SECRETS THAT WE KEEP

2. Gracen-1

Chapter Two

Gracen

EIGHT MONTHS LATERI arrived early to get the best spot in the theater: second to last row, aisle seat so I could sit as close to the center of the room as I could get. Hell yeah. And the place wasn’t filling up that fast either, which meant I’d probably have the whole row to myself with plenty of room to spread out, put my drink in the holder on one side and my popcorn in the holder on the other.

If the night went well and no one sat in front of me, maybe I could even kick my feet up on that seat and really relax.

This was the life, man, I’m telling you.

Now if only I had a bit of company to enjoy it with.

Artfully arranging the boxes of candy I’d just purchased across my chest, I dug my phone from my pocket and clicked off a grinning selfie before sending it to Bella.

GRACEN: You sure you don’t want to join me? I got the works -- popcorn, cherry slushy, AirHeads, Reese’s Pieces, Red Hots, AND Junior Mints.

If the appeal of spending time with her favorite twin didn’t win her over, then maybe my Junior Mints might.

But the aggravating woman wasn’t swayed.

BELLA: Not tonight, bubs. Just wanna stay in.

Stay in? On a Friday night after the stressful week at work I knew she’d had, meeting a big deadline?

Who the hell was I talking to?

I called bullshit. I could spot her lies as soon as she spewed them, even via a text. I had shared a womb with her, for God’s sake, and then spent my entire life as her other half, being her first choice in confidants since we’d learned secrets were a thing. I knew Bella. And she was lying right now.

Honestly, she’d been hiding something from me a lot lately.

I hadn’t figured out what the big mystery was yet. But I wasn’t too worried either. She’d open up eventually. She always did. We never kept anything from each other for long.

Tonight, however, secrets or no secrets, I really needed her company. I hated going to the movies by myself. It always made me feel—what was that awful, pathetic word I loathed using?

Right.

Lonely.

I hated feeling lonely. But no one in our big conglomerate of an extended family had the same cinematic taste I did. I mean, it was their loss; I had an awesome palate for movies. But just because they all had boring, bland appetites didn’t make me any less forlorn when the beginning credits rolled.

Bella empathized, however, so she typically sucked it up and went along with me, which was exactly why I started to feed her a massive guilt trip now, trying to get her to change her mind and get her ass down here already to keep me company.

Wasn’t like she had a boyfriend or anything to occupy her time. She could certainly spare a moment for her favorite person ever.

GRACEN: But I’m all alone. You’re not seriously going to make your only twin brother…

I never finished typing.

Someone passed by me in the center aisle right next to where I was sitting. Flowery perfume wafted over me, and the smell was pleasant.

So, of course, I had to glance up.

Whoever she was, she was alone too, and she looked good from the back. Real good. Light hair pulled into a high, sloppy ponytail with windblown tendrils falling fashionably down her neck, she walked with a hypnotic sway that caused me to focus on her ass a little too intently in those denim jeans.

One of my eyebrows lifted with interest. Nice.

She wasn’t carrying a drink or any treats, just a purse slung over one shoulder, which made me think she couldn’t be by herself—her companion was probably already seated or trailing behind to get their snacks, because who could watch a movie without sustenance? But she wasn’t glancing around as if looking for anyone or plotting a good spot for multiple people to sit; she walked with purpose, knowing exactly where she wanted to go.

Like me, she had her favorite seat in the house.

Respect.

Made me wonder if she was also like me in that she hadn’t been able to find anyone else to accompany her to the movies, or if she was just the confident type who felt comfortable about going it alone. I decided to peg her as the confident type because I liked that version better.

When she reached her row of choice—way too far down and close to the screen for my taste, but whatever—she turned and shuffled in to reach her desired place.

Something familiar about her side profile caused my brows to furrow, though.

I think I knew her—maybe—but I wasn’t sure, until someone from the other side of the aisles and further up whistled, calling, “Hey, baby. You don’t need to sit all alone down there. Why don’t you come plant that fine ass next to me?”

I winced because, seriously? Plant that fine ass? What kind of douche actually said s**t like that out loud?

It was one thing to check the ass out silently and appreciate it in your own mind. It was quite another to share such thoughts with the actual masterpiece you were admiring. Sharing your thoughts took a suave talent only a few could muster in this type of situation, which he did not have.

Fine-Ass glanced at her caller, and that’s when I got the full impact of her face.

And ah, s**t. What the hell?!

I’d just checked out Yellow Nicksen’s ass? Not cool.

The very opposite of cool, in fact.

Bella would skin me alive if she knew what I’d just done.

And speaking of Bella…

Worried she might change her mind and hurry down here to watch the movie with me after all, I glanced at the screen of my phone and quickly deleted my message, before retyping a new one.

GRACEN: No worries. Take care. Call you in the morning.

Send.

Nothing would ruin Bella’s night more than finding herself stuck in the same room as the very woman who’d slept with her fiancé last year, causing them to break up.

I glanced toward Yellow again, narrowing my eyes and searching for something to dislike this time so I could jostle myself back into the appropriate frame of mind when looking upon my sister’s nemesis.

