Page 5 of Forced to Share
At least she’d offered to pay for parking my car at the airport. JFK wasn’t small, or cheap. When we’d looked up extended stay lots for how long we needed, the total had just about made me want to faint. Then there was trying to talk her into taking a rideshare. That wasn’t happening. Nope. Not with all the bags she wanted to take. Hey, as long as she was paying to check all of them. My bank account would have cried at the fifty dollars per checked bag.
My hands slipped along the steering wheel as I found a parking space and turned off the car. I did a last check to make sure nothing was left out that would attract anyone to break in while we were away.
There were so many signs that Leah and I were a bad idea. It didn’t change the fact that she had that ring on her finger and I had been dumb enough to buy it for her.
Why the hell was I going through with this?
That fluttery, nuclear, world-shattering panicked feeling didn’t vanish. It stayed with me through security, onto the plane and until we landed.
“Jeremy?”
I finally snapped out of my daze to realize we were standing at a baggage claim in Chicago. I was so fucked. None of this would have been a problem had I had the guts to tell Leah my hang-ups. She was a great girl. I just wasn’t interested in her like that. But as we pulled our bags off of the carousel and made our way to the rental car counter, I couldn’t open my mouth. Would I be able to keep up the charade through the holiday? Would her family be able to tell?
We pulled up outside of a two-story single-family home. It was cute with its little porch and shutters that framed the windows, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread. I was walking into a minefield. Would these people hate me?
For once I was thankful I wasn’t the one driving. Leah was familiar with the area, and I was more than happy to let her take the wheel. The lady at the rental counter hadn’t been thrilled with us. Then again, it hadn’t been my idea not to book a rental in advance. Who did that? Especially over a major holiday. That was when an insane amount ofpeople were traveling, and we were lucky that we’d gotten anything at all.
The little subcompact was cramped and barely fit all of Leah’s bags, plus my one, before we crammed ourselves inside. I was a tall guy at six foot two. I didn’t handle cramped spaces well. The hour drive from O’Hare to the house had been borderline torture. Hopefully, we wouldn’t need to do much traveling around over the next two weeks.
“It looks like my mom and dad are here. I’m not sure who that huge SUV belongs to. It might be my brother. You’re going to absolutely love him.”
And I was back to tuning out my girlfriend as I opened the passenger door and got out of the car. Maybe if I got a little breathing room, I wouldn’t feel so damn suffocated by what was happening. God, I was such a shitty human for going through with all of this.
But that was when my heart stopped. If I thought things were better out of the car? Nope...
I wanted to climb back in and head straight back to the airport. Hell, fly all the way back to the Big Apple. It would be better than the reality I was about to be confronted with.
“Austin!” Leah squealed as the man came plowing out the front door, racing to her side and picking her up in a hug. I looked off to the side and tried not to watch as heswung her around in a big circle as the melodic sound of their laughter filled the air.
I’d recognize that man anywhere. It had been three years since I’d seen that shaggy mop of brown hair and the splash of freckles across his cheeks, but then it hit me. Leah had the same freckles.
My eyes widened as I turned back to stare at the two of them. It was a mistake because the second that Austin looked up and saw me, the same recognition flashed through his eyes. He tensed and released his sister before backing away.
“Austin, this is Jeremy. I told you about him on the phone.”
Leah didn’t seem to pick up her brother didn’t seem all that welcoming. I couldn’t blame him.
Three years ago I’d left his place, telling him we’d see each other again in a week. I hadn’t told him about my transfer. He was my first real boyfriend, and instead of being brave and ending things like I should have, I ghosted the poor guy.
No wonder Leah had felt so safe and familiar. She was the sister of the one person I should have never screwed over.
Chapter 3
Austin
"It’s so good to see your face. Talking over video chat just isn’t the same. How is California treating you, anyway? You’ve got a nice tan going. I’m a little jealous...”
Focusing on whatever my sister was saying was impossible, even when I had to help her drag in the two overstuffed suitcases. It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only one who never mastered the art of packing a bag. But, that wasn’t what had me so damn distracted.
Nope.
Jeremy Praytor.
When Leah had mentioned the name “Jer” I hadn’t connected the dots. But why would I have? The man had left my dorm room after giving me probably one of thebest blow jobs of my damn life with the promise of seeing me again in a week, only to drop off the face of the planet.
Had I tried to call him when I realized he’d ghosted me? You bet. No such luck. He’d either blocked me or gotten a new number. He didn’t have any social media accounts either. While I’d really liked the guy and we’d been hitting it off, shortly after his disappearance I nursed a broken heart for a bit then moved on.
At least at the time it felt like moving on but now? Now he was here. With my twin sister of all people. Had he told her about me?
