Page 3

It was the first time we’d kissed, and I’d intended it to be the last, but the past few days have tossed more mistakes onto the pile, burying me in them each time my arm is grabbed and I’m dragged into seclusion.
Every time, I promise I’ll end it, but then his mouth brushes mine, his hand slides to forbidden places, and I can’t help but feel thrilled to break the promise my parents made for me before I was born. I also melt beneath the shiver of excitement I feel kissing him while knowing he’s dangerous.
Ava lowers her voice to a whisper, her body leaning into mine.
“Of all of them, he’s the last one you should be screwing with. You know how the twins are.”
Nobody can tell the twins apart, and to be honest, neither can I. Not fully. Not with enough assurance to know it’s always Ezra. But that’s who he tells me he is. I have no way to know for sure. They’ve been known to play a game of replacing each other.
“You need to stop,” Ava warns, but her words are lost when Ivy’s elbow nudges me, her chin lifting to tell me to look down the hall.
There they are.
The Inferno.
Not all of them, of course, because the entire group is rarely in the same place at the same time in school. Only at parties. But there are enough of them to make heads turn and people whisper behind their hands.
Gabriel and Tanner lead the pack, their jackets missing and shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Behind them, the twins saunter down the hall, Shane standing between them, his shirt untucked and a new tattoo peeking up above his collar.
I have no idea where the rest of them are, but I really don’t care. My focus is solely on Ezra...or Damon...or both. I’ve been studying them for years, and I still can’t pick up on the small clues that a person can use to tell them apart.
The way they move, the way they talk, the aggression in their amber eyes and even the way they wear their clothes, it’s all identical.
But there has to be some secret I’m missing.
Their closest friends - the other members of their group - always know which is which.
“Here we go,” Ivy whispers, excitement and a touch of evil pleasure in her voice.
I know for sure she’s done something now. Her eyes only glimmer like that when she’s pranked Gabriel.
It’s a little surprising this war between them has gone on for so long. As far back as I can remember, they’ve been at each other’s throats.
What’s also surprising is that neither of them have figured out yet that they’re secretly into each other. The entire school sees it clearly. But if you were to ask Ivy or Gabe, they would swear it’s only hatred they feel.
Ivy isn’t one to hide, though.
Just as Gabe approaches his locker, she pushes past the crowd around us to ensure she’s front and center for whatever is about to happen. And when it does, she’ll be the person Gabe seeks out because he always knows it’s her.
“Oh, fuck,” Ava laughs, both of us moving past the small crowd to stand next to Ivy. “What has she done now?”
Laughing at something Tanner said, Gabriel’s green eyes slide Ivy’s direction for only a second before he dismisses the sight of her.
He should know better by now, should suspect that if she’s waiting patiently nearby, his day is about to get a hell of a lot worse.
Still, it’s not Gabe that steals my attention.
Already I’m flicking secretive glances at the two boys behind him, my gaze skating down one of the twins before riding up the other. I can’t make heads or tails of them, but then one set of amber eyes seeks me out, the intensity of that stare teasing my pulse to go faster, my heart a fluttering bird in my chest.
Ezra.
It has to be him.
So absorbed by him, I miss what happens that causes the entire hallway to burst out in laughter.
Gabriel is cursing up a storm, already threatening Ivy by the time I can drag my attention to his locker to see something shiny and wet spilled out, the puddle so slick that Gabriel is sliding around in it.
He attempts to get up but only falls back down, everybody laughing so hard they’re holding their stomachs and leaking tears from their eyes.