Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Lou
“You?”
There was no mistaking the accusation in his tone. Wade Stevens. The gorgeous man I’d spilled hot coffee on was my comatose, fake boyfriend’s older brother.
Oh god, Lou. What have you gotten yourself into?
I never lied—never successfully, anyway. Any and all liberties with the truth had always been fully and unequivocally assumed by my counterpart, my twin sister. Growing up, Frankie was the one who played pranks. Who treaded the line between white lies and lies of omission as expertly as a circus tightrope walker. Meanwhile, my body came with its own lie detector. Cheeks blaring red in alarm, pupils dilating wide with panic, skin breaking out in a sweat, mouth fumbling over the simplest of words.
I couldn’t lie to save my life…until I’d stood on the curb and been faced with the choice to lie for my dream.
Yes.
For a brief moment, I tried to lean on the technicality that I hadn’t lied. I’d wanted to tell the EMT I was okay, and he assumed it was the answer to the wrong question. But that technicality crumbled under the weight of my silence afterward. I hadn’t corrected him, and a lie of omission was still a lie.
It was wrong. I’d never deny that. But in my weak defense, I also thought it was harmless. Just enough avoidance of the truth to get me to the hospital so I could make sure Mr. Stevens was okay.
I didn’t expect the paramedic to hop out as soon as the doors opened and declare to the nurse waiting, “We’ve got an unresponsive male from a fall down some stairs. Laceration to the temple. BP is elevated. We stabilized his head and neck, and his girlfriend is with him.”
How was that medically relevant?
I couldn’t even make it out of the ambulance before the falsehood spread like the flames of a wildfire. From that nurse to her colleagues, then to the receptionist at the desk, and by the time it reached the doctor, it was safe to say the entire hospital was apprised of my relationship status with the unconscious Blaze Stevens.
It would still be okay. They’d admit him, do their testing, and then tell me what was wrong with him and how soon he would be better. As soon as I knew he wasn’t going to die, I could leave. When he woke up, he could break the news that he didn’t have a girlfriend, and it would just be a harmless misunderstanding.
I started to rationalize my level of panic. I had to, or the next person they’d be moving into a hospital bed would be me.
Except, of course, it hadn’t happened that way. Blaze’s mother, Joanna, had arrived while I was waiting— panicking . They must’ve found her information on him when they removed his personal items to take him for scans. I’d been sitting in the hospital room alone for what felt like forever when she burst through the door, sobbing that her Blaze had finally found love.
Someone had already told her that I, Blaze’s girlfriend, was in the room, and again, my stunned silence only confirmed the falsehood.
Her arms came around me and jarred me from the shock, but by then, she was crying, telling me all about her youngest son and how he’s been so lost, and to hear that he’s been staying in Maine because he found someone, was such a relief to her. Even if I wanted to correct her, Joanna Stevens talked a mile a minute, and by the time I could get a word in, the doctor came to give us both an update.
As wrong as it should’ve felt to sit silent and listen to a stranger’s medical prognosis with his family, who believed me to be someone I wasn’t, the way Joanna squeezed my hand made me glad I was there.
I remembered how Mom was when Kit was in the hospital, injured and unconscious. I remembered how many times she pulled me or Frankie or Jamie to her and swore she didn’t know what she would do without us there. That was Joanna, devastated and afraid, and she had no one to lean on except me.
I’d squeezed her hand back, and with that small action, I was no longer an uncommitted participant in the ploy but a willing player. I’d stepped out of the shallows of the lie and into the deep end of deception.
I’d excused myself to get a cup of coffee and buy myself a couple minutes to think. What would Frankie do? No. Following through on this kind of fabrication is how Frankie ended up camping out at the inn with the man who’d then sold it to me. How she’d ended up pregnant and falling in love with him. Sure, it had worked out for her, but that was because it always somehow worked out for Frankie, no matter how much trouble she got herself into.
We were twins. There was no way both of us were born with that kind of luck.
No, I had to go back and tell her the truth. I was just the innkeeper who cared that Mr. Stevens was okay. I’d explain the runaway assumption and how I truly never meant for it to go this far. She would understand. She was already so kind to me. And I’d be happy to sit and stay with her until the doctors knew more. Just because I wasn’t his girlfriend didn’t mean I didn’t care .
Just because I wasn’t his girlfriend didn’t mean I didn’t care. I’d been repeating the mantra and my apology when I’d run into Mr. Tall, Dark, and Doused with Coffee.
For those minutes, there was no Blaze, there was no inn, there was only the racing of my heart and the flutter in my stomach, things I’d never felt before. But when he’d abruptly ended the conversation, I was convinced it was nothing more than my shot nerves wreaking havoc.
In retrospect, havoc was preferable to this.
“Wade, this is Lou Kinkade. Blaze’s girlfriend,” Joanna continued her introduction, having somehow completely missed his low accusation when he saw me.
I tugged my hand back from where it rested on top of Blaze’s, almost as limp and cold as his, and stood, wiping the clamminess of my palms on the fabric of my pants.
Dark brown eyes glowed as they met mine, embers of disbelief popping and flickering in their depths. Under the heavy thump of my pulse, I noted the warm fluttering in my stomach again, inexplicably, the same as before.
