I clap a hand over my neck, heat spilling over my face. I can’t remember Ocean giving me a hickey but you never know.
“Gotcha.” She grins at me, and I glare back. “So I’m right? Are you guys together now? It was about time. I almost lost my bet.”
“You put a bet on me sleeping with Ocean?”
“Nah,” she replies to my outraged question. “That would have been too easy. Sex wasn’t the issue. But going out… dating. That was the bet.”
“And who bet against?” Funny how in the midst of all the crap piling on us, this has my panties in a twist.
“Seth. Well, in fact he said Ocean would never go out with a girl before he managed to get his brother back.”
“You may not get your money, then,” I say, swallowing. “Because his brother is back. Since last night.”
The magazine falls from her hands to the floor. “You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. Raine Storm is back to stay, apparently. He and Ocean talked and Raine realized what a douche he’d been to his brother. And they hugged.” I consider this. “And then I made them hug again because you can’t imagine everything they went through, and I just can’t tell you, because…”
“It’s too sad?” Ev whispers, her eyes already filling up.
I nod.
“Isn’t this like the heroes of the books you like reading? With dark and tortured pasts?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it is. I never thought it would break my heart to know what happened to him.” God, I wish he were the happy boy I thought he was. I wish he’d been spared this pain. “I don’t think I’ll ever read an ugly-cry romance ever again.”
“I’m glad the brothers got back together.” She gives me a watery smile. God, this girl is as bad as me. Too emotional. “But you also look like you swallowed something sour. What is it?”
I proceed to tell her everything—about the trailer park, Ocean’s parents, his mom’s sickness, the bills, the racing.
When I’m done, she’s actually crying big fat tears.
“You okay, girl?” I check my purse for tissues. “I know this is awful, but stop, or I’ll start bawling, too. You’re not pregnant already, are you?”
“No.” She blows her nose into the tissue I offer her. “I like Ocean. He was always there for me and Micah. We have to stop him from racing again.”
“I talked to Zane and Tyler and Shane. We’ll find a way.”
“Oh thank God.” She pats her face dry. “Jeez. I can’t imagine what I’ll be like when I’m pregnant.”
“Me neither.” God, I shouldn’t be laughing, but now I’ve started I can’t stop. “Poor Micah.”
“Don’t say that. If you knew what he went through…” Now she’s both laughing and crying, and seriously, if she’s not pregnant, then my name’s Edward Cullen and I glitter in the sunlight.
“We’ll fix this,” I tell her, more to convince myself than her. “Together we’ll find a way. We’re a family, aren’t we?”
“Damn right,” she says and high-fives me. “Family.”
***
When I pass by Ocean’s building at two, I do a double-take. His brother is like his clone, only with dark hair instead of blue. Even the way they both lift their hand to wave at me is identical.
Then they climb into my tiny car, and Ocean gapes at me. “Your hair!”
“Like it?” It’s not the same blue as his—mine has lilac and pink in it.
“Yeah! God. It’s so pretty.” He touches it reverently. “You did this for me?”
I smile at him, and he leans closer to kiss me. His scent wraps around me, his taste fills my senses, and I know I’d know him in a crowd of clones.