“So?”

“So, I have access to find out shit. Like who the fuck Tim Harper is and why someone we know thinks he’s a sleaze.”

She froze again, and then slowly, as if she were letting one muscle at a time unlock, a different look came to her. Hope? Fear? Caution? I couldn’t place it, but it was a mix of all of them and more. So much more.

She whispered, “Who said that to you?”

I didn’t think Blaise would care I dropped his name, he could handle himself, but it was the principle of not outing someone that kept me from saying his name. I shrugged. “Just someone.”

She stared at me, long and hard. “Blaise DeVroe.”

Her eyes closed a brief moment and she nodded to herself. Her hands raised up, raking through her hair before dropping back to her knees. “That makes sense. He wouldn’t give a shit about Harper either. Zeke would. Zeke would get in trouble, and that’s why you’re not confirming it came from Blaise.” She was talking to herself, studying the wall by her door. “What do I do here? What do I do?” Another anguished whisper choked out as she closed her eyes, “I have no idea what to do here.”

I lost patience. “Just tell me what is going on! Let’s start there.”

“You don’t get it. You don’t—”

“Tabatha—” I had no idea what I was about to say, but then the words were just coming out. I was shocking myself right alongside Tabatha. “You told me that I didn’t know how to have friends. You’re right. You were right. With me, it was either family or not. But you became a friend. I have no clue how that happened. Sometimes I want to wring your neck because you’re a snob. You’re stuck-up. You can be a colossal bitch.”

“Look who’s talking!”

I spoke, ignoring her, “But Jordan fell in love with you, and somewhere along the line, I started liking you, too.” We had our hiccups, but there it was. I did like Tabatha. “I didn’t know what I was going to do when I came here today. Jordan didn’t tell us why you guys broke up until last night.”

“What?” Her lips parted. “Are you serious?”

I nodded. “We’ve been in this weird—anyway. It doesn’t matter. When I went to bed, I wanted to come here and rip you apart. I brought Hawk—”

“Her name is Hawk? Are you serious about that?” She was trying to keep from laughing.

I scowled. “I can call her back, if you’d like. You can laugh at her name right to her face. See how that goes for you.”

Her laughter vanished. She coughed, straightening up in her chair. “Right. Back to, uh, me and Jordan.”

“Blaise never said anything, but,” I had to relent something, “there was a look he gave Cross.”

“A look?” A look. Got Cross thinking, going over what Blaise hadn’t said, so he technically never said a thing.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Her spark was gone again, the dull, dead look washing back in its place. She seemed to go pale before my eyes. “I can’t say anything. This is pointless.”

“Hey!” I didn’t like that. “I’m here. I’m not pointless.”

Tabatha’s eyebrows pinched together. Her forehead wrinkled. Her mouth turned down. “There’s nothing you can do. This has nothing to do with any of this and everything to do with my parents. It’s that type of shit.”

“Like what?” What could possibly be that bad for her to make out with a guy and end it with Jordan? “What? Does your dad owe Harper’s dad or something—”

No…

I clocked her reaction. She full-on twitched, jerking in her chair. If she’d been pale before, she was a ghost this time.

Oh no.

“Are you serious?” My mind was spinning. This was bad, so bad. “I was just throwing out guesses. I never—” Damn. Damn! “Holy shit, Tabatha.”

She jerked to her feet, coming to me fast. “You can’t say anything. My dad has no idea that I know. He has no idea about Tim.”

“But, wait. Okay. I know enough to know that I need to know all of it. Tell me everything.”

She chewed on her bottom lip, looking torn.

“Everything, Tab!”

“Oh, God.” She turned in a tight circle, starting to pace in front of me. Her hands went to her hair and she began pulling on her strands. “I can’t. I mean. Oh my God. I’m starting to hyperventilate. I can’t breathe, Bren. I can’t—” Turning back to me, tears rolling down her face, her mouth was trembling. “It’s bad. It’s really bad.”

