Body Double (42 page)
Authors: Alane Hudson
Tags: #love triangle, #millionnaire, #double, #twin, #wedding, #doppelganger, #second chance, #convenience, #marriage, #wealthy
“
When did you stop loving me?”
Blake picked it up and handed it to her. “Maybe it’s time you did.”
The singing stopped, and Andrea knew he was probably leaving another message that she would delete before it finished playing. “I don’t want to talk to him. Ever.”
“I know, but you
have
found love. You don’t have to let him hurt you anymore.”
His words rang true, but she didn’t want to admit that, two years later, he was still hurting her. She’d cried buckets of tears over that jerk, and though she didn’t cry anymore, she couldn’t deny the pain she felt every time he called. “I don’t know how to stop it.”
“Talk to him. Hear his apology. Your life is better now because you didn’t marry him, right?”
She nodded. “Much, much better.”
“If you can forgive him for what he did, then you can put it behind you.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You weren’t left at the altar by the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.”
“No, but I was forced to marry a woman I didn’t love, a woman who would never find me even the slightest bit desirable. I forgave Sarah for her deception, and now I can throw myself completely into us without fearing that you’ll stop desiring me.”
She looked into his eyes, knowing he was right. If she didn’t confront Sean and put him behind her, she would continue to worry that every argument she and Blake had, every time he was late meeting her for something, would mean he was ditching her. That wasn’t how she wanted to live, and it wasn’t how she wanted Blake to live. Having to constantly reassure her because of what another man had done wasn’t fair to him. “I’m scared,” she said, her voice small. “I don’t want to cry anymore.”
“It’s okay to cry.”
She fidgeted with the phone in her hands, wiped off the screen. “I want to move past it, but I don’t know if I can talk to him.”
“You fought off three guys trying to abduct you. You can do this.”
She shot him a half-smile. “I had Hank to help me.”
“And now you have me. I’ll stay here with you if you want. I’ll be your Hank.”
Andrea leaned in and kissed his lips. “God, I love you.”
“And I love you. I believe in you. I’m here for you. That’s what love is. That’s what love does.”
He was right again. Sean had never loved her the way Blake did. He only loved his mental image of her. He only loved the woman he wanted her to be.
“Draw the line in the dirt,” Blake said, “and then make the call.”
She took a steadying breath and dialed Sean’s number with a trembling finger, feeling both nervous and excited. When she lifted the phone to her ear, Blake took her free hand in his warm and strong one and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders.
“Hello?” Sean said.
“Hello, Sean. It’s Andrea.”
“Hey. I’m so glad you finally called back. I was beginning to think you didn’t want to talk to me.”
“I don’t, but apparently you have something you need to say, so go ahead and say it so I can put you in my past for good.”
Blake smiled at her and nodded.
“Okay, I get it. I hurt you pretty badly, and you want to make me bleed a little. That’s fine. I deserve it.”
“You devastated me, Sean, but mostly you disrespected me. It was the meanest, most awful thing anyone has ever done to me.”
Aside from trying to kidnap me
, she thought, but she didn’t want to go into it with him. “That’s how you’re going to be remembered. Does it make you feel good to know that?”
“No,” he whined. “I feel awful about it. I was an immature ass, and I think about it every day.”
Andrea waited for him to go on, but his pause stretched longer and longer. “Well? Is that all you wanted to say?”
“Yeah, mostly. One sec.” Some paper rustled in the background. “I’m sorry for what I did.” His tone had the flat quality of someone who was reading from a page rather than speaking from the heart. “I treated you badly, and I’m so sorry. Leaving you at the altar was a cowardly thing to do. I was a boy who wasn’t ready to be a man yet. You didn’t deserve that kind of disrespectful and demeaning treatment, especially from someone who was supposed to love and protect you. I apologize from the bottom of my heart.” His voice broke near the end, and he sniffled. Was he crying?
She was glad to hear the remorse in his voice. Glad and relieved, and filled with a warm glow of satisfaction. After two years, she’d finally heard the apology she’d needed to hear, and how freeing it was!
Now it was up to her. With eyes burning, she gazed up at Blake, who pulled her closer to him. He was the opposite of Sean in so many ways. His presence gave her strength and courage. It was time to put the past behind her. Armed with the love of a real man, Andrea was ready to step over the line. “I forgive you,” she said. “That doesn’t make what you did okay, but you can’t hurt me anymore.”
As soon as she said it, she felt a lightness in her chest she’d never expected. If only she’d said it two years ago instead of suffering under the weight of the pain. Above all, she felt what she could only describe as gratitude—for Blake’s sturdy presence that gave her the courage to call, and for the courage it took Sean to apologize for what he’d done.
Sean exhaled heavily. “Thank you for that. I won’t bother you anymore, but Andrea, I just want to say one last thing. You deserve a happy life with a great guy. I hope you find it.”
“I already have. Bye, Sean. Take care.” She hung up and hugged Blake tightly. She was free. “It’s over. It’s finally over.”
“Andrea, you did great. I’m really proud of you.” He kissed her neck before pulling back to look into her eyes. “Did you say everything you needed to say?”
“I did. You were right. Forgiveness is a powerful thing—so liberating. It felt like my soul was trapped under a rock, and you came along and pulled it off.”
“That wasn’t me, babe,” Blake said. “That was you. All you needed was someone who believed you could push that rock off by yourself.”
“All I needed was you.”
The End.
Just a little note from the author
I’m thrilled that you decided to try my book, and I hope you’ve found a few hours of enjoyment within these pages or pixels. As a lover of stories, I read and love many genres. Though I mostly write fantasy and science fiction, now and then, I get ideas for romance novels. That doesn't happen for thrillers or horror, though I read those genres quite a bit. Sometimes, story ideas become nagging obsessions, and all other stories take a position on the back burner while the new obsession gets written. Such was the case with this story.
So although I'm a newcomer (as a writer) to the romance genre, this is not technically a debut novel. I chose a different pen name for the romance novel so that readers familiar with my fantasy and science fiction novels wouldn't buy it expecting a new world, magic, or a made-up cure for some hideous illness or disorder. I've started writing several romance novels, but none made it past the first draft until now.
Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for taking a chance on my first published romance novel. As an independent author, I don’t have a team of publicists and marketing specialists to spread the word about this book. I’m just a writer sitting at my keyboard searching for readers like you. If you enjoyed the story, please recommend it to a friend! If you’re so inclined, a review or rating on the ebook site of your choice would also be greatly appreciated.
If you’d like to contact me, visit my web site at
http://alanehudson.wordpress.com
or email me at [email protected] — I welcome your emailed comments! I’m also on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/authoralane
.
Acknowledgements
Writing can be a lonely endeavor, but even so, the help of these people was invaluable. Alex Cooke for his help with the 9-1-1 call, Chrystalla Thoma and Donalisa Helsley for their help with the Spanish, Sandra Edwards for her advice on the story concept, and my friends at CritiqueCircle for their honest feedback: Onechoice1, Freesoul, Sallyw, Basbaxter, Ginella, Mhiscox, Vkkerji, Lola7, and Jaybird. A special thanks to my wonderful editor, Susan Helene Gottfried, for her friendship, support, and for helping me hone the final draft.
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