FIFTEEN

Cara steps into the sitting room and is greeted by the sight of two brothers—one in a grey suit, engrossed in today's newspaper, and the other shirtless, absorbed in his phone. It might take her a while to get used to how similar they look, but waking up to this view isn't something she'll complain about. Xander is the first to acknowledge her presence, giving her a quick glance before returning to his paper.

"Hey, you," Xavier says, looking up from his phone. Cara strolls over and sits on the couch next to Xander, purposefully shifting closer to him. He glances at her, giving her the weird look she fully expects.

She turns her attention to Xavier. "Trying to seduce me with those abs?" *Glorious,* she thinks, like something out of a Calvin Klein ad. The thought of running her fingers down that sculpted stomach flits through her mind, but she quickly dismisses it. *Bad Cara. Really bad.*

"Trying to seduce us with those shorts?" Xavier shoots back.

"I wouldn't have to seduce you." Cara winks.

"Are you flirting with me? You really shouldn't, miss. I don't play around—I'd actually follow through." Xavier winks.

At this point, Xander is no longer focusing on the newspaper. He's staring at the words, but they're not making any sense. Are they really flirting in front of me? It's only 7:30 a.m., and the day's already off to a bad start.

"You can try," Cara retorts, "but do you want to risk falling in love?"

Xander slams the newspaper shut, tosses it onto the coffee table, and stands up. Grabbing his briefcase, he strides out of the room. Cara and Xavier watch him leave, then burst into laughter as soon as he's out of sight.

"In less than five minutes, you owe me fifty dollars," Cara says, crossing her arms. They'd made a bet the night before on how quickly they could get Xander to leave the room in annoyance. Xavier had bet ten minutes; Cara bet five or less.

"Okay, fine, you win," Xavier concedes.

Jonathan walks into the room with a bright smile. "Breakfast is ready," he announces, gesturing toward the dining room.

"Finally," Xavier breathes out as he stands up. Jonathan had kept both brothers out of the kitchen all morning, claiming he had a special breakfast planned.

Cara follows Xavier to the dining room, the aroma of the food pulling her in. When she sees the spread, her jaw nearly hits the floor. Bacon, pancakes, eggs, muffins, bread, grapes, strawberries, toast, coffee, sliced oranges, orange juice, syrups, cakes—and those are just the items she's planning on trying. There's even salad, though she knows the twins aren't fans.

*Is this heaven? Food heaven.*

"Who died?" Cara blurts out.

Xavier, unfazed, shrugs. "This always happens when I come back home. Jonathan takes the prodigal son thing pretty seriously."

"I pity everyone you had to order around to make this happen," Xavier says as he takes a seat.

"Where's Alexander?" Jonathan asks. Cara feels a pang of guilt. Jonathan had all this planned for the brothers, and she's the reason one of them is missing.

"He's coming," Cara says, forcing herself to step away from the tempting feast and heading for the door.

"What?" Xavier asks, mid-bite into a muffin.

"I'll be right back."

~~~

Cara practically sprints to catch up with Xander before his car pulls away. Just in time, she taps on the window, and Xander gets out, a confused look on his face. "Why were you running? Are you insane?"

"Clearly," Cara replies, trying to catch her breath.

"What do you want?"

"You've got to come eat breakfast."

"Hmmm..." Xander pretends to think it over. "No," he says bluntly.

Cara rolls her eyes. "Come on, there's a huge breakfast waiting."

"I'm not hungry."

He is, but the thought of sitting in the same room as Cara and Xavier will either kill his appetite or make him sick.

"You didn't eat dinner with us last night."

"Didn't realize we're monitoring each other's eating habits now."

"Look, Jonathan made this amazing breakfast, and I can tell he wants you to have it with your brother." Cara pouts.

"We can do that next time he's back home. I have work."

"Fine. I won't eat breakfast with you guys, so you don't have to worry about me annoying you," Cara says, immediately regretting it. She wants that food, but leftovers will have to do.

"You wouldn't be the only one annoying me at that table."

"Fine, do what you want. I don't know what's up with you and Xavier, but if I had one living relative, we'd be inseparable," Cara snaps.

"Lucky for you, family's a burden," he replies.

"You don't believe that," she shoots back. "If you did, you wouldn't have spent so much money a few months ago to have one with me." Cara waits for his comeback, but for once, he has nothing to say. She takes the opportunity to walk away, feeling a small victory.