I was getting that. Stepping toward her, I softened my tone. “You have to tell me. Just tell me, Tabatha. Please.”

She stopped, her entire body now shaking. “I’m so scared to say anything. I know you. If I tell you, you will do something. I can’t let you do anything. You’re Jordan’s family. If you got arrested, you’d go to prison this time. Jordan couldn’t handle that. I can’t be the cause of him watching his sister go to jail. I can’t, I mean, I won’t tell you.”

“FUCKING TELL ME!”

My patience was gone.

She jumped again, slamming into her desk, but she didn’t seem to even notice. She half-perched there, and her shoulders lifted, held, and fell. I saw the defeat on her face. Her entire body, as well as her mind, seemed to give up, shrinking in front of me.

Then, she told me everything.

FROM: Tazsters

TO: Brenners

SUBJECT: WHAT IS HAPPENING IN CAIN?

Wtf?! Tab called, completely losing it. And full disclosure, I’m somewhat being a bad friend. She had a ‘moment’ like a week ago and I forgot about it. School is good here. I’m loving it, but missing everyone there. Worried about Tab, to be honest. She was just crying and I couldn’t make out a lot of what she was saying. Something about a Zach?

Do we know a Zach? I feel out of the loop.

The Best Twin

CROSS

I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing, but then again…why not? Crazier things had happened in our life. Bren called as soon as she was done at the sorority, and she asked to meet up, just the two of us. We found an outside café off the grid, and it was there that she explained everything.

I already felt a pounding headache forming. “You serious about all of this?”

Bren nodded, taking me in, and I saw the shadow forming. “What are you thinking about doing?”

I snorted. “Not tell Jordan. He’ll fucking flip out. He’ll kill Harper and won’t think twice about it.”

“Which one?”

Another snort from me. “Does it matter?”

Seriously. I was tired. College was supposed to be different, more normal for us all. Yeah, I knew Bren was restless. She was feeling out of sorts from the group, but that was a stage. She’d find her niche. We’d find ours, and no matter what, no one was moving forward without the others. Four years. I wanted four years of being a student, no major brawls, no drug dealers fucking up my sister, no moments where I almost commit murder, and certainly no administration and crooked fucking cops arresting Bren. And that was all just the tip of the iceberg of our stuff.

Now this shit?

When would it be over? When would we be steady again? Even though I hadn’t had her at that time, a part of me missed the early days of just boozing it up with Jordan and Zellman, maybe taking the edge off with a girl—any girl—before I went in search of Bren. It was always Bren. I needed those girls, because if I hadn’t, I would’ve needed Bren too much. They took off the edge for what I felt for her.

We moved at the right time for her, and that was my place. I always went by her timetable, about what she was ready for or what she wasn’t. I knew when to push, when to hold back, when to launch forward, when to pick at her, when to piss her off, when to tickle her, when to love her, and when to make her melt. I knew Bren more than I knew myself, and staring at her, I already knew there was no way we weren’t wading into this thing, neck fucking deep.

“Why?”

That shadow faded and a spark replaced it.

Oh yeah. She was lighting up for me already.

She wanted this fight. This was how Bren made sense of the world, where she was comfortable. This was her world and hell, her brother knew what he was doing when he sent those bounty hunters her way. Because they hadn’t just happened to be in Cain’s hospital the same time as Bren’s shift. The guy got his wound in another town over, one that had a better hospital. Channing sent them there. He probably knew Bren would suffocate slowly at the job she had.

Fucker. He was smart.

And why hadn’t I thought about it?

Honestly? Was I jealous because he thought ahead for her and I hadn’t?

Pathetic. Me.

But she hadn’t answered me. I scowled. “Answer me, Bren.”

“What?”

“Why do you want to get involved with this? What are we supposed to even do?”

She shifted on her seat, irritation tightening her features before she softened for whatever reason. That’s what Bren did. She got mad, and then she either hardened herself or she melted. When she was with me, it was the latter. Every time. And I found myself grinning because fuck, I loved her.