That private admission forced my body upright, and when I jerked away from Blake too quickly, like I was hiding something, Becky latched onto the way he looked at me.
“I see…” A cruel smirk curled over her lips. “So, what? Tutor Girl over here bats her lashes at you, makes you feel smart, and what?”
I snapped my gaze to hers, glaring as I sat up fully.
“You think if she sucks your cock, maybeherdaddy will call youson?” Becky sneered down at me before dragging her icy-blue eyes to Blake. “You think you’re good enough to be part of their family for real?”
I recoiled. Even knowing she aimed to cut Blake, her words stung.
From the look on his face, they hurt Adam, too.
We stared, horrified, as Blake stood there seething. With his hands clenched into fists at his sides, he didn’t look at either of us.
Andthat—more than anything else—I couldn’t stomach.
The idea that Blake might believe the bullshit she’d so callously spewed broke my heart.
I got up and walked around the table, keeping my eyes on Becky. She shot daggers in my direction as I skirted behind Blake’s chair and came around to her side of the table.
They couldn’t affect me.
Not as the heat of Blake’s sky-blue stare scorched my neck.
“Blakeisfamily, Becky. He always has been and always will be. He belongs with us. Unlike you, I won’t ever have to suck his dick to get him to care about me. And Blake—” I turned my head and pointedly met his gaze, speaking to him as much as I spoke to her. “He’s smart enough to know his worth to us. Smart enough not to letyoumake him doubt his place in our family.”
“Yeah, and smart enough to know when it’s time to take out the trash.” Adam snorted.
I suppressed a laugh as I winked at him, and when Blake stepped forward, I turned back around. Smirking at Becky, I radiated smugness as Blake came up to us.
He stood at my side—the two of us against her—and jerked a nod towards the front door.
Becky gaped at him, her eyes brimming with tears. “Blake?—”
He pointed at the door. “Get the fuck out of my apartment.”
His voice rang out over the wordmy, and the finality in his tone as he got rid of her filled me with pride.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I arched a brow and waited for her to move.
To her credit, she didn’t cause an even bigger scene. She packed up her things and left. When the door slammed behind her, we took our seats at the table, each of us trying to refocus on our coming exams but distracted by our thoughts.
In typical Blake fashion, he broke the awkward silence. “So…we should address the elephant in the room. Right?”
I lifted my head cautiously, mentally preparing myself for which elephant Blake wanted to address. Writing off what Becky had implied about him and our family was easy, but I didn’t need to sit through his inevitable denial over what she’d implied about us.
But Adam saved me from that by releasing a loud, dramatic groan. “Ugh, let’s never discuss my twin sister and your dick in the same sentence ever again. Please. It was bad enough when Becky said it, but I feel like I need to go wash my ears out with bleach after hearing your dick referenced in a sentence by Addie herself.”
He returned to his notes, his pen diligently scratching away as my cheeks turned beet red.
That answered the question of how Adam would’ve feltifBlake had ever come around and shared my feelings. Not that I would’ve let my brother decide that for me.
But Blake may have.
So I couldn’t help feeling relieved that Adam had saved me from the embarrassment of Blake’s rejection, and disappointedthat the first time Blake opened the door to that conversation, my brother may have unknowingly slammed it shut.
I glanced at Blake beside me, and even though his chair remained inches from mine, the distance and barriers between us grew larger. At least for me, they did.
Blake shrugged. “I was just going to say that I’d never let someone like her come between all of us.” Adam smiled at him before returning to his notes, and Blake lowered his voice, as if suddenly speaking only to me. “Becky was neverthe one…or whatever.”
