They Called Me A Defective Copy Of My Sister Chapter 05

They Called Me A Defective Copy Of My Sister Chapter 05

The night air had made me reckless. Before I knew it, my fingers were on his face, tracing the line of his jaw. His lashes fluttered, but he didn’t pull away.

He went perfectly still, watching me with those dark eyes — and I could see my own hunger staring back.

One eyebrow lifted. My fingers had drifted down the bridge of his nose and stopped a breath from his mouth.

He laughed — and caught my wrist. Gently. No rush.

“Hazel.” A pause. “My brother’s wife.”

I froze.

Moonlight caught on his grin — lazy, knowing — and when he spoke, his voice was low and rough around the edges with amusement.

“Keep touching me like that and my brother’s going to smash a bottle across my face.”

Every thought in my head went white.

His eyes flicked past me. I turned — stiff, mechanical — and there was Vance, standing in the doorway to the terrace. There was no telling how long he’d been standing there.

My cardigan was folded over his arm — he’d come out to bring it to me. His face was half-swallowed by shadow, and what I could see was ice.

The drive home was silent in that special way silence turns into a weapon. Vance’s hands were locked on the steering wheel, knuckles white.

He didn’t ask about Silas. Didn’t explain. He just drove, and the AC was cranked so high and so cold goosebumps rose along my arms.

A block from home, his hand moved to the dial and nudged the temperature up. He thought I wouldn’t notice.

Even now — heart full of someone else, a betrayal already in motion — he couldn’t stop protecting me by reflex.

That automatic gentleness used to make me fall for him a little more every day. Now it just carved at something raw inside me.

He parked but didn’t move to get out. He stared at nothing through the windshield, and when he spoke, his voice sounded scraped out.

“Hazel, I’ve got a work trip next week.”

“How long?” I asked, as if I didn’t already know every detail.

His throat worked. His gaze touched my face — searching — then darted away. “About a week. It’s kind of urgent.”

“Silas will swing by to check on things.” He could barely get the words out. He wouldn’t look at me.

I nodded like a good little wife. “Okay. Stay safe.”

The tension drained out of his shoulders, and he reached over to ruffle my hair. Like you’d pet a dog for behaving.

“Good girl.”

And there it was — right there behind his eyes, barely contained. The thrill of knowing he was about to see her.

I let my lids fall shut, locking everything away.

Oh, Vance. If you knew the one I’d been aching for was your twin brother.

What would your face look like then?