Dark Child (Wild Men 5)

Well, knowing this much is at least a start.

“You sure you’re all right?” her sister asks. “What can I do?”

“I need to find her. Where is she?”

“I don’t know. I’m kind of looking for her, too.”

Twins. Just my luck.

I still can’t believe it. It’s like something out of a thriller. ‘And it turned out to be her evil twin!’

Only Sophie doesn’t seem evil. As for Cosima…

I remember fucking her against the wall and groan as my dick hardens. I seem to be walking around with a permanent hard-on these days. Kinda hard to focus in class when you pitch a tent the size of the Empire State Building in your pants.

All for a girl I may never see again. Why did she run off? Does she want me or not? Was she the one who brushed me off coolly time after time or her sister?

This is fucking with my brain so bad.

Sophie said her sister sometimes sits in for her in class and work. She didn’t explain why. So the mix-up makes sense. After giving her my phone number, we parted ways. She said she’d pass my number on to Cosima.

Cosima.

I’m still getting used to this new name, still trying to sort through things in my mind. Memories of things said and done. Trying to separate Sophie from Cosima. Who said what? Who liked sci-fi movies like me, who was good at math? Who wears a black coat and who a blue jacket? Who wears dresses and who prefers pants and the odd skirt?

Who am I hard for?

At least now I can look her up online, since I have her first and last name.

Cosima Parker. I don’t expect to find her easily—because everything I try with this girl seems to go south—but there she is.

Both her and her sister Sophie. There they are together, side by side.

Fucking twins.

I trace a finger over the photo, over the two pretty faces. Which one is Cosima? The photo is tagged to SophieP and CosieCat.

Okay then. I send a friend request to CosieCat and rub at my aching temples.

Please, girl.

Give me another chance.

My phone rings as I head toward Mancave, startling me out of my thoughts. I dig out the phone as I cross the street, the familiar smell of car oil and exhaust already in the air.

It’s Mom. I haven’t talked to her since last week. Since she moved in with her man, she’s been busy living life.

“Hey, Mom.” I cradle the phone between my cheek and shoulder to open the door of the small office. Nobody’s inside. I drop my bag in a corner and head out of the back. “How’re things?”

“Mercury, honey. How are you?”

I bite back a groan. “Fine.”

“Just checking to see how you’re settling in your new place. Gigi tells me you have a nice roommate.”

“How would she know? She never met him.”

“Merc…” Disapproving. As if I said something mean. “You’re coming tonight, right?”