Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
I could only gape at Rhodes, genuinely shocked that he rose to my defense not once, but twice in the same hour.
Rhodes threw open the screen door and brushed past Alex, storming through the back hall and through the kitchen. The door slammed shut and Alex swooped down and locked it before my fingers touched the handle.
“Excuse me?” I rattled the door. “What are you doing? Open the door. Let me in.”
Alex stared at me—the strangest glint in his eyes. Slowly, his gaze drifted up and over my shoulder.
I turned around, and landed on the bear.
Large and unmoving on the entrance to the forest path, the bear watched me like it had been waiting, scenting, and stalking to see where its prey would lead, and his patience paid off.
A chill climbed my spine, feeling those beady eyes see through to my very soul.
“I can’t open the door,” Alex murmured, snapping me back around. “There’s a bear on the loose.”
“Alex—!”
He slammed the main door shut—the click of the lock ringing in my ears.
Chapter Eight
The bell chimed overhead, welcoming me into the vanilla-scented haven. I spotted her immediately—standing behind the counter, frosting a tray of the cupcakes responsible for that mouth-watering scent.
“Welcome to CCC,” she called, not looking up. “Feel free to browse, I’ll be with you in a moment. But a little tip, we’ve got a sale going on everything chocolate from chocolate chip cookies to chocolate ganache cupcakes.”
“Sounds delicious.”
Courtney’s head snapped up, her hand jerking and squirting the frosting all across the counter like jizz.
“You always knew the way to a girl’s heart.”
I couldn’t have pictured Courtney’s jaw-hanging, bugged-out expression if I planned it.
I took the first step. “Okay, I know this is weird, but the first thing you need to know is that I’m not So—”
“Sarah!?” Courtney threw down the piping bag and launched over the counter. “We’re closed,” she shouted at the other two milling customers before tackling me.
I shrieked—suddenly finding myself with one hundred twenty pounds’ worth of baker while wobbling in Sue’s impractical high heels. I lost the battle.
Screaming, we both went down like Jenga.
TWENTY MINUTES LATER, two angry customers were out on the street, the closed sign was hanging in the window, and we were sitting at one of her cute, tiny little café-style tables with that same tray of cupcakes between us.
“I can’t believe you knew it was me,” I mumbled around a mouthful of confectionary.
Courtney gave me a look. “You think I don’t know my best friend when she’s standing right in front of me? Honestly, it always baffled me that people couldn’t tell you and Sue apart. Never had there ever been two people who were more different.”
I just nodded.
Courtney looked great. It had been ten years since I saw her, but no one told her velvety smooth skin, blemish-free cheeks, killer figure, and long, flour-dusted locks.
“I... erm... Can I take it as a good sign that you said best friend, and not former best friend?” I tried for a smile. “Meaning that our best-friends-forever, never-tell-a-soul-our-secrets pact is still in effect?”
She gave me another look. “Sarah, of course we’re still friends, and of course you can still tell me anything and I’ll keep my mouth shut but...” Her brows crumpled. “We’re not in high school anymore, so if you’re invoking the pact, I’m guessing what you have to say is pretty bad.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “Yeah, it’s pretty bad. It’s as bad as it gets.”
I told her everything. Everything from Sue showing up at my apartment in Willingsworth, to the accident that killed her, to lying to Dan, to lying to the police, to lying to Sue’s husbands and child, and all the lies in between.
When I finished, I had to pat myself on the back—because I big-time got her to top her slack-jawed, bug-eyed shock from earlier with the crater-faced one before me.
“Sarah!”
“I know,” I cried, clapping my hands over my face. “I know, I know, I know!”
“How— How— How?!” she settled on. “How could you just throw your twin sister off a fucking cliff?!”
“Trust me, that wasn’t the hard part.” I slammed my hand on the table. “I’ve been wanting to throw that bitch off a cliff since I was eight years old, and when I walked through the door and discovered she planned to surprise me with Micah, Rhodes, and Alex—jumping on another chance to hurt me while our mother lay upstairs dying?”
Hatred curled my hands into fists. “I wanted to throw her off twice.”
“Okay... okay, yeah,” she whispered. “That is brutally cruel—even for Sue. But how in the world are you passing yourself off as Sue to her husbands? They’ve been dating, living with, and raising a child with her for ten years!”
“I know! I have no idea how I’m doing it other than that those relationships are strained to snap, Court. They want Sue out of their lives for good, so they’re not looking too hard at me or why I’m acting strange.” I flicked away. “They’re barely looking at me at all.”