Page 145 of The Ruthless Note

“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 itthatbad?”

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.”