Free Our Hearts Entwined by Lilliana Anderson Page B

spend the night here, get some rest and then we can talk about the next move in the morning.”
    “I think I’d like to stay,” Mia said, feeling calmer with him near her. The thought of going home to a flat that had been intruded upon didn’t sit well with her at all and her options were limited while Natalie was in the picture.
    “Alright, follow me,” he said, leading her out the door towards the entry of his home.
    ***
    Meanwhile, a silver Ford Focus with New South Wales plates sat parked at the curb outside Mia’s block of flats. Its sole occupant was starting to feel very nervous when her twin hadn’t arrived home at the expected time.
    “Shit! She should have been home hours ago!” Natalie said to herself as she sat, staking out Mia’s block of flats. From what she had witnessed, Mia was a creature of habit, who was dedicated to her job. She was always home before dark. Where in the world would she have gone today?
    For a while Natalie had started to panic at the thought of Mia being with Eric, but breathed a sigh of relief when he texted her to ask where she was. She felt trapped between her want to be with Eric and her need to make sure that Mia was passed out beforehand. So, Natalie returned his text, saying that she had a headache and needed to stay home tonight.
    She had managed to keep Mia and Eric apart for most of this past month, bar a few chance meetings. She’d spent almost every night with him ever since they ran into each other at the 7-Eleven that day and he had kissed her.
    Although she didn’t dare sleep over, not after the first time when she was nearly caught. She had only just made it out of the bathroom window in time and was thankful that she had taken her handbag containing her toiletries in with her or she would have been busted for sure.
    The sleeping tablets she had been using were strong enough to knock her out within half an hour, but they weren’t strong enough to make sure she would sleep the entire night undisturbed. It was stupid of her to think that she could get away with sleeping over when she knew full well that the tablets weren’t fool proof. They were her prescription after all.
    But there was something about Eric that drew her in and made her feel willing to do anything to be with him – even pretend to be someone else. At first, she just wanted to know what it was like to be Mia, but then he kissed her…
    She sighed audibly as she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, remembering the sensation his lips against hers evoked in her body. She had now fallen heavily for him and didn’t want to risk the truth coming out before she was ready. Somehow she had to find a way to tell Eric who she was without ruining everything they had.
    Her psychiatrist, Evelyn Butler, had advised her to come clean, saying that the longer she pretended to be someone she wasn’t - the harder it was going to be on everyone when the truth came out.
    Natalie moved uncomfortably in her seat as she thought, she had omitted telling Evelyn that she was drugging Mia. She knew it was wrong, she knew she could get in a lot of trouble for it. But she just kept on reasoning that she was doing it to buy herself some time. She wasn’t ready to come clean yet, she wasn’t ready to risk losing Eric…
    Checking her watch impatiently for the hundredth time in ten minutes Natalie huffed out her breath in frustration, drumming her fingers rhythmically on the top of her steering wheel as she stared out into the night. Eventually, she decided to return to her serviced apartment, annoyed that she wouldn’t get to see Eric. She would try to find Mia tomorrow.

Chapter Fourteen

    “She’s still here?!” Cherry asked Cayd in hushed tones the next morning. “You could lose your license over something like this Cayd!”
    “Why is this so hard for you and Evelyn to grasp? She’s not my patient Cherry, I’m not treating her,” Cayd replied, attempting to reason with her.
    “Yes, but she came here