Ace: Tell me the universe isn't screwing with me.
Ace: If she's at the after-party, I'm going for it.
Ace: Can’t believe I'm still wrecked over the only woman I ever wanted to keep.
Ace: Turns out one year with her ruined every woman who came after.
Ace: I'm crazy about this girl.
Ace: Are you there???
As if myconversation with Archie wasn’t enough of a warning sign that I was about to destroy my family, the texts from Ace were a kickin the balls.
I can’t go to San Francisco.
I’ve spent the last few days thinking about what Archie said to me, then dissecting every line of Ace’s texts. They came in with rapid fire, and I could practically feel his energy through the phone. When my twin gets something in his head, he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. I couldn't even bring myself to reply to his texts. I just gave them a thumbs-up like an asshole.
Am I surprised he's still thinking about taking a shot with Eva?
Yes and no.
Ace has always been impulsive. When he wants something, he goes after it. Sure, he’s a player, but never when it came to her. For an entire year, my family watched in stunned silence as my brother—the guy who couldn’t make it past a few casual months with anyone—stayed committed to one woman.
Evangeline was different.
She expected loyalty. Commitment. Monogamy. She wasn't interested in being another girl on Ace's arm. She wanted to be the only one.
And she was.
Until they broke up. Or, well, until she broke up with him.
Now, a few years later, he's realizing what he could have again.
I get it.
A man doesn't let a woman like Eva walk away without wondering what his life would've looked like if they’d stayed together.
But understanding it doesn't make it any easier.
She was his.
For a year.
A whole fucking year.
I've tried not to picture them together. Her curled against him. Laughing with him. Whispering things that were only ever meant for his ears. They had something real, whether I want to admit it or not.
And now he wants her back.
The only woman my brother has ever truly loved is the one I can't stop wanting. He's going to hate me.
My family is going to hate me.
The Griffith family creed has always been loyalty, and here I am sleeping with the one woman my brother never got over ... while lying straight to his face about it.
And my conversations with Eva haven’t been any easier. This is a lot more complicated now.
But I can’t get on that plane and stand next to my brother, pretending everything’s okay, and watch him hit on my girl and see the confusion on her face.
