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“I don’t know what you mean.”
I can clearly hear the humor in his voice, and it makes me want to reach through the phone and the five hundred miles separating us to throttle him.
“Um, how about the fact that he’s completely unhinged? I met a guy from one of my classes at a club last night, and Jace totally ran him off. Like caveman, alpha male, ran him off.”
“Why?” Teagan snaps. “Did he put his hands on you?”
I rake a hand through my hair and fight the urge to scream. “As a matter of fact, he did, but Iwantedthem there.”
“Brynn—”
“Don’t ‘Brynn’ me, okay? You know for a fact I’m not that kind of girl. All we did was dance and kiss. That was it. And we were in a public place, surrounded by people. I was perfectly safe.”
“Listen, I’m sure if Jace went big brother on him, there had to be a good reason.”
I scoff. Of course he’s taking his side.
I launch into a diatribe about what an ass Jace is as I recount the events of last night, including details about how Jace’s hypocritical ass had some nameless blonde hanging all over him. All Teagan does is piss me off more when he says, “Sounds legit to me.”
“Really, T?” I wrap an arm around myself, annoyed. “You need to tell him to back off.”
“Listen, you haven’t spoken to me at all since you left for AU, and you’re my baby sister. Of course I’m gonna ask him to look after you.”
I snort. “I’m younger by four minutes.”
“Hey, a lot of wisdom was gained in those four minutes.”
“I’m serious.”
He groans. “Okay.Fine. If you really want me to, I’ll talk to him. I just . . . I don’t want to see you go through what you went through ever again, you know? It killed me to see how you went from being this fun-loving, carefree girl to shutting everyone out.”
I sigh and bite my lip, finding it hard to stay mad at him when I know how good his intentions are. We’ve always had a strongconnection. When we were kids, we leaned into the twin thing. My mom dressed us in coordinating outfits. We finished each other’s sentences. Could read each other’s emotions with a single glance. After the incident sophomore year, I didn’t tell anyone for weeks. Teagan badgered me on and off for over a month before I finally caved and told him, scared of how he’d react.
He was there for me when I had no one.
He kept my secret after I begged him not to tell my parents or our friends.
“We both care about you,” he says. “You know that, right?”
I hum in response because the thought of Jace caring about me does weird things to my insides. Which is ridiculous. Jace tolerates me at best, and the feeling of hatred is mutual. Jace Taggart has never cared about a girl a day in his life. He wouldn’t know a relationship if it bit him in the ass.
“So, you really like this dude, then?” my twin asks in the answering silence.
“I mean, I’m just getting to know him, which is kind of the point. If Jace runs him off, or any other guy I show an interest in for that matter, how am I ever going to know for sure? But from what I’ve gleaned, he’s really sweet. Not that he’ll ever speak to me again. Jace has probably scared him off for good.”
For all I know, Stanley really does think there’s something going on between me and Jace. But I don’t say that. For some reason, speaking it out loud feels like planting a seed I don't want to sprout.
“Well, if he scares that easily, then he’s not good enough for you,” Teagan says like it’s so simple.
“T, I’ve been talking to him for a week. After Jace acted like a caveman, I’d hardly gauge his interest in me off the fact that he doesn’t want trouble with AU’s new starting wide receiver. Jace is practically wearing his title like a freaking badge of honor.”
Teagan grunts, which tells me he disagrees, but he won’t say it. “Everything else good? You’re staying safe?” he asks, changing the subject.
I bite my lip and nod, even though he can’t see it. “Of course.”
“What about your roommate? Is she giving you a hard time?”
“Jace tell you about her?” I deliberately didn’t say anything because I know he’d report back to Mom and Dad and I don’t want them to worry.
