I’m playing on my guitar later that night when my bedroom door flies open and slams against the wall.
Finn charges in, dragging Zane behind him. My twin looks as eager to be here as I was to get a root canal.
“What are you doing in here?” I growl. My brothers generally leave me alone when I’m in my own space.
“It’s been days since dad’s dinner and we haven’t talked about it.”
I glance up in surprise.
“Besides I’ve had enough of his moping.” Finn releases his grip on Zane and peers at us through narrowed eyes. “Let’s deal with the biggest crap first and work our way down.”
Zane holds his head. “Can we cry our guts out and expose our feelings another time? There’s a winged monkey in my brain and I think he’s trying to bore a hole in my skull.”
Zane flops backward on my bed, his limbs dangling off the sides. His face looks especially pale. He’s wearing yesterday’s shirt and he reeks of booze.
“I’m with Zane,” I glance over my shoulder, “minus the monkey thing. I don’t want to do this now.”
Finn doesn’t move an inch. He stands in front of the door like the annoying bastard that he is. “We can’t go down this easy.”
“Who said we were going down?” I growl.
Finn juts his chin at Zane. “This guy crawls into bed black out drunk and half-naked every morning.”
“Maybe I like showing off my body,” Zane slurs.
“And you,” Finn points at me, “keep running behind Brahms, playing these stupid games with her rather than being upfront with how you feel.”
I glance away.
Finn shakes his head. “There’s only one of dad and three of us. While we’re spinning out, we all look like idiots. You both need to get out of your own damn heads so we can come back at him.”
Zane pouts at me. “Isn’t he, technically, the youngest of us? Why does it feel like he came out of the womb first?”
I grunt. “Maybe he did.”
With the time difference between China and America, it’s possible.
Finn walks over to the mini fridge in my bedroom. We each keep our own booze packed away because our housekeeper, Martina, is mom’s unofficial spy.
My brother takes out a bottle of water and throws it at Zane who catches it between his elbows.
Finn cuts his gaze into me. “You want any?”
I shake my head and wait until he pulls up a chair close to the bed before I speak. “Finn’s right. Dad can’t be allowed to wreak havoc without pushback. It’s why I went to Miller today.”
“Miller?” Zane looks intrigued.
“I got him on our side, but it doesn’t mean much at this point. The problem is that I don’t understand dad’s play. Nothing he’s doing makes sense.”
“How about we start with the obvious?” Zane says bitterly. “He got married again. Except this time, his quickie marriage turned Miss Jamison into my freaking step-sister.”
“You think dad knows?” Finn mumbles, staring out the window at the bay.
Zane takes another swig of water. “Knows what?”
“About your history with her.”
Zane looks horrified.
“Honestly, all throughout that dinner, I got the feeling dad was doing this intentionally,” I admit.
“Getting married in general or getting married to Marian?” Zane clarifies.
“Getting married to Marian. He’s not usually into older women. Don’t get me wrong. As beautiful as Miss Jamieson’s mother is, she doesn’t fit the age bracket. Plus, marriage? That’s big. It’s like he wanted this to be sharp enough, sensational enough, to make a splash.”
Zane’s eyes turn wide. “Is dad so devious he’d marry someone just to get back at us? That’s all kinds of messed up.”
I pull my lips in to keep quiet. They have no idea what dad is capable of. And I’m in no rush to enlighten them either. It’s not a great way to live, walking around knowing the full breadth of your father’s twisted mind.
“We’re not saying he did it intentionally,” Finn explains, trying to calm Zane down. “We’re just looking at all the options.”
Silence falls on the room. I lean back on my hands, my mind churning. I know one thing for sure. Now that dad is working at Redwood Prep, it means he has business in town. Messing with us is just a bonus.
What pieces of the puzzle are we not seeing?
Zane pops up and walks to the window. He looks wrung out and defeated.
“It’s not the end of the world, bro,” Finn says.
Zane roughly rubs a hand over his face. “You don’t know what it’s like, man.”
“She’s just some girl,” Finn challenges.
“That’s the thing. I thought that too. She’s just a girl. We didn’t exchange names that night, but I felt…” Zane blows out a thick breath. “Like I’d found something when I was with her, you know? Something different.” He licks his lips. “Then she showed up at Redwood as my freaking teacher. And I knew I couldn’t have her. I knew that. But at least—”
“At least there was hope,” Finn finishes for him.
“That step-sister, step-brother stuff—we’ll never recover from that.” He turns around and looks at us like a drowning man. “If dad really set this up just to get back at me, he did a damn good job.”
I wish I could do or say something to make Zane’s heartache ease. But whatever the magical pill for easing that pain is, I have yet to find it.
My mind returns to Brahms. Her taunting little smile. Her sass. Her infuriating need to always have the last word.
And that marriage proposal?
I’d marry you.
Damn.
Why the hell did I say that?
Zane glances down at his shoes. “If this is a punishment, do you think the crime is that we played at Bex Dane’s concert?”
“We thought dad was too quiet after finding out we made a deal with his arch nemesis,” I murmur.
“A hell of a punishment,” Finn says, looking at our tortured brother.
Zane nods at me. “It also explains why he helped Brahms out. He knew how much Dutch wanted her gone.”
At the mention of Cadence, I go stiff.
Finn notices with his eyes that see everything. “What’s going on with you and Cadence?”
“Nothing.”
