The Lunacy of Tyler Lockhart ✔️

Chapter Nine - Present

Victoria

"What favor?" I asked Tyler, I couldn't keep the impatience out of my voice.

The air was getting thick in the room as the silence dragged on. His astonishing blue eyes glimmered like gems. If he was going to make some outrageous request, I planned to turn it down without so much as batting an eye.

"If this is you asking me to be your fake date or something equally shady, then my answer is going to be a big NO, just so we're clear on this."

"You? And a date with me?" He laughed in that boyish way and damn if my heart didn't do a series of continuous somersaults. It did so many, it fell off the stage.

The way he said 'You? and a date with me?' sounded more like I was suggesting that he date a cockroach, and if that wasn't making me mad. "Well, what is it then?"

"I don't think I'll ever get a date from you, Vicky." I may have seen a flicker of sadness in his eyes. Was Tyler even capable of feeling sadness? "I'll never dream of it."

I wasn't going to be guilt-tripped into doing what he wanted. Just when I was about to say no to whatever he was going to ask, he said. "Maya."

"Maya?"

What does this have anything to do with his sister?

"She's turning twenty-three in two weeks."

Time flew so fast. It seemed like just yesterday when she'd come home in that fancy car of hers and given me a birthday invitation card for her fifteenth birthday. The invite had come in a little basket that contained custom-made chocolates. I couldn't forget the lavish birthday party which was obviously the best party in town.

"I hadn't forgotten her birthday." I said.

"Right, I was wondering..." He hesitated.

"Spit it out."

"Have you noticed that our respective siblings are like a mirror version of us?"

"Don't change the subject, Ty."

"I'm not changing the subject, merely pointing out facts. The two live apart and yet they seem to find their way back to each other, almost like two bodies and one soul."

Our siblings were a mirror version of us, that wasn't entirely false. I'd give him that much. But Tyler was implying that he and I were two bodies and one soul.

What the hell? This boy was playing with my head.

He smirked as I folded my arms across my chest. I didn't want to say anything that might give him a reason to laugh at me again or say something suggestive. Without taking the bait, I asked, "What do you want from me?"

"If you're going to ask me that question, you have to be ready to listen to the answer." He said simply, cocking his brow.

"Geez! I didn't mean it that way." I was one second away from stomping out of the room, but somehow seemed to remain mesmerized by his alluring gaze. One minute I wanted to smack his pretty face, the next I couldn't wait to put my mouth over his. My own feelings were confusing the hell outta me. "I'm not playing this stupid game, I'm leaving."

"I need your help." He said quickly.

"Help or favor?"

"Both."

"Well, Mr. Lockhart, I'm giving you sixty seconds on the clock."

"I tried getting in touch with Archer, he wouldn't respond to any of my calls or messages"