Taming Lo: A You and I Novel (7 page)

“
I would like
that.” She says, a beautiful smile stretching across her face.
“Well, I should get up there.” She gestures to the
building behind her. “Thank you for walking me home. I guess I
will see you at the club tomorrow?”

“
I will see you
then.” I say, not able to resist the urge to lean forward a lay
a light kiss to her cheek. I catch the scent of her sweet skin and a
hint of wine on her breath. The combination is intoxicating and it
takes everything I have not to move in for more. But I can feel her
body stiffen at the contact and I pull away, not wanting to make her
uneasy.

“
See you then.”
She takes a step back and then turns, disappearing inside without
another word.

I stand on the sidewalk looking at the front of the
building for what feels like forever, wondering what she would do if
I followed her inside. If I caught up to her in the hallway and
pushed her against the wall and lifted that tight little black dress
of hers and showed her how sweet it can be a second time around.

Fuck me, I am in some serious trouble.

Chapter
Ten

Lo

I take the stairs two at a time, not wanting to stand in
the lobby of my apartment building and wait for the elevator. With
the wine flowing through my bloodstream and Dax's smell still
lingering in my nose, there is no telling what I might do if I give
myself a chance to consider it.

Living on the fifth floor, it's not ideal to take the
stairs but even in my intoxicated state, I manage to make it all the
way to my front door without stumbling even once. Of course, that
doesn't mean that I am not a sweaty mess by the time I push my way
inside my small one bedroom apartment.

The moment I catch sight of someone sitting on my couch,
I jump and scream at the same time, completely startled. “Lilly!”
I exclaim, the moment I realize that it's my twin sister. “What
the hell are you doing here?” I ask, smiling when she jumps off
of the brown wrap around couch, that takes up most of my living room,
and crosses the space towards me.

“
What? I need an
excuse to visit my sister?” She smiles, pulling me into a hug
the moment she reaches me. I squeeze her tightly, still in a bit of
shock that she's actually here. It's been nearly a year since I have
seen her, though we usually talk at least every couple of weeks.

“
Yes, actually
you do.” I say, backing out of her embrace to get a good look
at her. She doesn't look like she has changed one bit since the last
time I saw her, other than her hair.

“
You cut your
hair.” I say, gesturing to the short chin length bob she's
sporting.

“
Do you like
it?” She asks, tucking the sides behind her ears.

“
I do.” I
say, spinning her around to look at the back. “So this is what
I would look like with short hair.” I laugh when she spins back
around and sticks her tongue out at me.

Lilly and I are identical twins but still very
different. Her hair is a couple shades darker than mine and while I
have blue eyes, she has green. We are built the same, other than she
is just a bit curvier than I am, which I have always been jealous of.
But no matter how much we look alike, one thing is crystal clear, we
couldn't be more opposite. She is reserved. Sweet and timid. And most
definitely innocent. Where as I am.... Well, not.

“
Seriously
though. What are you doing here?” I ask again, peeling off my
coat and tossing it on the counter as I make my way into the kitchen
to grab a bottle of water.

She waits until I turn my attention back to her before
she speaks, leaning across the breakfast bar that acts as the only
thing to separate the kitchen from the living room. I love the open
floor plan. It's one of the reasons why I chose this place.

“
Travis
proposed.” She squeals the moment she has my full attention.

“
What?” I
blurt, my eyes going wide when she holds out her left hand to show
off a pretty impressive oval cut diamond sitting on her ring finger.

“
Last week!”
She smiles widely, looking down at the ring before meeting my gaze
again.

“
And you're just
now telling me? Why didn't you call me?” I ask, making a grab
for her hand to really get a good look at the ring.

“
Because I
wanted to tell you in person.” She says, pulling her hand back
when I release it. “We haven't really worked out the details
but Mom thinks we should do a late spring wedding which of course,
gives me next to no time to prepare.”

“
Spring?”
I sputter, choking slightly on my water as it seems to catch in my
throat.

“
I know it's
soon. But we don't want to wait. We were able to book
The
Meadows
for
May 27
^th
.”
She says, referring to the most sought after reception hall in all of
Indiana. “Dad was able to pull some major strings with Jerry,
the owner. Got a killer deal too!”

“
That's
less than four months away.” I gape at her, not able to process
everything that she is telling me. “What's your rush?”

“
There
is no
rush
.”
She says, seeming somewhat irritated by my question.

“
Sorry.
It's just.... Wow. May 27
^th
.”
I take another long drink of water, trying to clear the buzz of wine
still swimming through my head.

“
Anyways.
I drove all the way out here to ask you....” She pauses. “Will
you be my maid of honor?” She asks, crinkling her forehead
together in her
pretty
please
face.

“
Lilly.”
I interject, but she cuts me off.

“
Look.
I know you don't want to come home. But it's my wedding. Your only
sister's wedding. Your
twin
sister's
wedding.” She puts an emphasis on the word.

“
I
know Lilly. And trust me, I want nothing more than to stand next to
you on your big day. But you know I can't.” I say, crossing
through the kitchen and into the living room, flopping down on my
comfy brown couch the moment I reach it.

