Thirty

LILAH

If you told me an hour ago that my world was going to come crashing down on me tonight, I would have laughed in your face and asked you what you were smoking.

Tonight’s perfect.

Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

Holy shit was I wrong.

As the gravity of this moment sets in, I shake my head for once again being so naïve to believe that the universe doesn’t have it out for me.

I know the second that they come face to face exactly how they’re related. It’s all right there. Despite how utterly different they are, their similarities are impossible to ignore when they’re standing right across from each other.

How the hell had I missed it?

Was it willful ignorance or just plain blindness on my part?

Even before Andrew speaks, I’ve already guessed that this is the brother he has such a strained relationship with.

Edward. My boss. The man I’m working for in order to secure money for my project is my boyfriend’s brother.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I don’t mean to jump when Andrew starts speaking but it’s inevitable considering how fraught my nerves are at the moment.

“Lilah, I want you to meet my brother. Edward, this is my girlfriend, Lilah.”

It’s the first time I’ve heard him use that title to describe me, and while I should be rejoicing at the sound, I’m shaking in my boots.

Edward is going to blow my cover in just one second and I suck in my last breath, waiting for my world to crumble.

“Nice to meet you, Lilah,” Edward says without a trace of recognition evident on his face.

My heart is pounding in my ears as palpable fear grips me, rooting me to the spot.

Nice to meet you?

What?

Why is he pretending not to know who I am? As if this moment couldn’t get any more stressful, here he is playing games.

He doesn’t give me the time of day as he focuses solely on Andrew.

“I can’t say I expected to run into you here, Andrew. I thought you were too good for these kinds of events. What changed?” he sneers.

The muscle at the base of Andrew’s jaw is ticking double time. His brow narrows and he gives his brother a look I’ve never seen before, full of animosity and contempt.

Andrew’s grip on my hand grows tighter, pulling me closer to his side as if he wants to shield me from something.

“I wish I could say it was good to see you, Teddy. But we both know that’d be a lie.”

Edward snarls as soon as the name slips past Andrew’s lips. That same petulant expression he gives me when he’s annoyed in the office blankets his face right now.

An eerie sense of déjà vu sends chills crawling up my arms.

What the hell is going on here? I’ve stepped into the twilight zone and I know for a fact that I’m fucked whether I say something or remain silent.

“I see not much has changed,” Edward remarks, sliding me a cursory glance. “Still running through pretty women like water.”

His words hit me right in the gut which I’m sure is exactly what he intended. His implication that I’m just another woman on a long list doesn’t sit well with me.

Even if I’ve been plagued by those same doubts myself. But I can’t concern myself with those thoughts at the moment. There are more pressing questions that need to be answered.

Like, why the hell had Edward kept me on his brother’s account but not tell me it’s his brother? A brother he doesn’t even speak to regularly or seem to like? The animosity between these two is tangible and somehow I find myself tangled in the middle.

A snarl of my own threatens to take over my face but I rein it in and clutch Andrew’s arm. I grip it a little too tight, pulling his attention away from Edward. He looks down at me and asks, “You okay?”

With a jerky nod, I confirm that I’m fine. Even if my heart is racing a million beats per second.

A nasty mix of confusion and horror cripples me, but I school my features into a watery smile. He doesn’t look anywhere near convinced but decides not to push the issue in present company.

Edward is silently flexing his power and the smug look on his face makes my stomach churn as I anticipate the moment this is all going to blow up. The fizzy Champagne I drank earlier threatens to make a reappearance.

“What are you up to these days, little brother? Still playing around with crayons in your basement?”

His blatant disregard for Andrew’s talent makes me bristle, especially in the wake of the conversation we just had.

Disgust turns the corners of Andrew’s mouth down into a scowl.

“Why don’t you cut the shit, Teddy? You can try to cut me down all you want but it won’t change the fact that you’re a pathetic follower who’s always been jealous of me.”

Edward’s face falters and he shows the first visible signs of discomfort. In a matter of seconds, he’s recovered and spewing more insults.

“Jealous? That would imply that you had something I wanted—”

“Oh, but I do,” Andrew states confidently as his body gradually relaxes beside me. “I have my freedom and that’s something you’ll never have as long as you’re playing the role of a puppet.”

Sounding in control of the situation, Andrew goes on. His voice is clipped and calm as he appears to read Edward like a wide open book.

“That’s your problem. You never developed your own identity outside of other people’s expectations and now you despise anybody who lives their life on their own terms because you were never brave enough to take that chance. That must be hard for you,” he finishes with a shake of his head.

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” Edward says in a tight voice.

A rigid moment of silence passes between the brothers while I stand there feeling like a fish out of water.

I need to get the fuck out of here. Where’s the emergency exit when a girl needs it?

This is the most stifling exchange I’ve ever witnessed and it’s just growing worse by the second. The tension is radiating off them in waves and I don’t want to be here when the situation inevitably detonates right before my eyes.

Here I am, in bed with one brother while working for the other one. How on earth did I get in the middle of this sibling rivalry?

Someone should really make a movie about my summer. It’ll be a blockbuster hit because I can’t make up this crap. What the hell is going to be thrown at me next?

The uncertainty of it all is starting to gnaw at my sanity.

I spot Charli coming into view down the hall and my shoulders sag in relief. Luckily, the universe is throwing me a bone.

“There you two are, I was just about to put out an APB—” she pauses when she sees Edward standing there. “Oh, hello.”

He spares her a cursory glance, much in the same way he’d perused me earlier.

“Good seeing you, Andrew,” Edward says. He turns on his heel and walks away without a backward glance, abandoning me.

Charli looks to me for an explanation of what just transpired.

“What was all that about?”

I wish I knew.