Page 42 of All Fall Down

“Why do you think I advised you to stay here this summer?” Monroe asks. “There’s a lot you have to learn about this family.”

I glance toward the study doors, which have been shut behind mother and son. “You’re telling me.”

“Just to clarify, we’re not best friends or anything,” Monroe says.

“Agreed. So long as you tell me you’re not planning to sabotage me at the first opportunity.”

“Do you think I wouldn’t sabotage my friends?” She laughs, as though the suggestion of her loyalty is preposterous.

“Remember how you told me you needed to teach me how to be a West?” I ask her. “I think maybe it’s time for me to teach you how to be a decent human being.”

“Too late for that, I’m not interested.” If my barb stings, she doesn’t show it. “But rest assured, you’re better off being my family than my friend.”

My eyebrow arches. “And why is that?”

“Because this family protects each other. No matter what.”

“So I’m one of you then?”

“You could have delivered me to my mother. You could have told her the truth about what you know. She’ll find out eventually, of course. It’s an inevitability in my plan, but it wouldn’t have done you any good with her or with me. You’ve proved yourself to be a West with your loyalty.”

“I’m not even sure what that means,” I admit.

“It means you know how to keep a secret, and it means you’ll protect us, no matter what you know.”