Page 59 of Dopplebanger

The hotel door swung open. I flinched, wanting to bolt inside and close myself in the room with Gwen so I could explain what was going on before her world imploded, but her stunned expression made it clear that the cat was already out of the bag.

“I don’t under…” She looked between the two of us. “You…” Her gaze moved to Evan, then swung back to me. “And you…” She shook her head, then reached up and pressed her fingers to her forehead like she was questioning her mental stability. “Are you guys…? You have a twin brother?”

“Sorry, babe,” Evan said. “I was actually going to tell you about my brother on our way home, but I guess he needed something, so he just showed up out of the blue. I usually wait till things get serious since a lot of my girlfriends have been weird about it, but guess my secret is out. I have a twin brother.” The stupid smug grin on his face made it clear he thought he’d gotten away with it. That I’d just go along with switching places now that it’d been thrust upon me, the way it’d been dozens of times through the years.

But then Gwen’s eyes moved to me. And I could see she wanted answers fromme, just like I knew she also wouldn’t like them.

She blinked rapidly, her breaths coming faster and faster. “I knew something was different. But I thought I was just…” She clenched her jaw, those big eyes still imploring me to explain as they glistened over with unshed tears.

“Gwen.” I reached for her arm, but she jerked it away.

“Bro,” Evan said, stepping up next to her. “He just came back from law school, and apparently he forgot his manners. Youshakehands when you meet people, not grab their arm.”

She turned to him, dialing her expression to arctic blast, and my brother swallowed, his stupid charming smile finally fading.

“You must think I’m an idiot,” she said to him. Then she turned that icy glare on me. “You both must. And apparently I am.” Hurt flickered through her features, and I’d take her anger over the sad any day. “Just came back from law school? So, already a lawyer?”

I slowly nodded, my chest aching so damn bad I was sure it was caving in on itself.

“Ethan, I presume?”

Out of my peripheral vision, I noticed Evan’s jaw dropped, but I didn’t take my eyes off Gwen’s. I slowly nodded again.

“I thought that hotel clerk called you the wrong name. Or that it was the Benadryl.” She hugged her arms around herself. “That’s why you didn’t know about my allergy, or my name. There were so many times I…” Her voice cracked.

Instinct told me now wouldn’t be the time to point out that my brother probably didn’t know those things, either. “I was trying to tell you last night.”

“Last night?”Fire flared in her eyes, matching the singeing admonition in her voice. “You’ve been lying to me since that morning in the coffee shop.”

“How did you—?” At another icy glare from Gwen, Evan didn’t bother finishing his question.

She started backing away, clearly overwhelmed, but if I didn’t stop her, I was afraid she’d slam that door and shut me out for good. I went after her, bracing a hand against the door to keep it open. “I meant to tell you that morning at Sacred Grounds that I wasn’t Evan—that my brother was a tool who clearly didn’t realize what he had.”

“Hey!I know I messed up, but I’m trying to fix it.” Evan crowded into the doorway next to me. “Look, Gwen, I know that it was stupid. But you needed a date for the wedding, and I wasn’t sure you and I were going to last, you know? And Ricky was about to leave on his deployment, so I needed to say goodbye.” When Gwen only narrowed her eyes, he switched tactics. “I’ve felt shitty about it for days, which is why I texted you that I missed you last night, and I came here today to own up to it and show you I how much I care. That I’m here for you.”

“Own up to it?” I shook my head. “You’re unbelievable.” I shouldered past him, desperation clawing apart my insides as the girl of my dreams turned her back on me. “Gwen, just hear me out. Please.”

Her shoulders stiffened.

“Remember the connection? It was there that morning I met up with you for coffee. You were this amazing woman, and I fell for you right there on the spot.”

“Dude, you fell for my girl? That’s fucked up.”

“Telling your brother to take her on a road trip for you is fucked up, so let’s not go there.” If I kept on fighting Evan, I’d never stop, so I refocused on Gwen. “I know it’s crazy, but then you kissed me and… that kiss blew me away. And I told myself that you needed me to be there for you—and more, Iwantedto be the guy you leaned on. But the more time we spent together, the more out of control things got. I wanted to tell you a hundredtimes. But I also wanted to hold on to you while I could, because I’ve never experienced anything so strong in my life as the pull between you and me.”

She turned around, so much anguish in her expression that it punched a hole in my chest and nearly dropped me to my knees. “I don’t know what to think. My mind won’t stop reeling. This is… it’s like twilight zone shit and…” She glanced at Evan. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a twin brother before? The real reason, not the bullshit one you fed me earlier. Is this something you two do a lot? Switch whenever one of you can’t be there?”

Evan had the decency to at least appear ashamed. “We used to here and there growing up, but we haven’t in years.”

“Yeah, since I went to law school and couldn’t,” I muttered.

He cast me a butt-hurt look and then refocused on Gwen. “What I told you a few minutes ago wasn’t total bullshit. Several of my past girlfriends have been weird about it. The instant I say ‘I have a twin brother,’ they have this fantasy of being double-teamed by two of me. Which is not something we do, for the record.”

“I’m not asking, for the record,” Gwen said. “I’m horrified enough that I’ve kissed you both, in spite of not knowing it until this very moment.”

Evan frowned at me. “I said keep it to a minimum.”

“You also said she didn’t like PDA, but when I was kissing her, she was all about it.” Oops. Evidently the green-eyed monster turned me into the type of guy who rubbed that in his brother’s face. But then I noticed this wasn’t helping my case with Gwen.

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