Miles hands over another carrot. “Yup.”
“You’re sure that’s what he said?”
“Yes.” Miles’s hand stops just out of Maverick’s reach, and he looks at his brother. “Why?”
Hendricks doesn’t reply, but he’s worrying the inside of his cheek. The two of us wait for him to speak.
“Has Clementine spoken to you about anything recently?”
Miles shakes his head. “No. Actually, I haven’t really seen her in a while. Every time I’m at Burlington, she’s not there.”
“Why?” I ask. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” he replies, but the grimace on his face says otherwise, and he turns away sharply. “Fuck.FUCK.”
“Hendricks,” Miles snaps, repeating my question. “What is going on?”
Hendricks braces both hands against the stable door and bows his head like he’s physically wrestling with himself. “I told her to tell you,” he mutters. “I told her sheneededto tell you.”
Miles folds his arms tight across his chest, and his biceps flex under the strain he’s holding onto. “Hendricks,” he says carefully, “what exactly is Clementine supposed to tell me?”
When Hendricks straightens, his eyes are worried. Whatever he’s been holding on to has caused him real pain.
“Do you remember the Valentine match a few months ago?”
“Yeah.”
“Torres was there.”
Miles frowns deeply. “Sorry . . . what?”
“Santiago Torres was at the Valentine match.”
Miles pushes his hands deep into his pockets. “Why am I only finding out about this now?”
“Because I didn’t tell you,” Hendricks says, and looking at Miles, it’s obvious why. His entire body pops with tension as he runs a hand over the thick stubble coating his jaw.
His tone is scarily even. “Okay . . .”
“I went looking for Story and took the back path, and I saw Torres talking to Clementine.”
“What do you meantalking?” Miles asks sharply.
Hendricks hesitates. “They were arguing?—”
“Hen, spit it the fuck out. What are you saying?”
“I’m saying something is going on between Clementine and Santiago Torres.”
The silence is deafening.
My stomach drops, and out of nowhere, my mind returns to the evening of Agatha’s full moon party, and how upset Clementine had been. That had only started after I called Torres a bastard. I’ve returned to that moment over and over because I couldn’t put my finger on why it didn’t feel right, or what I’d done wrong.
She wasn’t upset because of Miles, who’s gone completely still beside me.
“There’s no way,” he says finally. “How would they even know each other?”
But his question fades because Hendricks just keeps staring at him, the air loaded with things neither of them wants to say out loud.
