Chapter 23
Lucas
A loud bang jolted me from my sleep, and I groaned, rolling away from the streak of sunlight that beamed through the crack in my blackout curtains. I draped an arm over Evie, pulling her back against my chest as I nuzzled my face into her soft brown hair.
Wait… What the fuck?
Rising onto my elbow, I tried my hardest to move with enough grace as not to shake the entire bed and wake… Tessa?
I was dreaming, hallucinating.
I was still asleep—I had to be…
She’s not here, this was my mind tormenting me like a sick fucking joke… A punishment for giving in… giving up.
My heart was racing, beating rapidly against my chest as my veins pumped with adrenaline, enough to make me feel lightheaded as I peered over her shoulder to find a pink wig dangling over the edge of the bed, wedged between her arm and the mattress.
No way… All this time…
“Luke!” Fucking hell.
With swift reflexes, I slid out of bed, hearing my brother shouting my name from down the hall. Of course, he was home early; that was the loud bang I’d heard—his goddamn timing.
Levi always hated touring; it should have come as no surprise that he would’ve taken the initiative and flown home the second he had the chance. If a red eye were available, he’d have taken it without hesitation—and thank fucking god there wasn’t this time around.
With my fingertips resting lightly on the door’s handle, I looked over my shoulder to admire the woman sound asleep in my bed, every part of me feeling lighter, whole.
The last time I turned my back for a fleeting second, she ran. And now there was a pit in my stomach, concerned that the same thing would happen all over again the moment I exited the room.
“Luke!” Oh, for fuck sake.
“Shh!” I hissed, stepping into the hall and quickly pulling the bedroom door closed behind me. I held my boxers over my dick as I padded my way down to the kitchen, where Levi had parked his egotistical ass against the counter, arms crossed, with an accusing grin.
“You brought her home, didn’t you?” The smile on his face was damning, even his dimples were on full fucking display.
“No, I—”
Levi cheekily gestured his head to the side with an arched brow, and I followed the direction, spotting the trail of her fucking clothes on the floor.
“And do I even need to mention that you’re still naked… You’re not very discreet there, brother.”
“And you’re an asshole.”
“For what?!” He huffed a laugh. “You’re the one who fucked around with Evie while I was gone. If anything, I should be the one upset here; you’re lucky I’m not.”
Hang on a second… He doesn’t know?
Oh holy shit, he doesn’t fucking know!
A smug smirk pulled at my lips, and I no longer cared that I was the one standing in front of him, caught with my pants down. I knew something he fucking didn’t.
“What did you do?” Levi’s eyes narrowed on me, and I burst out laughing. This was too fucking good. The situation alone was hilarious—and the odds? This explained so much… “Luke, what the fuck did you do to her?”
“Oh, I didn’t do anything; it’s what she did to us. She’s not who you think she is.”
“She’s not—You’re full of shit.” Levi pushed off the counter and stormed down the hall, heading straight for my room. “I swear to god, Luke, if you did something to my—”
“Levi, don’t. She’s—” I made a move to stop him, but he’d already pushed the door open by the time I reached his side.
“Ho-ly fuck…” He gasped as his jaw dropped to the floor at the sight of the flawless brunette, lying face down in the middle of my bed. “That’s—”
“Tessa fucking Bradley. I told you.” I hummed my pride, pulling on my boxers before leaning back against the door frame and crossing my arms over my chest.
“That—”
“Explains the mutual and exceedingly quick attraction on both our ends.”
“The twin shit...” We spoke in unison, and I nodded my confirmation, still smiling ear to ear in an I told you so manner.
My brother and I stood there for a few minutes, in stunned silence, while I chewed on my thumb, admiring her prone figure, already turning hard from the memory of last night, now knowing it had been her this entire time.
I wasn’t blind; I caught most of the similarities: her eyes, her scent, and even her sexual habit of biting when she came, but the pink hair threw me off. Without the glamour of a Hollywood stylist, she looked more normal, and honestly, I liked her better this way.
Tessa didn’t need someone to make her stunning; she was exactly that all on her own. And now she was ours.
“Alright, so what’s the plan?” Levi broke the stillness that had fallen over us, and I arched my brow at him in question.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we have to tell her the truth, we can’t pretend to be one person—and then there’s the whole secret society and marriage thing…” His voice drifted off as I remembered all the shit we still had to reveal to her.
