A Case of Extreme Mistaken Identity - Victorine E. Lieske Page 0,27
Not only the makeup, but the way she did everything that Victoria and Steph said to do. Pathetic. How had she never seen it before? Why was she trying so hard to please those two? Was she that way all the time?
The video continued and Dani waited for the part she’d seen, where she talked about Rafael. It was definitely cringe-worthy. She told the world everything that happened, even the most embarrassing parts. How he’d fooled her, why he’d done it, and how she’d totally believed him and fallen in love with him.
Dani’s face heated as she watched herself spill the entire story through slurred words. And it wasn’t as if Victoria or Steph cared. They were delighted to get everything on video. How could she have trusted them? There was something definitely wrong with her internal sensor.
But watching the whole awful video reminded her that trusting people was simply a bad idea. No matter how much she wanted to take Austin at face value, she had no idea what his motives really were. Yes, he looked like he was helping her, but it looked like Rafael was sincere at first, too. She didn’t find out the truth until it was too late.
She had to be more careful around Austin. It was just like her to give her blind trust, and then be destroyed. She kept forgetting that, probably because Austin looked so trustworthy. He was handsome, and had been kind to her. But those were the most dangerous people. Why did she keep forgetting that?
Austin came out of the bathroom and Dani jumped. She paused the video and tucked her phone behind her so he wouldn’t see her horrible clown-self on the screen.
He gave her a weird look. “What’s that?”
Shoot. He’d seen her. She decided to play dumb. “What’s what?”
He squinted. “Why are you hiding your phone?” He motioned to her hand behind her back, and the trail of earbud cord leading to it.
Busted. But maybe if she distracted him, he would not keep bugging her about it. She wrinkled her nose. “Why are you asking what it is, if you knew it was my phone?”
A look crossed his face, and she wasn’t sure if it meant he was amused or he was losing patience with her. “Why are you not answering my questions?”
“Why are you asking so many questions?”
“Why are you being evasive?”
“Why aren’t you?” she shot back at him, before she could really think about it. Her face heated. What a stupid thing to say.
He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He closed it, opened it once again, then clamped his jaw shut and shook his head. “Never mind. I forgot what we were talking about in the first place.”
“Me, too.” She waited until he walked to the small room fridge to pull her phone out and close the YouTube video. She’d watch the last thirty seconds later. She was pretty sure how it ended anyway. She must have passed out and Victoria had nothing else to video.
Austin held up a water bottle. “Do you want something to drink?”
“No. I’m ready to sleep. I can hardly keep my eyes open.” She had been exaggerating, but as soon as the words came out a yawn took over, and the exhaustion from the day set in.
“You can have the bed. I’m fine on the sofa again.” Austin pointed his water bottle toward the king-sized slice of heaven by the sliding door.
Dani wanted to take him up on it, but guilt caused her to shake her head. She’d already displaced him last night. It wasn’t very nice to do that to him again. “I’m fine. You can take the bed.”
He shot her a look that said, “You shouldn’t argue with me about this.” What he really said was, “I can’t make you sleep on the couch. Get.” He waved toward the bed.
“No. I’m fine, really. It’s softer than it looks.” That was a lie. The sofa wasn’t soft. But she felt too guilty to give in to him.
“My mother would be appalled if I made a woman sleep on a hard lump while I took the bed.”
“Your mother isn’t here.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Thank goodness.”
That made Dani laugh. “Okay, then let’s take turns. Last night I got the bed. Tonight is your turn. You do believe in equal rights for women, don’t you?”
He seemed to weigh his words carefully. “Yes, I do. But I also believe in being a gentleman.”