Chapter 19
Lucas
When my brother does me a favor, he does me a fucking solid.
Not only did he agree to switch with me for a few days so I could collect my thoughts and figure my shit out, he even went so far as to cancel two of the shows this week so I could focus what little energy I had left on operating Pulse in his absence.
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy working or the careers we’d built. But I legitimately felt like I had been fucking railed by a Mack truck, having been so close to having the one woman I could ever dream of wanting, only to have her ripped away within seconds.
During the week, the demand for a hybrid nightclub like ours was slow.
So, instead of busting our balls seven days a week to keep the place thriving, we decided that a good balance would be to stick to a reduced schedule, maintaining a balance between the Temptations revue show and the club.
And just like our tours, we were rarely in the same location unless one of the two was closed.
We may have bit off far more than we could chew, owning and operating a nightclub while also being the leaders of the revue, but Levi was always the workaholic type. He enjoyed the easy distraction, and now I could see why.
When something—someone, so perfect, falls into your life and then out of nowhere vanishes without a trace…
Tessa wasn’t just a one-night stand. She wasn’t a short-lived summer fling or an impulsive urge that I needed to get out of my system.
I don’t even know what I felt for her...
but it was deep...and it was fucking real.
Seeing her lying in my bed that morning and the thought of waking up to that vision alone for a lifetime to come… In her eyes, I saw our future—Levi's and mine, clear as day.
But where the fuck did she go…
“Before I leave, I need a favor.” My brother entered the kitchen as I downed the last bit of my Celsius, needing the additional caffeine to get me through the day ahead.
“Yeah? And what’s that?” I knew he went above and beyond for a reason.
“Evie.”
“Pinkie Pie?” I quirked my brow with a teasing smirk as I crushed my empty can with one hand and tossed it over the kitchen counter into the trash can like a three-point shot.
“Yes, and don’t fucking call her that,” Levi snarled like a territorial mutt, and I shrugged with my less-than-casual response.
“She shouldn’t have dyed her hair that color if she wanted a better nickname.”
“Just shut the fuck up and keep an eye on her, Luke.”
There was authority in his tone that told me he wasn’t joking and sincerely felt the need for me to play babysitter for his new fuck buddy.
“Yeah, yeah, calm down. I’ll make sure she’s not riding any new cocks while you’re gone.”
“That’s not what I—you know what—fuck—you do you. Just keep her out of fucking trouble and don’t give away that we’re twins. Not yet, at least.”
Did I care to ask why? No. I’m sure he had a good reason if he wanted to hide the fact that he had an identical twin brother.
Levi never did anything without a purpose, but I refused to see Evie as anything more than someone for him to fuck around with for the time being, because once I found Tessa, it was game fucking over for her.
I wasn’t about to settle for second best. Not when I knew my princess was still out there.
“Duly noted. Have fun in Nashville, brother.” I mocked, knowing I was the reason he was going in the first place, and maybe I was overstepping ever so slightly. But we were family after all, and pissing each other off was what we did best.
Levi gritted his teeth before pivoting and storming out of our penthouse to catch his mid-morning flight, and as the door slammed shut, I somewhat regretted venting my frustrations and being an outright asshole to him. But I turned petty when I got jealous, and that is precisely what I was.
Jealous of my brother.
The days leading up to the weekend flew by, and part of me dreaded managing the club without Levi around to cover my ass.
Before leaving on tour, I may have been overindulging in someone who might have taken my advances in the wrong direction—a no-strings fuck on my end was misinterpreted as a relationship on the other.
“There you are! I’ve been waiting for you to show up tonight.” Speaking of the fucking devil.
“Brandi…” I cleared my throat as I shrugged on my brother’s black blazer that I borrowed for the sake of professionalism and turned to face her.
She was standing in the doorway of our office, all dressed up in her metallic gold string bikini, with a matching shade of lipstick and glitter all over the fucking place.
That was the one issue I had with sleeping with her; it was never subtle. I had glitter in my hair for a week after our first fuck, and Levi never let me forget it.
“I’ve missed you.” She cooed, taking quick strides across the room to pin me against the corner of the desk.
“Not tonight. I’m not in the mood.”
“You’re telling me you don’t want a piece of—” Brandi took my hand and placed it on her ass cheek, giving it a good squeeze with the force of her own. “This, right now…”
I wanted to roll my eyes at her assertion. She was far from a turn on anymore; disgusted was more in line with how I felt.
