The Brothers Next Door (A Striker Brothers Romance #1)

by Terry Towers

  “I know.”

  “We’re brothers. Twins. We can make this work, Nate.”

  “Maybe.”

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Layla

  “What in the hell are you doing here? How did you know where I live?”

  “I came to see you. I’ve been driving all day. Just got into town.” He shifted from one foot to the other, but maintained eye contact with me.

  Planting my hands on my hips, I glared up at him. At 5’11, the brothers had a solid four inches over him. “That doesn’t explain how you know where I live.” This was a gross invasion of privacy.

  “Can I come in?”

  “Hell no!” I couldn’t help my voice from rising an octave or two. “I thought I made myself pretty damned clear!”

  “I’m not leaving until I can come in and talk. I’ll sit outside your door all night.”

  “I’ll call security,” I countered.

  “I’ll just keep coming back. I know where you work.”

  I was going from angry to enraged. How dare he! But the only thing worse than him coming in was having him sitting outside my door in case one of the brothers came by.

  “Fine. Come in. But it’ll be quick or I will call security.”

  He seemed to ignore my warning as he stepped past me and entered. He was still a smug, arrogant asshole. Nothing changed. Taking his shoes off at the door, he proceeded into the living room with me trailing hot on his heels. I should never have allowed him in. “Don’t suppose you have a bottle of water? I’m parched.”

  I wanted to say no and get out, but with a sigh of resignation, I spun on my heel and headed into the kitchen. I was just passing through the threshold of the kitchen when the timer went off on the microwave. The popcorn smelt burnt. Opening the microwave door, my suspicions were confirmed. The bag had been faulty and didn’t open properly, causing the kernels to burn to the bag instead of pop properly.

  Grabbing the smelly, burnt bag, I disposed of it in the trash and then went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

  “You look good,” Craig said as I entered the living room and passed him the water. A year ago, him telling me I looked good would have made my day. Today, however, I didn’t feel a damned thing.

  He, on the other hand, wasn’t looking so hot. He’d lost some weight and there were grey flecks in his hair that I hadn’t noticed before. Love is blind, I supposed. Though I didn’t really think that was an accurate statement in this circumstance. And now that I’d experienced what love was truly about, I’d come to realize I didn’t have the feelings I’d once thought I had for him.

  “How’s Amber doing?” I asked, passing him the bottle. Amber was his secretary. The woman he’d cheated on me with. Could it have gotten more cliché then that? But it only made matters worse that I saw that woman at work every single day. Months had gone on and she’d see me and no doubt snicker to herself knowing that I was in the dark about her little affair with my man.

  It was humiliating. Even now, when I thought about it, I was embarrassed.

  “I wouldn’t know.” He motioned to the empty space beside him. “Please, sit.”

  “I’d rather stand. Thanks. This shouldn’t take too long.”

  “Look, I know you’re still angry.”

  “I’m not angry,” I cut in. That was a lie, I still hated him. I’d always hate him for hurting and humiliating me like he had.

  “Fine. I think that you’re owed an explanation and an apology.”

  How about the years I wasted on a piece of shit like you? A voice in the back of my head wanted to scream at him. I refused the urge. I couldn’t get those years back and an apology certainly wasn’t going to make it up to me.

  “I want nothing from you aside from you leaving.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I hit him with the dirtiest glare I could muster.

  “It was a huge mistake. The affair. Huge. I don’t know what I was thinking. I felt like our relationship was dying and…”

  “You figured you’d save it by fucking someone else for months behind my back?”

  “No, I don’t know what I was thinking.” He bowed his head and gave it a shake. “Losing you was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  “Not to me,” I shot back with full sincerity. “I’m not angry we’re not together. I’m angry because of the betrayal.”

  He lifted his head and I could see the hint of tears in his steel grey eyes. “I understand that and I wanted to make it up to you.”

