Chapter 1 #2
In a state of absolute disbelief, Nikki watched her sister, Jordan, throw clothes into a duffel bag, grabbing articles off the floor and giving them a sniff before she jammed them into the bag or discarded them.
When was the last time her sister had done laundry?
It hardly mattered when you had more clothes than a person could wear in a lifetime, even someone who wore three or four outfits per day.
“This is a joke, right?” Nikki asked, fuming as she felt her blood pressure soar.
“What’s a joke?” Jordan asked, oblivious as usual.
“You. Going back to him after what he did to you. That has to be a joke, because no self-respecting woman would ever give a guy like him yet another chance.”
Jordan had the good grace to squirm ever so slightly. “He apologized and took down the video. He said he did it because he wanted me back.”
“He posted a video of you having sex because he wanted you back? And you believe that bullshit?”
“You don’t get it.”
“You’re right. I don’t.”
“I love him, Nik. I’ve always loved him. You know that.”
That might be true, but all Nikki could think of was Jordan’s utter devastation last fall when the man she loved had posted a video of them having sex—a video Jordan hadn’t known existed until it became public.
In the world of deal breakers, that would top Nikki’s list no matter how much she “loved” the guy.
That he’d even recorded such a private moment without her consent would be enough for Nikki to call it quits forever.
But Jordan had a soft spot and a blind spot where Zane, the rapper known only by his first name, was concerned. From the time Jordan met him five years ago, their relationship had been an unhealthy, toxic mess, and Nikki had had enough.
She marshaled her fortitude and met the gaze of the sister who looked exactly like her but was as different from her as anyone could be. “I quit.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Nik. You’re not quitting.”
“I’m not being dramatic, and I am quitting. I appreciate the opportunities you’ve given me to work as your assistant, but I’m going to pursue other interests. It’s high time we started living our own lives anyway.”
“You’re pissed about Zane. I get it. He told me you would be.”
That infuriated Nikki. She and her brother-in-law had civilly coexisted, most of the time anyway.
However, after he posted the video that had—temporarily, it seemed—devastated her sister, he was dead to Nikki.
If only he were dead to Jordan, too, but alas, no such luck.
The definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Her sister was completely insane to go back to him, but no one could tell her that, even the twin sister who was closer to her than anyone.
She had been anyway, until Zane came along and ruined so many things, including the cohesive bond the sisters had always shared.
During a chaotic upbringing in which they had been shuttled between divorced parents who had fought over them for years, they’d rarely had so much as a disagreement until Jordan met Zane and went off the deep end—in every possible way.
Nikki would bet the farm that he’d never been faithful to Jordan, but even those rumors or the ever-present threat of STDs didn’t seem to matter to her sister.
After the video first surfaced, Nikki had felt relieved—right before she felt guilty for being relieved when her sister was utterly devastated.
She’d hoped the video would finally be the deal breaker that would end their disastrous marriage.
During the weeks last fall that they’d spent at their grandmother’s home on Gansett Island, Nikki had been hopeful that Jordan was going to end it once and for all.
But then Jordan had suddenly wanted to go home to Los Angeles.
Then she’d begun disappearing for entire days.
Nikki checked Zane’s concert schedule, found out he was in town and put two and two together to equal madness.
It was time to take herself off the insanity train.
Enough was enough for her, even if Jordan wasn’t there yet.
She’d get there eventually. Nikki was certain of it, but she wasn’t about to wait around and watch the shit show from the sidelines.
She’d seen enough to last her a lifetime and to make her want to swear off men and marriage forever.
“Take a vacation,” Jordan said. “You’re long overdue for some time off, and I’ll send you anywhere you want to go. Zane will make the jet available to you after they drop me in Houston for his show. Just say the word.”
Nikki wanted to laugh at the irony of Zane making it possible for her to get as far away from him as she possibly could. That would make them both happy. He didn’t like her any more than she liked him—probably because he knew she was wise to him and not buying his bullshit the way Jordan did.
“That’s all right.” Zane was the last person on earth she wanted to be beholden to for anything. “I’ll make my own arrangements as soon as I can pack up my stuff here and get it into storage.”
Jordan stopped what she was doing with the sniffing and packing. “You’re serious.”
“Dead serious,” Nikki said, six steps beyond exasperated.
This conversation was so typical as to be comical—Jordan listened to every other word Nikki said and then acted surprised when she finally heard something Nikki had already told her four times.
Except it wasn’t funny anymore. Not to her anyway.
“It’s time, J,” she said gently. “We’re twenty-seven and still joined at the hip. ”
“So what? The Kardashians are older than us and together every minute of every day. No one thinks that’s weird.”
If she had to hear one more word about the Kardashians, the family Jordan held up as the example all reality TV stars aimed to emulate, Nikki was going to lose her shit. “Um, everyone thinks they’re weird. Everyone except for you, that is.”
“And the twenty million people who follow their every move,” Jordan said disdainfully.
One of Jordan’s life goals was to have as many Twitter followers as Kim.
She’d been well on her way with three million followers when the sex tape exploded her numbers to ten million.
In Jordan’s twisted mind, Zane got credit for making her even more famous, the same way a sex tape had exploded Kim onto the national stage once upon a time.
Nikki couldn’t handle her sister’s twisted mind or the twisted world in which she and Zane lived and worked.
However, Nikki would miss Jordan’s Bel Air estate, which had been home to them both for the last three years.
Nikki’s apartment was totally separate from Jordan and Zane’s part of the house, but she couldn’t live for one more day under the same roof as that man.
No, the only roof she wanted to be under was the new one Riley McCarthy had put on their grandmother’s home on Gansett Island.
Although, the thought of Gansett in January did give her pause.
She’d never been there in the winter, but at least she knew the roof was solid.
Riley was a man of his word. Nikki had known him only fleetingly, but she knew that much, and the roof would be as solid as he was.
Perhaps a few weeks under that solid roof, away from the endless calamity that was her sister’s life, would give Nikki the space and perspective to figure out who she was beyond Jordan Stokes’s identical twin sister and faithful assistant.
She needed her own life and identity. Hopefully, some time away from it all, some time in her favorite place in the world, would help her to figure out what that life might entail.