~~~

"Where is he?" Jonathan asks as Cara returns to the dining room.

"I'm sorry, but he won't be joining us," Cara says, taking her seat next to Xavier, who's busy stuffing his face.

"Look on the bright side—I'll be eating for two. And with this hungry man here," she gestures at Xavier, "we might just finish everything."

But then Xander walks in, taking his seat at the edge of the table. "This looks good," he comments.

"Wonderful," Jonathan says with a nod.

Cara stands up, remembering her promise to leave if Xander joined them for breakfast. It stings, but she heads for the door. She's almost out when Xander reaches out and stops her.

"Eat," he mutters, letting go of her arm.

Cara smiles down at him before returning to her seat. *Maybe he's not a total douche after all.*

~~~

"I don't love you anymore," Cara says, her eyes glassy as she dramatically looks down.

"Yeah, I kind of figured that out," Xavier nods with a sad smile.

"We killed it," Cara cheers, dropping the script on the table. She's helping Xavier run lines for his job tomorrow.

"You're really good at this," Xavier comments. "You should definitely consider acting seriously. I could introduce you to my agent—she'd love you."

"That would be amazing," Cara says excitedly.

Ever since she was a kid, she's dreamed of acting. She'd practice all the time, re-enacting scenes from TV shows and movies. When she was ten, her parents said they were moving to LA, and she was thrilled. Los Angeles was the land of opportunities. But auditions haven't gone as well as she'd hoped. She always wanted to be one of those celebrities.

Well, she is now. Maybe not the way she imagined, but she might as well use it to her advantage.

"Now, can we please stop? The babies are hungry," Cara groans.

"You mean you're hungry."

Cara rolls her eyes. "Duh," she says dryly.

Xavier sets the script down on the coffee table. "I could've sworn we ate two hours ago."

Cara raises an eyebrow. "Are you saying I eat a lot?" she glares at him.

Realizing he hit a nerve, Xavier backtracks. "N-no, what I mean is, I know a place with amazing food."

"Better," she says, crossing her arms.

~~~

"How was the food?" Xavier asks.

"Overhyped," Cara says, pushing her empty plate away. The place was beautiful and classy, but the food wasn't impressive. Rich people must have no taste buds. "The place I wanted to go would've cost less, and the food would've been better."

"Says the girl who cleaned her plate," Xavier teases, picking up his glass of water. "Besides, this place is safe—no cameras."

"Tell that to the woman in the corner who's been snapping pictures since we got here." Cara rolls her eyes. Xavier glances over to see the woman in question, pretending like she isn't doing anything.

"Then we better get out of here before the paparazzi show up." Xavier signals for the bill.

Cara pulls out her red purse. Before she opens it, Xavier waves her off. "Don't worry about it. My treat."

"I didn't even have any money," Cara admits, opening her empty purse. "I knew you were going to pay." She smirks.

"Well played," Xavier says, amused.

Cara gives him a dramatic bow as the waiter arrives with the check.

~~~

As predicted, the paparazzi are already outside when Xavier and Cara leave the restaurant. "Whoa, they got here fast," Cara says, buttoning her coat, feeling self-conscious about her little baby bump.

"Yeah, three months off the grid—they're dying to know what I'm up to," Xavier says as they walk into the chaos of noise and camera flashes. The restaurant's security helps them push through the crowd to the car.

"How was rehab?"

"Are you clean?"

"When did you get back to LA?"

"Do you approve of your brother's girlfriend?" The questions fly as they reach Xavier's red sports car. He opens the door for Cara, who mutters a quick "Thanks" as she slips inside. He walks around to the driver's side, gets in, and starts the engine.

