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Bella seemed to realize at that moment that he was a little too interested in her. Her eyes widened as she watched him walk away. He waved to the hostess, who led him to a table toward the back of the restaurant.
Then Bella shocked me by saying, “It’s so weird. He’s so much sexier than your guy.”
First of all, she was wrong. And there was no second of all. She was just wrong. “How do you figure that? Christian is too…fake-charming. Cain is straightforward. Also, that is rude to me. They’re identical twins but somehow you want to make sure I know I got the loser twin?” I was offended and there was no denying it.
To her credit, she looked contrite. “No, I wasn’t saying anything about you. I guess it’s just strange that they look the same, but their vibe is different. And you know I’m always going to be more into the charmers than the ones who are blunt. And you vice versa.”
Something about her tone had me tilting my head. “You’re not interested in him, are you?”
“What? No. Of course not!” Yet, her cheeks turned red.
“It sounds like he has baby mama drama,” I added, in case that wasn’t obvious. Plus, his twin brother hated him and there had to be a reason for that, right?
Bella picked up her fork and stabbed a cherry tomato. “I’m engaged. I’m getting married. I was just making an observation. Do not read anything into it. You of all people never read anything into stuff like this. What, one slip of the D and you’re psychic?”
Ouch. That seemed a bit of an overreaction. “That was unnecessarily harsh and insulting.”
To my horror her face crumpled and she started to cry. “Oh, my God, I have to leave!” She widened her eyes and stood and said through gritted teeth, “I’ll be in the car. Please pay the bill.”
I nodded, stunned. She walked carefully out of the restaurant, clearly not wanting everyone to see how upset she was.
Mournfully, I stared down at my ruined lunch and sighed. I flagged the waiter down. A woman in her forties walked past me and I realized she was joining Christian and Camp. His mother? Possibly. She greeted him and then bent over and kissed Camp. After she sat down she glanced back at me, as if Christian had said something to her. But that was ludicrous. Christian wouldn’t tell his mother he met his brother’s hookup at the park. Guys didn’t gossip like that, especially not with their mother.
I was turning into a basic girl. One who had an invisible audience everywhere she went. It was mortifying. I left an enormous tip as an apology for our hogging the table and not even eating our food.
And damn it, I glanced over at Christian again because he looked so much like Cain. I wanted to see Cain.
But I saw both his mother and him watching me.
Unlike Bella, who had retreated with dignity, I bolted, my hip knocking the chair as I turned hastily to get out.
I found my sister waiting by the locked car. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. She was composed and cool. Her hair was smooth and she had put on fresh lipstick.
“Okay,” I said. Because I didn’t want to talk about anything either. “But I have to warn you I told Mom I had sex with Cain. She was predictably upset.”
Bella’s jaw dropped as I unlocked the car. Then she started laughing. “You’re crazy, you know that? One of these days you are going to admit that you say things just to piss her off.”
“I do. I admit it.” I grinned at her. “I’m a full-fledged woman now. I have to be mature about things.”
Bella laughed. “Ew. You’re so gross, Soph.”
I was eager. Eager to see Cain.
—
My hand was shaking from the effort to resist a drink. I had been craving alcohol since I’d gotten off work at five, but I was determined not to be loaded when Sophie came over. I was cleaning up my house, running the sweeper, and making sure the bathroom didn’t look like a bachelor hellhole, when I spotted Sophie’s beer bottle from the night before. Those insect-looking lashes still clung to the bottle and it made me smile. Instead of tossing the empty beer I set it on the kitchen counter for no reason other than that I wanted to look at it and be reminded of Sophie.
I also settled on a compromise, reaching in the fridge for a beer and twisting the top off. No whiskey, but I needed something. The desire to drink was a gnawing need that was increasing with every minute, making me irritable and fixated on nothing but that urge. I needed to just take the edge off. Just a little. The beer tasted like water in the desert to a dying man. Cool and crisp. It slid down my throat so quickly, by the time I set the bottle down on the countertop, half the beer was gone.
That was more like it. The demons receded just a little, my hands steadying slightly. A little unnerving how fast my body responded to the balm, yet it made me feel so much lighter and easier that I didn’t give a shit. I could take on the world now. I lifted the bottle again and drained it.
Sophie was driving herself over. I refused to think about my brother. Not a single damn thought of him was going to enter my head for the next few hours. This was a second chance I wasn’t expecting and I was going to enjoy every fucking minute of time with her.
She knocked on the door a minute later, which was different. Most girls texted “I’m here” like they were afraid to put their skin on wood and announce their presence so resoundingly. Not Sophie. She knocked like nobody’s damn business. Like she was certain of her reception. Which she should be. I wanted her the way I hadn’t anyone in a long-ass time. Maybe ever. Just hearing that knock had me hard.
I pulled open the door. “Hey.”
Sophie was standing there, dressed completely different from the night before. Now she was wearing tight jeans and a T-shirt with a unicorn on it. Not a literal unicorn but a cartoon version of one. It was juvenile, yet oddly appropriate for her. It was the same shirt she had been wearing earlier when we had talked on FaceTime but unfortunately now she had put a bra on. There had been something so damn hot about that silly shirt stretched over her full breasts. She had black Converse on her feet this time, instead of the hot pink of the night before. Her face was mostly makeup free and she looked younger but even more beautiful. It occurred to me that she now looked as fresh and innocent as she had actually been the night before when I’d met her—before I had claimed some of that sweet innocence.
