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She’s not here yet.
“Paige, look, they’re twins.” She beams at her daughter. “Aren’t they handsome?”
“Mom,” Paige hisses, eyes popping. “They’re the Moretti brothers.” People at the bar start to overhear and plaster their gazes on us.
But the one thing we’re used to is staring.
“The who?” her mom asks.
“They’re the bodyguards to the Hale, Meadows, and Cobalt families—and Thatcher is dating Jane Cobalt.” Paige speaks in a nervous rush.
Banks rotates to me. “You want something?” The bartender is still in front of us, waiting for me to order.
I nod. “I’ll take a water.”
Banks frowns slightly at me. He must’ve thought I’d order a beer. We speak in short glances, and I give him a look like, I’m still staying sober. He knows why.
A target broke into the townhouse last month, and with no evidence, it’s becoming more probable that we won’t know who broke in until a second attempt happens.
I have to be vigilant. I can’t lose sight of what matters. Of who matters. Everyone in that townhouse.
The intruder could’ve been Nate.
It could’ve been a stalker.
I don’t know who—I just have to be ready for them.
“Water?” the bartender repeats and assesses me with a long, incredulous stroke. His snide tone puts me on edge.
“Yeah,” I say concretely. “Water.”
He wipes his hands on a towel. “You aren’t gonna find sparkling water here.”
“We’re from here.” I scowl, acid running in the back of my throat. I’d take a punching bag and gloves right about now. Nothing grates on me like people trying to shove me out of the place where I grew up.
This is my fucking home. I’m South Philly born and bred.
“Doesn’t look like it to me.” He tosses his towel aside.
I don’t break his gaze. “Tap is fine.”
He quirks his brow. “You’re with a Cobalt, aren’t you? You’re probably drinkin’ some gold-infused sparkling water seven days a week.”
I glare, unblinking. What makes him think I’d tell him anything about the Cobalts?
“My brother doesn’t drink bougie water,” Banks says coldly to the bartender.
Banks has always thought even knock-off brand bottled water is bougie. Which he knows I drink a fuck ton of, so he’s just trying to push the bartender off my ass.
Somewhere on the other side of the packed bar, a man shouts, “Yeah, he’s just been fuckin’ a bougie girl!”
My narrowed eyes swerve and find the voice. Grease stains his white shirt, his middle-aged face weather-beaten and antagonizing.
He leers over the bar. “Women around here aren’t good enough for you? You gotta go eat that expensive pus—”
“You want your head inside your asshole, keep fucking talking,” I growl, blood coursing hot through my veins.
Banks chews his toothpick and stands threateningly off the stool. His arms crossing over his firm chest.
The guy looks between us and our towering heights and cut builds. His smile recedes with a breathy laugh, and then he raises his hands. “Just sayin’ what everyone is thinking.”
Banks says frostily, “No one asked you.”
He opens his mouth again, but people nearby yell at him to shut up and just drink. We all reroute our attention, and the bartender slides an ale to my brother and a glass of tap water to me.
Banks sinks back onto the stool. “What a fucking stunad.”
I nod, knowing he’s calling him a drunk idiot. I check my phone.
No new messages.
Charlie hasn’t replied. With a rough hand, I rub my sore jaw that I’ve been clenching. I push back some apprehension and grip my glass of water.
Banks has been waiting for Friday Night Fight to start, a pro-wrestling match that plays weekly. But as I look at the TV, entertainment news airs first with some blonde hotshot, Hollywood-looking anchor—and the current topic is me.
I can’t look away.
JANE COBALT & HER BODYGUARD BOYFRIEND – HAVE THEY SPLIT?
Fake.
Rumor.
Still, I’m reading the slow closed captions with a knot in my throat.
Where is… Thatcher Moretti? Fans are wondering… why Jane Cobalt… has a new bodyguard. Trouble… might be brewing between the… 23-yr-old American princess… and her towering, rugged protector… make that ex-protector.
This November, Jane has barely… been spotted with Moretti in public. If you thought they’d head down the altar… before Maximoff & Farrow… maybe you should… rethink your bet.
I stop reading, and I take a tense sip of water. “I’m fine,” I say, sensing Banks staring. I try to pack away most ass-backwards, eye-roll-inducing commentary from the media, but this one slices at the neck.
Because it’s not all wrong.
I hang onto a fact: I’d rather take a million strangers critiquing me than have Jane take the unwarranted, toxic rage they shoot. Even when she’s used to this shit.
Banks swigs his beer. “Ever since you’ve switched details, you two really haven’t spent much time together in public.”
“I realize that.” I set down the water with accidental force, the glass clanking harshly.
“And that vacation next month to wherever Maximoff and Farrow pick, you won’t be with Jane then either.”
I give him a hard look, then survey the bar. “Try not to throw your back out pouring all that salt on me.”
He smiles and wipes moisture off his glass. He’s lost in thought and sips his beer with a contemplative stare.
I rest my back against the bar to face my brother. Concern grips my shoulders. “What is it?” He has something on his mind.
Banks licks beer off his lips. “I’m supposed to go on this trip and help protect Maximoff, and you’re supposed to stay behind and protect Xander.” His lip rises. “Switch places with me.”
I think I hear him wrong. I know my twin brother is like a strong wind. He can adapt to any fragged mission and fly through hellfire. But he can’t be suggesting that. “Say again?”
“You get to spend more time with Jane and keep an eye on Tony, and I get to have some quality time with Xander.” He speaks hushed. “Just for the trip, you pretend to be me, and I’ll be you.”
He’s lost his damned mind. “No,” I say strictly. “Hell no.”
Banks lets out a short laugh. “You’re such a fucking gabbadost’.” He can call me a hardhead all he wants.
I’m just more r
ational about the optics of his idea. “You’re acting like you’re suggesting we play patty-cake on Tuesday,” I say under my breath, arms woven tensely over my chest. “This is a big deal.”
“It’s just one week, Thatcher.” He stands off the stool so we can talk more quietly. “We tell the truth to who we trust. We’d just lie to whoever would snitch to the Alpha and Epsilon leads.”
Tony.
Any Epsilon bodyguards.
I can barely entertain this plan, for so many reasons. “I’d have to lie to Price and Sinclair again. After I just got buried by a lie.” All the honor that I had like a vessel to my heart was crushed under my actions.
I lied to my superiors. I became romantically involved with a client. I chose Jane.
“They won’t find out,” Banks says with so much assurance. “When has Tony ever been able to tell us apart?”
I take a long pause and then shake my head at myself, pissed that I’m even considering this for half a second. “Consequences aside, the fucking ethics of switching places, Banks, should be enough to say no.”
He leans forward. “You just radioed in as me, Thatcher.”
“You know that’s not the same as impersonating each other for days.” My voice is severe, and the darker look my brother wears and the short nod says, I know.
I add, “You can act like we’re in some candy-coated twin movie and suddenly swap, but this is real.”
He puts a hand on my stiff shoulder. “But it’s not like you’re falling in love with someone pretending to be me, and I’m not kissing Jane pretending to be you. Should we really feel that guilty fooling Tony? That prick treats us like dogs, man, and I’m tired of Epsilon acting like he’s God’s greatest creation.”
What Banks says, I feel, but if we’re caught deceiving two leads, I’d be putting my brother in a broiler, and he’s my responsibility. I’m about to shake my head, but my phone rings.
Banks watches me slip it out, and I breathe in when I see her name on the screen.
Cell to my ear, I say, “Jane?”
“Thatcher. I just pulled up to the sports bar.” Her voice is higher pitched. Strained. “Can you meet me in the car?”
