Page 40 of Two Sticky Nuts

“Your brother is here,” I mutter, my brain scrambling.

“From the tone of your voice, I’m guessing he’s done something bad again.”

Carter’s mouth moves again, in almost perfect synchronization to Logan’s voice on my phone.

I look at my cell in horror.He’s been duping me.

Carter is Logan!

No, that can’t be right. I was with Logan last night, and Carter was already here when I arrived. His face was all battered.

I look outside at Carter again. It could be makeup.Yes. He must be wearing stage makeup.And Carter could have beaten me home. I stopped for gas, and I drive pretty slow.

“Can I call you back?” I say.

“Sure,” the voice says.

I hang up and watch Carter lower his cell from his face as the car pulls away.

I step back from the window, horrified.There is no twin. It was Carter all along.

I go inside my bedroom and lock the door behind me.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“What a crazy fucker,” Sofie says, dropping two tea bags into mugs as I sit at her breakfast counter. “He actually made you believe he was two different people?”

“And he was filming me the entire time.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. He tried to come up with some excuse about documenting our love, but he was still in character.”

“You need to take legal action.” She removes her kettle from her fancy stove and pours hot water into the mugs. “Sue the hell out of him—fraud, invasion of privacy, stealing money, wrecking your car.”

“That’s what I was thinking until I remembered that I cashed his check for ten thousand dollars. He can argue that I loaned him the money, and he paid me back for everything, including the damage to my car.”

“Still, he had no right to film you in your own home without your knowledge.” She places a mug in front of me, but I’m not sure I can put anything in my stomach right now. I feel sick.

“I just don’t understand why he picked me. What did I do to deserve this?” I suddenly recall the research I did online. My eyes go wide. “He followed a tomato for months. I’m his new tomato.”

“Huh?”

“He’s known for documenting the mundane and ordinary. That’s why he picked me. I’m boring and—”

“Don’t you dare start picking yourself apart, Mila. You arenotboring. You are wonderful. And you are not going to let that self-centered prick make you feel like shit.”

I nod, but I already do.

“Monday, I’m calling my lawyer,” Sofie says. “He’ll know what to do.”

“I just want the guy out of my life,” I say. “I never want to see him again.”

“But you need to make sure you protect yourself, too. We don’t know what he filmed.”

“Just me, being boring old me.”

Sofie shakes her head, noodling over something. “Are you absolutely sure he’s one guy?”

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