“
Come
on Lauren. When are you going to just let the past be the past?”
She follows me into the living room and takes a seat just a couple of
feet from me.

“
It's
not that simple.” I rub my eyes with the back of my hands.

“
Sure
it is.” She interjects. “It's time for you to come home.
I miss you. Mom and Dad miss you. You can only avoid us for so long.”

“
Is
that what you think I'm doing?” I bite, not able to swallow
down my temper as it flares at her words. “I'm not avoiding any
of you Lilly. But as far as I'm concerned, you're the only family I
have.”

“
How
long are you going to punish Mom and Dad?” She snips.

“
I
am not punishing them. They had a choice. To stand by their daughter
or not. They made their choice.” I push into a stand,
immediately beginning to pace the small space. “I was their
child. They were supposed to protect me. They were supposed to
believe me. But did they? Well, we all know the answer to that now
don't we?”

“
You're
being unreasonable.” She pushes to a stand and crosses her arms
in front of her chest.

“
Unreasonable?”
I gape at her. “You are the only person that stood by me. You
saw how they treated me. How
everyone
treated
me. I was sixteen years old Lilly. Sixteen. I lost everything that
night. Everything. And then the two people who were supposed to be my
support, who were supposed to keep me safe, turned their backs on me.
They were no better than the rest of them.” I can feel the
emotion welling in my throat and I do my best to swallow it down.

“
So
that's it.” Her voice goes up an octave. “You are going
to let an incident that happened seven years ago, keep you from
coming to your own sister's wedding?”

“
I'm
sorry Lilly. I can't. I can't go back there.”

“
I
thought if I came here, if you saw how badly I wanted you to be a
part of this, that you would put aside the pity party you have been
throwing yourself for the past seven years and do something for
someone else for a change.” She yells across the room at me,
her words sharp as knives.

“
Lilly.....”
I pause, my eyes filling with the emotion that is starting to boil
over. I blink away my tears, refusing to cry. “I would do
anything for you. Anything, except go back there. I'm sorry. That is
not my home and they are not my family.”

“
But
I am.” She wipes at the few tears that manage to escape her
eyes.

“
Lilly.”
I cut in, but it's clear to see that I have hurt her deeply and I
don't know how I can fix it without giving her what she wants, which
simply is not an option.

“
Don't.”
She holds her hands up, taking a deep breath. “I should have
known better than to come here.” She says, grabbing her coat
and purse off the back of the coach. Spinning around, she heads
straight for the door, stopping just as she pulls it open.

“
You
know what.” She says, turning to meet my gaze. “You
weren't the only one who suffered. I stood by your side. I would
argue with people when they would say awful things about you. I lost
most of my friends. Instead of seeing Lauren and Lilly as two
individual people, they saw the Hannock girls. The slutty Hannock
twins. That's right.” She adds when she sees my surprised
expression.

“
Me.
Virgin until I was nineteen. They referred to me as a slut because I
defended you.” She continues. “You were so blinded by
your own pain, you didn't even bother to open your eyes and see that
your twin sister was falling apart right beside you. You know what,
I'm glad you left. Being tied to you never did anything but cause me
trouble anyways. Have a good life Lauren.” She says, slamming
the door shut behind her, leaving me standing speechless with silent
tears running down my flushed cheeks.

I collapse back down on the couch, not sure if I should
laugh or cry. Oddly enough, I find myself doing both. I know she
didn't mean it. I know she loves me. She just can't see what it was
like for me. What it is still like for me.

That night, that one night, changed everything. And no
matter how far I think I have come, it's times like this that make me
realize, I might as well still be living in Indiana, under the
judging glares and hushed whispers of people who would rather believe
the worst in someone than to believe that something like what
happened to me could happen right under their noses.

Standing, I grab my keys from the kitchen counter and
slide my coat back on. I need to get the hell out of here. I need to
erase this horrible night with hard liquor and a man skilled enough
to make me forget, even if just for a short time.

Chapter
Eleven

Dax

I don't know why I'm
here. I
should
have headed home the moment I left
Lo at her apartment building, but I couldn't. I can't stare at the
same drab hotel room for another night.
Rips
may
be a hole in the wall bar but it's less than a block away from my new
apartment and as such, I see myself spending a decent amount of time
here.

Knocking back my second scotch in the matter of fifteen
minutes, I slide my empty glass to the end of the bar and signal the
bartender for another. The thirty something blonde working the bar
saunters up to me, her fake tits practically popping out of her skin
tight tank top. She's hot enough. On any normal night I would
probably be all over her, but tonight, she's not what I want.

She gives me a flirtatious smile as she refills my
drink, making sure to give me a good shot of her cleavage as she
leans across the bar and slides the drink towards me. “Anything
else I can get you?” She asks, licking her lips suggestively at
me.

“
I'm
good.” I bite, giving her nothing to work with so she is forced
to go flaunt herself at some of the other poor bastards lining the
bar.