“Cut the crap, Dutch.” Zane purses his lips. “I heard you dumped Christa 2.0 on the boat where she hooked up with you. Was it that bad?”
I pounce off the bed. Now it’s my turn to start pacing. My brothers watch me, waiting for me to speak.
“I need Cadence out of my head,” I say finally. “So I’m going to sleep with her once and then dump her.”
Finn looks at me like I’m off in the head.
“You can’t stop thinking about her so, naturally, the next step is to screw her and toss her?” Zane arches a brow.
“It’s not like I have an interest in anything else,” I mumble.
Now both of my brothers are looking at me like I’m crazy.
Maybe I am.
Right or wrong, I’ve never hesitated in my actions before. But ever since I started falling into Cadence’s trap, I haven’t been able to move on from her.
“There’s been this weird strain between you and Cadence ever since the last assembly,” Finn observes.
“He’s right,” Zane says. “I saw it too.”
I run a hand through my hair and realize that the truth is pressing against my chest, demanding to be released. Rather than hide from my brothers, I sit on the edge of the bed and let it out.
“Cadence and Redhead are the same person,” I admit.
Zane’s jaw drops.
“Damn,” Finn whispers.
“Damn.” I agree.
Zane shakes his head. “All this time, she’s the girl you’ve been obsessed with.”
“Obsessed isn’t the word I’d used.”
“Psychotically obsessed then.”
I flip him off, but I can’t argue. I thought I hated Cadence for what she did. I thought I could go back to tormenting her and justify it with my pride, but it’s not working out that way. Rather than breaking her, she’s the one breaking me.
Redhead meant something.
Cadence meant something.
And they’re the same freaking person. What am I going to do about that?
“How long have you known?” Zane asks.
I rub the back of my neck. “A while.” I show them the last text from Jinx with the video of Redhead taking off her wig.
“I can’t believe this,” Finn whispers, staring at the screen.
“They actually do kind of look alike now that you mention it.” Zane squints one eye. “Why didn’t I see it before?”
“She played her part perfectly just to fool us. It’s infuriating.”
“What?” Zane smacks my chest. “This is a good thing.”
“How the hell is this a good thing?”
Zane glances at Finn. “Do you remember how frantic he was when he couldn’t find Redhead?”
Finn nods.
“The girl you caught feelings for didn’t disappear. She attends Redwood. Sure, you treated her like absolute crap, but you had a good reason.”
Finn tilts the chair back on its hind legs. “He’s got a point.”
“Now I know you’re both insane if you think Zane isn’t full of crap.”
Finn smiles. “I get that you’re angry. You’ve been fooled by her, but she’s also taken a lot of hell from you. Technically, you’re not even yet. She could still do more damage.”
I glare at him.
“Come on, Dutch,” Zane says, “at least she’s not your new step-sister.”
I shudder at the thought.
“Do you really think sleeping with her once will be enough?”
I glance away. The only people I can be totally honest with are my brothers. If I can’t trust them, I can’t even trust myself.
But somehow, admitting that out loud feels like it’ll take the last of my reserves.
“Look, I’m not saying what she did was cool. She fooled you. Lied to you. But did you really expect her to pop out and say ‘oh by the way, I wear a wig and makeup and turn into another person when I play piano’?” Finn reasons. “You’d been spending so much time trying to kick her out of Redwood. Was there any other path she could have taken?”
My eyes fall shut. Just like that, I’m back on the rooftop. When I made the call to kick Cadence out of Redwood, she was right beside me. A freaking inch away. That sure as hell would have pissed her off and made her hate me even more.
My stomach’s in knots and I wish my brothers would just shut up already.
“Dad brought Cadence back to Redwood to mess with your head. What if we get her on our side instead?” Finn points out. “Isn’t that better than moping around, trying to force her to like you?”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Then let Sol have her,” Zane says, a grin on his face.
Anger sweeps over me, sharp and destructive.
That’s when I force myself to face the truth.
I’ve never felt anything like this before. It’s like if I don’t pull Cadence closer, I’m going to fall apart.
She’s in my mind.
In my heart.
Under my skin.
Long before I found out she was Redhead, I was drawn to her. Now that she’s the culmination of the two girls who threw me off my game, it’s a no-brainer.
She belongs to me.
“His thinking face is on,” Zane points.
“He’ll need to do a lot of thinking and begging to get out of Redhead’s bad books.”
“Maybe we can start by getting on her sister’s good side,” Zane says. “Winning her over will be a piece of cake.”
“It’s a good start, but it won’t stop Cadence from hating him.”
Finn has a point. Getting Brahms to sleep with me might be easier than getting her to forgive me.
But when I want something, I get it. No questions asked.
And the truth is—I want her.
Not just her body.
Everything.
“Well, at least we solved your problem.” Finn juts his chin at Zane. “What about yours?”
“I don’t have a problem. Not one I can solve anyway.”
Finn and I stare at each other. Neither of us believes a dumb word Zane’s saying, but it’s not like I can judge.
Zane clears his throat and tries to put me in the hot seat. “So you think what you’re feeling for Brahms is love?”
I shrug. I can’t put a name to what I’m feeling. I just know I don’t want to lose her to anyone, not even Sol.
She’s the first girl who’s been able to drive me crazy just by being herself. I need more of her. That much I can admit now.
Unfortunately, accepting my interest in Brahms is the easy part. Convincing her to forget that I almost got her kicked out of Redwood? That’s going to take much more than a pep talk.
