“Deal,” they say, and then Micah swaggers back to his own car as Tobias opens the driver's side door for me.

“My lady, your chariot awaits,” he says as I grin and slide onto the sumptuous black leather seat. Just before he closes the door, he leans down, smelling like sweet and tart cherries and cedar, and puts his lips up close to my ear. “Happy birthday, Charlotte.”

Tobias stands up, closes the door, and moves around to the passenger side while I try—and fail—to get my thundering heart under control again.

That … is the best birthday present I've ever had.

The road we're racing on is an old access road to the state park. There's a locked gate that Micah has no problem picking, letting it swing open with a creak of rusty hinges. On our right is the bay, glittering under a nearly full moon. On the left is a mountain, dotted with trees and climbing up into the night sky.

There's a guardrail on the beach side, and Tobias has promised me we'll be the only traffic on this road.

“When Micah and I race here, we cap the speed at ninety. No faster than that, no exceptions.” Tobias leans back against the driver's side door, watching me from the shadows inside the car. “Do you have any questions?”

I shake my head.

“You gave me a pretty good tutorial on the way over here. Plus, I'm dying to just let loose for a minute.” Dad would fucking kill me—and rightfully so—if he knew what I was doing. I turn my gaze back to the road as Tobias rolls down his window.

“You ready, bro?” he asks, and his brother nods, fingers clamped around the wheel.

“Let's do this,” he growls, and the intensity in his voice makes my blood feel hot, adrenaline coursing through me. My own hands curl on the wheel, and I slide my tongue across my lower lip. Oh yeah. I'm at least going to give him a run for his money.

“Ready, Chuck?” Tobias asks, and I nod. He grins, and the lights from the dashboard make his teeth look green. “On my count. One … two … GO!”

My foot hits the gas, but I push down too hard and the car fishtails while Micah shoots ahead. Relaxing the pressure just a bit, I get us going forward, but I can barely see the red blaze of his taillights in front of me as he takes the first corner so sharp he nearly scrapes the car on the rocks.

I'm too cautious for that—and besides, it's not my car—so I take the turn wide and accelerate, the wind blowing through the open window and ruffling my hair. With the ocean on one side, and the forest on the other, it's a magical moment.

“Slow down a bit up here,” Tobias shouts over the wind, and I nod, putting on the break just enough that when a sharp corner appears out of nowhere, I'm ready for it.

Micah is still so far ahead of me, I couldn't dream of catching up, but I'm laughing, and I most definitely do not want to die out here tonight, so I take it slower than I would if I were actually trying to beat him.

The road winds up and around, and eventually, the ocean falls away, and it's just trees on either side. The ground is made of hard-packed dirt and gravel, but the tires of the Lambo grip it like strong fingers, and I don't feel in any danger of skidding.

By the time we get to the old, cracked parking lot at the top, Micah's already waiting, sitting on the hood of his car and staring out across the city with its twinkling lights.

He smirks as we pull up, and I shut off the engine.

“You know, he won't make you kiss him if you don't want to,” Tobias says, and the smile on his face is far away and sort of wistful. I feel like I'm seeing the real him for the first time since we met. And I kinda … maybe like him a little.

“A bet's a bet,” I say, and then open up the car door before I climb out and hop onto the hood next to Tobias' twin. He takes up my other side, and then the three of us sit there for a while, the engine hot and ticking underneath us.

“Should we get this over with then?” Micah says finally, breaking the silence. He turns to look at me, the cool breeze ruffling up his red-orange hair. His eyes look black in the darkness, and the expression on his full mouth is one part terrifying, two parts enthralling.

I swallow hard, and glance away, out toward the city again. My phone is in my pocket, but I shut it off as soon as I got to the boardwalk. I don't want to know if Monica and Cody messaged me … or if they didn't. That would be worse, I think, finding out that they haven't even bothered to send me a message.

“We probably should,” I reply with a long sigh. On the outside, I'm calm and cool. On the inside … I'm slightly terrified. What if I like kissing Micah better than Cody? Then I really can't pretend that the situation with Spencer is a one-off. If I like kissing Micah, then it means my relationship with Cody is done—regardless of whether my suspicions about him and Monica are true.

Before I can even decide how we should go about this, Micah's curling a muscular arm behind my back and pulling me into his lap. That's when I remember what the twins said about being into MMA—mixed martial arts. I don't know much about it except that every girl I've ever met swoons at the mention.

“Well, hello Chuck,” Micah purrs, and I swear, I can feel Tobias bristling behind me. His twin runs a single finger down the side of my face and then under my jaw, down my throat, and along the edge of the cover-up I've got on over my bathing suit. It's got a sweetheart neckline that he traces reverently before lifting his eyes from my collarbone to my face. “Who knew the short, ugly guy at school was actually a hot chick underneath it all?”

“You're a serious jerk, you know that?” I snap back, reaching up to adjust my glasses before I realize that I've got contacts in. Micah grins and captures my hand in his, bringing it to his lips for a kiss. He kisses each knuckle individually, and then curls his fingers through mine. My heart is racing so damn fast in that moment that I can barely breathe, our eyes locked, his body warm beneath mine.

Finally, he leans in toward me and brushes our lips together, this barely-there tease that leaves me aching and wanting so hard that my mind is obliterated for anything else.

And then the dickhead pulls away, and I'm left blinking in surprise.

“That was it?” I ask, and Micah smiles mischievously at me.

“What? You didn't think I was going to press my advantage and try to tongue you or anything, right?” He touches his long fingers to his chest and bats his eyelashes at me. “I'm just not that sort of guy.” Micah shrugs his shoulders loosely and smirks. “Besides, I think my brother's getting a little jealous.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I catch sight of Tobias staring out at the city with his lips pursed, his fingers tapping an easy rhythm on his knee. He's acting nonchalant, but I can see the tense muscles in his back and shoulders. He flicks his eyes our direction and shrugs.

“Jealous? Please.” Tobias turns toward me and reaches out, sliding his thumb over my aching lips. His green eyes flicker with mischief. “I already told you: we share with each other. And that's not hyperbole, Chuck.” He leans in close, and I swear, my heart's about to beat right out of my chest and go hopping across the yellow hood of the Lamborghini.

“Oh, Tobias,” Micah purrs, reaching out and flicking his brother in the forehead. “I won the race, not you. And I don't have to share my win.”