“Hi—Hello again,” I said, my voice cracking. I forced myself to swallow and quickly turned my head to Joanna, blurting out, “I met Mr. Stevens briefly when I went to go get some coffee.”
I could only handle one lie, and I was hardly doing that. Plus, it felt like anything more than a few seconds under the heat of his stare, and he’d literally melt the truth from my bones.
“Miss Kinkade.” There was an icy edge to his tone as he extended his hand to shake mine.
My tongue tumbled around in my mouth, searching for what to say as I placed my hand in his. His big palm completely engulfed my smaller one, a sizzling sensation shooting up the length of my arm and feeling like it collected as the base of my stomach.
“I’m so sorry about your brother,” I managed, my eyes lifting to his. It was the truth—probably why it was easier for me to speak .
The hard angle of his jaw pulsed like a rock with a heartbeat. “So, you’re Blaze’s girlfriend?”
This was my chance to tell the truth. To cut this lie off at its small root before it had a chance to grow.
“For how long?” he asked not even a second later.
Could no one wait for an answer to one question before they asked another?
“Oh, Wade. Haven’t we all been through enough tonight? Stop interrogating the poor girl,” Joanna chided.
Interrogate… My jaw dropped, panic exploding as though he’d just pinned my head to the execution block. I’d forgotten… He was the lawyer.
Scrambled bits of online articles flipped through my brain. Wade wasn’t just Blaze’s brother. He was the lawyer in the family. He was the one who’d sue me for Blaze’s fall…and now for everything that came after it.
Telling the truth was always the right thing to do, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not right now. Not at two in the morning. Not the way he was looking at me—questioning me like he didn’t trust me even as his brother’s girlfriend. I couldn’t imagine the trial he’d put me through if I told him the truth…and I didn’t want to imagine it. Not tonight.
“I’m not interrogating her. I just asked a question…” Wade trailed off, clearly a question he still expected me to answer.
“Not very long,” I said softly. Going on about five and half hours now.
His eyes narrowed, scrutinizing my answer like he was a human lie detector.
Blaze had been staying at the inn for almost three months. Would he have told his brother if he had a girlfriend? Was that why Wade looked so skeptical? No .
My eyes fluttered, and the memory of Blaze flashed when I’d confronted him about leaving his door open and the bitterness of his words: “Don’t look at me like that—like my brother.”
“You don’t say,” he muttered under his breath .
Pulling my hand back, I pressed it to my chest and swayed. “I’m sorry.”
“Enough, Wade.” Joanna drew me back to my chair, and it was a good thing because my legs felt like they’d run empty of strength. “I’m just so glad you’re here, Elouise. That Blaze found you here.”
Words knotted in my throat like a ball of yarn, so tangled that all I could manage was a small smile and nod as she took my hand.
In my periphery, Wade moved to the corner of the small room, far enough away that it felt safe to take another look at him. The brother. The lawyer.
He was taller than Blaze. I’d never had to tip my head so high those few times I’d talked to Blaze at the inn. The shape of their eyes was the same, though not the color. And while Blaze was muscular—unless every photo on the internet had photoshopped his abs—there was an unsuspecting strength to Wade. I’d felt it when he grabbed me—steadied me. Underneath his fitted suit was an equally fit body.
But the most unexpected thing about Wade Stevens was how my body both wanted to be closer to him yet knew it was safer to stay away. Like a living flame, his presence made me tingly and warm, but too close—close enough to know the truth—and that heat would leave me as nothing but ash.
“He’s going to be okay,” I said, patting the top of Joanna’s hand like I could convince us both and distract myself from the man who seemed to be assessing me far more than his brother.
“I just wish the doctor could do something for him. My poor boy…” she sniffled.
“Why was he drinking?”
I tensed at the rumble of his voice.
“Don’t, Wade,” Joanna begged, shaking her head. “I can’t handle this tonight.”
“Can’t handle what? The truth?” he countered calmly with only the slightest glint in his eyes that gave away how her words affected him. “I want to know what happened to him, don’t you?”
“No, you just want to be upset with him like you always are, and that’s not helpful right now?—”
“Dammit, Mom?—”
“I’m sorry.” I bolted upright from my chair. “I should go.” For a thousand and one reasons.
“Go?” Wade’s head cocked like he’d just caught me in the lie.
Boyfriend or not, I had a business to run.
“I don’t…want to, of course,” I stammered, pushing my glasses higher on my nose. “But the doctor said there’s nothing more we can do tonight—for right now—except wait. And unfortunately, I have an inn full of guests, and I don’t have anyone else I can leave in charge for a whole night and breakfast…” I trailed off and crouched by Joanna. “I’ll come back tomorrow,” I told her, her watery smile and nod steadying the uneven keel of my heart.
“Thank you for everything, Lou.” She reached up and cupped my cheek. “I’m just so glad…”
“You own the inn where Blaze was staying?” His stare felt like a hand around my throat, tightening as he asked.
I straightened. “Yes, the Lamplight Inn.”
Wade folded his arms over his chest, and suddenly, his suit didn’t seem like it fit the muscles underneath. “And that’s how you two met?”
