Luke Read online

  me."

  ***

  "This is it," I said. "This is the address."

  Silas whistled. "Fancy."

  "Well, what'd you think it was going to be?" I asked. "She's a fucking star. Shit, man, she's way out of my league. I shouldn't be here."

  "Yeah, well, you are now," he said. "Too late to change your mind."

  What the hell was I going to say now that I got here?

  "I don't even know if she's here."

  "Her friend, the chick that texted you, said she wasn't leaving until tomorrow," Silas said. "Get in and see her."

  Inside, the security guard stopped me. "Resident?"

  "Visiting," I said.

  He looked down at me, brow burrowed. "Yes," he said, his tone nasal. "Visiting who precisely?"

  "River Andrews."

  He smirked. "Nice try," he said. "But there's no one by that name who lives here."

  "Number 1279," I said. "This is the address she sent me."

  He shrugged. "Like I said, no one by that name."

  "Shit, man," Silas said. "Are you serious?"

  I racked my brain. What was the fake name she gave Jed? Brenda. Bailey. Beth. "Beth Winters."

  He shook his head, his eyes narrowed.

  "Jesus, man, come on," I said.

  "Wait a second. You're that guy," he said. "The bomb guy. The one she went to see." He looked back and forth between me and Silas. "There's two of you."

  "Jesus Christ," Silas said. "Give this man a medal. Congratulations. We're twins."

  "YES," I said. "Yes. That's me. I'm not a psycho stalker or something. I know her."

  "Ex-Navy, right?"

  "Yes, yes." I didn't want to chat. Right now, I wanted to flatten this guy for getting in the way of me seeing her.

  "My son's thinking of joining the Navy," he said.

  "That's nice." I looked toward the elevator.

  The guard ambled slowly toward the desk. "It was in the news, you know," he said. "One of the magazines. Had your picture in it, with River's. I read your story. Article said you cleared a bomb in Afghanistan, ahead of a convoy that would have never seen it coming. You're a hero."

  "Yes," I said, exhaling. "That's me. Hero."

  He took out a card, and I reached for it, but he didn't hand it over, still talking. "You're not going up there to break that girl's heart, are you?"

  "No," I said, pulling the card from his hand. "Fuck. No."

  "For the elevator. Need it to get to the upper floors."

  "Thank you."

  The whole way up the elevator, my heart pounded in my chest. I ran through what I was going to say.

  "What are you going to tell her?" Silas asked.

  "Shut the fuck up, man."

  ***

  The door opened, and...a girl, not River, wearing a tank top, her arms covered in tattoos, a ring in her nose, stood in front of us, a confused look on her face. Then she grinned. "There's two of you."

  "Who are you?"

  She put her hand on her hip. "Abby. Who the fuck are you?"

  Silas grinned. "Silas. And Elias."

  She looked us up and down. "Twins," she said. "I dig it."

  "Is River here?"

  "So you're Elias, huh?" she asked, her gaze hard. She exhaled. "I guess I can see it."

  "See what?"

  "You're hot, I guess, in a rugged kind of way," she said. "I mean, I prefer pussy myself, but I can see what she sees."

  "Is she here?" I asked.

  "Hey River," she called. "Pizza guy is here."

  "I didn't order any - "

  There she was, standing in the doorway.

  Looking at me.

  "Elias," she said, her eyes focused on mine. And then she looked at Silas. "You're twins."

  I shrugged, embarrassed. "I didn't mention he was my twin," I said. "I didn't think to, and-"

  "I think you overheard something at the bar -" Silas began.

  "Yeah, I heard what you said. Expiration date. Just a fling."

  I glared at Silas. "Not me," I said. "This jackass said that."

  Silas threw his hands up in the air. "Guilty," he said. "It was me. In my defense, I was actually saying there was an expiration date on it because someone like you would in no way really date this asshole. Because you're slumming it."

  Behind her, Abby whooped. "Hah," she said. "Did I say there was an explanation?" She pushed past River and motioned for Silas. "Guess we should give them some privacy," she said, stepping back a few feet.

  The pair hovered a few yards away.

  "I can see you," I yelled. "I'm missing a leg. I'm not fucking blind."

  I heard Abby cackle.

  "I thought it was you," River said. "Saying that stuff. I thought it was you."

  I nodded. "I know."

  "You didn't tell me you had a twin."

  "I don't know what to say about that," I said. "It was an unfortunate oversight."

  "I'll say. Why did you come here, Elias?" Her face was turned up toward me, her lips parted. I wanted my mouth on her.

  "No flowers or anything?" Abby's voice broke though the silence.

  "Abby," River warned. She turned toward me. "No flowers or anything?"

  "No," I said. "No flowers. Just my heart."

  Silas guffawed. "That is fucking corny as hell."

  "Get out," River hissed, and they walked back into the apartment, the sound of laughter becoming muffled. She turned toward me. "Your heart, huh?"

  I shrugged. "I don't have anything else to lay on the table, here," I said. "This is it. It's all I've got. I don't know what the hell is going to happen in the future. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. But I want whatever it is to happen with you. I want you. That's it. All I know is I want you."

  River stared at me, long and hard, before her lips finally parted and she spoke. "Elias, I -"

  Abby's voice rang loud from he living room. "Kiss him already!"

  River whirled around. "Seriously, guys, if I hear one more thing out of either of you, I swear I will kill you both with my bare hands!"

  She stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind here, shaking her head.

  "So," she said. You were saying?"

  "Here's the thing," I said. "You can tell me to go to hell, or call me crazy. I haven't known you long enough to be saying this, and I am acutely aware of that fucking fact. But I've been close to dying, and I've seen enough death in my life to know that when something - someone- knocks me on my ass because she's so different from anyone else I've ever known, that...well, it's just really goddamn important."

  The words just poured out of me, this rush, unstoppable.

  "So, I'm saying I want to be with you. I fucking love you. That's all I've got. You can tell me to go to hell or whatever you want. But I've said my piece."

  "All right," she said.

  "All right?"

  She nodded. "All right, to all of it. I want you too, Elias."

  I pulled River close, my mouth coming down on hers. With her lips pressed against mine, the world was set right again.

  ***

  EPILOGUE

  RIVER

  "Are you really sure all of this is going to fit?" I stood with my hands on my hips, surveying the apartment, my boxes stacked neatly in towers in the middle of the room. I'd donated most of the things from Viper's place and this one in anticipation of the move to West Bend.

  "You saw the house," Elias said. "It'll fit. Are you sure you want to move into a farmhouse in West Bend? It's not exactly Hollywood."

  I slid my arms around his waist and looked up at him, the man who had made me so happy. "It's completely crazy," I said. "And not like Hollywood at all. I'm totally, a hundred percent, over the moon sure."

  "You think you're going to be happy there with me?" Elias asked. "Might be too tame for you, being a movie star and all."

  I laughed. "Tame is nice," I said. "And I'm not going to be a movie star in West Bend, anyway - just a regular old college student, ta