~~~

Cara let her curly hair fall from its bun, the breeze playing with the loose strands. She felt alive, exhilarated. If this Lamborghini were a person, she'd marry it in a heartbeat. "This car is everything!" she shouted, raising her arms to the sky through the open roof.

Xavier chuckled. "You know Xander has the black version of this car, right?"

Cara turned to him, surprised. "Really? I thought your brother only liked boring cars."

"He can surprise you. You should see his collection—it's mind-blowing." He adjusted his sunglasses with one hand, the other steady on the wheel.

"There's a lot I don't know about your brother," Cara murmured.

"There's a lot I don't know about him either," Xavier admitted.

"So, rehab?" Cara asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Don't do drugs, kid," Xavier joked, wagging a warning finger at her.

Cara laughed. "Noted."

"I'm the messed-up brother, if you're wondering."

"Everyone's messed up," Cara replied, settling comfortably into the red leather seat. "It just depends on how well you can hide it."

Xavier glanced at her, a smile playing on his lips, then turned his attention back to the road.

~~~

After hours of hanging out, they finally pulled up to the house. Xavier tossed the keys to Marco to park the car as he and Cara walked toward the door.

"He didn't," Xavier argued as they continued their debate over who was the true villain in the movie they'd just watched.

"Are you sure we watched the same movie?" Cara asked, baffled by his argument. She shook her head, opening the door to find an angry-looking Xander pacing. His eyes locked on them, their smiles fading as they took in his expression.

"Where have you been?" Xander asked, his voice calm, though it was clear he was trying to control his temper.

Cara removed her coat and handed it to Xavier, who hung it on the rack along with his own. "We were watching a movie," she answered, noticing the dirty look Xander threw her way.

Why is he so mad?

"I called you both to find out where you were."

Xander liked control, and not being able to reach them had clearly rattled him. He might even have been worried.

"My phone died," Xavier explained, pointing at Cara. "And she was just ignoring you," Xander accused.

Cara swatted Xavier's pointed finger. "Ouch," Xavier yelped.

Their antics only seemed to irritate Xander more. "Listen to me," Xander said, clearing his throat, "you don't go anywhere without my permission." His tone was commanding, like he was talking to his employees.

"Excuse me?" Cara's jaw dropped. The nerve of this guy.

"Hey," Xavier interjected before Cara could say something she might regret. "Don't talk to her like that."

"I'll talk to her however I please," Xander shot back, his voice laced with acid. "She's my responsibility, but what would you know about responsibility? Nothing. So why don't you shut up and let the adult talk."

"You're such a—"

"I am not your prisoner," Cara snapped, cutting off Xavier. "If you want me to start telling you where I am or where I'm going, you'll have to earn it." With that, she stormed off in anger.

~~~

"Look," Xavier said, handing his phone to Cara for the tenth time, determined to prove his point about the movie. "See? She agrees with me." He pointed to a comment on the lead actor's page.

Cara glanced at the phone and handed it back to him. "Read her username first," she teased.

Xavier rolled his eyes, already knowing what she was getting at. "Sexygirl5673," he read aloud.

Cara burst out laughing. "You're taking validation from someone who can't even come up with a creative username to understand a creative plot?" She kept laughing until the doorbell rang, interrupting her.

"I'll get it," Cara called out to Jonathan, who was likely on his way to answer the door. She needed a break from Xavier. If she didn't love winning so much, she'd let him have this argument.

As she walked to the door, she heard Xavier yell, "We're not done yet!"

"Oh, I think we are," she called back, opening the door. She was surprised to find an incredibly attractive and familiar-looking girl standing there.

"Hi, how can I help you?" Cara asked, a polite smile on her face.

The girl looked Cara up and down before meeting her gaze. "I'm Liza Woods, and I'm here to see Alexander."

~~~~

WHAT DO YOU THINK LIZA WANTS?

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