“What about him?”
“Here. See for yourself.” I shoved the phone at him, and he picked it up. Darkness clouded his eyes when he handed it back to me.
“You’re not going, I presume?”
“No. I never have.” The room started clearing out. I could see Brenner by himself at the table.
“Any particular reason?”
With Grady, I knew I had to choose my words carefully. “We don’t get along. As you might’ve figured out from his message. Anyway, we’d better get going.”
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” My steady gaze was all the answer he needed, and he shook his head. “Fine. But you know I’m here for you if you need to vent.”
The last thing I wanted was to dive into the rot of the relationship between my father and me. It was deep and ugly and would send me into a dark place I had no desire to revisit. My smile was tight. “Thanks. It’s not a big deal, so please, let’s drop it.”
Grady looked unconvinced, but I wasn’t about to cave and he knew it. “I think your partner might be waiting for you. What’re you going to do about him?”
“Nothing. Hopefully with the scavenger hunt, we can ignore each other. I’ll catch you later at dinner.” We parted ways, and I passed by Brenner, who scrambled up from his chair and followed me.
“West, wait up, please.”
I kept going. Brenner caught me by the arm and held me with a firm grip. I could feel the heat of his hand through my shirtsleeve and whipped around.
“I think it’s pretty obvious I don’t want to talk.”
“So let me. I want to apologize. I was wrong to read your text, and I’m sorry.”
If I refused to accept his apology, I’d look petty. “Forget about it. No big deal.”
“Are you sure?”
I neither needed nor wanted Brenner Fleming to feel sorry for me. “I said it and meant it, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember, but—”
“No buts,” I snapped and ran a hand through my hair. “Look, just drop it. Consider it one of the things you didn’t know about me.”
“Is there more? I still don’t know anything other than what you used to talk about in the frat house. Girls, vacations, and partying.”
Two could play this game, and I cocked a brow. “Does that mean you’re willing to talk as well?”
Brenner’s eyes widened; then he pressed his lips tight.
“I didn’t think so.”
We stood in the middle of the hall with people walking on either side, but our gazes clashed. I recognized that expression from years ago. Lockdown. Fifteen years ago I would’vebelieved it was typical Brenner Fleming disapproval based on a combination of jealousy and annoyance. Now I wasn’t so sure.
Hmm. Maybe there was something to be said about this exercise I’d dismissed as nonsense. Despite how angry I’d gotten earlier with Brenner, I itched to know more about his past. What the hell had happened to him as a child? The tidbits he’d dropped so casually in passing sounded horrifying and explained so much about his personality. Brenner was as cagey about his past as I was, though for different reasons.
With the room filling up, I wanted time to sit and check my messages before the afternoon session began. “We only have one more thing to do today, so let’s get it over with.”
“Guess that explains how you feel about the whole weekend.”
“What, that it’s a waste of time?” An inelegant snort escaped me. “All this forcing people together to play nice. If we don’t like each other, we should still be able to get along like adults.” I took my seat and scanned my phone. Nothing from dear old Dad. Hopefully he got the message and fucked off. For good this time.
Brenner’s brows skimmed his hairline. “That’s funny.”
My attention shifted to the man at my side, and I bristled. “Why?”
