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“What is it?” I ask her. “You look like you’re holding back. Did Raine tell you something? I saw the two of you talking.”
“You’ll be pissed,” she says quietly.
“I already am.” I swing her arm playfully, but Charlotte doesn’t laugh. “Tell me,” I plead teasingly.
“I’m only the messenger, but you lost the lead because you’ve been with too many girls. You were voted out.”
I scoff, floored by disbelief. “That’s hypocritical.”
She glances over at me. “You’ve been with a lot of girls.”
“People do that now. We’re doing that now. People hook up without commitment. What about your sister?”
Charlotte pulls her hand out of mine and shoves it into her pocket. “That’s so completely different. My sister is in a relationship.” She scowls. “And I didn’t think we were hooking up.”
I realize that I’ve landed in it and then put my foot in my mouth. “No, we’re not hooking up.”
“I know,” she smirks wickedly, “because you’re still talking to me.”
At some point, we must wander off the path. An easy enough mistake when part of it is covered with snow, and we walk farther until the massive oak comes into view. Its jagged branches are stenciled across a dull gray sky. The tips of the tree are covered in tiny buds, anticipating spring. I shiver in my coat, irritated with a winter that has overstayed its welcome. I want spring. I want to start over again.
“My sister is in a loving relationship. It’s not a hookup.” Damn. She is still thinking about what I said. “You barely spent enough time around her to form an opinion.”
“I’m not judging people, Charlotte. People are judging me.”
“I’m not judging you either. I’m just wondering about your opinion. Are you sleeping around?”
“I haven’t thought about it,” I reply.
Her eyes narrow and flash with annoyance as her rosy lips tighten into a frown. She doesn’t have to tell me I fucked that answer up.
“I mean, I’m not looking,” I reply quickly. “It works for your sister to sleep around.”
Charlotte’s breath comes out of her mouth like a dragon’s. “She’s not sleeping around. It’s not a hookup. She’s in love with four men, and they love her. They made a decision to be together. Does that make her a slut?”
Like a dumbass, I’m struck speechless as I try to say something deep without making the situation worse. My lips shake, but it isn’t from the cold.
“My sister’s not a whore. You’re the whore.” She blocks my path. “You have issues to work out, so you’ll stop blaming other people when you’re called out for acting badly.”
Anger spikes in me again. “My mother caused my father’s suicide. Senior year, I found him dead on the floor with an empty pill bottle in his hand. Do you know what it’s like?”
Charlotte stares at me in shock and then at the tree. “Jaxon, I’m sorry. But you really should talk to someone.” She sighs. “It just occurred to me. None of us have fathers anymore. I guess we’re all fucked.” Charlotte turns and heads back toward campus.
We walk in silence up the path to the dorm, and she glances over at me when I sigh. I just realized the obvious.
“Nothing,” I reply when she asks. “I have to head to class. Will you be okay?”
She smiles at me then looks at the short path leading into the dorm. “I’ll be okay.”
I nod and watch her through the glass, climbing the stairs until she disappears through the door on the fourth floor.
I sigh again as I walk away. Charlotte wasn’t talking about her sister. She was talking about herself.
CHAPTER 12
Hudson
Charlotte doesn’t want to go back to the Oak, and we understand why, so no one pushes her. She spends most of her free time locked in her dorm room, studying. In fact, none of us push her into going anywhere.
