Page 37 of Burning Embers

Didn’t Ethan tell mehe has a twin brother? Or was that Jake? Either way, I know for certain that these men must be identical twins. There’s no other explanation. If they were to wear the same clothes and style their hair the same way, they would be impossible to tell apart.

Wait. No.

I stare into Ethan’s pained eyes before flicking my gaze towards the stranger’s hard face, hewn from stone.

No, I’m not sure I’ll ever mistake them for one another.

The stranger says something to me, but for the life of me, I can’t hear a single word that leaves his plush, pierced lips. Or maybe I can hear but choose not to comprehend. His words seem to go through one ear and then immediately drift out the other.

What’s his name again? I could’ve sworn someone told me.

Fortunately, I don’t have to think too long about it because Ethan heaves out a breath. “Emery, what are you?—”

“I’m not talking to you, brother,” Emery snipes, saying the word “brother” like it leaves a particularly foul taste in his mouth.

His face pinches, and he forces his gaze off of his brother and onto me. Intrigue lightens the green of his eyes. Intrigue…and something else. Something I can’t quite name or even articulate. Whatever that elusive emotion is makes those damn butterflies flutter around once more in my stomach. I tell those butterflies to leave me the fuck alone and get a life.

I don’tgetfluttery butterflies.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. What I meant to say is that I don’t get damn fluttery butterflies for anyone but Grayson.

“It’s…you,” the new guy, Emery, breathes.

And then, to my utter astonishment, he leans forward. His gold-flecked eyes consume the entirety of my vision as his nostrils flare.

“Are you…sniffing me?” Incredulity bleeds into my voice as I gape at him.

What the fuck?

Discreetly, I try to smell myself to see if I forgot to put on deodorant or perfume. But no. I smell as fresh as a damn daisy.

Is that why this weirdo’s sniffing me? Because he likes my body wash or whatever?

“Emery,” Ethan barks, his tone harsher than I’ve ever heard it.

Not that I’ve heard it a lot, mind you, but I have the distinct impression that it’s rare to get a rise out of the smiling, somewhat timid twin.

Then again, maybe I’m wrong. There has to be a reason why Emery stares at Ethan like he’s a piece of shit he accidentally stepped on and now can’t scrape off of his boot.

“How long have you known?” Emery’s voice borders on a growl as he glares at his brother.

How long has he known about what?

I feel as if I’m missing something, something important…

His hands curl into fists and then uncurl by his sides. The sudden hostility and aggression radiating from him have me instinctively backing up a step. Emery catches the movement, and his eyes widen.

“Emery,” Ethan warns again.

Emery doesn’t pull his attention from me even as he addresses his brother. “Fuck you, Ethan.”

I clear my throat and try to think of what to say. “Um, obviously I arrived at a very bad time. It appears as if you two have…um…things you want to discuss.” I gesture between the two of them with a flippant hand wave. “I can practically cut the tension between you two with a butter knife.”

“There’s no tension,” Ethan insists at the same time Emery snaps, “He didn’t tell me!”

Okay…

The two men glare at each other as I take another step back.

---