Page 235 of The First Taste

"Talia," Olivia says, giving me a little shake. "What is it?"

I lick my suddenly dry lips and dart a glance over at Burn. He is settling into a booth just now, his expression a cool little smirk as he looks around the room. I resist the urge to make a scared noise, and I slide out of my seat.

"It’s Burn! He is here."

Olivia immediately turns her head, surveying the room. She spots him and turns back to me, nodding slowly. "Is that Burn? Or is that Dare?"

I scowl, not understanding her question. "What do you mean? Of course that’s Burn."

She turns her head again, a look of concentration crossing her pretty face. "Is it?" She asked again. "I’d be hard-pressed to pick the twins out of the lineup and tell you which one is which."

My pulse thunders, my breathing stutters. I look at her, my eyebrows rising. "What did you say about twins?"

Olivia gives me a bit of a puzzled look. "They’re twins. Identical twins. Did you not know that?"

I swallow, feeling like I am full of bile. I shake my head slowly.

"How do you know?"

She snorts. "The question is more like, how do you not know? Everyone knows them."

"I feel like I am crazy, but I have literally lived in this town for as long as anybody else, and I’ve never even heard of Burn or Dare Morgan until this moment."

"Ha. Well, they are an established entity, you could say. I remember quite clearly how half the girls in our grade had their pictures pasted on the front of their notebooks. Our very own billionaire bad boys have come to life. If I remember correctly, it was kind of fun to think about one or the other boy asking us out."

I pick up a cocktail napkin and twist it, ripping it into pieces. "How could I not know? I mean, it makes way more sense that the hot guy I met the other night claimed not to remember the details of our hookup. If he was actually Dare, he would have no way of knowing what happened between me and Burn." I feel the blood slide from my face. “Or maybe it was Dare instead of Burn at the Raven’s Head Club that night, and now Burn is trying to find out what happened. God, that is all kinds of fucked up."

"I’m sorry, I thought you knew. You were hanging all over Burn’s arm by the time I even realized that you two had even met. I knew that they were twins, but I figured that he was who he said he was. Why would he lie?"

I school my expression and look at her sternly. "Why would he have asked me for the details of his brother's sexual adventures? There is definitely something foul going on here, though I can’t tell what exactly it is. All I know is that it gives me a bad feeling."

Olivia takes a final swig of her fancy cocktail and digs in her purse for a wad of cash. Dropping it on the bar, she stands up. "Let’s go then. Come on, you are not going to drink that mocktail anyway. I know you too well."

Grateful for her, I reach forward and give her a quick hug. "Thank you."

Her lips twitch. "Come on, let’s head outside. I think if we sneak by the wall over here, we can head out the back with no one being the wiser."

Pushing out of my chair, I take Olivia’s hand. I try to look as inconspicuous as possible while I look away from the main bar. I try to keep it casual, covering my face with my hair and moving quickly. Unfortunately, I don’t really get a glimpse of Burn before I leave. I hesitate, then glance over my shoulder. The spot where I expected him to be is empty.

"Oh God." I squeeze Olivia’s hand and rush toward the back door, hoping that no one notices our quick exit. Olivia quickly leads me, heading down a dark back hallway toward a glowing exit sign. It is not until she pushes on the door, opening it into the back alley, that I start to feel as though I might have made it.

Olivia steps back and ushers me through the door first. I step out into the dimly lit back alleyway, hugging my coat around myself. But as soon as I do, a familiar voice calls out from the wall just beside me.

"And here I was, searching high and low for you."

Jerking my head to my right, I see the outline of a tall man, blue green eyes glittering from the shadows. He pushes off the wall and starts to move toward me.

My heart pounds, and I tense up, preparing to run.

Nine

Dare

Pretty little Talia with her coppery red hair is looking at me the way one would look at a venomous snake. Her eyes are wide and innocent, her cheeks flushed, and her throat working as she regards me. She looks as though she is trying to decide between fight or flight.

I smirk and move forward, my hand grabbing her forearm and my lips drawing away from my teeth.

"Where do you think you’re going, Talia?"