“Lucky bastards,” I murmur, my mind briefly drifting back to Spencer. The way he kisses is … criminal. His mouth is hot, and his hands … I wonder what they'd fall like if they slid up my waist to cup my breasts. “Don't think about Spencer,” I whisper, taking a huge bite of my corn dog and closing my eyes. As soon as my lashes flutter closed, I try to imagine one of my hot and heavy moments with Cody. Instead, all I can see is the clumsy way he groped me, and how he smells like suntan oil all the time. “Fuck.” My eyes open back up, and I find myself staring at the haunted house. Cody and Monica are screwing, aren't they? I'm no idiot; I can see it plain as day.

Tears prick my eyes, and I lean my forehead against the gold pole.

“Why the long face?” a pair of voices ask in unison, and I jump, spinning around in the saddle to find the twins standing on either side of the faux horse's rump. “It's your birthday, isn't it, Chuck?” they repeat, leaning in and grinning at me. They each have one hand on their hip, and they're dressed in loose jean shorts, and red tanks, the rose tattoos on their shoulders bright and beautiful under the sparkling lights of the carousel.

My eyes fill with tears, and even though I sniff hard and try to hold them back, I end up crying. Just a little.

The twins exchange a look, and step forward, one on either side of me.

“Are you crying, Chuck?” Tobias asks, reaching out and brushing one of the tears from my cheek, his green eyes dark with concern. He leans in so close that when he blinks, I swear his eyelashes brush my forehead.

“I think my best friend is fucking my boyfriend,” I say, and then sigh, reaching up to brush the tears from my face. Tobias leans back and studies me while Micah crosses his arms over his broad chest. “That, and they both forgot my birthday.”

The two boys look at each other, and it occurs to me suddenly that … we're not in Connecticut. We're in California. What the hell are they doing here?!

“Um, what are you two doing here?” I ask, and they both turn to look at me.

“Our mother is the dean of the university,” they tell me, shrugging their shoulders in unison. “She wanted us here for break.” They both blink big, beautiful eyes at me before cocking their heads. “How do you think your father got scouted out for the position at Adamson?”

Damn. Hearing them say one or two words in unison is impressive, but entire sentences? It's eerie … and maybe just a teensy-weensy, little bit sexy.

“They forgot your birthday, huh?” Tobias asks, breaking up the twin routine again. “That's pretty fucked-up. Why do you think they're sleeping together?” He hops on the next horse over and curls his long arms around the pole as Micah wanders off.

“Monica can barely look at me. And Cody only seems interested in peering down my shirt.” Both Tobias and I pause as a creaking sound emanates from beneath us, and the music starts up. The horses begin to bob, and the carousel starts to spin.

Micah saunters back around the other side, and hops onto a gold unicorn with pink bows on its head, spinning around in his seat so that he's sitting backward, fingers curled around the edge of the saddle. He's looking at me so intently, I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

I can't help the smile that takes over my lips though.

“How did you get it to start?” I ask, and he gives me this dark sort of smile that makes him look completely different than his twin brother. It's in that moment that I wonder how I could ever confuse the two.

“Magic,” he says, and then shrugs his shoulders like it's no big deal. “Are you going to confront them? Sometimes these things get ugly.” I turn away sharply and exhale, that sour taste churning in my belly. There's no way around this: I have to say something. And yet part of me knows that as soon as I do, there's no going back to the way things were. My friendship with Monica and Cody, the life I had before Dad and I moved to Connecticut, it'll truly be over.

“You sound like you know what you're talking about?” I say, phrasing it as a question. But when I turn back and look at Micah, he's gazing out at the ocean, his eyes dark and far away.

“What do you want to do for your birthday?” Tobias asks from behind me, and I glance over my shoulder to see a naughty smile take over his full lips.

“I have no idea. Honestly, all I was looking for was a Happy Birthday, Charlotte.”

Tobias smirks and hops off his horse to come stand beside me, putting one hand on my bare thigh. I can feel the heat of his palm, a small line of fire from my leg straight up to my heart. My pulse begins to race, and I have to swallow three times to clear the lump from my throat.

“How about racing a Lambo up the coast, right next to the beach? Would that be a fun birthday present? We can get pancakes after, and I'll buy you some ugly boy clothes to hide your pretty figure.”

“Perv.” I stick out my tongue and put my foot on his chest, shoving him back a few inches as he laughs. “But okay. Anything is better than going back to that awkward tension between Monica and Cody.”

Tobias holds out his hand and helps me down from the horse. Good thing, too, because there's a security guard coming our way.

“Time to bail, brother,” Tobias says, and Micah nods, sliding off the end of the horse and following after us. We run the rest of the way to the exit, and I end up at the driver's side door of Tobias' canary yellow Lamborghini Aventador. Holy. Mother. Of. Shit.

I'd lose my virginity on this car.

The thought makes me flush as Tobias hands out the keys, grinning stupidly at me.

“Okay, what are the rules for this little shindig? Micah?” He glances over at his twin who's leaning against the side of his matching yellow Lambo with his arms crossed over his chest, his red-orange hair falling across his brow. His eyes are still dark and contemplative as he watches us.

“She gets until we hit the access road to warm up, but that's it. Then we line up at the gate, and you can call start. Winner is the first one to get to the peak.”

“What does the winner get?” I ask, my heart racing. This is seriously dangerous stuff we're talking about doing. I shouldn't even be agreeing to this, but my heart is racing, and I suddenly find that I can't think about anything else. I feel alive in a way I haven't since we moved.

“How about if I win …” Micah starts, pushing off the car and moving toward me. He takes my chin in his fingers and smirks, lending him this cruel edge that I've never seen in his brother. “I get a kiss.” My cheeks flush bright red, and I slap his hand away while he laughs. Meanwhile, Tobias is looking furiously between us. “What do you want on your end?”

“You are not getting a kiss,” I grumble, but then when I think about it … about Micah pushing me up against the side of his yellow sports car, sliding his fingers into my hair, and pulling me in close … it doesn't sound half-bad. Actually, it sounds like heaven. He smirks at me, clearly not impressed with my feeble protests. “Okay, fine, you can have a kiss if you win”—when you win is more like it because I don't know shit about racing cars—“but if I win, I want to know everything about Jenica. Everything.”

Micah and Tobias glance at each other, but I guess they're as aware as I am about my chances of actually winning this, so they both shrug before turning back to me.