Page 10 of Fight or Flight
“You’ll get used to it,” Felix assures Myles as he swings his bewildered gaze between Jax and me. “Life is never boring when you’re with the Hawthorne cousins.”
“Isn’t that the understatement of the year,” Myles says, a smile finally overtaking his earlier shock and embarrassment.
“So,” Xave says, his gaze fixed on me. “What do you say? You wanna have some fun with a couple of Belmont girls tonight?”
“Tempting.” I lean back in my chair. “But nah. Not interested.”
“Really?”
I shake my head.
“Suit yourself.” Xave stands. “I guess I’ll just have to entertain both of them since you’re obviously too much of a pussy to take what’s being handed to you.”
“Thank you for your service,” I deadpan.
“See you fuckers later.” Xave gives us a quick wave, and we echo his goodbye as he heads out of our room.
“I’m kinda surprised you said no,” Felix says as the door closes behind Xave.
“Why’s that?” I ask as I pull my butterfly knife out of my pocket and snap it open.
“Didn’t Lianna and Shane have a thing?” Felix asks.
I spin and flip the blades around my fingers in a simple pattern. “They did.”
“And isn’t Shane your archnemesis?”
“Archnemesis makes it sound way more dramatic than it is.” I switch so I’m spinning the knife with my left hand. “But essentially, yes.”
“So wouldn’t hooking up with his ex be a major fuck you to him?” Myles asks hesitantly, like he isn’t sure if he’s allowed to join the conversation.
“Yep,” I tell him. “Although I’m not sure she really counts as an ex since they were only together for like, a week before she moved on to greener pastures.”
“Yeah, probably not,” Felix says. “But it would still piss him off.”
“Oh, yeah, it definitely would.” I balance my knife on my knuckles. “But I’m not in the mood for easy.” I snap my blade closed and slip it back in my pocket. “Not tonight.”
Felix isn’t wrong. Usually I’d be all over the chance to piss Shane off, but going through the whole song and dance of hooking up just to get a rise out of him isn’t all that appealing tonight.
I’ve been feeling restless and untethered for the past few days, and I’m not in the right headspace to slip into the role of the enamored suitor who seduces the coy debutante. Usually I can be whoever my partners want me to be, but it would be a struggle tonight, and it’s just not worth the effort.
Not even to piss Shane off.
Jax’s look tells me he knows there’s more to it than I’m letting on, but that’s not unexpected.
Jax isn’t just my identical twin brother; he’s also my best friend and my other half. He knows me better than anyone, and he’s also the only person on the planet that I can’t lie to, the same as I’m the only person he can’t lie to. He won’t call me out in front of the others, but it’s only a matter of time before he says something when it’s just the two of us.
Killian’s look is also dubious, but like Jace, he doesn’t say anything.
Killian might be our cousin, but the three of us were raised like brothers, and technically, we sort of are. The thing about our branch of the family tree is that it’s decidedly wreath-shaped since our dads are brothers, and our moms are identical twins, so genetically we’re considered siblings while still having twodifferent sets of parents. And even though he’s not as tuned into my moods and thoughts as Jax, he can read me well enough to know when I’m bullshitting. But unlike my brother, he won’t say anything until I bring it up.
“Did you hear about the drama going on at Belmont House?” Felix asks, effectively changing the subject.
“Drama?” Myles and Killian ask at the same time.
“Oh yeah.” Felix nods. “Eden told me all about it.”
“What happened?” Myles asks.
