Chapter 1
I curled my hair in the mirror as Courtney put on her makeup. The resort hotel I worked for, Beacon-Ansley, threw several parties throughout the holiday season. Being the event planner meant managing everything from the VIP list to place settings, choosing the colors for the decorations, and triple-checking the menu. But by now I’d lived in Los Angeles and worked for this hotel for about three years. I knew the regulars by heart, could address every person by name, and even had a hand in hiring other individuals if people didn’t work out on my catering teams. It kept me busy working over sixty hours a week, but this year threw me a curveball.
A twin convention!
“So, you really mean it when you say this party’s gonna be filled with twins?”
“Yep,” I said as I fluffed my hair.
“Just a bunch of people who look like another person getting together because they’re twins,” Courtney said.
“Uh-huh. Apparently, it’s a big thing. Twin celebrations happen all across the world. I’m honestly surprised LA hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon sooner.”
“Good thing I’m single. Maybe I’ll get lucky tonight.” Courtney was my best friend. She was the first person who had befriended me when I moved to LA, and now we were roommates. Sure, I made enough money to live on my own, but living with a roommate was just cheaper. I got to pocket more of my money to save up for the house I really wanted to live in someday. I wanted a massive home with lots of rooms that I could fill with the people I loved. Strong men and their dashing desires. Maybe a person or two I could control. I wanted to fill my life with people who loved me.
Especially since I’d grown up without any.
“Too bad you’re off the market. I bet there’ll be some hunks at this party,” Courtney said.
“Honestly? I wish I wasn’t taken.”
“Uh-oh. Trouble in paradise?” she asked.
“He’s just—getting worse, I guess.”
“What do you mean? What’s Jeremy doing now?”
Jeremy Newberry was the man who had hired me at the resort hotel. He was the manager of hospitality, meaning he oversaw the work of the event planners. When I had that first interview with him, I couldn’t deny how attractive he was. He had this pale skin that contrasted with my dark tan beautifully and luscious lips that I kept daydreaming about kissing. His hazel eyes were mesmerizing against his jet-black hair, and I practically squealed the first time he asked me out on a date. At first our dating was frowned upon, but Jeremy fought for us. He talked with his supervisors and kept me from getting fired on more than one occasion. I owed my career in the hospitality industry to him, but unfortunately it now seemed as though he felt like he owned me.
Like I owed him something.
“He’s just—I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain it. If he calls and I don’t answer, he keeps calling until I do. One time I was in the shower and saw I had seven missed calls from him. I called him back and he picked up the phone and berated the shit out of me until I told him I was just washing my fucking vagina.”
“Yikes. Yeah, that’s out in left field pretty far. What else is going on that you haven’t told me?” Courtney asked.
“He keeps bumping into me at places. At first I just thought I was going crazy. I mean, we’ve been together three years. We’re gonna frequent some of the same places, right?”
“Right. You’ve been together too long. Continue.”
“Well, I took a trip about thirty minutes north to see if this one shop had a china design I was looking for. You know the Medical Network of LA’s Christmas party that happens next week?”
“Sure. Go on,” she said.
“Well, they found this pattern they wanted desperately for their plates, and I couldn’t find that shit anywhere in LA I told Jeremy there was a shop north of here that said they could order it, but I wanted to go make sure they were ordering the right design before we shelled out the money. I decided to do lunch there before I came back, and Jeremy just happened to ‘be in the area’ when he walked into the fucking restaurant.”
“Uh, creepy. What the fuck? Is he following you or something?”
“That’s crazy, right? He can’t possibly be. People don’t do that shit, right?” I asked.
“Well, I told you he was weird the first time I met him. I honestly wouldn’t put it past him.”
“I just feel stifled. Now I’m walking around with one eye looking over my shoulder. I’m sleeping with my fucking phone ringer on just in case he calls, and it’s driving me nuts. I’m over it.”
“So break up with him. He can’t fire you because HR finally approved your relationship, so they know he would be biased. If you’re unhappy, Lexi, leave.”
“It just doesn’t seem that simple. I mean, what if he is crazy? What if he, like, dives off the deep end and tries to stab me with a knife psycho-style?”
“Maybe one of these sets of twins will be bodyguards or something,” she said, grinning.
“Ugh. I know I need to end things with him, but I can’t honestly tell you that I’m comfortable doing it.”
“You’re scared, Lexi, and that’s not okay.”
“I’m not fucking scared, all right? I’m just—”
I looked at myself in the mirror, my lipstick poised above my lips. Things had gotten a bit boring and monotonous with Jeremy over the past year, and that was when things seemed to have ratcheted up. Maybe this was his weird way of spicing things up and showing me he cared, but I’d be satisfied if he was just willing to try other things in bed.
That shit had gotten old fast.
“Lexi, can I be honest?”
“Since when do you ask permission to be honest?” I asked.
“Since you became such a blatant pussy.”
“What?”
“Look. Jeremy’s not right for you. You’ve been dating him ever since you moved to LA Cool. Got it. He was your introductory man. Now it’s time to find you a real one. One that doesn’t need to know your every move and will be okay with you calling him back. Someone who doesn’t make you feel creeped out or uneasy at night. Come on, you’re a strong, independent woman. Why am I telling you any of this shit?” she asked.
“It would be nice to just spend time by myself. You know, doing me and shit,” I said.
