“It happens to the best of us,” he says, and there's something cryptic in his voice that piques my interest, but then he's turning to me, and I remember how freaking close our faces are. “Do you want us to drop you off somewhere?”

Good question, Charlotte. Now what?

The last thing I want to do is go back to the hotel with Dad. Not tonight.

“Um …” I consider asking them to drop me off at my Aunt Elisa’s place, but then I figure she'll probably call my dad and tell him two hot twins in an expensive sports car dropped me off in the middle of the night. Not a good way to start winter break.

“You can come back to our place,” Tobias says, shrugging casually. There's a tension in him though that makes me a little nervous. “We've got a party going on that'll probably last until sun up, but if that doesn't bother you, there are plenty of rooms away from the action.”

“You guys are having a party?” I look between the two of them. “That started … after you dropped me off at the boardwalk?”

“Several hours earlier, actually,” Micah says, grinning, his green eyes glittering. “We just up and bailed. It got boring.”

“Same old idiots, fawning all over us, begging for a scrap of attention. It gets old. We like Adamson best. Everyone's a rich asshole there, so the kowtowing and groveling is so much less.” Tobias turns on his blinker, slows, and makes a sharp left onto a road that travels up a row of mansions set right on the beach.

“Oh, wow, what a problem to have,” I reply with a roll of my eyes. “All that fan worship must be annoying.”

“Poor little rich boy, right?” Micah laughs as Tobias takes us up a driveway lined with cars. I can already hear the music from here. “What he's trying to say is: he'd rather be torturing you during Culinary Club than getting drunk and stoned with these dipshits.”

Tobias parks, and Micah kicks the door open, hoisting me up and out of the car and making my head spin. He's literally carrying me like I weigh nothing. When he finally deposits me on my feet, I cling to his muscular arm to keep my feet.

“Come on,” Tobias says, tossing the strap of my bag over his shoulder. “I'll show you to your room.”

He leads the way inside with Micah trailing behind. There are people everywhere, drinking and making out and smoking weed. They watch us as we pass, but I ignore them all. This is just a temporary thing. After break is over … I'll be going back to Connecticut, back to Adamson All-Boys Academy.

A weary sadness sweeps over me, and it takes all I've got to make it up the huge, curving staircase to the second floor and down the hall to the fancy white double doors at the end.

“Wait.” Micah slams his palm against one of them, pushing it closed as he glares over my head at his twin. “This room?”

Tobias glares right back.

“Yes, this room.” There's a tension building between them that escalates from zero to a hundred in an instant. I glance frantically between the twins, but I have no idea what's going on.

“No.”

“Yes.” Tobias goes to open the other door, and Micah sweeps past me, slamming it closed with his shoulder. “Get the hell out of my way. This isn't your decision to make. You gave up that choice a long time ago.”

Micah's nostrils flare in irritation, and he pushes off the door, storming down the hall and knocking a plant off a stand on his way. The vase shatters, but he doesn't stop, heading for the staircase and leaving me gaping behind him.

Tobias watches him go, shakes his head, and then pushes the door open, leading me into a huge master suite with a balcony view of the ocean. It's … “like a palace,” I whisper, and I see his lips twitch in a smile. We step out onto the porch, and I lean on the railing, gazing out across the water. “I thought you guys did everything together?” I turn to look at Tobias, but his face is already shutting down.

“Not everything,” he says, and then he offers up a tight smile. “The room is yours for as long as you want it. I'll let my mom know you're here. My dad isn't showing up until Monday, but if you want to stay for Christmas …”

“I'm going to see my mom,” I say, feeling dizzy with fatigue. My eyes seem to be closing of their own accord. All of a sudden I'm being lifted in the air, and I let out a small squeak of surprise as Tobias scoops me off my feet. He deposits me on the giant king bed, the gauzy curtains billowing around behind him in an ocean breeze. “Are you really going to keep teasing me when we get back to school?”

“Maybe.” He smirks at me and moves around the end of the bed, pausing one last time to salute me. “Night, Chuck.”

And then he leaves, closing the door softly behind him.

Within minutes, the sound of the ocean lulls me to sleep, and all I dream about is a girl with long dark hair and an enigmatic smile.

Who was she … and why won't anyone talk about her?

The ocean puts me to sleep, and the sunrise wakes me up at an ungodly hour. I climb out of the huge bed (it's actually way bigger than a king, definitely a non-standard size), and I take out the new dress the twins bought me, slipping it on and brushing out my hair. Before I head downstairs, I take my contacts out—sleeping in contacts is not good, not good at all—and slip on my glasses.

I'm so freaking thirsty, I'm not even nervous about being in the McCarthy mansion. I will wander around until I find something to drink, damn it.

There are people sleeping off their drunk everywhere, on the floor and the couches. It takes me a bit of meandering, but eventually I make it to the kitchen and find Micah shirtless and eating cereal from a giant silver mixing bowl.

“Oh come on, Toby,” the girl on the counter whines, reaching out to fiddle with his hair. He ignores her, leaning his hip against the kitchen island and watching me as I walk into the room. Why the fuck is she calling him Toby? First off, that's not Tobias, that's Micah. There's not even a split-second of doubt in me when I meet his eyes.

He flashes me a naughty smile, and then licks the milk from his lips. Yep, definitely Micah.

The girl turns to look at me, pushing back green-streaked dark hair as she narrows her eyes like I'm the enemy. I will never understand that mentality, girls pitting themselves against each other. Pretty sure she thinks I've come to steal him away.

Funny that, considering I’m damn near positive he’s just going to do whatever the hell he wants anyway. Neither she nor I have any control over that.

“Good morning, Chuck,” he says, snapping the ck sound off with a sharp smile. “Did you sleep well?”

“Actually, I slept great.” I slide onto the stool next to him, and he pushes over the milk and box of cereal. There’s a stack of clean bowls, and a pile of spoons next to them. Most of them don’t look made for cereal. In fact, one of them looks like a pie pan, but that’s okay. I’ll take it. “Somehow the sound of the ocean makes everything seem … better.”

“Mm.” Micah doesn’t respond, shoveling more cereal into his big, stupid mouth while the girl watches us.

“Toby,” she pleads again, trying to snag his attention. Something about her tone just bothers me, and I turn around to glare at her.