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"Thanks." She goes back to scrolling, but not before shooting me a glimpse of a thankful smile. Dex starts asking Tianna about school and I shift my attention back to the starcrossed lovers on the other side of the room just in time to see Brazen reach out for Minnie.
She pushes him away in an instant, as far away as she can. He seems hurt and surprised by her reaction and he shakes his head before getting up from the sofa and approaching the rest of us.
"Any luck?" Dex asks in a deep, dark voice.
Brazen gives him a blank stare. "She says it's nothing. That it was always nothing. We're... nothing."
I get up and squeeze his hand to reassure him. Tianna gets up too, pocketing her phone and clapping our brother on the back.
"Plenty of other fish in the sea, right?" she asks sweetly, but Brazen just shakes his head. He looks... broken. Like the maid's daughter just handed him his heart on a plate.
We all turned around to see Minnie walking out of the room. Brazen calls out after her, but she ignores him and races up the stairs.
"Can I go speak to her?" Tianna asks, and we all look at her with surprise. "What? I can be nice."
"Sure," I say after an uncomfortable pause. "Dex, show her where Minnie's bedroom is."
They walk out of the room together, leaving me alone with Brazen who's nervously pacing the room. One look at my brother reveals just how frayed his nerves are.
"Brazen," I call out to him. "Talk to me. What happened back there?"
"She said it's over," he says, then laughs, repeating it. "Over. How can it be over, if it never even began?"
"You and Minnie... never...?"
"No," he shakes his head. "I kept away from her as much as I could, while trying to protect her."
"But you don't want to?"
"What do you think?" he laughs bitterly.
"Okay, stupid question. But you can get out of the wedding you're being forced into, Brazen."
"What do you mean?" He narrows his eyes at me.
"Well... you know that Eden Falls rulebook?" I ask, and he nods. "Let's just say I have a feeling it's about to be rewritten."
He stares at me for a moment, and I'm pleasantly surprised by the fact he hasn't just written me off and laughed in my face. Brazen laughs out loud, saying, "If anyone can rewrite history, it's going to be you, Pandora Oakes."
I fight the proud beam off my face, deciding instead to shift the topic back to Minnie.
"Once that happens, you'll be able to be with her," I reassure him. "There will be no one to stop you."
"Not even you?" His smile sparkles with mischief and I'm grateful to see the less serious side of him, if only for a moment.
"I don't have a vendetta out against you, Brazen," I tell him.
"Who then?"
"It's not who," I shake my head. "It's what. This town, Brazen. Eden fucking Falls. It's rotten to the fucking bone. And I can't go around hoping to change people one by one. I need to change the society we live in. I need to show these people the way they treat others isn't right."
"But by doing that, don't you risk losing power yourself?" Brazen's eyes sparkle with interest, and I'm surprised he's proven to be a worthy conversationalist. I didn't peg him for much of a revolutionary, but maybe it's his relationship with Minnie that's pushing him to believe I can change the system.
"One person doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things," I reassure him. "What's one sacrifice to change the lives of so many others?"
"Those are dangerous words." His tone holds a warning, and his gaze holds cool interest. "Who are you to decide?"
"Who are they to decide?" I demand.
