CYRUS
The door to the airplane cracked open with a hiss and when the outside air rushed in, it wasn’t as muggy as the state we left. Imogen lifted her head from my shoulder and blinked, her eyes peering into the space.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t take the chopper all the way to Maine,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt and waiting for her to do the same.
She stood from her seat, stretched, and then pulled her hair back, re-affixing her ponytail. I’d woken up to her already more than once, but as she gently snored beside me while her head rested on my shoulder, I noticed a contentment unlike anything I had in life.
“Cyrus, it’s fine,” she said, slipping out from the short row of seats into the middle aisle.
I followed right behind her, not wanting her to get too far ahead of me. We weren’t in immediate danger, but I didn’t think I’d ever be safe. “It would just cause too many refuels in a chopper.”
Imogen, Drake, and Corbin, and I had taken the chopper to an airport in Georgia and then boarded the private plane, which brought us to Maine. Imogen watched the entire experience with her eyes wide, but I still felt like I was letting her down by not flying the chopper all the way up the coast. We’d scheduled a flight for another day to take her out over the ocean.
“Seriously, Cyrus. The private plane was amazing.”
I stepped off the little stack of stairs before her and then held out my hand to help her off. “Your first time?” I asked, spotting the big black SUV waiting for us a little way off into the makeshift airport Pelican Bay created outside of town. It was basically just a long patch of farmland they didn’t plant corn in for the year accompanied by a dirt parking lot, but it sufficed for what most people needed.
Imogen laughed and grabbed my hand as she jumped down the last step. “Yes.”
Her happy answer radiated. She was still smiling after everything we’d been through. “Good. I like being your first.”
From that point on, I wanted to be all of them forever.
I didn’t miss the look my brother gave me as he too stepped off the plane and checked the surrounding area. We didn’t communicate in a secret twin language. Everything we had to say to one another could be done with expressions. The one he gave me right then said he thought I’d lost my mind.
I walked past him, pretending I didn’t notice, and led Imogen to the SUV that had to be for us unless multiple disasters were happening at the same time. I wasn’t ready to answer any of Corbin’s questions. Eventually I’d have to give him answers, but at the present time I didn’t know what to say.
Corbin fell fast for Hazel, but would he understand when I told him in just a few short days Imogen stole my heart? Corbin might be the one to settle down eventually, but I was the twin everyone thought would be a bachelor for life. Now those ideas sounded ridiculous.
I opened the back door to the Escalade and let Imogen in the seat first. As I sat beside her, Corbin went to the front passenger with and Drake in the driver’s seat.
“Where’s Hazel?” I asked after we all closed our doors and settled in for the short drive to Pelican Bay.
Corbin turned around as he answered, his smile bright. “At the house. I wasn’t sure what condition we’d find you in and or what we’d face when we got there. I wanted her to stay behind, but she’s excited to meet Imogen.”
My face pinched together, my eyebrows furling into what anyone would call Corbin’s classic scowl. If I kept it much longer, I’d end up looking like Corbin, and then people really would confuse the two of us. “Let’s not bother her tonight. If you two are at the house, take us to the hotel,” I said, tapping Drake on the shoulder.
No way was I staying in a small house with my brother and his new girlfriend. Imogen had been through enough trauma in life. She didn’t need any more. And certainly not the kind they’d provide.
Corbin grabbed his phone and tapped out a quick text message. “Okay, do you wanttworooms?” he asked with intentional emphasis because he knew my answer.
I also didn’t miss the eyebrow he lifted when he turned around to ask. Sometimes my brother really earned his asshole nickname. I no longer felt guilty about the box of condoms I left in the fridge for him to find.
“No, one room,” I said with conviction. “We do better together.” I peeked at Imogen as she stared out the side window of the car watching the trees go by, but not once did she give any sign she objected.
Her black hair was twisted up into a messy bun on top of her head, which exposed the back of her neck. I wanted my lips to touch every single inch of the long stretch of skin once we were alone.
I was so screwed. My feelings for Imogen were already deeper than anything I’d experienced, even the ones I had for my brother. I loved Corbin, but he no longer passed the train test against Imogen.
It was a stupid game we made up as children. You knew you’d found the love of your life when you’d be willing to toss your twin in front of a train to save her life. Never before had I found another person who could stand on the side of the track, and I’d push Corbin off instead of them. Not until Imogen.
Corbin smiled back at me as if he heard exactly where my thoughts were, and the twisted asshole found it amusing that his life was now on the line, if it ever should need to be.
Shit.
I’d have so much explaining to do when the time came, but from the way Corbin had been around Hazel before I left, I had a feeling he’d pushed me in front of the proverbial train a week ago.
Our vehicle pulled up to the stately Pelican Bay bed-and-breakfast. The old Victorian-style home had different levels and a large white wraparound porch that ran pretty much the entire expanse of the building. It was one of the oldest homes constructed in Pelican Bay and had been turned into a bed-and-breakfast years ago. Before any of us were born. My cousin Pierce purchased it last year and started renovations to bring the building up to code.
