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A smile snakes across my face at the thought.
“What’s with you today?”
My head jerks at the sound of Teagan’s voice. For a moment, I forgot about him, and I nearly choke on a blueberry.
Coughing, I feel my cheeks burn as I take a sip of my coffee, then meet his eyes. “Nothing. Sorry. Just forgot how much I loved these.” I hold the muffin up as evidence.
It’s not a lie.
Teagan grunts and takes a huge bite of his scone, eyeing me skeptically. “Still, something’s with you. You seem . . .” He chews a minute longer waving a hand in the air as if trying to come up with the right word. “Different.”
Shit.
I want to lie. Deflection is definitely the route to go, but Teagan knows me better than anyone. We’re twins and the whole telepathy thing between us has always been strong. One way or the other, he’s going to know something’s up with me, and if I don’t at least give him something, he’ll go looking.
We don’t want him looking.
“Well, actually . . . when I told Mom there weren’t any boys at school, I wasn’t 100 percent honest with her.”
Teagan’s eyes widen, and he reaches up to scratch the golden scruff over his jaw, as if needing a moment to absorb the thoughtof me liking a boy. “So, is it serious? Are you just dating? Hooking up?” He winces as if the latter causes him physical pain.
“I think it’s serious. I mean, it’s still pretty new obviously, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but . . .” I pause a moment, trying to think of how I can describe it without showing my hand. “. . . it feels like we’ve known each other forever.”
Teagan shakes his head and leans back in his seat. “I don’t get it. Last we spoke, you swore off boys because of that douchebag—”
“Stanley.”
“Whatever.” He rolls his eyes. “How can you be serious about someone so quickly?”
I shrug. “It just sort of happened. I don’t know. I don’t want to say too much because it’s new. That’s also part of the reason I didn’t mention it to Mom. You know how badly she wants me to find someone, and I don’t want her getting excited just for me to let her down.”
“You know she just wants you happy.”
“Of course,” I say, nodding. “But you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I do, but I don’t want you to get hurt. You need to be careful.”
I bite my lip. Suddenly, the melting whipped cream in my latte is fascinating. “I will, but I don’t think you need to worry. He won’t hurt me.”
When he doesn’t say anything right away, I risk a glance at him to catch his sour expression. “Who is he?”
“Huh?” I blink up at him as if I hadn’t heard the question.
“Who is he?” he says, slower this time. “Is he another frat boy?” Teagan rolls his eyes. “I really hope not.”
“No, he’s not a frat boy,” I say, hesitantly.
“Why didn’t Jace tell me about him?”
Guilt shimmies under my skin like a splinter, and I grind my teeth against the pain. “Jace isn’t my keeper, Teagan.”
“Whatever. So, who—”
“Listen, can we just . . . let this drop for now?” I ask, my heart in my throat. “Please.It’s new and he and I are just figuring things out. I don’t even know where this is headed long term, but I promise he’s a good guy, and I’m happy. Like, really happy, T. Happier than I’ve been in a long time.”
His gaze searches mine, looking for any evidence contrary to what I’m saying. And when he doesn’t find any, he nods, his mouth a tight line as he says, “Okay, Brynn. We’ll do this your way for now. But if he hurts you, or you need something, I better be the first to know.”
CHAPTER 35
