“That’s probably fair.” He stood, swaying slightly before catching his balance. He glanced around like he was trying to piece together an exit strategy. “You know, I think I left my card at the bar.”
He was already backing toward the door, his light blue button-down from yesterday wrinkled beyond recognition and that thick hair sticking up all around his still-handsome face. It was so unfair. No one was supposed to bethatgood looking hungover.
I nodded at him despite knowing that he was simply trying to get out. “Well, you should probably go find it, then.”
He hesitated for half a second, looking at me like he might say something else, but instead, he reached for the door handle. “See you around, Jacqueline. It was fun. What I remember at least.”
I’d hardly managed to lift my hand in a wave before he was gone, the door snicking shut quietly behind him. Falling back against the couch, I blew out a harsh breath and started shaking my head, but quickly stopped when the movement exacerbated the headache to a level I couldn’t handle.
So instead, I just sat there quietly and completely still, wondering who on earth that man really was. He certainly didn’t fit into the Westwood mold I’d mentally built over the years. Worryingly, spending the night with him had left me uncertain whether I’d been right about them at all.
CHAPTER 11
JESSE
It had been a while since I’d been this hungover, and that was really saying something. Sunlight itself seemed violent today, out to get me in the worst possible way. It came in through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of my condo like it had been sent to earth to destroy my brain, slicing straight through my skull and setting up camp behind my eyes.
“Holy fuck,” I groaned, slinking through the space like I was actively being hunted.
Every step hurt, my head, my back, and my dignity. I squinted at the kitchen and kept moving, even though it felt about three miles away. One slow, miserable step at a time, I finally made it to the counter and braced myself against it like I’d just completed a marathon.
Coffee. I need coffee.Except I already had coffee. When I looked down at my hand, there was a full mug in it.Well, that’s a definite win.
I took a cautious sip, immediately regretting it when my stomach rebelled, but I took another anyway because I wasn’t a quitter. My real goal in making my way back to the kitchen, however, had been a bottle of painkillers.
It was possible that I had one here somewhere. Unfortunately, the boxes littering my living room, hallway, and even the kitchen were a testament to the fact that I still hadn’t unpacked since I’d moved back here from Miami.
Being COO of a mega-billion-dollar company required a fair amount of travel, and honestly, I wasn’t a materialistic guy. I had plenty of flaws, but that wasn’t one of them.
Nice watches? Sure. Suits? Only at the office. Art and home decor? Nah.
I nudged a box open with my foot and peered into it, but the painkillers didn’t jump out at me.Well, that’s just fantastic.
My phone started ringing. The shrill sound pierced my eardrums from somewhere across the condo. I froze, closing my eyes briefly like maybe it would stop if I ignored it. Naturally, it did not. It just kept ringing relentlessly until I’d dragged my ass back across the room, lifting my hands to cover my ears in the hopes that it might help.
Pressure, however, was the enemy, so I dropped them again almost immediately. Eventually, I realized the ringing was coming from my bedroom, so I headed over that way, stepping over the jeans I’d left in a pile on the floor when I’d come home. I’d stripped out of them, feeling like I was being suffocated by denim.
Finally, I fished my phone out of the pocket, regretting it the second I bent over, but I smiled when I saw Will’s name on my screen. Sometimes, I swore my twin could sense when I was in distress. Like he had some kind of sixth sense when it came to my suffering.
I pressed the phone to my ear and collapsed onto the edge of the bed, exhausted after that trek across the condo. “What?”
“Are you sick or hungover?” he asked, sounding way too amused. “Because you sound terrible.”
“If you think Isoundbad, you don’t want to see what I look like right now.”
He laughed. “What did you do?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, trying to piece together the flashes I remembered of last night. “I was with Jacqueline. It turns out she moved over here for work. I think we might’ve been planning a heist at some point.”
“A heist?” Another burst of laughter shot out of him. “What were you going to steal, another bottle of whiskey?”
“No.” I scoffed, groaning when even that hurt. “We were going to France to steal a dog from an archaeologist.”
Will didn’t say anything for a second. “I think you’d better start from the beginning.”
“The beginning is a little hazy,” I admitted. “I remember drinks, laughing, talking about her ex, and something about him being an academic. I’m not sure why, but it felt like good news at the time.”
“Good news for what?”