Brandi no longer served the purpose I once needed her for. Every fiber of my being had been ensnared by someone else, my dick no longer aroused by random half-naked women, no matter how attractive they may be.
“I told you from the start that this was going nowhere. That this fantasy of yours was just that—a fucking fantasy.”
Even talking it over with Levi, the two of us agreed that Brandi wasn’t marriage material, and I didn’t have the slightest interest in sleeping with her again after the second time; riding that woman twice was more than enough for me.
“Oh, come on. You’re always such a tease.” Brandi giggled, dragging the tip of her finger down the center of my chin, and all I wanted to do was throw her across the room.
“L—Oh. Oh, shit. I’m so—sorry for interrupting—”
A head of pink hair popped in the door just as fast as it had left. And then I remembered how Levi never disclosed to Evie that he and I were identical fucking twins running the club together—because why the fuck would he?
He also instructed me not to tell her… for whatever fucking reason that may be. So, now I’ve gone from babysitting to damage control. Fucking great…
I forced Brandi off of me, followed by a sad attempt at shaking the copious amount of glitter from Levi’s jacket.
“You’ve fucked up now, Brandi. Get your ass out of my office, and for the rest of the evening, stay far the fuck away from me before I sign your termination form.”
“Y-you wouldn’t! Lucas, what the—” She reached out and tugged on my sleeve, attempting to pull me toward her as I moved to step away. Having had enough, I gripped her wrist firmly in my hand, removing it from my arm while leveling her with a vengeful glare.
“I’m your boss. Not your friend, and definitely not your fuckboy. The flirting was fun while it lasted, but let’s be real for a second. You want a harem, not a husband, and I need a wife, not a whore.”
It was the overt truth. She’d been invited up to the second floor twice a night, minimum, since she started dancing here; always accepting.
She was the favorite of the dancers, specifically because of her willingness to participate.
To each their own, but that wasn’t what my brother and I had in mind for a woman who would eventually carry our legacy.
Stomping her foot like an upset toddler who didn’t get their way, Brandi growled her discontent at me before I gave her my back and left to chase down Evie before things got wildly out of hand.
The first place I thought to look turned out to be the right one, because there, standing in front of her locker, aggressively stuffing her clothes into it, was Evie.
“Ev—”
“Don’t. I get it, you’re hers. She made that abundantly clear from the moment I started here, and I didn’t think to actually listen to her bullshit.
There’s no need to sugarcoat what I saw to spare my feelings.
I should’ve known better…” I could hear the hurt in her tone, how it cracked with every word. She had feelings for him. Fuck.
What would Levi say in this situation… That I fucking got him into it, but he could have told her I existed from the goddamn beginning.
It was too late to play the twin card now; she was too upset to believe a word out of my mouth, even if I tried. But I had to save—fix this for my brother’s sake.
“Brandi is a parasite and lied to you; it’s not like that at all. I have no interest in her whatsoever. Never have and never will.” Half a lie, because Levi truthfully didn’t give a fuck about Brandi, whereas I fucked around with the hornet's nest.
I felt weighed down with guilt at the possibility of destroying whatever he had started with Evie. All because of a fucking poorly timed misunderstanding.
“Tell that to the glitter on your blazer, because it wasn’t far from—” She snapped her head around to face me with a look of disgust, and I froze, unable to comprehend the rest of her sentence.
My rehearsed ‘I can fix this’ speech evaporated into thin air as our eyes met, and my head immediately started to spin out of control. Evie had the same unique eye color as Tessa, and now she was all I could see standing before me, even with the apparent contrast in hair.
Tessa. Disappointed, heartbroken, and betrayed… By me.
I lost my nerve within a matter of seconds. The truth was far better than the alternative at this point, especially if Levi genuinely had feelings for this woman.
Whether she knew we were brothers, twins, or was oblivious to the fact, it didn't matter anymore. I couldn’t ruin this for him—not with a clean conscience.
“You know what, believe what you want, but it’s the fucking truth. Levi never so much as touched Brandi and wouldn’t dare stick his dick in the likes of her. He’s not the type to fuck around unless it actually means something to him.”
Without spewing another word, I took my leave, storming out of the locker room and the club, needing both fresh air and a clear headspace before I set the entire building on fucking fire.
I know Levi and I have indistinguishable tastes; always chasing the same type of woman—but why the fuck did she have to have her eyes…