002

~~Indigo~~

Two weeks after Brax proposed to Bianca, he still drags me along to the lake house which would be the main venue for the wedding saying, I'd have to plan the wedding.

I don’t think there’s anything more heartbreaking than planning the matrimony of the man I’ve always loved…to another woman.

“So, Brax, you’re really getting married to Bianca,” Emily, my friend says from the backseat of the car as Brax drives.

It took me four days of convincing her to come with me. Four days of begging, bribing and finally, luring her in with the promise of Brax’s hot cousins being around for the wedding.

I’m pressed against the window, trying to breathe steady and not notice the way his hands tighten over the gearshift. Oh God, we just got here.

I groan. “Not now, Em.”

She leans closer, clicking her tongue. “You’re trying to tell me you were her childhood best friend for more than two decades and not once did your fantasies about her run wild?”

The car goes so silent I can hear my own rapid heartbeat. My throat dries out. “Emily–” I start, lacing a warning into my voice which I know she can hear.

“No, I’m serious,” she cuts me off. She leans forward between the two front seats, with her chin practically in Brax’s space. “You two have been together for almost all your life and the only thing you have probably shared is a drunk teenage kiss you regret?”

That did happen once but we were young and stupid and swore it wouldn’t happen again because it was disgusting. However right Emily may be, I’m not about to admit that to her.

“We have never gone down that lane.” He replies curtly.

Okay, ouch.

“No sex? No slip-ups? What are you, a monk?”

He flicks on the indicator with his eyes still on the road.

“Emily!” I snap this time, mortified about the direction of her question and the image she’s about to rub on me. Heat crawls hot into my cheek. “That’s enough. I’m sorry, Brax.”

“What? Don’t ‘Emily’ me. These are valid questions, Indie.” She shifts her piercing stare to him. “

The fact that Brax hasn’t blown a fuse has me worried. If my eyes are seeing right, the twitch on his lips tell me he is amused by her assumptions.

Why the hell do I even have to be in the middle of this?

“I'm getting married to Bianca. Honestly, you're the last person I feel I should remind about this..” He finally replies. “And as for Indie, it’s a matter of commitment to our friendship. Besides, what Indie and I have built over the years runs deeper than to allow a fleeting second of pleasure to come between us.”

“Commitment, my ass,” Emily fires back. “You didn’t get tempted, didn’t even dream about her and wake up hard as hell? Come on. Men will always be men.”

Brax’s laughter fills the space in the car, right before he slips in smoothly, “I’ve never looked at Indie as more than a sister. My little sister. Falling for her has never been in the books for me.”

He looks at me with his signature smile for me, but what he doesn’t see is how my healing heart breaks all over again.

~~

The lakehouse is loud with people milling about the place, lively chatter and a few hi’s and hey’s from familiar faces. To a corner of the house, I spot Brax’s cousins and immediately thank my stars that they made it. Else, Emily would kill me for lying.

As Brax leads the front, Emily whispers something nasty about this weekend’s getaway going to be the best of her life. We laugh at her joke and walk into the house.

There’s a man at the fireplace standing with his back to us and for a hot second, I think it’s Brax’s dad until a closer look proves me wrong.

As if on cue, the man turns around and the breath seizes in my throat. I think I’m hallucinating. Because standing there, drink in hand, is Brax. Or–no. Not Brax. Brax is beside me.

Who is this?

“Slade,” Brax hisses under his breath like the name is poison to be spat.

The man smirks and stalks towards us. Same face, same eyes, same crooked grin, only that his has an underlining of something dark and untamed. So opposite of put-together Brax.

His shirt is half-buttoned with ink running across his chest like it’s a drawing board.

“Surprise,” he rumbles in a voice closely resembling Brax’s. He lifts his glass in a toast, eyes flickering to me for a second before moving back to Brax. “Didn’t think I’d show up, did you, brother?”

I take two steps backward as the words hit. “Brother?” My legs nearly give out as I spin to Brax, but the heat that emanates from his body stuns me. Eyes hard like ice and jaws locked in place– I’ve never seen him so…so angry.

“Brax,” Teresa’s voice cuts through the tension and my eyes snap to her. She glides into the room with her intimidating aura as she eyes her sons, planting herself between them. “Yes, I invited him. You two can’t keep living like this. You’re blood. You’re twins.”

The word slams into me. Twins.

Emily gasps loud enough for everyone to notice her. “Oh my God. No freaking way! He’s your copy? Not a doppelganger? Your–your clone. Indie, are you seeing this?”

Of course, I am. But I can’t bring myself to speak now. Not when I can’t even find my voice. How could he have kept such vital information from me for all these years he called me his best friend?

Why?

Brax ignores his mother and steps closer to his brother. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Slade chuckles. “And yet, here I am. Guess Mom still loves me more than you.”

“Don’t even flatter yourself. She’s the one who offered to give you up and yet you delude yourself that she loves you more. Wake up, bro.”

Slade polishes off the last of his drink and flashes a wicked grin, leaning close to Brax. “Still bitter? You always did everything like it was a competition. Money, power, women, rules.” Then his icy blue–wrong, harsh grey eyes rivet back to me. “No wonder she looks so tense around you.”

Like that isn’t enough, his eyes linger long enough to make unease crawl along my spine and my blood freeze. I almost shrink behind Brax’s frame.

“Don’t you dare,” Brax growls, moving to the right and cutting off his deadly stare.

“Don’t I dare what? Look? She’s good. What do you expect me to do, pretend she’s not standing there begging to be noticed? I bet you don’t even notice her like she wants you to, all doe-eyed.” Slade winks at me and my stomach twists.

Teresa rolls her eyes and walks away.

Who the hell is this version of Brax? I don’t like him already. How dare he stand there and assume things like he knows all about me in the few seconds we just met?

Before I get the chance to snap back, Emily claps her hands once.

“Hold up. So let me get this straight. Brax, you’ve been hiding a literal twin brother–a whole ass human—from Indie? A whole man with your face and–” she waves her hand toward Slade, "What else are you hiding?"

That last sentence sticks on my mind like glue. Indeed, what else has he been hiding? First the proposal to Bianca out of nowhere. When were they dating and for how long? And now this?

Brax whirls on her. “Stay out of this, Emily.”

But she only smirks, probably to infuriate him further.

“Emily,” I hiss, mortified.

Brax hits me with a glare so lethal that I flinch. “You brought her here. Don’t forget that. Keep her under control.”

His words take me by surprise. Brax has never used that tone on me.

Emily blows hot. “Who do you think you’re talking to? Keep me under control? Like I’m a dog who needs a leash?”

“I can’t deal with this bullshit right now,” he mutters and walks away without even an apology to me.

Slade whistles, muttering lowly. “The boy never changes.”

I can’t control the flash of anger as I spin to him. “And whose fault is that? Showing up where you’re not needed and ruining his day because you cannot stop being an ass.”

“Nice to meet you too, Indigo. Careful though–staring at me too long might make you forget which brother you came here for.”

“In your dreams!” I snap, turning on my heel before he can see the flush burning my skin.

Yet, something in the way he says those words like a promise to me–or is it a warning I should look out for? Fuck, this weekend just got a whole lot more complicated.

I hate him already.