Page 119 of Secrets That We Keep (Forbidden Descendants 2)

Parker immediately smiled the dreamy smile of a man in love with his lady. “Oh, she’s great. I think you two would get along perfectly. And, hey, we could make it, like, a double date if you want. Bring Twelve along and—” Cutting himself off abruptly, he cringed before adding, “That is, if Twelve is the man you were with last—”

“Yes!” I blurted, feeling my face heat. “I was with Twelve last night.”

He nodded. “Cool, then. We could make a whole evening of it, just the four of us. What do you think?”

I’d never actually been on a date with Gracen before. But maybe we would go on them now that we were, you know, having sex together. He’d never done anything to make me think he never wanted to see me again. He’d referenced doing future things with me more than I expected him to, so he’d probably be okay with the idea. I think.

And I kind of wanted Parker to meet him, anyway. Not only did I want to get his opinion on Gracen, but I honestly felt the two of them would get along well together, too.

“I love the idea,” I said, feeling like life was very, very good right now. And I looked forward to the future.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Bella

When Gracen finally returned my S.O.S. call, I answered on the first ring.

“Hey,” I said, sounding breathless, even though I’d done nothing that should've winded me.

“Hey,” he answered. “Sorry it took me a minute. I just woke up.”

“You did?” Brow furrowing, I shook my head. “I thought you’d be at work by now. Isn’t this one of the Saturdays you go into the office?”

“Decided to sleep in today,” he said, his voice distorted by a background scuffling sound that told me he was using his speakerphone. “So what’s up?”

“I, uh…” Pausing, I took a breath. Since he wasn’t at the office, this might work even more to my advantage. So I just dove in. “I need your help.”

“Kind of figured that, what with the S.O.S. message and all. What do you need me to do this time?”

“Well… Did you happen to hear Dad last night at the baby shower when he was talking to Fox about the girl he saw him with outside the gym last week?”

“Uh, yeah. I think so.” He sounded completely confused and was probably wondering where I was going with this line of questioning. “Everyone started wondering if he was seeing someone new, but he said she was just a client, right?”

“Right.” I nodded, glad he’d at least heard all that. “So what I need you to do is go to the gym and check her out, maybe sneak in a picture, and then report back to me. Okay?”

Gracen was suspiciously quiet for a second before he asked the dreaded, “And why would I be doing this?”

“Because...” I closed my eyes and groaned regretfully before admitting, “If you don’t, I probably will, and I really, really don’t think I should.”

Releasing a heavy sigh because I knew exactly what was going to happen next, I leaned forward and pressed my forehead to the steering wheel of my car, where I sat with the engine off in my driveway, trying to talk some damn sense into myself and not go to the gym right now. But I knew I was losing the battle, so I had called my twin for support, even though I knew what I’d have to confess when I did.

When another beat of silence followed, I could tell he was putting all the pieces together.

And then: “Isabella Teresa Lowe,” he growled sternly. “What the hell! Fox is who you’ve been sneaking around with? Holy shit!”

I winced and fisted a hand to set it against my mouth. But dammit, that hadn’t taken him long to figure out at all.

“I thought you were getting back together with Ethan or something?”

I rolled my eyes. “As if.”

“Well, why the hell else would you not tell me about someone you were getting involved with unless it was someone I would try to stop you from seeing because he was hurting you? But Jesus, Fox would never hurt you. Why would you hide Fox? Holy hell…” he breathed. “Now his groping you at his birthday party makes so much more sense, and…” He gasped in outrage. “That fucker! He sat across the table from me at guys’ night and listened to me worry about some new guy you were keeping hidden, and that jackass said nothing. He just let me keep stressing and—”

“I didn't want anyone to know,” I cut in sternly. “The secrecy thing was my decision. So don’t berate him for being quiet; he was only respecting my wishes. Alright?”

“No,” Gracen boomed. “It’s not alright. None of this makes any damn sense at all. Because why the hell would you keep Fox from me? Holy shit, why would you keep that from anyone? But most importantly, from me. I thought we told each other all our deepest, darkest…” He trailed off with a curse. “Fuck. I knew you weren’t telling me something. So guess what; I started keeping shit from you too. And now look at us. We don’t tell each other anything anymore. And it all started because you hooked up with Fox? A man who’s like a brother to me, and I would completely support you in dating. Really?”

“I was scared, okay?” I cried, then gnashed my teeth and glared out the front windshield at my house. That dry ache that always preceded tears worked up my throat. “You know what? Never mind. Forget I called.”

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