“Yep. And I know you think your sex life has gotten boring. You could do you while doing other men who do you right. Know what I’m sayin’?”
“You’re a fucking horndog, you know that?” I asked.
“You’re just jealous because you are, too, but you can’t explore it. It’s just the boring old missionary shit where he lubes up his cock and sticks it in. He doesn’t even go down on you! When was the last time you had a decent orgasm?”
“I have orgasms, all right?”
“When, Lexi?”
I paused, and my silence was all she needed. I just didn’t understand why it was so hard for Jeremy to please me for once. The more I thought about it, the angrier it made me, and the more I wanted to end things with him right then.
“I bet there’ll be a nice twin or two who would lick that pussy real nice,” Courtney said, grinning.
“Be careful. You’ll spray the bathroom and we’ll both be taking another shower,” I said.
“You just need a change of pace. Allow yourself that. I miss my headstrong roommate. I’ve been stuck with this asshole for months.”
“I’m not an asshole,” I said.
“The only things assholes do is shit and blow hot air. That’s all you’ve been doing for months. End it with the poor man and get your life back. And if he tries any hinky bullshit, I’ll just punch him in his nuts.”
“You’re insane,” I said.
“And that’s why you love me.” Courtney handed me my phone, and I sighed as I took it. I wasn’t going to do something like this through text message. We’d been together way too long for that. But if things were about to end, then that needed to happen now while I still had the guts to do it. Plus, I was now distracted from the party and running ten minutes behind.
Hey. We need to talk. Meet in the lobby before the party begins?
I sent him the text message and then gave it to Courtney to see. She rolled her eyes but accepted it for now as we continued to get ready. I had to let him down easy, seeing as he was still my boss. He couldn’t fire me without grounds relating to my work, but he could make work a living nightmare in order to gain the grounds to fire me. I had to tread lightly with this, especially considering the habits he’d struck up over the past four or five months.
“Come on, Courtney! You’re gonna make me late!”
“You better fucking break up with him. I’m ready to mingle with the twins with my best friend,” she said.
“I’ll talk to him, I promise.”
We drove through downtown Los Angeles before I whipped behind the hotel. If I ran, I could still meet Jeremy on time and catch my breath before the kitchen would need help coordinating food tray runs. I grabbed Courtney’s hand and rushed her in, pushing her through a door that dumped into the ballroom before I made my way to the lobby.
Jeremy was standing there in the corner looking out at the street. His eyes were darting around in that paranoid state I’d come to view as normal, but seeing it from afar, it only struck me as odd. Part of me wanted to help him. I’d spent the last three years of my life with him and I cared about what happened to him. But I couldn’t do this. Not anymore.
Not with him.
“Hey, Jeremy.”
He whipped around as I walked up to him, relief flooding his face. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close, and I closed my eyes to take in everything about it. Right now, he was being kind. Right now, he was being a relieved boyfriend. But soon the green-eyed monster would rear its head, and I found my hands shaking at the thought.
“What’s going on, Lexi? Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, yeah. Just nervous for the party. It’s the first new one I’ve acquired since working here.”
“You’ll do just fine. Is that all you wanted to talk about?”
“No actually. There’s something else.”
I looked up and searched his hazel eyes as I drew a deep breath through my nose. His hands were clamping tighter and tighter around my skin, and I squealed a bit before I jumped back. He released my arms, giving me an apologetic look, but all it did was confirm that I needed to back away from this. Something was happening to Jeremy, and I couldn’t stick around to figure out what it was.
“I don’t want to hear it,” he said.
“Jeremy—”
“This isn’t happening right now. It’s fucking Christmas. I promised my parents you’d be there.”
“That’s not my fault. I told you I couldn’t go this year. I work right up through Christmas Eve,” I said.
“I’m not listening to this.”
He shoved past me and headed for his office, but I was hot on his heels. I’d be late to the party if it meant having this conversation now. He didn’t get to be paranoid, controlling, and then off-putting. All of his attitudes and moves only solidified that this needed to be over.
“Jeremy, just stop for a second,” I said.
“Go the fuck to work, Lexi, before you’re late.”
“It’s over, Jeremy.”
Those words stopped him in his tracks. He slowly turned on his heels, fire blazing in his eyes. He was angry, and I got it. I was throwing away the past three years, and I knew that would make anyone mad. But I stood my ground in the doorway of his office. I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me out of this decision.
“What?” he said.
“Things have deteriorated between us. You’ve gotten paranoid, and you’re following me places—”
“I’m not fucking following you anywhere, you self-absorbed idiot.”
“I’m leaving you, Jeremy. We’re no longer dating,” I said.
He took a step toward me, and I backed out of his office. He drew a deep breath through his nose, but I didn’t want to hear any more of what he had to say. In my opinion, he’d said enough with that last sentence he’d spewed at me, and the last thing he was going to do was gaslight me. He wasn’t going to manipulate me and make me feel crazy any longer.
“Have a wonderful holiday season. I gotta go work,” I said.
I backtracked out of his office before he had a chance to address me. It was shocking to me that he didn’t follow me out, but I was relieved he didn’t just the same. I walked over to the closet and shrugged my coat off to hang it up before I made my way into the kitchen. It was time to coordinate the tray runs of appetizers for the guests. As I threw my gaze out the small window into the room, Courtney caught my eye. She was giving me a quizzical look, no doubt wondering if I’d done it.
I flashed her a thumbs-up, and a smile creeped across her cheeks.