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“Dakota?”
At the moment, it sent a chill down my spine.
“W—What?” my brother stammered. “I mean, who…”
He stood near the bumper of an obvious rental car, a large duffel bag at his feet. He had his arms crossed now. His face registered total confusion.
“Umm, T—Tyler?”
Aurelius and Merrick’s fingers slipped through mine. They let go at the same time, just as I pulled my arms to my sides.
By then it was far too late, though.
“Tyler!” I ran to him, embracing him in the warmest, least-awkward hug possible. My brother responded by keeping his arms at his sides. Maybe because he was in shock.
“Sis?”
I hugged him again, then stepped back with my most ‘pleasantly surprised’ look on my face. It was a tough sell, though.
“What in the world are you doing here?” I asked him.
“I… came to see you.”
His eyes flitted to Jace, then back to Merrick and Aurelius as well. There was more than a little confusion in them now. But there was accusation, too.
“So you just showed up?” I couldn’t help but say.
“Yes,” he said mechanically. “We have a tournament tomorrow. The team’s back at the hotel, resting up, and you were less than two hours away, so I figured…”
“Well we’re glad you’re here, bro! ” Jace stepped up, all smiles. He jerked his chin toward the house. “Come in, check out the place!”
Unfortunately, my brother wasn’t having it. Tyler shrugged him off coldly, refusing to even look his way. Instead, he returned his gaze to me.
“What the hell’s going on here, Dakota?”
The resulting silence was a living, breathing thing. It stretched on for what seemed like an eternity, gathering strength and momentum as no one really knew what to say. It occurred to me that I could lie. That I could simply play it off as three roommates having a picnic, blowing off steam. Holding hands in a silly, funny way.
“Take a walk with me, Tyler.”
The words left my mouth sharply, almost defiantly. My brother didn’t quite register them right away.
“We need to talk.”
