Page 23 of Is It Casual Now?

Harley’s eyes widened, and Jamie felt her lips twitch up into an involuntary smile. The twin reveal always gave her a littlethrill. Her entire life, being a twin had always brought out the strange and curious, but seeing the excitement in a child’s eyes was a nice change.

“We’re twin sisters,” Jamie added, a smile spreading over her face. She wasn’t all that keen on kids. Well, truth be told she hadn’t much thought about them individually, but she couldn’t deny that this kid was a bit of a cutie.

“Twins?” Harley’s excitement seemed only to grow, her smile taking up half her face and dancing in her eyes. Her small body twitching with energy as though she was moments away from bursting.

“Yep.” Jamie nodded for emphasis.

“But I’m older,” Jessie said, a grin on her face. Most of my students don’t get to meet Jamie, so that makes you special.”

“What, you’re older?” Harley turned to Jessie, and Jamie rolled her eyes as Jessie squatted down as she talked to Harley.

It gave Jamie the chance to focus again on Siena.

How the hell did the world keep fucking her over like this?

“I swear, I had no idea. About any of it,” Jamie rushed out in a lowered voice, hoping to do some kind of damage control with this absolutely insane situation.

“Yeah, right.” Siena scoffed in return.

“I wasn’t the one who ran off halfway through because I found your license,” Jamie hissed. So much for damage control.

“And I wasn’t the one who decided to throw her career under the bus publicly by implying I’m corrupt and abuse my clients. And not at all subtly, if that was what you were going for, and I suspect subtly was never even on your mind. I don’t even think it’s a word in your vocabulary.”

“No, you’re just the one trying to getmefired. Did you really have to rally all your manager friends to harass my boss and threaten my livelihood? So your name might get a bit of a hit, but bad press is better than nothing.”

“What?” For a moment, Siena’s confusion flooded her face.

“Yeah, I know. You’re all about keeping your precious celebrities squeaky clean, but guess what, that’s a total load of bullshit. If they want the fame, then maybe they should let people know they aren’t perfect. All it does is give their fans shame and guilt when they don’t measure up.”

“No.” Siena shook her head, features squeezing together in frustration. “What do you mean about my manager friends?”

“Now who’s full of shit? My boss has gotten so many calls he’s stopped answering his phone. All of them threatening him and telling him to fire me.”

“I don’t know anything about that.” Her face seemed so genuine, but Jamie wasn’t buying it. She didn’t trust this woman. How could she? She had left her alone in a hotel room after fucking her senseless.

Nothing about Siena Frazee made sense. And nothing she said or even did could be trusted.

“Well, so much for never seeing each other again,” Jamie muttered.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. Opening them, she stared at the ceiling, counting the imperfect blemishes she hoped Jessie didn’t notice. Because no doubt Jamie would be pushed up on a ladder to scrub them off, especially after this debacle.

“How the hell are you two even related?” Siena asked.

It snapped Jamie out of her current thoughts as she dropped her head back down and turned to see what had inspired the outburst from Siena.

Following where she looked, Jamie found Jessie and Harley laughing together. The pain of never being enough, never being thegoodchild rang dull and familiar in Jamie’s chest.

“Yep. She’s all sunshine and rainbows. It’s why you should be grateful she’s teaching your kid.”

“Right, as if you didn’t already know about this.” It was anaccusation, but Jamie was sure she sensed a small hint of doubt at the words’ sharp edges.

“All right,” Jessie spoke as Siena opened her mouth as if to reply. “Jamie, I really need some more sticky tack.”

“Sticky tack?” Jamie gave her sister the best petulant look she could muster.

“Yes,” Jessie hissed in reply, even though her smile remained on her lips. “In my storeroom, now please.”

“Of course, summarily dismissed.” Jamie rolled her eyes as she turned toward Jessie’s closet, but not before she caught the look on Siena’s face. She had no idea how to interpret it, but it twisted uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach.

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