Kings of Linwood Academy - The Complete Box Set: A Dark High School Romance Series by Callie Rose (sight word books .TXT) 📕

their looks that make it impossible for anyone who knows them well to ever mistake one for the other.

Dax’s features are a little heavier, his shoulders a little more broad. It seems to match his character since, out of the two of them, he’s the one more prone to seriousness—although both of the Lauder boys can be total goofballs.

He’s got a little scar above his right eyebrow, barely noticeable but there, and I want to know how he got it. I doubt it was from playing football, considering the disdain he seems to have for Trent, Linwood Academy’s star quarterback. But maybe it was from some other sport. Dax strikes me as the type who would’ve been an athletic kid. Both he and Chase always seem to have energy to burn.

My gaze shifts to Chase, and his bergamot scent tickles my nostrils as I study him carefully. He’s got the same strong jaw, straight nose, and golden skin as his brother, but his features are just a little sharper, a bit more angular. Even in sleep, a small smile curves his lips, and I unconsciously mirror it.

This boy was born to smile. He was born to be happy, and unlike some people, whose happiness is reliant on external circumstances, on achievements and wealth and status, I think Chase could find happiness no matter where he is, no matter what life throws at him.

I like that. I don’t think I’m the same way, but having him in my life reminds me that happiness like that is possible.

As I gaze at him, the smile on his lips spreads wider, and his eyes suddenly pop open, clear azure irises shining.

“Quit starin’, ya perv.”

I yelp softly in surprise. Shit. How long has he been awake?

Dax’s arms tighten around me from the other side. “She’s probably just trying to figure out how identical twins can have a hot one and an ugly one.”

“Oh, come on,” Chase shoots back, grinning at me before glancing over my shoulder at his brother. “She’d never call you ugly to your face.”

Chuckling, I burrow deeper into their arms as they banter back and forth, good-naturedly disparaging each other’s hideous features.

I forgot the twins go from dead asleep to wide awake in seconds. The past few weeks at River’s house, I’ve gotten used to waking up in stages and giving him a bit of time to rejoin the land of the living before making any attempt at conversation.

Dax and Chase are like a mug of strong coffee upside the head.

The three of us stay in bed for a while, until the room brightens around us.

I check my bruise in the mirror and find that the swelling has gone down a bit, although the deep purple looks just as harsh in the light of day. When the twins lead me downstairs for breakfast. I can’t help but tread lightly, worried about running into their parents, but as it turns out, there’s no need for concern.

We bump into their mom on the way to the kitchen. She looks like she just got back from a run, in a designer tracksuit that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe combined. The guys introduce me, and if Mrs. Lauder notices that they’re each holding one of my hands as they do, she doesn’t say anything.

“Nice to meet you, Harlow.” She glances at my bruise, then tugs her gaze away and smiles, looking distracted already. She glances at Dax and Chase. “Your father and I have that party at the Masterson’s tonight. You’ll be on your own for dinner. I’ll have Cheryl cook something and leave it in the fridge.”

“Sure. Have fun.”

Dax nods, and he and Chase lead me away as their mom heads upstairs. She’s older than my mom, but she could probably pass for younger. Whatever plastic surgery she’s had is subtle but effective, peeling away the years as if they never existed.

I wonder if she’s trying to reclaim the youth she “wasted” on raising her kids—that is, if giving birth and then basically ignoring the twins could be called raising.

“Told you.” Chase grins at me as we walk into the kitchen, which is huge and full of chrome and steel appliances. “She doesn’t give a shit.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

My stomach goes tight as I glance back toward the stairs where Mrs. Lauder disappeared.

I feel a sudden need to make up for the lack of affection the twins get from their mom and dad, to make sure they know that they’re cared about. Cherished. I rise up on my tiptoes to kiss him, and he returns it hungrily before walking to one of the fridges and rifling through it.

It’s strange. Their entire interaction with their mom was actually… pleasant. There didn’t seem to be any tension or anger on either side. But they also didn’t sound like they were talking to their mom—more like they were talking to a roommate they barely know.

A painful pressure builds in my chest, and I realize what I want to do today. What I have to do.

I need to go visit my own mom.

“Oh my God, Harlow! What happened?”

I barely pick up the phone receiver in time to hear my mom’s words. She shot to her feet the second I entered, and she’s staring at the purple bruise on my head with wide eyes.

“I got into a car accident.” I lift a hand to cut her off before she can say anything else. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”

“Is everyone else okay? What happened? Whose car was it?”

Her barrage of questions comes fast, and I bite back a smile as I realize one unexpected side benefit of my stupid car wreck is that at least it’s taking my mom’s mind off her impending trial with an incompetent lawyer as her only defender.

“No one else was hurt, it was just me. The roads were bad, and I spun out. It was… a friend’s car.”

She knows who River is, but I don’t mention his name. Dax and Chase drove me today,