Page 37 of The Ruse

I seemed to have lost all my luck in winning my ongoing competition with Nash at the same time I’d lost my girlfriend.

The restof the study session was pretty uneventful, aside from getting a few side-eyed glances from Nash. I ended up spending most of the time working on the chemistry assignment with Ava. I wasn’t a chemistry genius despite what she’d told everyone. But she didn’t seem to care for the subject very much herself, so we just did what we could and joked our way through the assignment.

“Glad that’s done,” Ava said, closing her textbook with a sigh after we’d finished. “Thanks for helping me figure that out. I’m glad you agreed to join us.”

“Of course,” I said. “I appreciated the invite.” I lifted the corner of my lip in a smirk and winked.

“Well, you know me. I’m just the thoughtful twin.” She laughed lightly because we both knew she hadn’t been the one to invite me at all.

But she had been thoughtful enough to jump in and save Elyse from dealing with an awkward situation--or from feeling like she had betrayed Nash somehow. So I said, "You are thoughtful." I lowered my voice. “And a good sister, too.”

“Sometimes,” she said. “Usually, it’s Elyse who’s watching out for me.”

Her gaze went to Elyse who was listening to Nash talk about his vision for one of the scenes they would be doing for the play. And even though I’d never admit it to anyone else, I was impressed with how seriously he was taking his role of The Phantom.

I liked getting into character as much as the next guy, but with the way Nash was talking Elyse through the scene, it was obvious that he’d taken a deeper study of The Phantom. He seemed to have researched multiple sources besides the script to get a better grasp of The Phantom’s background and wounds than I ever did when I played a role.

“So, what are your intentions with my sister?” Ava asked in a whisper, bringing my attention back to her.

“My intentions?” I frowned, not sure what she meant.

“Yeah.” She folded her arms across her chest. When I studied her face, I was amazed at just how identical she and Elyse looked. They had the same amber-brown eyes with little gold flecks. The same long brown hair. The same pouty lips. Quite a few of their mannerisms were even the same. “I’ve caught you two alone twice, and it’s making me wonder why you’re interested in spending time with her.”

“Don’t you think it’s possible for a guy to just want to make a friend?” I asked.

“Usually, I would think that,” she said. “But Carter filled me in on the way you and Nash typically work, and I just want to make sure you aren’t pretending to be friendly or interested in my sister just because you want to rile up Nash.”

Had she read my mind earlier?

Because I’d planned to do that exact thing.

“Did Elyse say that’s what I’m doing?” I asked, curious how much Elyse might have talked to Ava about me during dinner.

“No,” she said. “That’s just something I’m wondering. You’re Elyse’s type, but I don’t want her getting her heart played with.”

“I’m her type?” I asked, picking up on that one piece of information, an unexpected warmth filling my chest.

“Yes,” Ava said.

“Then why is she interested in Nash?” I asked in a low voice, nodding toward them.

I knew Nash and I had always gone for the same type of girl in the past, but we couldn’t be more different from each other.

We’d never had a girl torn between the two of us before, since they either liked one of us or the other. It was always a cut-and-dry choice for the girl.

Did that mean Elyse was trying out a different brand of guy than her usual with hopes it would work out better?

“She’s trying something new,” Ava said, answering my unspoken question. “Because hertypehasn’t exactly been good to her.”

“They haven’t?” What did they do? Had she been hurt in the past?

Ava must have seen the concern in my expression because she shook her head and said, “It’s not like that. It’s just that she always goes for thebad boys.” She put air quotes around those two words. “And they’ve taken advantage of how nice she is and never given much in return.”

“So she’s going for the nice guy this time,” I said, understanding what she was getting at, even if I didn’t agree with how she had lumped me into a category that I didn’t feel I belonged in.

I might have an impulsive side that got the better of me when it came to my rivalry with Nash. And I would love to have someone care about me in the way I was sure a sweet girl like Elyse would care about her boyfriend.

But I wasn’t always the “taker” in a relationship. When I really cared about someone, I gave in proportion to how much I took.

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