Page 2 of Dopplebanger

For getting to the point, he sure let that sentence hang there for several seconds.

He sighed. “I promised my girlfriend I’d take a road trip with her up to this wedding in Pennsylvania, but that was before I realized she and I aren’t really working anymore. My boys rented this sweet beach house in Wrightsville for the week so we could throw a big farewell party for our buddy from Fort Bragg who’s deploying, and I can’t miss it. But I don’t want to leave Gwen high and dry.”

“But you’re going to anyway,” I said.

“Not if you go with her and be me for a few days.”

“No way,” I said, and then I slumped back against the couch cushions and let my heavy eyelids close.

Evan shoved my foot, and my eyes automatically jerked open.

“Dude, don’t you think she’ll suspect your twin brother has taken your place the first time she notices something isn’t quite right about me?”

He glanced down at the ground and rubbed a hand across the nape of his neck. “She, uh, doesn’t know about you. I haven’t exactly told her that I have a brother yet.”

I lowered my eyebrows, not sure if I should be more confused or offended while experiencing a pinch of both. Then again, when I told my bestie from another testi—her phrase, not mine—about Evan, I’d warned her away and she lived clear across the nation, back in San Diego where I attended law school and completed my internship.

“Don’t give me that look,” Evan said. “It was in the plans, but you know how it is. You say ‘twin brother’ and most girls see visions of being double-teamed by two of me in their heads.”

A cocky statement, but he wasn’t wrong. Not all women, but a lot of them, were just like men in that aspect. Suddenly you became a fantasy version of yourself instead of an individual. I’d been guilty myself of putting off telling women about Evan until after we’d dated for a while. “I get it. Unfortunately.”

Obviously pleased and seeing his opening, Evan resumed his spiel. “Since the wedding is in her hometown, Gwen wanted to have someone there to support her and make it easier—she has some kind of weird relationship with the bride. Or the groom. Or was it a bridesmaid?” His forehead crinkled for a moment before he shook his head. “Anyway, she’d be crushed if I let her down, and this is me trying to not be a prick.”

“No, this is you makingmethe prick. I’d be the guy taking advantage of the fact that she doesn’t know I’m not you. If you don’t want to be a prick, just suck it up and go.”

“If I was planning on staying with her long-term, I would. I really like Gwen. She’s smoking hot and super sweet, and while she’s quirkier than the girls I usually go for, I don’t mind. If things were different…” He pressed his lips together, suddenly somber, and while I knew he could put on a good show, I could also tell he did genuinely care about her.Interesting.“She’s a settling-down girl. The type I’d like to meet in four or five years, when I’m ready for something like that.”

At this point, I doubted that’d ever happen. Not that I was ready for serious, either. I had a new career to focus on.

“And since I like hanging out with her so much,” Evan continued, “I kept dating her instead of ending things before she got attached. Now it’s too close to the wedding to do it without leaving her dateless and totally crushing her. Even if I went, I’d end up bungling it all up anyway—you know me.”

Yeah, I knew he could be a bit of a tool when it came to girls. This conversation was Exhibit A.

“We have a coffee date tomorrow morning at Sacred Grounds to finalize our road trip plans, and it’s around the same time I’m supposed to head out of town with the guys. If I go for coffee, I’ll have to do a rush job of breaking the news that I can’t go to the wedding with her, and then follow that up by dumping her, and the thought of seeing her sad face…” He scooted to the edge of his chair. “Please, Ethan? Just do me this solid?”

I rubbed my fingers over my forehead. I could almost see the twisted logic behind what he was trying to do to save this poor girl’s feelings, but I’d just been thinking about what a relief it was that I didn’t get roped into my brother’s crazy schemes anymore. I think, anyway. Thoughts were still a bit hazy, which was probably why I hesitated instead of shutting it down as hardas I should. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. There’s too high a chance of disaster.”

“Come on, it’s only four days, and you’d be like Evan 2.0—you could give her all the support and everything she needs way better than I would. Then, after you guys get back, I’ll let her down easy.”

I opened my mouth to continue making my case against it.

“I’ll let you drive my Camaro,” he said, and evidently my poker face needed work, because his expression made it clear he knew he’d hooked me. “Zero to sixty in less than five seconds… I know how much you love that car.”

Dammit. He’s got me there.I’d done the sensible thing when buying a vehicle and sometimes I wished I’d silenced my common sense and bought sportier and faster, with a lot more power under the hood. Maybe someday. After I made partner.

I pressed my lips together, considering how fun it’d be to take the Camaro out on the open road, but still not sold. An awkward trip followed by an awkward wedding was hardly the way I wanted to spend one of my two weeks of freedom. As much as I would like to wash my hands of the situation, I already felt for his unsuspecting girlfriend. If he didn’t obviously care about the girl, it’d also make it a lot easier to say hell no. Maybe he was still on the immature, selfish side, but he was at least making an effort to be more considerate, and that behavior deserved some positive reinforcement.

He yanked harder on that hook he’d caught me with and began reeling me in. “I’ll pay your first month’s rent, too. An entire month in exchange for four little days of getting to see the countryside with a pretty girl by your side. It’s a good deal if I do say so myself.”

“Say I was entertaining the thought of doing this for you, and I showed up at the road trip… meeting.” Calling it a “date” wouldjust be wrong. The fact that I was even considering this was wrong. “How would I even know who she is?”

“She’s a sexy, redheaded hurricane of energy and brains. Trust me, she’ll be hard to miss.”

TWO

My thoughts were a jumbled mess as I rushed toward the coffee shop where I was meeting Evan. My shallow side—also known as my best friend, Tori—always pointed out that he was way hotter than my ex, and that I deserved some fun.

I hated to disagree with deserving fun, and I could certainly use a wheelbarrow full this upcoming week, but I’d been going back and forth about my boyfriend situation for a while. I just wasn’t sure that jumping into bed with Evan would fix things, or that it was the right coping mechanism for everything I was dealing with. Yes, with his bright blue eyes, strong jaw that made me wish I was the sculptor to his muse, and his very kissable lips, he was definitely drool-worthy. We always had a good time together, too, but as I’d told Tori last night, I didn’t feelthe thing.Every time we were about to take things to the next level, something stopped me. Sure, thanks to my last relationship I had serious trust issues, but something was missing with Evan, and I wasn’t sure there was any reason to keep dating him if it wasn’t going anywhere.

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