He took another deep breath—but I knew mine would be bigger, and if I didn’t say it now, I was worried I never would.

“It’s about Clara.”

We matched each other word for word.

Turns out we both had secrets—and no idea it was the same one.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Elle

“So let me get this straight.” I’d let Nick go first. “You were together? With Clara?!” I thought Clara and I had shared everything—I had zero clue that included my twin brother.

I stood up off the swing. And sat back down again. I didn’t know what to do with myself. None of this made any sense.

He had his eyes closed but was nodding. “Uh-huh. And can I just say another sorry? To add to the hundred I just did?”

“And you didn’t tell me…” He’d explained, but I still wasn’t dealing. “Why?”

“I dunno. You guys were just so close—and I didn’t want it to get in the way. For it to be weird.”

“Weird like this, you mean?”

“Kind of exactly.” He was wincing so hard, I wasn’t sure if he was ever going to open his eyes. “Look, I’m so sorry, I should have told you. But Clara asked me not to, and I wasn’t sure it was going anywhere, but then it did. And then it felt like we should have told you months earlier.” Months?! “Then when things started to go wrong, it actually felt better that you didn’t know—saved you getting dragged into it all.”

“Months?! And what do you mean wrong?” I had NO idea about any of this. “Excuse me while my head just explodes over here.”

“I dunno, Elle. This guy told her I’d gotten together with one of the girls in another band.”

“And did you?”

“Never.” I knew when Nick was lying—and this wasn’t one of those times. “That’s not my style. I think he just liked Clara and was trying to cause trouble. But once she had it in her head, it was like she couldn’t trust me.” I could tell from the way he was squirming, this wasn’t the whole story.

“Sooo, what happened?” I swallowed, still in shock. “With my ex–best friend you were seeing behind my back.”

“Thanks for clarifying there.”

“So…”

“You really want to know?” I nodded even though my mind was already full-on melting. “Well, eventually I told her that she either had to trust me, or it was over. And she chose that. After almost a year.”

“A year?!”

“Yup.” He scrunched his nose. “That was probably something I should have mentioned too.”

“Well, at least I know why you started to disappear—because you were spending time with my ex–best friend you were seeing behind my back.”

“And again.” But he sighed. Hard. “I really liked her, Elle, I promise…”