Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 113923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
“It’s the principle of the thing. She’s a clone, Coop. Those people, they’ve been standing on our necks since we were kids. Or don’t you remember? Assholes rolling up in their stupid golf carts, throwing drinks on us, running our bikes off the road.”
Evan ended up with a broken arm once. Flipped over his handlebars into a ditch when one of them bumped his tire. We went back a week later and slashed all four of theirs. There are years of that shit. Getting into fights. Tit for tat.
“People,” I remind him. “Not her. You can’t punish Mac for everything one of them’s ever done to you. That’s exactly what I was about to do to her if I’d stuck to the plan. And I would’ve been a bastard for it too.” I groan quietly. “Why can’t you let me have this?”
His shoulders stiffen.
I mean, hell, all of us lived through the daily soap opera that was the Evan and Genevieve show. Constantly bickering in front of everyone. Making us choose sides in arguments we wanted no part of. Breaking up. Screwing around. Getting back together like nothing happened. I never threw a tantrum about it, and I certainly didn’t treat her like crap hoping she’d go away. If Evan was in love with her, that was his own damn problem.
So why now, when I find someone I care about, does he have to be such a jackass about it?
Evan sighs. Scratches his hands through his hair. “I can’t help it, man. It gnaws at me. Why’d it have to be one of them? You could point in any direction and land on ten chicks who would fall to their knees for you.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. She’s different. If you gave her even half a chance, you’d see that.”
There’s no good reason Mac and I should work. I can’t give him one. And hell, maybe we won’t work. She’s a stubborn, opinionated pain in my ass. She’s also gorgeous, funny, spontaneous, and ambitious. Turns out, that’s my type. She makes me crazy. I’ve never met a girl that stays on my mind days and weeks after I’ve seen her. She’s under my skin. And for all the ways we’re completely different, she gets me in a way few others do.
If I’m kidding myself, if this whole thing’s bound to blow up in my face, so be it. At least I tried.
“No talking you outta this, then?” he says, his resolve slowly crumbling.
“I’m asking you, as my brother, to accept it.”
He thinks on it. Too long for my taste. For the first time in our lives, we’re on opposite sides, and I have to wonder if there’s too much bad blood there—too much rage toward the clones—to get him back on mine.
Then he sighs again and rises from the bench. “Yeah, fine. Guess there’s no saving you from yourself. I’ll back off.”
I take what I can get from Evan and we call it squashed. Back at the party, I send him home in Alana’s car to make sure he gets there safe while I drive Mac to her dorm.
“I’m sorry about that,” I tell her when she hasn’t spoken in several minutes. She’s staring out the passenger window looking deep in thought, which gets me worried. “It had nothing to do with you. Evan’s got a lot of misplaced anger.”
“Brothers shouldn’t fight.”
I wait, uncertain if there’s more to that statement. My concern deepens when more doesn’t come.
“Talk to me, Mackenzie.” My voice comes out a bit husky.
“What if this is a bad idea?”
“It isn’t.”
“Seriously.” Out of the corner of my eye, I find her watching me. “I don’t want to be the reason you fall out with him. It’s good for no one. You can’t be happy because he’s upset, and I can’t be happy because you’re upset. We all lose.”
This is exactly why Evan needs to get over his bullshit and let us be. She’s not the person he imagines in his head, and if he understood her at all, he’d realize how unfair he’s been.
“Evan will get over it.”
“But what if he doesn’t? These things can fester.”
“Don’t worry about it, Mac. Seriously.” I don’t care if my brother wants to be a cranky little brat about it, as long as he’s on his best behavior around Mac and keeps his comments to himself. My whole life I’ve lived for the two of us. Evan and me. This one thing, though, I get to have for myself.
Clearly I’m not doing a good job at easing her unhappiness, because she lets out a miserable-sounding moan. “I don’t want to come between you and your twin, Cooper.”
I glance over. Sternly. “I’ve made my choice. I want us to be together. Evan can deal.”
Distress flickers through her eyes. “What does that even mean, being together? I know earlier we said we’re dating, and I thought I was cool with that—”