Chapter Seven

Hannah

 

The sounds that came out of Brian’s bedroom weren’t pleasant. I suspected the brothers were fighting—physically—and I really didn’t need to witness that. After leaving a note of thanks for Mike, I slipped out and hurried downstairs.

As fast as the elevator traveled, anyway.

God, this week was messed up. And the worst part about Brian wasn’t the lies, but that he made me feel hope. No one had treated me like I was special since my grandparents died, and I’d gotten used to it. Then Brian came along with his charm and kisses and…

Ugh. A shudder passed through me.

The security guard stopped my car at the gate. “Mr. Jorgensen requests you wait, miss.”

“Who?”

“Mike Jorgensen. He said you slipped out without saying goodbye and asked me to stall you until he comes down here. You can park right there.”

“You’re not letting me out?”

“Thanks, Walt,” a voice called. Mike jogging toward us. “Hannah, you’re a sneaky girl.”

I stood and glared at him. “I can’t believe you asked the guard to keep me here. What about your brother? Don’t you have more important things to worry about?”

“It’s settled.”

“Did you kill him?”

“No, I didn’t kill him.” An eye-roll. “Why’d you take off like that?”

“Mike, I appreciate your help this morning, but this is all too much drama for me and I’d like to get back to my quiet little life before I met your brother.”

“And I’m really sorry, again, that he hurt or embarrassed you. Do you have a pen?”

“What?”

“Pen. Writing implement with ink in it?”

“I know what a pen is, smart ass.” Digging in my purse, I produced one.

He grabbed my hand and started writing on it. “If you ever want to talk to someone who knows what an asshole my brother can be, here’s my number.”

“Um, thanks.” What do I do with that? As far as I was concerned, it was best to pretend this never happened. “May I go now?”

“Yeah, you can go. Don’t sneak out on me and I won’t have to chase after you.”

A wink included. That cheeky thing made my spine tingle.

“I left a note. Goodbye, Mike.”

The gate finally up, I exited the parking garage before this got any crazier.

Like running into Brian. Wasn’t sure I wouldn’t try to run him over if I ever saw his stupid face again. Which was also Mike’s face, but that was different. You know?

“Stay faaar away from twins…”

Getting home should’ve been a relief, and it was…until I realized how empty the rest of my day was.

My week.

My life.

When was the last time I’d gone out and done something? I justified being a homebody by saying I was still adjusting to L.A. as my new town, but you didn’t learn about a new place by hiding in your room all day. Coming here was supposed to be starting over.

But not tonight. Tonight I wanted comfort and solitude.

How could I trust my judgment when Brian played me so easily? Was I merely desperate for a little affection, or that totally naïve? And if I couldn’t trust my judgment, then how could I put myself out there again? God, not only had I fallen for every line, I slept with him on the first date! That was not me. Didn’t matter how hot the guy was.

Why did I do that?

Then there was Mike, who was kinder and more tolerant than he needed to be to a woman that slapped him thinking he was his brother. The kiss was a complete surprise. Now I had a comparison, Brian had kissed to seduce. Mike’s touch was gentle, considerate…safe. Yeah, he was helping me give his brother a taste of his own medicine, but…I don’t know.

They were very different, and called to different parts of me.

Mike was sweet.

How could identical twins be such different people?

Or were they?

See, now I was going to second-guess everything.

This sucked.