Page 54 of The Handoff

Chapter 28

Lisa

Iheardthedoor open, and I could only assume that it was his mom. It was when I woke up, that I took in my surroundings, something that I hadn’t done the night before. His room had two beds in it. One in the corner and this one; the one that we were sleeping on. There were pictures on the wall too. My side had every jazz musician on it, from Billy Holiday to Miles Davies. I recognized them straight away because my dad is a big jazz fan. Memories of him flooded through my mind. Since he’d been in jail, he’d refused to see any of us. Including Mom, which hurt her like crazy. I was relieved when he said that he didn’t want to see us, because part of me doubted if I wanted to see him. He’d lied to everyone and anyone near him and stolen from others.

The other side of the room, had posters of chemical elements and mathematical equations. Some that I recognized and others were a complete mystery to me. There were photos of Dane, or who I assumed was Dane when he was younger. He looked cute. He wore glasses with a couple of other guys who all had the same piercing blue eyes.

I quickly shifted in the room, trying to find my underwear and make myself dignified. I was tired. Real tired and probably slightly hungover still from drinking a little too much wine. I stood up, with my dress around my body, that was when I realized that it was back to front. I didn’t care. I had a denim jacket somewhere, and I would use it to hide my embarrassment.

The door opened, and my heart skipped a beat, wishing that I had time to turn my dress around or at least find my jacket.

No, this couldn’t be happening, I started to panic worrying about who was on the other side of the door, the first time I would meet them, I would be a mess.

“Shit!” I heard as the light switched on, and I froze, unable to move. I felt as if my eyes were deceiving me, as they nearly popped out of my head. I saw not only one Dane, but two in front of me.

My eyes shifted to the bed, thinking maybe I hadn’t just left him in the bed, and he’d gone to the bathroom. I quickly lifted the sheets and no, he was still underneath them. He turned around sluggish and then yawned as he looked back at me, and then to the door.

“Fuck!” he blurted out.

I tried to focus, because I felt as if I was going mad. Then I started to count, “One, two… three!”

“Daxon, what the fuck?” one of them said, and then it hit me, so damn hard.

Brothers!

Of course, at the club they said brothers. My eyes traced to the walls, the side tables, photos of them, this was why they looked so different, they were triplets. They were never the same person.

I whispered, “Daxon?”

It was as if a ton of bricks had been put over my head, as it felt bruised and I held on to it. He told me he liked being called that name, and I’d been a fool to fall for it.

There was more than one Dane and I’d slept with another one, which meant that I’d lost my virginity and been sleeping with not only one guy but three.

“Are any of you called Dane?”

The one that put the light on put his hand up, and said, “Guilty.”

“Guilty of what? Fooling me? Fucking me?”

No one answered, they didn’t have the time to, because I felt sick, not like I’d done last night. Not the type of sick that came from drinking too much wine, but the type of sick that made me feel stupid and dirty all rolled into one. I should have known that I was kissing, three guys when they were all completely different. How had I been so stupid?

I opened my mouth to speak again, but the only thing that came out onto the floor was the contents of the sandwich that I’d eaten the early hours of this morning. I felt a hand on my back, rubbing it telling me that I’d be okay. I didn’t know whose hand it was on my back, but when I’d stopped vomiting, I rubbed my mouth and backed away. I didn’t even apologize for the mess on the floor.

“Stay away from me!” I shouted, and then I grabbed a towel that I spotted on the corner of the room on a chair, whipped my mouth, and with it, I headed towards the door. I needed to breathe. I had to get as far away from them as possible.

No one protested or told me to stay.

How the fuck could they do that?

When they all made me feel so fucking sick.

***

Once I stopped shaking and I was outside the building, no more did I care if my dress was the wrong way round or inside out. I felt so dirty, and a complete fool. How could I have not seen this happening or at least suspected that something was wrong with the way that he treated me like a princess? And I'd fallen for it. The reality was that they'd used me. I thought that I was sleeping with one guy, and ended up with three. It was wrong in so many ways. I hated the idea of going to my dorm room. Once again, I’d been humiliated not because they knew my true identity and decided to bully me as a result of it, but simply because they’d used me. I thought Dane was my hero, but he was far from that. He was the devil in disguise.

I took my phone out of my purse and my hands were shaking like a leaf.

“Mom!” I blurted out.

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