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“You really wanna know? Ros and I had a big fight,” I whisper, everything tumbling out in this rush of upset. “I went to see her at the shop like I told you. I just wanted to know why she’s been avoiding me and Mom, but I almost didn’t recognize her. You were right. There’s something wrong—it totally creeped me out. She’s too jittery, her eyes are weird, and she’s starting to look hollowed out. But Aleksander was there, too. And she wouldn’t listen to a word I said. Not as long as she was hanging all over him like he hung the stars.” I shake my head angrily. “I don’t get it. I don’t get how he has this hold on her, but there’s something about it thatscaresme, Grant.”
“Hush,” Grant soothes.
He releases one hand so he can curl his fingers against the back of my neck, coaxing me in.
Next thing I know, I’ve buried my face in his shoulder, wrapping my free arm around his neck.
I’m not crying. Not yet.
But my entire body shakes with the force of holding it in.
Grant, he just—
He lets me be.
He weathers my confusion, my sadness, while I turn into a complete wreck against him, sheltering me, his hand kneading softly against the nape of my neck until the pressure relaxes me and I melt against him.
I shouldn’t feel this content when I was a total mess ten minutes ago, but that’s the thing about Grant.
Sometimes his silence is infuriating.
But sometimes, it’s medicine, knowing he’s as unshakeable as a mountain.
He finally breaks the stillness with a thoughtful growl, though, the vibration thrumming against me.
“I didn’t want to presume,” he says. “Not with Ros. But if we both think there’s cause for concern—”
“What can we do?” I whisper. “She’s a grown woman. We can’t override her own decisions and we can’t make her stop seeing him.”
“We’re still her family.”
We.He says it so casually it warms my heart.
I smile.
“If she can see it’s coming from a place of love, maybe she’ll stop being defensive and listen. If not for her own sake or for yours, then for your ma’s. Can’t imagine Angela would want this at all,” he says.
“No. Then again, Mom would want her to be happy, even if ‘happy’ doesn’t look like what we’d expect...” I idly stroke my fingers along Grant’s throat. “I’m trying not to judge. I just... I don’t think she’s actually happy right now. Not if she was in her right mind. How could she be when she knows—she knows—” I stop, the words dying on my tongue.
“It’s more distant for her, not like how it was for us. Don’t forget that. She was so young when Ethan disappeared.”
Ever the voice of reason.
I want to hate it, but I can’t.
Suddenly, Grant shifts his hold, gathering me into his lap and pulling me across the small, awkward space between us until I’m settled on his thighs. I curl up there, tucking myself snugly against his body while he rests his chin on top of my head.
“The three of us were fucking inseparable. Ros probably felt like an outsider when she’s so much younger and Ethan’s memory isn’t as strong. Not to mention how much we all tried to shelter her from the worst of it, from our suspicions.”
“Yeah, but after all the rumors, and what happened with the Arrendells and Celeste Graves...”
“I know. That might be what’s behind it. Ros has a rebellious streak under that shy girl surface. Maybe dating Aleksander was a way to defy the rumors or face them in her own way after she got sick of all the whispers and nosy-ass glances. Then she got pulled in deeper than she could handle.”
“I could see that,” I say wryly, curling my hand in his uniform shirt. “This feels weird, you know.”
“What? My shirt?”
I smile faintly, tapping one of his glossy buttons. “Sitting in your lap like a little girl asking Santa Cop for presents.”
