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And he was, his soft snoring filling the room.
Clint moved his foot, getting my attention.
I raised my eyebrows at him.
He held up his phone, and I saw him texting.
My phone lit up a second later.
Trenton moved to his side, letting out a loud yawn, and pulled his blanket tighter. He’d be next to fall asleep.
Clint: You and Scout hung out tonight? What was that about?
Me: Nothing.
He kicked my foot, glaring at me.
Me: I mean . . . there’s a weird attraction between us, but we also hate each other.
Clint: Are you serious?
Me: I don’t like it either, but I think tonight was just about distracting me. I really can’t explain it.
Clint: What did you guys do?
Me: I punched his bag for a long time. He trained, and then I studied on his couch in the garage. We didn’t even talk.
Clint: Really?
Me: Yeah.
Clint: Alex is worried about you and S. I am too. Trenton too.
Me: You don’t have to be. For real.
Clint: We don’t want you to get hurt again. It feels like we just got you back, you know?
I sent him a smile because my chest warmed.
Me: Thank you. Love you guys for coming over and doing this.
He grunted, and Trenton lifted his head to look at him.
“Sorry,” Clint said softly.
Trenton closed his eyes and curled into a ball.
Clint: The consensus is that we don’t like you and Scout, but we can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. I know Alex is going to talk to Scout privately, which he said is none of anyone’s business, but you know what that’ll be about. Could you let me know if things change with you and Scout? Not that I want to know—because I don’t, but I love you and feel like we should know. So we’re aware. Is that cool?
Clint: That was a fucking long text.
I grinned, laughing softly.
Me: I will.
Me: What’d you do after school?
He frowned.
Clint: ?
Me: You know what I mean. There’s no question if you did something. I know you did something. What’d you do?
His mouth went into a flatline.
Clint: Better if you don’t know.
Me: Clint . . .
Clint: Leave it alone, at least for now.
I frowned.
Me: Tell me if I need to know, okay?
He didn’t reply right away. I kicked his leg.
He grunted, but texted.
Clint: I will.
Me: Good. LOVE YOU
He grunted and flashed me a slight grin before he tossed his phone to the floor and settled back down.
A girl was about to get butchered on the television, and I had a moment because I realized that between my cousins, the drama of finding out who did what at school, and Scout, I hadn’t thought that much about my dad or Max today.
All that warmth had firmly settled in my chest. It wasn’t moving.
The horror movie was so bad that it was making me laugh. The guy was butchering the girl with a rubber chicken. Who used a rubber chicken to commit murder?
Clint kicked my foot, rolling his eyes. “Shut up. It’s not that bad.”
“It’s pretty bad.”
He started laughing, covering his mouth so he wouldn’t wake his brothers, but he agreed with me.
It’d been the perfect fit for the night.
23
RAMSAY
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and as I took it out, I glanced over my shoulder. Then I sighed.
Gem: Hi! What are you doing? How are you?
Gem: Are you okay? It was crazy pants yesterday and you took off, which I get, but also—I need to know you’re okay and if you’re not, give me a clue. Like send me a single emoji and I’ll make a plan to figure out where you are and how to get to you and how to get you out of wherever you are. Okay? Okay. Proceed.
That made me laugh.
Me: I’m currently watching Kira and her friends hanging all over my cousins, and I’m trying not to puke.
Gem: WHAT? Where are you? Do you need me to call in the Red Cross?
Me: I’m pretty sure you’re getting your emergency people wrong, but no. I’m okay. At my cousins’ for a BBQ. I’m in the backyard at the campfire because I’m avoiding the inside where my aunt and mom are. But I’m also avoiding the basement where my cousins and Kira’s group were flirting, but they just moved to the backyard. They’re pretending to play basketball.
Gem: Oh. Got you. I’m handing you a Kleenex in sympathy right now.
Me: Thanks. I’m taking it.
And oh, boy, but this needed to be handled as well. My chest got tighter.
Me: Also, going to be honest. I don’t want to talk about my ex or my dad. I’m sorry I didn’t say this to you until today.
Gem: No. That sounds realistic. I’d probably hide for a full month.
Me: No, you wouldn’t. You’d go to your cousin and your family, and they’d be there for you. You’d also probably think of me before I thought of you, and I’m sorry for that. I really am.