When I couldn’t find any immediate visual flaws to pick on because—damn—Yellow Nicksen had some definite aesthetic appeal, I went shallow and mentally flayed her name.

I mean, sure, it was unique, and I liked unique. But, seriously, Yellow? I wondered how she’d come up with such a nickname. Maybe she’d wet her bed a lot when she was little. Or she still did. Yeah. I liked that scenario for someone who’d wronged my twin.

That was about as far as I got on the nitpicking, though, because I grew distracted by watching her all over again.

It really was too bad that she had such a pretty face; that was probably how she’d lured Ethan into straying away from Bella in the first place. Even the way she uneasily winced at the guy who’d just invited her to sit by him was adorable. She had a cute, button nose that wrinkled like an irritated bunny, full, luscious lips that puckered with delectable distaste and dark, exotic eyes that—

Not that her appearance meant a damn thing. Loyalty demanded I hate her. She’d hurt my best friend. Only someone who was straight-up malicious and evil could do such an unspeakably awful thing.

Sniffing bitterly, I watched her answer the guy.

“N-no thanks. I, uh, I’m waiting on someone.”

As she nervously sank into her seat, I sighed in disgust and shook my head. She lied about as poorly as Bella did. Yellow wasn’t waiting on anyone, and her new admirer knew it, too.

“Waiting on me, I bet.” Smirking, he pushed up from his chair and strutted her way.

Ah, hell. You had to be kidding me right now. I wasn’t here to watch this s**t; I just wanted to see my movie and go home, damn it.

But it was happening whether I liked it or not.

Maybe I should warn lousy-with-the-pickups guy not to bother. He was just going to get himself mixed up with a cheating homewrecker if he went anywhere near that poisonous female. But something about his cocky swagger turned me off, so I figured I’d just let him learn the hard way what a mistake he was making.

Mr. Not-So-Suave moseyed right up to Yellow and leaned in over her, setting his hands on the backs of the seats both behind and in front of her so he could trap her in the row, which was totally uncool on his part.

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked. “I don’t bite. Come on over and sit by me.”

I rolled my eyes because, wow. Lamest ice breaker ever. I’d lose all respect for Yellow if she actually fell victim to that. Except, wait, I already had no respect for her, didn’t I? So yep, she was probably going to pop right up and follow him like the unfaithful leech she was.

She surprised me, though. Leaning away, she fumbled awkwardly. “No. Uh, no, thank you.”

She wasn’t at all snarky and bitchy about the brush-off, either. Bella would’ve told the loser to get lost in a much more creative and violent way than that. She wouldn’t have sounded as innocent and intimidated as Yellow did, either.

So why wasn’t Yellow just laughing in the dude’s face and telling him to get lost, already? She obviously wasn’t into his advances. Why wasn’t she threatening to kick him in the balls? Why wasn’t she defending herself at all?

That’s when I realized…

Fuck. The i***t had actually spooked her. I could practically feel her quivering in petrified fear all the way from back here.

Scaring a woman was wrong, no matter how wicked she was, so instant unease thickened in my stomach.

“Come on,” her harasser repeated, reaching for her shoulder. “You know you want to.”

Clenching my teeth, I silently warned him to stop.

But he didn’t.

With a gasp, Yellow jerked away and stumbled to her feet so she could reverse deeper into her row away from him. “No, really. I-I’m fine here.”

“What? Don’t you like me, darling?” he challenged, following her until she was even more trapped than she’d been before.

When her back hit the wall, she yelped out her surprise and winced up at him, her face full of wary fear. “Excuse me.” She tried to step around him. “I’d like to get by now.” But he dodged into her path, blocking her escape.

“No can do, baby.” He chuckled. “Not until you tell me why you won’t sit with me.”

“Please,” she tried, turning her face to the side away from him when he leaned too close. “I just want to watch the movie in peace.”

“So do I,” he countered. “Next to you.”

“I…I…” Jesus, was she going to cry?

I think she was gonna f*****g cry.

I glanced around. No one else in the entire theater did a single thing to step in and help her, either. I swear, it was like they didn’t even see the woman over in the corner about to have a panic attack as some dickless douchebag harassed her.

I wished they would though. So I wouldn’t have to. Because I desperately did not want to assist this woman.

Anyone else but her.

Except the jackass put a hand on her, grasping her shoulder. Her fear was so visceral she had to be a hot second from passing out.

And so, I snapped.

“God damn it.” Muttering out a disgusted sigh, I gathered my s**t and rose, then stormed down the aisle toward them, beyond pissed I was being forced into this situation. Why hadn’t the i***t just left her the f**k alone?

I mean, seriously. What was the world coming to? Bella would kill me if she knew I was about to save her archrival’s ass.

What an ass, though.

Wait. s**t. No, I wasn’t thinking about her ass, anymore.

“Sorry I’m late,” I said, as I reached them, making my voice sound breathless as if I’d been rushing. “Damn boss wouldn’t let me leave any earlier. I got us the works, though.”

When both Yellow and her creepy admirer snapped startled gazes to me, I lifted my attention from the heaping pile of goodies in my arms and jumped as if surprised to see she had company.