Hell

Gia Heidi 

The fact that the stranger I hired to act as my boyfriend turned out to be Mitch’s fraternal twin makes me want to crawl into a hole and die. 

How could I know it was him?

Who in the world didn't recognize their best friend’s twin? Me, apparently. 

Embarrassing. 

To further destabilise my whole existence, Mitch had to announce that he and Vivienne planned on getting married in three months. 

Enough time for me to pack my more–than–a–decade feelings in the bag and trash it. 

Now that the novelty of being chosen by my best friend had worn off, I was mad all over again. For last night. For making me believe I had a chance with him in that drunken state. 

Adeline’s dinner had ended with my head all over the place, Mitch’s continuous glancing my way with disbelief, throat bubbling like he had a thousand words to say. Vivienne’s gobsmacked expression and Maverick being Maverick. 

Annoying. 

Infuriating. 

Stealing and blowing kisses at me, invading my space, and playing the fake boyfriend role a little too well. He even went as far as asking his grand-aunt to bless our relationship. 

He definitely knew who I was. That was the reason he targeted me at the club and played in my face the entire time. 

We’d been sitting in Osborne’s bar in absolute, desolate silence for approximately twenty minutes with no one willing to talk.  

“So, how long have you two known each other?” Vivienne’s voice, which sounded extra sweet, extra low melted the frost that had encased us four in an ice glass. 

“Uh—” my words died in my throat as Mitch’s cold eyes latched on mine and at the same time, the side of my face prickled with awareness of Maverick’s eyes. Dark, alluring, and definitely not right. 

My stomach churned with endless nerves as I fought to keep my composure and not drown in the conflicting attention from the two brothers. 

So I decided to keep my focus on Vivienne instead. After all, she and Faye were the reason I was caught up in this mess. I would answer her question, leave for my hotel, and forget that this mistake of a night ever happened. 

I opened my mouth to speak but before the words could leave, Maverick draped a possessive hand around my shoulders pulling me closer to him as he dumped ice-cubes into the whiskey, his voice laced with that calm arrogance. 

“As long as she has known Mitch,”

Mitch was looking at me, his jaw clenched as I lowered my gaze. 

Vivienne answered with glee. “That long?” Maverick nodded. “When did you two start dating?”

I knew she would ask that question, looking for loopholes around the story I’d woven. Thankfully I’d outsmarted her. Spain. Yacht party. Reconnecting over the movie Titanic and voila!

I readied myself to speak when he beat me to it. 

“We had an on-and-off relationship,” my brows furrowed. Even Mitch tilted his head. “It started during the senior year of high school,”

My heart stopped for a microsecond before I glanced up at his face with rising panic. This wasn't part of the script. 

Maverick continued, rubbing his fingers up and down my arm in slow motion—the exact spot Mitch’s eyes just burned. “We ended it after school because of the long distance. I thought we’d give it a try again at different universities. She got accepted into Yale and me, Harvard,”

Mitch cut in, his face falling. “You applied for Harvard?”

Hell.

I didn't. 

Maverick answered. “Yes. It was her first choice…” I was seething now. “So after graduation, we met again and it’s been five years of secretly dating each other,”

Mitch let out a derisive snort, so loud that it attracted the attention of those sitting at the table near us. “You’ve been seeing Maverick since high-school? The same person I haven't kept in contact with for years. We do everything together, live in the same house and you have never thought to tell me even once. Best-friends? Was I ever your friend?”

My chest squeezed. 

I met Maverick when I was only seven. We’d just moved into the neighborhood. Mitch was friendly to me, introduced me to all the other kids but Maverick was the grumpy twin. 

The annoying one. The one who dropped a dead bug on the cake Mitch had gifted me. The one who always bought the last ice cream just when I got there. The same boy who would climb my room’s window and wear a ghost mask to scare me.

Sometimes he was nice to me. Most of the time, he wasn't. 

One day, his father came and took one of the twins—him.

The image has never left me. Maverick sat quietly in the backseat of the car, his eyes fixed on mine through the rear window as the vehicle pulled away. I stood there, watching until it disappeared around the corner.

That was the last time I ever saw Maverick.

All I knew about him was that he was rich. Filthy rich. Had a strained relationship with Mitch and only stayed in contact with Adeline. 

I was at a crossroads. 

Denying everything Maverick just said and branding him a liar would make me an even greater one. 

Vivienne and Faye would have a field day mocking me. 

I had to flip this. 

“I should be asking you the same thing, Mitch. You told me you were done with Vanessa and were ready to move forward with your life—”

Vivienne’s face scrunched. “Wait…you said that?”

“—and in the next minute, you are engaging her. You never spoke a word to me about it,”

Mitch slipped his hand through his hair, a scoff of disbelief escaping him. “Are you seriously trying to compare a decade-old betrayal to something that happened recently?”

“And what difference does it make? It just shows that we are both hypocrites and you have no right to judge me or question my friendship or loyalty towards you. We are both the same,”

Maverick on the other hand, poured himself more whiskey, a smirk ghosting his mouth like he enjoyed this. 

After all, he set the match. 

Anger flamed in Mitch’s eyes as he opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He turned to Vivienne, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I’m going out for a smoke,”

Vivienne excused herself and followed after him, demanding if he had really said he had plans on moving on from her. 

The moment they left, I finally let out the breath that I didn’t realize I was holding, chest falling. 

Maverick’s sharp applause took me aback. “That was brilliant,”

If looks could kill, he should have dropped dead already. I swatted his hands from my shoulder. “What was the meaning of that?” I rose to my feet. 

He glanced up at me with those smoldering intoxicating eyes, a smile tilting his mouth. “The meaning of what…oh that? I had to improvise. You know, do a great job. I was acting the role you gave me,”

My fingers curled into fists, blood boiling. 

He used me to rile Mitch up. 

“I don’t want to ever see you again, Maverick Delwanosky. Goodbye!” I yanked my purse off the table and I had barely taken two steps when his words made me halt. 

“Sweet Muffin,”

Oh God. That name. The same name he always terrorized me with. I hated it. 

I spun on my heel. “How many times would I tell you not to call me that?”

“Well, I like it,” he rose to his full form, taking slow, lethal steps towards me. My breathing hitched as he leaned forward, only slightly while taking the full weight of my gaze. “Contrary to what you said, I actually think our paths will be crossing soon,”

I huffed in his face. “That will be in hell.”