All Chapters of Under the Cover of Darkness: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

I was using my phone, sipping a milkshake and half-listening to Diana ramble on about her father when the text came in.It was an address but that wasn't what my mind was focused on. She'd texted me.She texted me.After her perfunctory reply last night I was pretty sure I'd blown my chance sky-high. I mean when a woman refers to you — not once, or twice for that matter — as a serial killer/stalker you kinda know you're not making any good headway with her.She followed it with a ‘don't be late’ and a rainbow emoji that made me smile. I knew I was going to be late because I was all the way in Tuscany but I was going to go. Even though it was clearly a party and people would be there.“And you know we're twins, so why on earth does he prefer her over me?” Diana asked skipping through the racks of clothing that'd been rolled into her room.

It felt like a giant bird picked me up and dropped me in the middle of the goddamned ocean.I was in the middle of going through a catalogue of songs from the 90's and I was getting increasingly flustered with the amount of punk rock bands that kept popping up.Twice I had to remind myself why I was doing this, thrice I had to physically restrain myself from tossing my laptop through the glass wall of my 17th floor office.I was surprising myself with the intensity of how bad I wanted to find the perfect song. The image of Butterfly's flawless face illuminating with joy spurred me on.It was then that I finally realized that I was totally and utterly whipped. For anyone else, this would be a ridiculous task to even consider. But for Butterfly spending useful working hours going through rock music was suddenly top priority.The side door to my office opened and I quickly shut my la

With a sigh I plopped on the couch and closed my eyes.I was still in the sundress I'd chosen for tonight and even though the long sleeves were starting to itch terribly I didn't want to get out of them. Didn't want this night to end.I stretched out my legs in front of me and was again amazed by the beauty of the heels on my feet.I had no idea that he was going to get me something as stunning as these shoes and seeing as how he didn't ask his assistant, AKA me, to pick something out, this one must have come from the heart.Or maybe you're just reading meaning into a pair of really, really, would-probably-feed-a-family-of-four, expensive shoes.I sighed and was pulling my hair into a ponytail when the clink of metal on glass made me look up.My mom walked out of the kitchen dressed in a grey tank top with brown shorts and holding two white bowls.

“Yo B!” came a voice from a car that pulled over a few feet from where I stood on the curb sending another text to Carson.Peering into the car I instantly recognized Bill from the heavy gold chains around his neck.Bling Bill was what the magazines called him. He was a genius at marketing and could make any singer go platinum in months.He was mostly into managing singers but he recently decided to spread into DJs and I was his pet project in the area.“Hi Billy,” I greeted, offering him a smile.“Don't call me that. Come on, get in, we don't want to keep the host waiting.”I checked my phone and saw it was just 6. “I thought it was starting by eight?”“Eight, nine, ten thirty, don't you still need a ride to the damn place?”“Fine, fine,” I huffed as I opened the door

My house was empty and cold as I stepped into it.Throwing my keys I didn't bother to check where they landed with a forlorn jingle.Not bothering to turn on a light I trudged over to the kitchen and opened the enormous freestanding fridge. The light from it filled the room with a ghostly white light as I reached in and plucked a beer from its place.After closing the fridge I twisted off the cap and took a swig. I was immediately reminded of why I hated beer but I needed alcohol and I wasn't in my house back in Miami where I could easily get some whisky.Drinking from the cold bottle I made my way upstairs.Turning right in the hall I walked to the last bedroom and twisted the doorknob open.The wind from the open French doors was kicking the white curtains up as I entered.Since I'd arrived in Orlando yesterday I had set up shop in this particular room o