“Sorry?”
“You’re still acting like I’m a stranger. It’s been months since Steele and I broke up, but I’m more hurt by the distance with you than with him. What’s going on?”
Brock looked at his beer, took a breath, and turned to me. The intensity of his eyes… it reminded me of why I had so often wondered if I had chosen the wrong Bernard Boy to date.
“What’s it look like when you were with Steele and I—”
No.
No, I wasn’t accepting this line of reasoning.
Maybe at the gas station, maybe after bail, but not here.
“That’s an appropriate answer when you’re sixteen, not twenty-six,” I said. “You’re both in your late twenties. Stop acting like teenagers or college kids who called dibs on me. And besides…”
I gulped.
“I know that’s not the real reason. You could open up to me and still respect what Steele and I did, if that was what you wanted to do. You could work through it if you didn’t. So what’s the real—”
“Stop it, Tara.”
There was nothing but coldness and darkness in his words.
“Don’t. Don’t you dare. You do not want to know me that well.”
“Brock—”
“Don’t trust me to do anything other than what you pay me to do,” he said. “You don’t want to know. And if you do, and you still trust me, it’ll only end in heartbreak for you. I’m happy to help you as needed. But don’t ask me to be deeply involved. I can’t protect you like that.”
He shook his head, grumbled to himself, and sipped his beer. I awkwardly scooted away and ran through what he could have possibly meant.
I knew he had no relationship with his parents, hadn’t really since he was about thirteen years old. I knew he had no siblings. I knew that when the Bernard Boys said they were family to each other, they meant it.
I had a vague recollection of Steele first telling me that Brock was Zack before Zack; with no context, that had meant nothing to me. Steele had also said something bad had happened several years ago with the Bandits, but warned me to not even hint at it. I was happy then to let that fade to the recesses of my mind.
Now, though…
Did it mean that Brock had once had a bright future before the Bandits took it away? That something had happened? But what? Did he—
His hand grabbed my knee tight.
“You’re bouncing,” he said. “Bad habit of yours. Makes the table shake.”
Oh, how strong his hand felt. How hot my leg suddenly felt. How… How…
“Chill out and enjoy the scenery,” he said. “I…”
His voice trailed off. I followed his gaze.
The man who saved the store a week ago was approaching us.
Brock
Ihad put my hand on Tara’s leg to…well, I didn’t want to admit why I had.
But sometimes, the temptation for a boy to play with some fire was a little too much.
But,fortunately, Cole Carter was here.
