SWNOVELS The Charade: Chapter 3
THE GREAT HALL—A huge room with stone walls and tall pillars that connected in arches to the rafters above—was bursting with students when my buddy Mack and I sat at our usual table in the back corner of the room.
‘So those new twins are pretty hot, right?’ Mack arched an eyebrow as he sat beside me on the bench.
‘I guess.’ I gave him a non-committal shrug, briefly glancing up at the large chandeliers that hung from the two-story vaulted ceiling. ‘If you’re into that kind of thing.’
‘If I’m into that kind of thing?’ Mack gave me a sideways glance that told me he couldn’t fathom anyone not being into identical twins who—sure, if pressed—I’d admit were prettier than the average high school girl.
‘They’re pretty,’ was all I said, since I had to stick to my new goal of staying uninterested when it came to the female population.
I couldn’t have another disaster like last summer on my hands.
This year was the year of redemption.
The year where I went back to my old cold-hearted ways and didn’t let stupid things like feelings and emotions get in the way of logic when it came to the opposite sex.
Girls were a distraction, and I had the title of valedictorian to secure after all. You didn’t get straight A’s in advanced courses if you were busy chasing skirts.
‘I think I’ll stick with hot.’ Mack smirked, liking his verbiage more than mine as usual.
‘Does that mean one of them will be your next victim?’ I shot him a half-smile, knowing how he’d react to my word choice.
‘Victim?’ Mack scoffed. ‘More like one of the luckiest girls in the world.’
‘I guess the lucky girl will have to decide whether they’re a victim or not then,’ I said dryly, picking up my fork.
‘Whatever.’ He ran a hand across his short black hair. ‘Now I just need to decide which one to ask out first.’
I pursed my lips and dabbed my broccoli in the Alfredo sauce that had pooled around my pasta. ‘Maybe you should try to get to know their personalities before you make that decision.’
‘Personalities?’ Mack asked. ‘But you know all I care about are looks, right?’
‘Pretty sure that’s obvious.’
‘Says the guy who’s so picky that he would rather stay single than date anyone who isn’t a supermodel.’
I scowled at my friend. ‘It wasn’t just about her looks,’ I muttered.
No, if dating Sofia had only been about her looks, it would have been much easier to scrape my heart off the ground when she dumped me for Simon Bailey.
My family came from old money, which was what all girls saw when they looked at me—the empire the Hastings family had increased ever since my great-great-great grandfather John Hastings had made his fortune in the railroad and shipping business.
With Sofia having a similar background as me for the first several years of our lives, I’d assumed she’d be different.
But when she tossed me aside for Simon, who was eleventh in line for the British throne, I realized she was like every other girl I knew.
She’d just been better at hiding it than the rest.
Apparently, the way we’d connected so well over our pasts could never compete with the chance of becoming entwined with the royal family.
Mack must have sensed that he’d hit a nerve because he held up his hands and said, ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought Sofia up.’
‘It’s fine.’ I lifted a shoulder and plopped the steamed broccoli into my mouth, hoping to exude the uncaring vibe I’d been working so hard to maintain.
‘Is she still dating that prince? Or, uh, duke?’ He furrowed his dark, thick eyebrows like he was trying to remember Simon’s title.
‘The viscount?’ I filled in for him.
‘Yeah.’
‘I don’t know. Probably.’ I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was listening to our conversation. ‘I unfollowed her last month so I wouldn’t have to see their photos anymore.’
‘Smart.’
I guess. Though, if I’d really been smart, I would have stuck to my original plan of never getting serious with anyone in the first place.
Surface-level relationships were the only way to go in high school. Getting emotionally invested in someone was not something I had time for.
Hunter took a seat across from Mack and me with a tray of food, along with my half-siblings Nash and Cambrielle.
After scooting into his spot next to Hunter, Nash asked, ‘Any guesses on whether we get any new girls in our house this year?’
‘New girls?’ Mack asked. ‘I’m guessing Hunter hasn’t told you about them yet?’
‘Them?’ Nash frowned, looking between Hunter, Mack, and me. ‘As in, we have multiple girls joining our house?’
‘Yes.’ Mack uncapped his water bottle, a glimmer of mischief in his brown eyes.
‘Are they hot?’ Nash leaned forward, seeming to be almost as excited as Mack was at the prospect of new females joining the small pool of girls in our house.
‘Let’s just say they caught my attention.’ Mack pressed his lips together, obviously fighting a grin. ‘But if you haven’t seen them yet, I won’t spoil it for you.’
Almost as if on cue, the doors to the great hall opened and Scarlett walked into the room with a twin on each side.
The whole room went quiet and multiple sets of eyes followed the girls as they strode down the aisle that led to the cafeteria line where they could grab their tray of food for this evening’s meal.