  “You can make it up to me by leaving. I’ve had a hard day and I just want to relax with a movie and then to bed early. And alone.”

  He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut again. We stared at each other for a moment until he finally broke the silence saying, “I can’t leave. I have nowhere to go.”

  “What do you mean you have nowhere to go? Go fucking home. Go to a hotel. I don’t care, you just need out of here.”

  “I tried before coming here. There’s several huge conventions in town and it’s summer. Everything is booked solid everywhere. I can’t drive back tonight.”

  My eyes widened as I stared at him in disbelief. “What? You just thought you’d show up on my doorstep and I’d be so grateful to see you that I’d beg you to stay the night? Are you insane?”

  “Of course not. I didn’t think, I just drove. I knew I had to see you and for over a month, you’ve been ignoring my text messages and phone calls…”

  “Because I didn’t want anything to do with you. Jesus, take a hint, Craig. Are you that self-involved that you couldn’t figure that out?”

  “Just let me spend the night. Please.” He stood and I took a step backwards. Not because I felt he’d hurt me, at least not physically, but because I was hoping if I gave him a clear path he’d just leave.

  I couldn’t have been so lucky.

  He closed the distance between us and stopped directly in front of me, grasping my shoulders in his hands. “I’ll be out of your hair and I’ll never contact you again. I swear. Just tonight. I’ll sleep on the sofa and bright and early tomorrow, I’m gone. I promise.”

  This was a bad, bad idea. I knew it right down to the core of my being that letting him stay the night was a horrible, horrible idea.

  “I swear if I had a place, I’d leave tonight. Please, LayLay.”

  I cringed at him calling me LayLay. I was never a fan of it when we were together and downright hated it now. What if one of the brothers showed up? I’d have to explain Craig staying the night. I’d already inadvertently caused a rift between us, so how would they react to the news that my ex-fiancé had stayed the night?

  But there was the part of me that couldn’t just turn him out on the street. I couldn’t do that to anybody. But I was damned well going to verify his story first. And I did. He hadn’t been lying. He stood by as I called ten hotels in the Manhattan area and outlying areas including New Jersey. No one had rooms.

  Fuck me. Why should I be the one to house the man? I didn’t even like him.

  Angry with him for putting me in this position and disgusted with myself for falling for it, I finally agreed. “Out by tomorrow morning. 7 am sharp. And don’t think this is going to give you time to win me over, it’s not. I’m in love with someone else and this is only because I don’t want to be the one responsible for you ending up dead in a ditch somewhere.”

  Chapter 21

  Nate

  It was one of those rare days where we got to start a shift together, so at 6 am I was pounding on Darrin’s door. He may have always been the responsible one growing up, but I was the early riser of the two of us. Waking Darrin could sometimes be the equivalent of stirring a resting dragon.

  After a series of knocks, Darrin appeared, groggily, but awake, already dressed in his uniform.

  Not bothering with a good morning, I brushed past him and into the apartment. “Listen, I was giving it some thought and we need to go see Layla.”

  He gave me a perplexed look. “I thought you
wanted a little more time to mull it over.”

  “I did and I did. If it were anyone else I’d have told them to go fuck themselves, I won’t share a girl with anyone. But it’s not anyone else. You’re my brother, man, and we’ve shared everything all our lives, how can we not share the one woman in the world that makes us both happy?”

  Darrin returned to the bedroom, with me hot on his heels, and proceeded to finish getting dressed. “So, you figure waking her up at 6 in the morning is the best way to go about reconciling with her? Neither one of us have spoken to her in days. Maybe she doesn’t even want us at this point, have you received a call or text from her? A drop in, maybe?’

  “No.” The possibility that she wouldn’t want us hadn’t even crossed my arrogant little mind. It deflated my sails a bit.

  “I hadn’t either until I got home and got into bed and started thinking about it. For all we know while we’ve been pussy footing about whether or not we want to be with her, she’s already found someone else.”

  “That’s insane. Its only been a few days.”

