Page 40 of Beautifully Complicated

“I’ll get it.”

“Don’t be weird. Look, Damien’s already got the bartender’s attention.” He points to where his boyfriend has found a spot at the bar.

“Yeah, fine.” I nod and try to smile.

Karaoke is the last thing I wanted to do tonight, but Damien got some weird bug up his ass that he wanted to try it, then Jagger jumped on the bandwagon because it would be good material for his socials, and then Bennet mandated that the whole house needed to go.

Well, he mandated thatIhad to go. Everyone else was willing, and he said he was tired of me hiding out in my room studying and one night of fun wouldn’t tank my GPA or anything. I still declined of course, but Damien guilted me into joining by telling me Bennet misses me, and while that statement doesn’t have the same effect on me it would have before meeting Kier, it did make me feel like shit for avoiding my best friend. So, here I am, the third wheel in public.

At least my roommates are less likely to cuddle here than the living room, so that alone might make the evening more tolerable.

Bennet hands me a glass and rests his hand on Damien’s back as they start to weave their way toward an empty table. I move to follow, but I don’t make it two steps before I spot a very beautiful, very brooding Kier Caldwell storming my way.

What the hell is he doing here?

“A word?” Kier grips my elbow and steers me toward the far corner of the bar, leaving me no choice but to keep pace with him, especially since there’s a break in the karaoke. The house music isn’t nearly as loud, and I’m guessing we’re not about to have a conversation he wants people to overhear, so it’s best to retreat.

“Kier,” I stutter when we come to a stop. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” His velvety voice has a raspy edge to it. “I just saw you walk in here with a guy that looks like he could be my younger brother, that’s what’s wrong.”

Try as I might, I can’t make sense of that statement. I came here with six others, although only Bennet’s tried to speak to me since we walked through the door. Could that…?

“Are you talking about Bennet? You know who he is?”

“I may be a genius, but I didn’t have to be to figure that out.” Kier rolls his eyes, something I’ve never seen him do, which has me even more baffled.

“I’m not following.”

“Really?” Kier’s sapphire pools are icy cold despite the heat in the room, and I find myself shivering as much from their cool regard as from the ethereal quality they give him. “You’re not following why I would take issue with the fact that I’m a doppelganger for Bennet? You said your misinterpreted feelings for him were nothing like your feelings for me, but from where I’m standing, I look like a pretty good stand in for the man you thought you loved.”

My eyes get so wide I have to blink to keep the rush of air from making them water.

“You think…? But you two look nothing alike.”

“Really?” Kier crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Tall, black hair, blue eyes. Aside from the thirty pounds of muscle he’s carrying he couldbeme.”

“I don’t…” I shake my head back and forth, wondering how he could possibly think I’d confuse him with Bennet when they’re night and day. Bennet is striking, but Kier’s beauty is blinding, like the sun.

“Come on, Aiden. We’d pass for each other in a lineup. Tell me again how he has nothing to do with the way you feel about me?”

“He… I…”

“There you are,” Bennet says as he comes to stand next to Kier, shooting him a questionable glance as Kier tries to school his features to a blank expression. “What happened?” he asks me.

“I bumped into Kier.”

“Kier…” Bennet’s eyes narrow slightly, flaring wide as recognition hits. “The guy who wrote that book, right? No wonder you seem familiar. I remember your picture from the book jacket.”

Bennet holds his hand out, and Kier takes it with the smile I’ve come to learn is the one he gives the public. The one that touches his mouth not his eyes. It looks genuine, and to some degree I’m sure it is, but it’s not joyful. Just… polite.

“You read it?” Kier asks.

“God no.” Bennet laughs. “It’s way above my head. He tried to put it in terms I’d understand—” Bennet gives me an up-nod “—but the only thing I got was Luke Skywalker’s arm. That sounds cool as shit even though I don’t get how it all works.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Kier says.

“Too bad you don’t have your book here. I bet he’d autograph it,” Bennet tells me before facing Kier. “What are you doing here? Are you giving a lecture on campus or something.”

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