When I looked at Nash, his reaction to seeing double didn’t disappoint.
His mouth hung open, his blue eyes blinking rapidly as if not sure they were seeing correctly. Only when the girls stepped behind a large pillar and out of our view did Nash turn back to the rest of us with an almost dazed look in his eyes. ‘Am I in heaven?’ he asked in the overdramatic tone he used when practicing for the school’s theater productions. ‘Because I think I may have just seen identical angels.’
Did I mention that Nash and I are only half-siblings? Because, yeah, I really hoped I didn’t have that kind of idiocy in my genetic makeup.
‘Heaven on earth as far as I’m concerned,’ Mack agreed, sounding like he’d gotten the same genetic mutation as Nash. ‘But if you’re interested, you’ll have to get in line, buddy.’
‘You’re calling dibs on them?’ Cambrielle stared at our brother and Mack with a look of disgust on her heart-shaped face. ‘Are they property? Did we go back in time to the eighteen-hundreds or something?’
Mack gave Cambrielle one of his easy smiles. ‘You know you’d love to be my property if your big brothers let you.’
‘As if!’ Her jaw dropped and she tossed a piece of broccoli at his face, missing of course and hitting his shoulder instead. ‘And even if I was interested, I certainly wouldn’t need my brothers’ permission!’
‘What do you think, guys?’ Mack looked at Nash and then at me. ‘Think you’ll let me take your little sis out on a date sometime?’
‘Sure.’ Nash glanced at our sister and winked, knowing his answer would only rile her up further. ‘If that keeps you distracted from those twins, then please, take care of my sister for me.’
Cambrielle smacked Nash on the arm, and even though she was tiny, it looked like she hit him hard enough to leave a bruise.
‘So what do you say, Carter?’ Mack waggled his eyebrows at me. “Mind if I take Cambrielle to visit the falls this weekend?’
The falls—as in the waterfall which our town was named after—was also the spot that could be renamed as hookup point .
Yeah, Mack would not be taking Cambrielle to the falls.
I shook my head. ‘Apparently, I’m the only brother who actually cares about Cambrielle’s well-being. So no, Mack, even though Cambrielle can date whoever she wants, I would most definitely pull the ‘older brother’ card and forbid you from touching my sweet, innocent little sister.’
Cambrielle stuck her tongue out at me, apparently not liking my answer, either.
But then, Cambrielle looked at me with her light blue eyes and asked, ‘I take it you’re not interested in the new girls then?’ She must have noticed how Mack and Nash were already scanning the cafeteria for the twins but I wasn’t.
‘Nope.’
‘Still going strong on that girl cleanse of yours?’ She arched a dark eyebrow.
‘I’m focusing on my studies.’
‘Well, I’m sure Dad would appreciate that.’
‘I’m sure he would.’ Being an heir to the Hastings’s fortune did come with its responsibilities. ‘Which is why Nash should probably spend more time focusing on school instead of girls, so he won’t be useless when it comes time for us to help Dad manage everything. Pretty sure Dad expects us to help out more once we’re through here.’
Some upper-class families let kids take a year off after high school, give them a gap year to go off and see the world.
Not the Hastings, though. Not only were we expected to be accepted into Yale, which was about thirty minutes from our small town of Eden Falls, but we were also expected to intern at Hastings Industries as we did so.
A ‘where much is given, much is required’ sort of thing.
‘I don’t know.’ Cambrielle tossed our distracted brother a look. ‘Maybe we should let him run amok like Ian. One less brother to split Dad’s billions with doesn’t sound too bad.’
I laughed. ‘True.’ But really, once you were working with billions, did it even make a difference? I spun my fork in my Alfredo noodles. ‘I don’t know, I think I’d rather have Nash earn his keep instead of begging off his more responsible brother and sister.’
‘You have a point.’ Cambrielle elbowed Nash in the back. ‘He should have to work for his inheritance, too.’
‘They’re headed this way.’ Nash turned to Mack, anticipation filling his face, clearly oblivious to my conversation with Cambrielle. ‘Scarlett is leading the twins to our table.’
‘Of course she is,’ Mack said, like he hadn’t just been holding his breath as he waited for the new girls to reappear from the cafeteria line. ‘I told Ava I’d save her a seat at our table.’
‘Ava?’ Nash asked, grasping onto this new information like an alcoholic licking the last drop of vodka from his shot glass. ‘And what’s the other one’s name?’
Mack pursed his lips as if trying to remember. Then he glanced between Hunter and me. ‘Do you remember her name?’
Hunter was so focused on the messages blowing up his phone that he didn’t hear the question. Even though I knew I shouldn’t have stored their names in my memory from the brief interaction I’d had with them, my brain recalled them anyway. ‘Their names are Ava and Elyse.’