  “The worst of it is that instead of taking this full off approach we could have talked this through with her days ago and had it settled.”

  “I didn’t know what I wanted a few days ago.”

  He shrugged and exited the bedroom, making his way to the door.

  I eyed him with suspicion. “Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?”

  “Reality, man.” He stopped at the door and pulled on his boots, lacing them up. “I did a lot of thinking after I got home and it occurred to me that it’s all been about what we wanted. What we could handle. We’d never really given a thought to how fucked up her thoughts and emotions were. We hadn’t even told her about our pact, but she got a chunk of the blame.”

  Hot fuck! Why was he raining on my parade? I felt like Superman when I originally stepped through his door, now I was lucky to feel like Clark Kent. “Just come on. All this talking is bumming me the fuck out. She doesn’t have someone else.” Opening the door, I proceeded down the hallway to her place, Darrin at my heels.

  Who was he to think she’d do a thing like that. She loved us. And we loved her. That was the bottom line. Sure, the past few days could have been handled better and maybe I should have heeded Darrin’s advice from the beginning, but my feelings for her were more than a little complicated and I needed time to mull it all over.

  Knocking on her door, I waited for her to answer. She normally didn’t wake until 6:30, but we weren’t all that early. We’d be forgiven. I knocked a second time and heard faint footsteps in the background moments before the door swung open to reveal a blond dude with glasses. The man on the other side of the doorway was bare-chested and looked like he’d just woken from a hard night.

  Hard night of what? Fucking?

  “Hello, officers, can I help you?” He looked bewildered as he stared at me and my brother, who was now at my side.

  “We’re looking for Layla, is she home?” Darrin chimed in.

  I glanced over at Darrin, who appeared to be as confused as I was, despite being the one that pointed out she may have already found someone new to warm her bed.

  “She’s in the shower. She had a long night. Is there something I can help you with?”

  I wanted to punch him in his dorky fucking face, but I kept my cool. “For starters, who are you?”

  “I’m Craig Vance.” He stared hard at me for a moment, as if in consideration of something before replying. “She’s my fiancé. I dropped in for a visit. Again, is there something I can help you with? She just hopped into the shower, so knowing her, she’ll be a while.”

  “As a matter of fact…” I took a menacing step into her place, but didn’t get far as Darrin’s hand shot out and grasped my upper arm, pulling me back. I knew who Craig Vance was, he was that piece of shit that cheated on her!

  Darrin whispered, “Just simmer down. We’ll figure this out later.”

  I didn’t want to figure it out later. I wanted to punch that smug fucker in the face and then find out what in the hell was going on. Engaged? To that loser? No way. She was in love with me. Us. She’d been sincere. What in the fuck was this guy doing here and claiming to be engaged to her to boot? That was long over.

  It was complete and utter horseshit as far as I was concerned. But the evidence was standing right before me.

  Darrin tugged on my arm, forcing me to take a step back from the doorway.

  “I’ll let her know that Officer…” He leaned a little closer and read my name badge and did the same to my brother. “Officer Striker and Striker stopped by.”

  “You do that,” I snarled, allowing myself to be ushered down the hallway and to the elevators.

  It was Darrin that broke the tense silence, once we were on the elevators and descending to the lobby. “Look, we have no idea what’s going on.”

  “Or if that’s even her fiancé. Maybe he’s keeping her hostage.”

  My brother cocked a brow at me and I sighed. “Yeah, okay, that sounded pretty fucking weak to me too. The whole thing doesn’t make a lick of sense unless she was playing us the entire time.”

  “Maybe we waited too long and she decided to reconcile with her ex. Maybe she was hurt and he was there for her… It’s not impossible.”

  I began pacing the small floor of the elevator as we descended, the infinite number of possibilities whirling through my mind.

  “You know, the best way to figure this all out is to just call her. Hell, we’ll just send her a text or show up after our shifts.”

