Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,158
suspicion churning in my gut because I know that look.
“What did you do?”
“Huh?” she asks, her voice distracted and her blue eyes turning my direction. “Nothing.”
My brow lifts because she’s definitely lying about that.
“He’ll kill you, whatever it is.”
Her lips curl at the corners.
“If he can catch me. Which, he won’t.”
Around us, the typical popular crowd waits for us to finish what we’re doing so they can follow us down the hall for bragging rights.
Ivy, Ava and I are at the very top of the food chain, best friends since birth, but always willing to blend in with the other girls who come and go in school.
Esmeralda Chase is chatting up Jane Dougherty, and Ellie Maxwell is watching Amanda Stewart closely. Around them are another tier of gossiping hens, none of which know us well, even though they pretend to.
Eventually, Ava walks up and the crowd of girls part to let her through, her lips curved into a demure smile.
“I heard something interesting today.”
My eyes lock with Ava’s, worry creeping down my spine because there are far too many rumors in this school. Some true, many ridiculous.
Ivy is still too preoccupied to have heard what Ava said, her foot tapping against the ground awaiting Gabriel. I have no idea what she’s done, but it must be bad. She doesn’t always stick around to watch.
I’m not sure I want to know what Ava heard, but the question tumbles from my tongue regardless, slippery and wet.
“What’s that?”
Her brown eyes sparkle to look at me.
“I think you know. And if it’s true, you’re an idiot to go there.”
Damn it.
It’s not surprising to hear a whispered rumor is already breezing through the school halls after the party last weekend. I knew the mistake would leak. Had been sure of it after Mark Kingsley stumbled into the wrong room with Polly Hanes on his arm.
He’d mumbled a quick apology when he saw Ezra and me, but both his and Polly’s eyes took a good long look before running away at the sound of Ezra’s growled warning.
It was the first time we’d kissed, and I’d intended it to be the last, but the past few days have tossed more mistakes onto the pile, burying me in them each time my arm is grabbed and I’m dragged into seclusion.
Every time, I promise I’ll end it, but then his mouth brushes mine, his hand slides to forbidden places, and I can’t help but feel thrilled to break the promise my parents made for me before I was born. I also melt beneath a shiver of excitement I feel kissing him while knowing he’s dangerous.
Ava lowers her voice to a whisper, her body leaning into mine.
“Of all of them, he’s the last one you should be screwing with. You know how the twins are.”
Nobody can tell the twins apart, and to be honest, neither can I. Not fully. Not with enough assurance to know it’s always Ezra. But that’s who he tells me he is. I have no way to know for sure. They’ve been known to play a game of replacing each other.
“You need to stop,” Ava warns, but her words are lost when Ivy’s elbow nudges me, her chin lifting to tell me to look down the hall.
There they are.
The Inferno.
Not all of them, of course, because the entire group is rarely in the same place at the same time in school. Only at parties. But there are enough of them to make heads turn and people whisper behind their hands.
Gabriel and Tanner lead the pack, their jackets missing and shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Behind them, the twins saunter down the hall, Shane standing between them, his shirt untucked and a new tattoo peeking up above his collar.
I have no idea where the rest of them are, but I really don’t care. My focus is solely on Ezra...or Damon...or both. I’ve been studying them for years, and I still can’t pick up on the small clues that a person can use to tell them apart.
The way they move, the way they talk, the aggression in their amber eyes and even the way they wear their clothes, it’s all identical.
But there has to be some secret I’m missing.
Their closest friends - the other members of their group - always know which is which.
“Here we go,” Ivy whispers, excitement and a touch of evil pleasure in her voice.
I know for sure she’s done something now. Her eyes only glimmer like that when she’s pranked Gabriel.