‘Yes, that’s right.’ Mack snapped his fingers. ‘Can’t tell you who is who, but those names sound right.’
‘Ava and Elyse…’ Nash spoke their names slowly, like he was savoring them on his tongue as he watched the girls approach. ‘I love those names.’
Of course he did.
‘Hot, right?’ Mack cocked an eyebrow.
‘Definitely,’ Nash agreed.
I just rolled my eyes at my best friend and brother. It was like they hadn’t seen a single female since school let out last June and were parched from the thirst.
I didn’t get it. Sure, the new girls were nice to look at, but they weren’t any prettier than, say, Scarlett, or even Cambrielle.
And before you could think it, no, I didn’t have the hots for my sister. Never have, never will .
We might be an interesting family, but we were not that interesting.
‘Hey guys,’ Scarlett said when she got to our table, a big smile on her lips. ‘Any room for me and my new friends?’
‘Sure.’ Hunter slipped his phone into his pocket, Scarlett’s presence taking his attention from his screen for the first time since he’d sat down. He made space between him and Nash. ‘You can sit here.’
Mack scooted closer to me so that there would be room on his other side. ‘One of you can sit here.’ He patted the bench, looking at the twins in earnest.
‘Yeah.’ Nash not so gently nudged Cambrielle in the arm with his elbow to get her to budge. ‘There’s room here, too.’
Cambrielle rolled her eyes at Nash. But being the wing-sister that she was, she obliged him.
Scarlett slipped onto the bench beside Hunter. After having some sort of twin-telepathic conversation, one twin sat next to Mack with flushed cheeks while the other set her tray on the table between Nash and Cambrielle to sit in the spot across from me.
Before the girl in front of me could even take a breath, Nash eagerly asked, ‘So what’s your name?’
‘I-I’m Ava,’ the girl said, tucking some of her long, nut-brown hair behind her ear nervously. ‘Ava Cohen. What’s your name?’
‘I’m Nash Hastings.’ Nash held his hand out for Ava.
‘Nice to meet you, Nash.’ Ava shook his hand and seemed to appraise my brother. Nash, at six-foot even, was a few inches shorter than me. But since Ava was on the taller side for a girl, they were almost eye level with one another.
Taking more after his mom than our dad, Nash always joked that what he lacked for in height compared to me, he made up for with his charm. Which was definitely something he had a lot more of than I did.
Being charming took too much energy.
Cambrielle introduced herself next. ‘I’m Cambrielle Hastings.’
‘Hastings?’ Ava asked, looking between Nash and Cambrielle. ‘Are you twins, too?’
‘Definitely not.’ Nash shook his head. ‘I’m clearly the more mature sibling.’
Cambrielle snorted. ‘More like Mother Nature knew Nash would need the head start to keep up.’
‘So you’re younger?’ Ava asked my sister, trying to piece things together.
‘Yes,’ Cambrielle said. ‘I’m a junior. Both my brothers are seniors.’
‘Both your brothers?’ Ava furrowed her brow and glanced around the table as if looking for a Nash look-alike.
Before Ava could look confused for too long, I cleared my throat, held up my hand, and said, ‘I’m the other brother.’
The small pucker line that had formed between her eyebrows deepened as she looked at me and then at Nash. We both had the same Hastings’s blond hair and blue eyes, but beyond that, the family resemblance wasn’t as strong. ‘Fraternal twins?’
I shook my head. ‘Different moms.’
Nash was the purebred. I was the illegitimate son my dad had sired on a trip to Guatemala eight months before he and Dawn had gotten back together.
‘Oh.’ She nodded, understanding seeming to fill her amber-colored eyes. ‘That makes more sense.’
‘I bet you were wondering how I was lucky enough to score all the looks,’ Nash said with a wink.
‘Um…’ Ava pursed her lips, and after flicking her gaze toward me for a split second, she said, ‘O-of course.’
The flush that filled her cheeks may have been caused by the fact that she was being asked to judge my looks compared to my brother, and that made her uncomfortable. But it wasn’t the first time a girl had blushed when studying my unusual features.
Cambrielle always told me I was too arrogant for my own good, but it just came with the territory. I knew I was good looking—a half-Latino, half-Caucasian mix that got the best of my parents’ features: my mom’s perfectly smooth, light bronze skin, and my dad’s aqua-blue eyes and square jawline.
But what did that matter, anyway?
I’d had dozens of girls flinging themselves at me on our trip to the Hamptons this past summer. So what?
I wasn’t like my brother Ian. I didn’t care about finding my next plaything. And I wasn’t like Nash either—eager to have anyone want me.
Being disciplined was what really mattered when it came to being successful in life, and if anything, girls were just a distraction.
A distraction I wanted nothing to do with this year.