  “Still doesn’t change the fact I want to punch him in his smug fucking face.”

  “Let’s just get the information before jumping to conclusions.” The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. We stepped out and into the lobby.

  I didn’t like this, not one bit. If that asshole was lying I’d give him a beatdown he’d never forget. We should have just gone in and waited for her to get out of the shower and then confronted the situation. She was ours. I knew that I’d be obsessing over this until I got to the truth.

  “She shouldn’t want to be with someone else when she has us,” I muttered more to myself than to my brother.

  ~

  *~ TT ~*~

  Layla

  Was someone at the door? I froze in the shower, my ears perked, attempting to see if I could hear anything over the sound of the shower and television in the room and through the closed door.

  I couldn’t.

  I could have sworn I’d heard a knock, though…

  Pausing another moment, I continued to listen, but heard nothing. Giving my head a shake, I squirted conditioner into my palm and began to massage it into my hair. Craig would be gone in less than an hour. As soon as traffic eased up a bit, he’d be out of my life for good. As much as I hated him showing up on my doorstep, it had given me one thing I hadn’t known I needed—closure.

  After the movie, we’d talked. Though when I say we talked, I mainly mean that I ranted and he listened, chastised like a scorned child. I’d been holding in a lot of emotions and they were unleashed. When I left him on the sofa to retire to the bedroom, I finally felt the relief I didn’t know I needed. I should have said those things when I left, but I hadn’t. I’d just packed up and taken off, deciding it was best to forget it all.

  I’d been wrong.

  I’d harboured a lot of resentment.

  He protested. He tried to justify his behavior, but in the end a cheater was a cheater and that was the end of that. When I looked at him now, I felt nothing. The part of my life he once filled was devoid of any emotion for him. Whether I still had the brothers in my life or not was up for debate, but even if I didn’t, I knew I’d never want Craig again.

  Finished with my shower, I stepped out. I’d remembered the bath mat this time. Dripping onto the mat, I grabbed my towels, wrapping one around my hair while drying off my body. I didn’t want to leave the bathroom with just a towel around me, so I had the foresight to b
ring my clothes into the washroom with me.

  Once dried and dressed, I exited and was relieved to see that Craig was ready to go and was sitting in the living room, waiting for me to emerge, I assumed.

  But there was something about the expression on his face. I knew the expression—it was the look he got when he was up to something. A cat that ate the canary kind of look. I didn’t like it. But what in the hell could he have gotten up to?

  Maybe I was being paranoid.

  “Was there anyone at the door?”

  He didn’t miss a beat, giving his head a shake. “Nope.”

  I forced myself to smile at the man I once loved. I really could have sworn there had been a knock. “Are you set to go?”

  He hesitated. “Yes, I’d say I’m done here.” Standing, he came towards me and I backed away, allowing him to pass. If he thought he was going to get a hug then he was sadly mistaken. The only thing I wanted from him was to have him out of my house.

  Walking over to the door, I pulled it open and waved him out. “Have a safe drive home.”

  Nodding, he paused yet another second. Was he thinking if he dragged his heels long enough I’d reconsider?

  I had news for him.

  “Goodbye, Craig.”

  Giving me a final nod, he walked past me and left. I didn’t bother to see if he got onto the elevator. I simply closed the door, glad he was gone. I had more important things to concern myself with right now, like getting ready for work and making it there on time.

  Rushing into the bedroom, I sat down at my vanity and quickly applied a thin layer of make-up. I simply didn’t have time for a full look today. Once done, I hurried from my bedroom, grabbed my purse, slipped on my shoes, and left.

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Nate

  We’d agreed to wait until after our shifts to talk to Layla. Text messages were so impersonal and if we were to reconcile then it should be face-to-face. But I was never a man who sat around and waited. I needed to see her now and Darrin was tied up at the station. When I say tied up I mean, confined to office work until all Black Skulls arrests had been made and the suspects relocated.