Chapter 24

“I miss him so much,” Dylan chokes out. “So damn much.”

My ears perk up and I stop in my tracks, eavesdropping on her conversation with Sawyer.

“I know,” Sawyer says.

There’s a long pause and then…

“Why don’t you go see him?”

“I can’t.” Dylan sighs. “Jace knows my schedule like the back of his hand. There’s no way I’d be able to sneak away without him questioning my whereabouts.”

A spark of anger lights my belly.

That little tramp.

My brother was the best damn thing to ever happen to her and she’s cheating on him?

“I can cover for you,” Sawyer suggests. “We can tell him we’re having girl time at the mall.”

My mouth drops open in shock.

Wow. For someone who gave me so much shit about coming clean to my brothers about Stone, Sawyer has a lot of nerve offering to cover for Dylan so she can run off and screw someone else.

“Thanks,” Dylan says. “You’re a—”

“Two-timing whore,” I scream, hobbling into the living room. “How the hell could you cheat on Jace!”

Blanching, Dylan springs up from the couch. “Cheat on Jace? What the—”

“What the hell is going on?” Jace questions behind me.

I spin around to face him. “I overheard your girlfriend making plans to see some guy behind your back.”

Jace’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “What?”

Dylan and Sawyer open their mouths to speak, but I don’t give them the chance.

“Dylan kept talking about how she missed some dude and then Sawyer offered to cover for her so she could go see him without you suspecting anything.”

Sawyer’s jaw practically hits the floor. “Wow.”

“Wow nothing. Helping Dylan cheat on my brother was wrong and you know it.”

“I’m not cheating on your brother,” Dylan shouts.

“You were making plans to see him?” Jace questions.

He’s so visibly irate and hurt a knot forms in my chest.

Anger crosses over Dylan’s features and it makes me want to punch her because she has no fucking right to be angry.

“Yes, I was,” she hisses. “God, I am so tired of you never understanding where I’m coming from. He’s my—”

“Dylan,” Jace growls. “Not here.”

Snorting, she looks at me. “Right.”

I take a step in her direction. “You know what? I think you should leave.”

She already hurt one brother and I’m not going to stand here and let her hurt another one.

Over my dead fucking body.

She snatches her purse off the coffee table. “That’s a great idea.” She glares at Jace. “I’ll be back for the rest of my shit later.”

His face falls. “You’re leaving?”

Dylan’s eyes become glassy. “I always thought we could make it through anything.” Her voice drops to a painful whisper. “But I’m not so sure we can make it through this.”

With that, she walks out the door.

Breaking my brother’s heart in the process.

“Fuck her,” I utter. “She doesn’t deserve you.”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, Bianca,” Jace snaps.

Growling, he launches the glass he’s holding at the wall, causing it to shatter and Sawyer to jump.

Then he stalks off, nearly running straight into Cole who’s walking into the room.

Looking around, Cole takes a big bite of the sandwich in his hand. “What’d I miss?”

Crossing her arms, Sawyer glares daggers at me. “Your little sister causing trouble.” I open my mouth to defend myself, but then she says, “I thought you changed for the better, but it’s clear you haven’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If you would open your eyes and your heart and stop hating her for two seconds, you’d realize just how much Dylan loves Jace and your family,” she snaps. “The girl is putting her own pain aside to be there for Jace and you, and—” An irritated groan rips from her throat. I don’t recall ever seeing her so upset before. “You were wrong, Bianca. So fucking wrong.”

I’m about to ask what she’s talking about, but she brushes past me.

“Bible Thumper,” Cole calls out after her, but she waves him off.

He turns to me. “What the hell did you do?”

I have no idea. However, something tells me I seriously messed up.

Chapter 25

“Thanks.” I close the car door. “If I’m not out in twenty, you should probably call the police because one of us most likely killed the other.”

Cole snorts. “Duly noted.”

I rub my sweaty palms on my jeans and grab my crutches from the back seat.

I didn’t plan on coming to Jace and Dylan’s apartment but when I asked Sawyer where she might be so I could talk to her, she caved and told me she was here.

I might not like Dylan for what she’s done in the past, but I’m willing to hear her side of things because Jace is so damn miserable without her it’s hard to look at him.

Drawing in a deep breath, I knock on her apartment door.

It opens a moment later.

Dylan’s eyes are puffy, like she’s been crying all day. “What do you want?”

“Can we talk?”

Her eyes narrow. “That depends, are you gonna call me a whore again?”

I shrug. “Only if you’re cheating on my brother.”

She steps to the side, gesturing for me to come in. “I’d never cheat on Jace.”

The sincerity in her eyes tells me it’s the truth.

But if that’s the case, I don’t know what to make of what I overheard this morning.

I hobble to the couch and take a seat. “Then who was this guy you missed so much and wanted to see behind his back?”

Sighing, she pinches the bridge of her nose. “My father.”

Color me confused. “Huh?”

She opens the fridge, takes out two bottles of water, and hands me one.

“My dad’s in jail again.”

Stone’s words from a few weeks ago flit through my head.

I love Jace, but plastering photos of her dad’s mugshot all over school was fucked up.

So was me jumping to conclusions.

“I’m sorry.”

She plops down on the far side of the couch. “Yeah, me too.”

A weird thought occurs to me. “Why would you need to hide seeing your dad from Jace?”

Jace is all about family so it makes no sense to me.

I’m not sure what to make of the expression on her face. “Because he wants me to stay away from him.”

“Why?”

“Um…” She swallows hard. “Well…let’s just say he made a really bad mistake and your brother no longer thinks he’s a good person.”

“But he’s still your dad. Your family.”

Jace is the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, but I can’t see him forbidding Dylan to see her own father.