Asher paused, shifted on his seat, and spoke again. “I was thinking. We should go into character now so we don’t walk in there looking like two stiff corpses again. Isn’t that what he called us?”

“Yes, the asshole. We are not corpses.”

“So what do you think?”

I stared at my brother, inhaled, exhaled, and nodded. “Okay. Sounds reasonable. Action?”

“Action.”

His hazel eyes lingered on me a minute, the sunlight catching and glimmering on their surface, turning them to liquid gold. He smiled. It was warm and calming. Then he winked and turned to check his mirrors before pulling out onto the street.

“We’ve got this, Elliot. You and me. Ignore that Jay guy today. Focus on me. I’m who you need. Not him.” Then he held out his hand over the middle console. An invitation.

I stared for a second, unsure of what he was doing. Remembering I was Elliot and not Atticus, I took his hand and weaved our fingers together. All the weirdness.

Acting 101: Stay in fucking character, I reminded myself on repeat.

Was it weird, driving to an audition for a trial twincest photo shoot while holding my brother’s hand? Yes, absolutely. But it could have been worse. I could be bending over for a guy named Larry who I met online, who calls himself a dentist even though I know he’s lying because his teeth are yellow and gross. Larry is probably a serial rapist who’s only interested in unsuspecting twenty-one-year-old boys he meets online. Larry’s sole plan would probably be to get me alone so he could do things that would require so much therapy in my future. And the money he promised me would be lies. Larry is nothing more than a scammer. What an asshole. I can’t believe I fell for his shit! And he’s definitely not thirty-two like his profile claims. What a fucking liar.

No, this was better. Fake incesty stuff with my brother was nothing compared to creepy Larry.

Besides, Asher grounded me. We’d always been close. Holding his hand was reassuring and didn’t trip my ick-o-meter. In fact, it helped me find my center as Elliot.

Asher—Ender—parked, and we dropped our connection. Wandering into public while holding hands when we were obviously identical twins might garner us a few odd looks. Neither of us ended the scene, but we dropped the act while we rode the elevator with another couple up to the sixth floor.

We got off. They didn’t.

The hallway leading to Charlotte’s room was clear. Asher halted me with a touch to my shoulder. “Ready?”

“What are you gonna do if Jay gets those hungry eyes on again, Ender?” I figured I’d play the part and get him warmed up. That’s what we were doing, right?