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“Keep calling me big guy, and you’ll find out how big I really am,” I say, serious as a heart attack.
“You’re too much of a gentleman to take advantage of a drunk girl. Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Ooh, what a baby,” she teases, poking my arm. “Were you and Paige actually in love? Like, hopelessly, wildly in love?”
I sit there, stunned. Because honestly, I don’t know. I have nothing to compare what Paige and I had to anything. I had hookups, but no other girlfriends. Well, until Sutton. And she doesn’t even count because it’s fake.
“Yes,” I finally say with little to no emotion in my voice, but not on purpose.
She eyes me over, her eyes narrowing the slightest, subtlest bit. “You know what I think? I think you were bored with Paige. But she was the safe choice, and you loved that your parents hated her because, secretly, you like to be the black sheep.”
Even in my drunken stupor, my jaw tenses. “That’s not true. I loved her.”
“So, you’re saying you don’t now?” she says, tilting her head to the side.
“What? No.” I run my hands through my hair. “That’s not what I’m saying. I don’t know what I feel for her now.” My head spins, and I laugh. “Truth or dare?”
“Dare,” she coos. “I’m no little bitch, like soooommme people on the boat.”
“I dare you to call your parents and tell them you’re with me now.”
She holds her hand out. “I’ll do you one better. I’ll call them from your phone.”
Placing my phone in her hand, I lean back on the couch and watch her dial their number. It’s late. Hell, it must be eleven at night. But she hits a few more numbers and puts the call on speakerphone.
After a few rings, her father’s groggy voice answers. “Hello? Hunter, this had better be good if you’re calling me. You no-good sack—”
“Actually, it’s me,” she says smoothly. “Hunter let me use his phone, like the good boyfriend he is, and you’re on speakerphone.”
“Sutton?” Her father seems to wake up, knowing it’s his daughter on the line. “What the fuck do you mean, your boyfriend? This must be a joke.”
“It’s not a joke. We’re together and in love.” She grins. “Isn’t that right, Hunter?”
“Sure is,” I say. “Hey, Sam.”
Before he can respond, Sutton speaks again. “I just had the best dinner with the entire Thompson family. They’ve excused me for the fact that my parents fucked them out of the land they were going to get.”
“So, let me get this straight, years ago, we mentioned you dating Hunter, and you were appalled. Now that we’re at war with the Thompsons, suddenly, you’re in love with him?” He laughs bitterly. “You really are something else, Sutton.” He pauses. “Oh, and, Hunter, your brother was twice the person you’ll ever be. Remember—”
Before he finishes his sentence, she ends the call. She suddenly looks sober, though I know she isn’t.
“He’s a dick,” she says nonchalantly, relaxing back on the couch. “Sorry.”
“Nah, it’s all right.” I shake my head and give her a half-assed grin. “He speaks the truth. We all know that Holden was the better person. And he would have been a way better man.”
Her dad would have been crazy to not think my brother was the better person. Everyone knew that he was. He didn’t have to work at being a good kid. He just was one. He planned to dedicate his life to finding cures and fixing people. And even though he was way too young to decide on a lifelong career, I have no doubt that he would have followed right in my parents’ footsteps to medical school.
“Truth or dare?” I say, and she rears her head back.
“You just had your turn, jerk.”
“Truth or dare?” I repeat.
“Truth.” She scrunches her nose up. “The last dare didn’t turn out all that great.”
I inhale, looking at her before I look up at the stars. “You knew my brother loved you. Even though you were young, you knew.”
