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Sutton took a deep breath. “I’m not. I’m his identical twin brother, Sutton. You’ve been going out with me while I pretended to be Sebastian, since I visited you at the food truck.”
Her jaw dropped. He could almost see her running through the last week, thinking about all the signs she’d missed. Dread pooled in his gut, and he gave her a moment to process it all before he dared to say anything else.
“So, you’re just like the others,” she spat after the long silence.
That stopped him short. That wasn’t what he expected her to say at all. “What others?” What was she talking about?
“All you rich snobs in Royal are the same. Do you just sit around your clubhouse, celebrating how much money you have and thinking of amusing ways to mess with people that don’t fit in? Do you enjoy making them feel like you accept them into your little clique, then pull the rug out from under them just for fun?”
Where was this coming from? “No, Lauren.” He reached across the table to take her hand. “Of course not. It isn’t like that at all. We just weren’t certain we could trust you.”
“Trust me?” she said with her voice hovering on the edge of hysteria. Her face had flushed red with anger and her eyes were glassy with unshed tears as she untangled her hand from his fingers. “You’re the untrustworthy one, Sam. Steve. Whatever the hell you said your name is.”
“Sutton,” he repeated. “Please don’t be upset. I can explain everything.”
“I—” she hesitated “—I have to go.” She pushed up from the table and tossed her napkin into her seat.
“At least let me take you home,” he insisted. This hadn’t gone the way he had hoped, but even if she never wanted to see him again, he still wanted to take her home. That was the least he could do.
“No, thank you. I’ll call an Uber.”
“Lauren, please.” He reached out for her arm as she turned to leave.
“Don’t touch me,” she hissed with a fiery gaze. The tears were gone now, replaced with pure anger and betrayal. He’d never seen a look like that on her face and he never wanted to see it again. She jerked her arm from his grasp and spun to make for the exit.
Every eye in the restaurant was now on the two of them, so as much as he wanted to chase her out of the restaurant, he held up his hands in surrender and let her go. Instead, he could only watch as Laur
en slipped through the tables to the door and disappeared into the Bellamy lobby.
He’d screwed up. Bad.
* * *
“What’s wrong with you today?”
Lauren sighed, but didn’t turn to face Amy. She’d been avoiding having this discussion with her all day, but now they were cleaning up at the end of the night and without any customers to distract them, Amy always got chattier. “Nothing is wrong. I’m just tired.”
“I’ve seen you tired. This isn’t tired. Did something happen with Sebastian?”
You could say that. And yet, not exactly. Nothing much had happened with Sebastian. But everything had happened with Sutton, who she hadn’t even known existed until last night.
Identical twins. Really? When had her life become so melodramatic?
“Hey look, it’s Gracie.” Amy opened the window to the food truck and shouted out the window. “Gracie!”
Lauren turned to see Gracie Diaz walking down the sidewalk past the truck. But she didn’t stop when Amy called out to her. That was odd. She opened the back of the truck to intercept her. “Gracie?”
She stopped short, looking at Lauren as though she wanted to escape instead of chat. “Um, hi, Lauren. I’ve got to go.” She turned to start back down the sidewalk.
“Are you okay? Is something wrong?” Normally even if she wasn’t hungry, she would pop in to say hello. They hadn’t seen her in days, now. It wasn’t like her at all.
Gracie hesitated a moment and then returned to the truck where Lauren was waiting. “I’m fine,” she said. “How are things going with you and Sebastian?” Her tone was unusually cold when she said it.
That wasn’t the question she was expecting. Aside from Amy, she hadn’t spoken to anyone about Sebastian. Or Sutton, either. “How did you know about Sebastian and me?”
Her jaw flexed with what looked like suppressed irritation. Or anger, even. “I saw you two out at the Courtyard Shops the other day. You looked pretty cozy together.”
Lauren couldn’t help but notice that Gracie almost seemed jealous. Her dark brown gaze nearly cut right through her. She’d never heard of any talk about Gracie and Sebastian, but perhaps the other woman carried a torch for him from her time working for the Wingates.
