And second, he was in serious trouble. This was the part he hadn’t shared with his brother, even though it was the real reason he’d sought out Jace. Because Wren was the part of this equation he couldn’t wrap his head around.
“Honestly,” Grayson confessed, “right now, I feel more attracted to Lark’s sister.”
The admission fired a whole heaping helping of guilt and disgust in his gut.
“Which is problematic, considering I shared a hotel bed and a kiss with Lark that I definitely wanted to take a hell of a lot further at the time.”
Jace frowned. “Wait. You’re attracted to Wren?”
Grayson nodded miserably.
“Jesus,” his brother muttered.
“Yeah. That’s pretty much where I’m at too.”
Jace stared at him for another long moment. “You said Lark was different at the festival, right? Not herself?”
“Yeah.” Grayson tried to put into words something that had bothered him for weeks. “I mean, there were shades of her personality, but mostly she was quieter, sweeter, less in-your-face than…” He sighed, pointing in the direction of the tasting room. “This Lark.”
Jace rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with in-your-face, Gray.”
“Says the guy who’s frequently in everyone’s faces.”
Jace gave him a shit-eating grin. “You’re just jealous because you’re not as fun and cool as me.”
“We have very different definitions of cool, bro,” he tossed back easily. Trash-talking was basically baked into the Storm brothers’ biology, all of them experts at giving the others a hard time. Mercifully, their sarcasm and teasing were tempered by the fact none of them was sensitive, all of them possessing the same wicked sense of humor, so feelings were never hurt.
“Still,” Jace said, thoughtfully, “it’s strange that Lark was so different at the festival, considering she’s exactly the same now as she’s always been.”
“Tell me about it.”
Jace went quiet again, his expression suddenly more focused. Like puzzle pieces were clicking together inside his head.
Then said, “Lark told me once that she and Wren used to switch places when they were kids, trying to prank their teachers and friends.”
Grayson shrugged. “I suspect most identical twins try that joke when they’re young.”
“What if they did it again?” Jace asked quietly. “Three weeks ago?”
Grayson stilled. “What?”
“What if they switched places at the festival?”
Grayson leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Why would they do that?”
Jace lifted one shoulder. “No clue. But it would explain things.”
The possibility that his brother was right slammed into Grayson hard enough to make his stomach clench.
He was a fucking idiot.
How in the hell hadn’t he figured this out on his own?
Suddenly, he was feeling like one of the dumbass, flawed heroes in the books Wren had been giving him to read.
His mind started replaying moments from the festival with this new information. And he remembered the woman who laughed at his jokes, who blushed at his compliments, whose eyes held warmth instead of challenge.
Then he compared those memories to the times he’d spent with Wren in the library.