Would Tessa marry us on a whim? I didn’t know how the fuck to pitch something like that to her; that was Levi’s area of expertise. I was just along for the ride, in a sense.
“What if she runs?” I rushed out, nervous of losing the one thing I wanted all over again.
“Well, luckily for you, she won’t be running off anytime soon.” Levi gave me a scheming smile, and I furrowed my brows, curious as to what he had done to make that even possible.
“Oh? And why’s that?”
“Because she signed this…” My brother reached into the back pocket of his jeans, extending a tri-folded sheet of paper for me to take.
“I was going to wait until tomorrow to say anything to you, but it looks like now is the perfect time.” I unfolded the document and skimmed over it.
As I was running my fingers over the embossed State of Nevada seal, I realized that I was holding a marriage license.
My eyes flicked back up to meet Levi’s with a look of shock and awe.
“She believed she was signing her employment paperwork when, in reality, it was our marriage license. I’ll have to amend her name with Dustin, seeing as she’s not Evie Sinclair, but aside from that… Tessa is ours. Legally bound.”
This was a fucking dream come true.
“And the test?” I added, remembering that Tessa would still need to pass her initiation to make this permanent. It was one thing to have the signed license, but the requirement…
“In a month. Dallas beat us to the punch, and so his wife is next in line. Tessa will follow once hers is complete.” Dallas snagged a wife too, good for him.
“So we still have time to figure out how to disclose this information to her…” I mulled over the facts.
A month was more than enough time for us to work on breaking the news gently.
“Then I guess, for now, I say we just focus on getting Tessa to accept our agreed-upon relationship before rushing into anything else.” One step at a time…
“Sounds like a plan,” Levi smirked, stretching his arms over his head as he lazily stepped into the bedroom. “Do you mind?”
“Only if we can have a little fun first.”
I enjoyed playing games, and Tessa had an attitude so… why the fuck not? We were in the mood for celebrating after all.
With a cocky grin, I skirted to the opposite side of the bed, readying myself by the window as Levi settled in behind her. A single nod from my brother and I whipped open the curtains, a wakeup call to our beautiful girl.
The moment the bright morning sun kissed her eyes, Tessa whimpered, rubbing her face on the pillow before rolling into Levi.
“Lucas, it’s too bright.” Tessa’s drowsy voice cracked as she curled into my brother’s chest, and I bit back the urge to laugh, knowing exactly how this was going to pan out.
“It’s not Lucas, babygirl.” He hummed into the top of her head with a smile.
“Cute, but I can’t keep up with the name flipping this early in the morning… Just pick one and stick with it…”
“Tessa,” My brother whispered her name, and her eyes flared, dilating to the size of saucers. She peered up at him before pushing away and sitting up straight in fear.
I stepped forward from my corner of the room, and I swear Tessa flew out of her fucking skin.
“Whoa! No! What the actual fuck—” She backed herself up against the headboard before threading her fingers through her hair and tugging at the strands, catching sight of her wig on the floor.
“I-I’m losing my fucking mind right now.
Did you put something in that glass of water last night?
” There was panic laced in her words as she began to hyperventilate, her breathing growing erratic.
“Calm down, princess. I wouldn’t dare drug you.” I slowly sat at the edge of the bed so as not to spook her any further, giving space in the hope that she wouldn’t take flight. “There are, in fact, two of us…”
“We’re identical twins.” Levi chimed in and gestured with his hand between us. “Luke and Levi.”
“You’ve got to be joking.” Tessa gaped at us, clearly dumbfounded as she worked to control her labored breaths.
“I wish we were, but the joke is on us apparently, because you’re not Evie, or you have a twin of your own for that matter…”
“Your point?” She narrowed her eyes with sass in her tone, as if we’d just insulted her at the thought.
“Let me put it this way. There’s one of you, two of us, and it turns out we’ve been pining over the same woman.”
“And luckily for you, princess, we like to share,” I added proudly as if she’d just won the lottery. Might as well rip the band-aid off while we’re here.
Tessa’s jaw dropped as she processed every word of what we had said, and all I wanted to know was what was running through that pretty brunette head of hers.