Page 49 of Trouble

I slumped back against the backseat of the taxi as the driver pulled out into the traffic, throwing my stalker a last look out the window. He looked visibly irritated as he watched me driveoff.

Nothing about him had seemed even remotely familiar—he had the sort of bland face most people wouldn’t notice in a crowd, thinning hair, and was wearing a trench coat and carrying a leather briefcase. Nothing about him had stood out in London’s busy business quarter or on theTube.

So why the heck had he been followingme?

No matter what outlandish scenario I tried to think up, nothing made sense, and in the end, I settled on the conclusion that he’d just been some creeper who’d taken a shine to me for whatever messed up reason some men had to stalk women. Who knew, perhaps he was intomisery.

I’d almost put the incident out of my mind when later that evening, I happened to glance out my living room window, the one Liam had made love to me up against, and saw my stalker staring back up at me from the pavement down below. And he wasn’t alone. A big, burly man wearing a leather vest stood by his side, bulging arms folded over his chest as he stared up at my window,too.

Behind them, just down the road, a nondescript white van wasparked.

25

Louis

“Liam—”

My twin shot me the same kind of nasty look he’d given me for the past week the few times we’d been in the same room. He’d hardly been home since then, and I’d only caught him this time because I’d camped out on the sofa and he just so happened to be on his way in to change his clothes.“No.”

It was the only thing he’d said to me when I’d tried to explain—no. It was really all he had to say, because I knew what he meant:No,he didn’t want to hear my explanations,nohe wasn’t ready to forgive me…no,we weren’t going to be okay anytime soon, ifever.

I knew I deserved every fucking ounce of loathing he had for me right now, but it didn’t mean I was going to give up on him without a fight. I couldn’t go to Audrey and try to sort out the hurt I’d caused her before I knew Liam would be okay. Or at least until he knew why I’d done what I’d done. I owed him that much, and I had to believe it’d be enough. Maybe not right now, but in the long run… I had to believe he’d forgive me someday. The alternative was too painful to evenconsider.

“Look, I know you’re pissed at me. You have every right to be…” I began. But Liam just shot me another look of utter contempt and continued on his way to his room, ignoring me. I wasn’t going to give up that easily, though; not this time. It’d been a full week, and clearly giving him space wasn’t helping any. So I got up from the couch and caught him before he left the living room, stopping him by placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, mate, wehaveto talk about this.Now.”

He spun around then, brushing my hand off in the process. “Oh, we do, do we? And you think you get to tell me when I’m ready to talk, after the stunt you pulled? Go fuck yourself,Louis.”

“If not for us, then for Audrey,” I interrupted him. “It’s been a week—it’s not fair on her. I know you care forher—”

He snorted. “She doesn’t want to hear it any more than I do—don’t you think I’ve tried to call her and explain it was my idiot twin’s idea of a joke? God, Louis! I was gonna… I was gonna find her again, once this fucked up mess with Dad’s been sorted. I was gonnamarryher, and you—” He stopped himself from finishing that sentence, but I saw it all in his eyes as he glared at me. He thought I’d… cost him his truelove.

I shook my head. “It’s not what you think—she’s not supposed to be your wife, Liam. I know what I did was shitty, and I’m sorry. It was never meant to end likethis—”

“The fuck do you know about what she’s supposed to be?” Liam interrupted me with a nasty snarl. “You still think this is all about you and me, don’t you? That’s why you tricked her, isn’t it—to prove to me she’s just another piece of arse? Well, you can go fuck yourself, Louis. If you truly were my other half, you’d fuckingknowhow important she is to me. But instead, youbrokethe one good thing that’s ever happened to me. I’llneverforgive you for what you did, Louis.Never.”

The vehemence in his voice hurt nearly as much as his words themselves, but in the middle of my despair, my own anger rose. Why was he so fucking quick to think the worst of me? Was his trust in me really that fragile, after all we’d been through together? From the day we were born, it’d been him and me against the world—and he wasn’t even willing to fucking hear meout?

“I know she’s not meant to be your wife because she’s gonna be mine, you fucker,” I yelled. “I fell in love with her, okay? Yeah, I was afraid you’d get yourself fucking killed, the way you were acting, so I was gonna show you she was just another girl. I didn’t plan for this to happen, but I can’t change it now. Iloveher, Liam. And she loves me, too. I’d give anything to have done this any other way than how it went down, but I can’t change whathappened.”

Liam stared at me in shocked silence for two full seconds. Then his face twisted with absolute fury. “You? Youlove her? Get thefuckout ofhere!”

Whatever else he was about to say got drowned out by the sharp chirp of my phone going off. I glanced at the display, and my heart skipped a beat at the name that flashed againstme.

Audrey.

I held a hand up to silence my twin and flicked the answerbutton.

“Audrey? I was gon—” My voice died at the sound of her brokenvoice.

“Liam?”

“It’s Louis, love,” I said, the sound of my twin’s name on her lips making my chest constrict unpleasantly. “You okay? Yousound…”

“Someone’s watching my flat. He followed me home from work, and I… I’m sorry to call you like this, but I don’t know what else to do. I tried the police, but they don’t have time to come out. I wouldn’t have called, but… I’m reallyscared.”

I could tell she was, from the shaky note in her voice and just the fact she’d called me. She’d made it pretty damn clear she wanted nothing to do with either of us last Friday. Then the implication of what she’d said set in. Someone… someone followed herhome.

If I’d been even halfway convinced it was a run-of-the mill stalker, I’d still been over there in a heartbeat to make sure she was safe, but the timing of this incident was way too convenient. A week after our underhanded partner discovered her ties to us and suddenly someone was hanging around her work and following her home? Yeah, there was zero chance this was acoincidence.

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