Roxie set the bourbon on the bar and went to the tap to fill a chilled mug.Foam built up, and air in the line made the amber liquid sputter.She jumped back out of the way, cursing vividly.She grabbed a rag, but the first thing she wiped down wasn’t the counter or the mug.It was a file folder sitting on the bar by her half-finished drink.
Lexie’s gaze honed in on the manila folder.It looked out of place in a biker bar.
“What is that?Is that our DNA test results?”She’d gotten her copy days ago.A big positive.Identical all the way.There hadn’t been some mistake, had there?
Setting her purse on the table, she headed for the folder, but Roxie slapped her hand down over it protectively.There was a glint in her eyes that warned Lexie not to push.
“Sit,” her twin said.“I’ll be there in a second.”
Grabbing a new mug, she lifted it to the tap.This one filled smoothly, with the expertise of someone who’d poured beer for a long, long time.
Lexie glanced at Cam.He was watching her sister with that look he’d used whenever Accounting’s numbers hadn’t jived.Lexie perched herself on the edge of the chair’s seat.Cam gently ran a hand over her hair.
Roxie rounded the bar with their drinks and set them on the table before them.For a moment her worried gaze cleared.It became speculative as it ran over the two of them and the way they’d positioned their chairs so closely together.“Don’t you two ever get tired of one another?I mean, you work together and youplaytogether.”
“Roxie.”Lexie tapped her hand on the table.“Why did you call us here?You’re making us nervous.”
“Sorry, I don’t mean to.I’ve got something to tell you.It’s just… Well, it’s big.Huge, actually.”She adjusted their drinks in front of them and stepped back.Wiping her hands on her jeans, she threw another look at the folder on the bar.
“This isn’t going to cost me another five grand, is it?”Cam asked dryly.
“No.”She rubbed her hands on her jeans once again.“The first five got me plenty.”
Lexie didn’t understand, but apparently Cam did.He leaned forward, everything about his demeanor sharpening.“You used the PI I gave you?”
Lexie’s head snapped towards him.“PI?”Her head whipped back around, just as hard, towards her sister.“Private investigator?”
Roxie held up her hands.“Let me start from the beginning.”
“Why would you need a private investigator?”Lexie pressed.
Roxie walked to the bar, but her ever-present swagger was subdued.She grabbed her drink and threw back a bracing mouthful before setting the glass down on the countertop.Hand shaking, she picked up the manila folder.Instead of opening it, though, she hugged it to her chest.Turning, she leaned against the bar.To someone who didn’t know her, it almost appeared as if she was using it to prop herself up.
She took a deep breath.“When we were arguing about going to the media, Cam told me there was a better way.”
Lexie gave a brisk nod.She remembered.Distinctly.
Roxie pushed her curly hair over her shoulder.“Well, he gave me the name of a detective, someone I could use instead of the tabloids and television news magazines to find out more about where we came from.”
Lexie shot a fierce look at Cam.“You did?”
He wrapped a hand around his mug of beer.“I told you I had resources, but I didn’t know if she’d use them.Hell, for all I knew, she was going to use the money to buy a new pullout sofa.”His eyes narrowed on Roxie.“Which you could use, by the way.”
She brushed him off with a wave of her hand.“The point is, I hired the guy.”
Lexie shifted in her chair.She didn’t know if she liked the direction this conversation was taking.“I thought you wanted our story ‘out there’,” she said, using air quotes.
Underneath the table, Cam settled a hand over her knee.
“I wantedinformation.”Roxie shrugged.“I didn’t care how I got it.”
Information.
Lexie’s gaze snapped down to the file half-hidden in her sister’s arms, and her pulse jumped.Roxie hadn’t sold them out.She wasn’t going around on talk shows or writing a tell-all book.
She was looking into their forgotten background.
Lexie came to her feet, pushing back the wooden chair with a screech.“Why didn’t you tell me?”She felt like she’d been saying that a lot lately.She looked at Cam.“Did you know?”
