Page 66 of A Stealthy Situation

And there it is. Confirmation. Just thrown out like a casual statement and not the kind of thing making my head spin. Sure, the alcohol isn’t helping, but I didn’t drink that much. I still heard every word.

“H-how? Are you a?—”

“Twin?” He shrugs, hands in his pockets. “Yeah. Obviously.”

“Obviously.” I snort because this isn’t funny. “Why the hell is he pretending he’s you?”

Another shrug. “Just something we do.”

“Yeah? And how often do you fucking do it?”

“Don’t yell at me.”

“Then start goddamn talking because I’m spinning out here. The guy I’m into suddenly isn’t who I thought he was, and now I have no fucking clue which parts were real and which weren’t. Was it only you I had sex with?”

He finally looks at me. “I don’t know, did you have sex with Emmett as well?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know that?”

Hurt crosses his face. “It wasn’t on purpose. It’s not like we tried to trick you or anything.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” And even though my voice is heavy with sarcasm, there’s a part, deep down, that acknowledges it really is. “Why did he tell me he was you?”

“He had to.” Benny scuffs the toe of his sneaker against my carpet before lifting his head, determined. “He’s taking the class for me. He had to pretend he was me, just like I’ve always done for him. It had nothing to do with you, and I’m really sorry you had to find out that way.”

“Would you ever have told me?”

“Of course,” he snarls. “Goddamn it, he was never supposed to talk to anyone. This should never have been an issue, but apparently, you had a big effect on the both of us.”

“This is my fault?”

“Did I say that?” His gorgeous face is splotching red. “I’m shit at this. I’m shit at talking. You know that.”

Know that? At this point, I have no clue what I know. “Do I though? How the fuck do I know what’s you and what’s … Emmett?”

“He said he’s never talked to you outside of class.”

“And you believe that?”

“He’s my brother. He’d never lie to me.”

“Except you just said he was never supposed to talk to anyone. Did he tell you he was talking to me? Is this the same brother you said had a secret? Who you were worried about?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

I scoff. “How do you know that secret wasn’t me?”

Benny glares, and even though he does that a lot, it’s not with this kind of intensity. “Em would never, ever lie. If he says he only talked to you in class, he only talked to you in class. That’s not up for discussion.”

“How is it that I’m the one who was played by you, and yet you’re getting angry with me?”

“I never played you.”

“Oh, yeah?” I step forward until we’re toe-to-toe, actually letting myself feel the hurt now. Actually, looking at him and overlaying the face in front of me with the face in class. The subtle differences. The subtle changes in how they made me feel. The guy in class never made my heart race the way the one in front of me does. “I was falling for you, Benny. Goddamn turned stupid over you. And now … I don’t know who you are. You say you’re a twin, and you say all those moments outside of class were ours, but … how do I trust that? How do I trust you? Fuck, you’re cheating in class. You’re talking about it like it’s some kind of normal thing, but it isn’t. Who are you?”

His eyes are watery through his glare. “Clearly not the person you thought I was.”

“Clearly.”

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