite,” I say dryly.

  Jax looks between us, but Cody looks at him and shrugs before getting up to go join my dad and Dustin in the living room.

  “Something going on with you two?” Jax asks me, his brow furrowing.

  I’ve told Jax I’m not really the girl he came here with, pretended to be on my period, and filled him in on the compulsion to have identical markings to my identical twin… Yeah, I’m not going to add causing problems between his butt-sniffer friend and him to that list.

  “Nope,” I say with a forced smile.

  And now I’m back to lying.

  I’ve never felt like such a complicated person in all my life.

  Chapter 30

  JAX

  “You haven’t said anything about Bo and me, have you?” I ask Kode.

  “Nope. Even played dumb and asked where you were the other night when shit hit the fan at your gym.”

  “What shit?”

  “Nothing to worry about. All good here. Your gym is safe in our hands.”

  “That makes me feel so much better,” I reply dryly.

  “Glad I could help,” he retorts. “Got the protein line ready for the most part. Just waiting on you to get back to go over it before we decide on packaging.”

  “Sounds good,” I tell him, walking outside to join Cody, but my eyes land on someone much better to look at.

  “Good luck with Bo. Don’t make me kick your ass,” Kode tells me.

  “Bo is fine,” I assure him, rolling my eyes at his empty threat.

  As soon as I hang up, Cody pounces.

  “How can you just be okay with this twisted situation?” Cody asks me.

  I watch Dustin and Bo laugh as Vince puts on a one-man comedy show in the water—still in a damn speedo.

  Does the man need more clothes?

  Leaning on the railing of the deck, I keep my eyes on Bo. Then I start feeling creepy for staring at her ass while she’s talking to her Dad, so I cut my eyes to Cody to answer his question.

  “It is twisted,” I confess, but my eyes move back to her. “But she’s… I want to get to know her.”

  “And then what?” he prods.

  “I don’t know,” I say honestly. “The gym is eating up a lot of my time, along with training sessions. I a
lso have a lot of shit going on with the brand, not to mention all the new classes I added. On top of that, Kode is trying to get my own protein line launched. He makes it sound like an easy launch, and Kode knows business.”

  Cody snorts derisively. “Kode knows business but not gym business. Stick to just the gym,” he says, shaking his head. “Let the Sterlings run their own business ventures.”

  Cody hates talking about me expanding or bigger opportunities because he’s always wanted things smaller. Not sure why.

  “I put a lot of my money into the gym, equipment, classes, and instructors. It’ll be a while before I start seeing a return on all that. The Sterlings coming there help boost the reputation of the place, and it brings in a lot of new clientele. So if Kode says he can help me out on the return thing sooner, I’m all for it.”

  “It’s not all about money,” Cody mumbles, taking a long sip of his beer.

  “Didn’t say it was,” I tell him, grinning. “But I’d like to be self-sufficient, since I don’t plan on taking over Dad’s business and my trust is almost depleted. I also want to pay Dad back for his investment.”

  “You’re already self-sufficient. Your personal training gigs alone pay all your bills and keep you sitting pretty with all the cool toys.”

  “And I’ve scaled way back on my client list because of the gym,” I remind him.

  He blows out a breath. “We’re getting off topic. The point is, what are you doing here with Bo, when you thought you came here with Bora? I get that she’s hot and she’s from a rock legend, but you don’t act like you around her.”

  My eyes move back to Bo, and I catch her looking away from us. She looks tense all of the sudden, even though I don’t know why.

  “Still playing it by ear,” I tell him absently. “What’s going on with you two? Did you say something to her?”

  He shrugs, which is not an answer I like.

  “Just trying to find out her angle. Chicks that are too good to be true are usually a guy’s undoing. Looking out for you, man. That’s all.”