“Yes,” I said and quickly added before my answers were forced to become less truthful. “I need to get going.”
He left me so rattled that I almost headed for the door without saying goodbye to the most important person to me. Supposedly. Thankfully, I caught myself and, giving my back to his brother, I went to the head of the bed.
For a second, I stared at the man I was supposed to be dating. Blaze looked even more handsome, if that were possible, though I still didn’t feel even a twinge of visceral attraction to him. Maybe it wasn’t handsome. Maybe it was simply more peaceful. In spite of his injuries. In spite of the cuts and bumps and bruising. There was no crease in his brow. No worry in his eyes.
I didn’t know what demons he was fighting—except for maybe the one that growled behind me—but I felt for Blaze. I really did. The way he’d holed up in that room, never using his fame as leverage…never even letting the knowledge of his fame get out. I swore no one but Harper and I knew he was staying in Friendship, as though he was hiding from some kind of expectation he thought he’d never escape.
I sighed and bent over him. A girlfriend would’ve kissed him on the mouth, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So, I pressed my lips to the side of his head, promising, “See you tomorrow.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetie,” Joanna sniffled again. “Thank you for everything?—”
“Please, don’t.” I smiled and then moved away from her side before she could say anything that would make me feel more horrible than I already did.
Frankie would’ve simply ignored the skeptical man observing me from the corner and left, but I couldn’t. Wade had a right to be skeptical and a right to be worried, so I cordially murmured, “Goodnight,” and then bolted from the room.
I thought it would be easier to breathe—to think—once I was out of that room. It wasn’t. My breaths were just as shallow as I headed for the exit, the weight of the charade as crushing as an anvil strapped to my chest.
I should just go back and tell them the truth. Tell them I was scared what would happen to him and to me and to my inn and things got out of control. But then, a vision of that crisp, coal-burning gaze flooded my mind, and my pace picked up.
Tomorrow. After I slept. After I handled…my business…I’d figure out a plan to explain. Maybe I could catch Joanna alone. She seemed like she’d be more sympathetic to the domino of events that led to my deception. Much more so than Blaze’s brother.
Wade Stevens hardly seemed sympathetic to his comatose brother, why should he have any more understanding for me? He hadn’t even wanted to hear my apology for spilling coffee all over his shirt.
No, Wade struck me as the kind of man who’d exact as much punishment as he possibly could for my crime before branding me with an L—not for Lou, but a scarlet letter for Liar.
“Miss Kinkade.”
I shivered and turned slowly on the sidewalk, praying the sound was a figment of my runaway thoughts, but I wasn’t so lucky.
Wade had followed me outside, somehow seeming even taller when he was this close. His stare should’ve cooled me far more than the crisp middle-of-the-night air. Instead, I only felt that dangerous warmth as it swept over me.
Did he know I was lying?
Was he going to confront me here away from Joanna?
“Mr. Stevens,” I croaked, sending up a silent prayer that the death of my dreams wouldn’t take place on the hospital’s sidewalk.
“I’m taking you home.”
Air whooshed from my lungs, and it took a second for his words to register.
“What?” I started. “No, that’s not necessary. You should stay here with Joanna?—”
“How do you plan on getting home then, Miss Kinkade? Because I’m hazarding a wild guess that there are no taxis around here, let alone ones roaming the streets at 3 a.m.”
I stiffened. “I…”
My frazzled brain hadn’t put the pieces together until that moment. I’d come in the ambulance, so I had no car to drive back.
Shoot.
I could call Max, but he was already holding down reception at the inn. Maybe if Jamie was there…No. I pressed my hand to my stomach. If my oldest brother came here—any of my family, but Jamie especially—and learned somehow, or was told by the ve ry skeptical suit standing in front of me, that I had a boyfriend… No.
The only person I would trust to go along with the ruse until I could figure out a solution was Frankie. And my twin sister had a newborn baby, so there was no chance I was calling her right now. I’d sooner walk.
“You’re right. I don’t have a car here,” I admitted, my shoulders slumping in defeat. “I’m sorry. If it’s not too much trouble, I would appreciate a ride.”
“No trouble at all.” His hand twitched at his side, and when I heard a car engine turn over behind me, I realized he’d remote-started his car.
“Thank you.”
It was going to be okay. It was only a car ride. Friendship was fifteen minutes away. I could pretend to sleep and avoid any more of his nosy questions until I decided what I was going to do. It would be fine. Nothing worse could happen tonight.
Just as the anxious beat of my heart started to settle, Wade opened the passenger door for me and said casually, “I’m going to stay in my brother’s hotel room while he’s here in the hospital.”
No amount of cushion or suppleness in the luxury leather seats could soften the sudden blow of his words.
Stay… in his brother’s… I couldn’t breathe, my chest tight to the point of bursting as he closed the door, the sound like a gavel ringing in my ears declaring his verdict. Wade planned to stay at the inn. With me.
They said lies were like dominos, one toppling forward into the next. They were wrong. My lie was like quicksand, pulling me deeper into its mire, and the more I tried to get out, the harder it pulled me under. The closer it drew me to him. And the more dangerous it became.