Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 104745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
“I think I told you the only reason I had swiped on you was because I thought you were such a bitch when we were in class, and I wanted to see how you would react or if you’d swipe back on my brother.”
The admission makes me laugh. “Yeah, I wasn’t a fan. Actually, I have no idea why I swiped on you, too, because I thought you were such a dick.”
“You were still a stranger. In my mind, I was going to hit it out of the ballpark for Drew and hook him up with a hot, decent chick, and he’d go on a date with you and the rest would be history.”
Hot, decent chick?
Ha.
“But that’s not how it worked out?” I’m trying to encourage him to continue telling me what I already know.
“No, that’s not how it worked out.” He mulls his words over, chewing on the corner of his lip. “You know. This isn’t what I thought was going to happen.”
That much is clear. “What did you think was going to happen?”
“I knew you were a nice girl, and it’s obvious that you’re beautiful. And funny. You make a really good match for my brother.”
The words, Good match for his brother, ring in my ears, along with beautiful and funny.
A light inside the house goes on—the one above the kitchen sink. Gabby is home and most likely spent most of the evening in her room, thumbing through TikTok and Instagram and creeping on her ex-girlfriend the way she usually does when she’s not at work.
I peel my eyes away to refocus on Drake…
…who still has not admitted his own identity.
“Which brother?” I ask him, point blank.
He regards me in the dark, across the dimly lit cab of the truck. “Drew.”
“Ah.”
Whoop, there it is.
“I didn’t mean to lie.” It seems as if he’s struggling with being vulnerable and telling me how he feels. Explaining away the other stuff is easy; it’s the feelings part that he seems to be fighting.
“I’ve never been in a relationship,” he confesses after another stretch of silence.
“Never?”
“No. Not really. It…” Drake clears his throat. “Kind of runs in the family.”
Runs in the family? “How?”
“So my dad was—let’s see, how do I put this?” His fingers resume tapping on the bend in his knee, and his leg shakes. “He cheated on my mom. Obviously, he tried hidin’ it, but with the media attention and all that, it was kind of impossible to. One time, this woman came forward and said she was pregnant, and he was the daddy, and my mom just…” Drake bends his head. “She didn’t take it well.”
I don’t suppose she did. Most women don’t, not even ones with steel spines.
“Duke always preached to us about gold-diggers and sleepin’ with girls who hung around outside the stadium after games and wearin’ condoms so we didn’t get anyone knocked up, and well—we took it to heart, Dallas, Drew, and I. None of us wanted to end up like our daddy.”
“Cheating isn’t genetic.”
“You have no fuckin’ idea how embarrassin’ it was seeing my family in the news because my father couldn’t keep his dick in his pants around other women.”
“You’re right—I don’t. But I know that your brothers seem like good people, and they’ve all managed to find themselves healthy relationships, yeah?”
“Yeah.” He nods. “Point bein’ I thought I’d keep carryin’ on the way I’ve been carryin’ on—and wasn’t lookin’ for a girlfriend, so I thought there was no harm in doing the old twin switch again. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”
I wonder if he can see my eyebrows shooting up into my hairline. “What’s the worst thing that could happen? Ummm…” I laugh, pointing a finger at myself. “You’re looking at it.”
“That came out all wrong. I didn’t mean it that way.”
“What did you mean to say then?”
He hasn’t come out and admitted that he’s Drake and not Drew—I want him to say the words. Point blank—this is what I’ve done, I apologize, let’s move on.
“I fucked up, and I’m sorry.”
I let the words linger before, “And?”
“And…I went on our date pretending to be my brother.”
I sit, waiting a few heartbeats. “I know.”
Now it’s his turn to look surprised. “You knew?”
“I did.”
thirty-two
drake
I kiss on the first date.
My mouth opens and closes. “How?”
“Well.” Daisy doesn’t even have the decency to act shocked at my announcement, instead tilting her chin up and smirking. “There are a million ways I knew he wasn’t you.”
“Explain.”
“For starters, he obviously had no idea who I was in class the other night. It didn’t take us long to figure out what the hell was going on.” She pauses. “You’re not that great at subterfuge; don’t quit your day job.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask what subterfuge is, but I refrain.
“After he and I realized what you were up to, we decided to have a little fun with it. And after being in his company for a few minutes, the differences between the two of you couldn’t be more obvious.” She yawns as if she’s gotten bored, the little shit. “Anyone who can’t tell the two of you apart is an idiot.”