Page 169 of Darling Obsession

My twin sister eyes me, and I know she’s a little pissed at me, too.

“She’s sweet,” she says. Her tone says,Maybe too sweet for you.

“I know. I think I’m going to keep her.”

She gives me a dry look. “I meant Quinn.”

“Oh.” I clear my throat, uncomfortable. I hate disappointing Savannah the most. And lying to her.

“I think you like her more than you let on before,” she says.

“How do you know that?”

“It was obvious when you mentioned her just now. I don’t know. Something in your eyes. It’s like you’re not as shut down as before.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

“Maybe it’s time for some sweetness in your life. You’ve been bitter for so long.”

I sigh.

“You know,” she says, “when you lie to people, you rob them of the opportunity to really know you.”

“That sounds like a quote. Grandma?”

“That one was Mom, believe it or not. She said that to me when I was about ten and I stole something of yours. Candy of some sort. It was Halloween. I lied because I already ate the whole thing, so I couldn’t give it back, and I felt so guilty. And maybe she wasn’t used to me lying. She called me ‘Miss Savannah Vance’ in that tone that told you you’d better listen. She didn’t get stern with me like that very often.”

I snort. “Must’ve been nice.”

She tilts her head, studying me. It reminds me of me, actually, when she looks at me like that. “You look like me when you do that,” I inform her.

“Because I’m calculating right now,” she says. “I think that’s why our brothers feel cheated. It’s not that you cheated the game. It’s that you robbed them of the chance to know the truth. You didn’t trust them with it.”

“Since when do they want to know me?” I push back. “We’ve never been close like you are with them. I don’t give a fuck about hockey, or Damian’s sex kinks, or whatever the fuck Graysen’s into.”

“Who says you have to be? I spend more time with them than you do, sure, but I’m not into those things, either. I just make an effort. I find the common ground. It isn’t always easy, you know.”

I decide to go pour her a drink, because apparently she’s not leaving anytime soon, and she shakes her head at me.

“Seriously, Harlan.” Her voice follows me into the family room. “Why didn’t you just tell us the truth when you first received your challenge? That there was no woman named Darla? That you made her up? We would’ve been annoyed with you, but what else is new?”

“How could I know that you’d have my back?”

“Jesus Christ, Harlan. Because we’re family.”

I step back into the sunroom and put a glass of Merlot in her hand. “I didn’t know that. I had no idea how you guys would react.”

“Then maybe you should pay better attention. You’re good at that, when you want to be.” She takes a sip of her wine, considering me. “We’re not out to get you.”

I sit down in an armchair, facing her and the cat.

“If you lost your challenge,” she says, “or if any of us lost our challenge, we’dallsuffer. It would affect our business and our family. And maybe we could all just make a deal that we all completed our challenges whether we actually did or not, but that would be cheating Granddad’s game. And there has to be some integrity to it. That’s the whole point.”

“I know.”

“We’re in this together. But you have to do your part.”

“Okay.”

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