“What?” Holden asked, still half asleep, his face creased with confusion.
I didn’t explain. I turned on my heel instead, preparing to walk away.
“Blair.” Something in his voice stopped me. Not force. Not anger. Something softer. I turned slowly, cautiously, unsure of what I would find. Holden was sitting upright now, the blankets pushed away. He looked at me the same way he had the night before, but without the panic, without the anger. What replaced it was worse. Love.
“What?” My voice sounded mechanical, stripped of inflection, like it didn’t belong to me anymore.
“Come sit,” he said, patting the bed beside him. I glanced at it for half a second before shaking my head, rooting my feet to the floor. Holden sighed and shook his head too, mirroring me without realizing it. “What happened last night?” he asked, his tone slipping into something parental that almost made me laugh.
“What are you, Mom and Dad now?” I muttered under my breath.
“No,” Holden said quickly. “I’m your brother. So please tell me what happened.”
“Nothing happened,” I shrugged. “I was having fun with Cherry. You’re the one who freaked out, then freaked Mom and Dad out, and then called Austin. Which you had no right to do.”
“What’s going on with you and Austin?” Holden asked, like the question had been waiting on his tongue.
“Nothing,” I said, meeting his eyes so he wouldn’t hear the lie in my voice.
“You broke up?” His eyebrow lifted slightly.
“We were never dating.” It wasn’t a lie. Not really. Nothing had ever been official. It had been a rush of emotion and gravity and heat, but no labels. Still, it felt like one. Because whatever it was, it hadn’t ended gently. It hadn’t faded. It had split the ground open beneath me and left me standing there, trying to remember how to balance when everything solid was suddenly gone.
“Are you sure about that?” Holden asked, studying my face like he already knew the answer.
“Yes,” I challenged him, because lying to Holden had always been easier than telling him the truth. What he said next stripped that confidence away in a single breath.
“He told me he’s in love with you.” Holden didn’t look away when he said it. His eyes stayed locked on mine, like he was watching for the moment it hit. And it did.
The words slammed into my chest like a wall I hadn’t seen coming. Except it didn’t feel solid. It felt like clouds. Soft, disorienting, impossible to brace against. I couldn’t tell if they were harmless or charged with lightning, waiting to split open. I heard Austin’s voice in my head, clear as if he were standing in the room with us.I always planned on falling in love with you.Planned. Not am. Planned, like it was a future tense. Like it was an intention, not a confession.
“Blair?” Holden said, pulling me back into the room.
“We’re not…” I swallowed, words slipping away from me. “I don’t know, Holden. We’re not talking right now.”
“You’re acting weird,” he said, his eyebrow lifting again. “Not just about Austin. Cherry called me last night. After you wentto sleep.” My brows pulled together instinctively. Traitor. Then again… I couldn’t really blame her. Could I?
“How about you, and Cherry, and Austin all stay out of my business,” I snapped, before shaking my head and correcting myself. “Actually—no. Cherry can stay in my business. She’s earned that. Not Austin. And definitely not you.”
“Why?” Holden asked, and there was no defensiveness in his voice. Just worry.
“Because Cherry’s never hurt me,” I said simply.
Holden sighed, long and heavy. “Blair, I—”
I raised my hand, cutting him off. “No. I came in here to see if you were still breathing, because you’ve kept me in suspense about that my entire life.” I took a step back toward the door. “You are,” I added flatly. “So I’m leaving.”
And again, I turned to leave his room, but he spoke before I could. “I know you’re not eating.”
My body went rigid, like I’d been caught in the beam of a spotlight. My mind immediately began cycling through the lies I knew by heart, lining them up, ready to choose the one that would work. I turned back toward him, searching his face for clues about which lie I’d need.
“I—” He didn’t let me finish.
“Oh, save it, Blair,” Holden said, his voice sharp but steady. “We’re twins. The same way you always know when something’s wrong with me, I know when something’s wrong with you. You’ve barely eaten in three days. I can see it all over your face at dinner. I can see the disgust in your eyes when you look at breakfast.” I didn’t respond. I just waited. My jaw locked so tightly I was afraid my teeth might crack. “I asked Cherry if she’sseen you eat,” he continued, and heat surged through my veins. “She said no.”
I looked at him then and saw the clarity in his eyes. The kind that told me lying wouldn’t work. Not this time. For a long moment, neither of us spoke. We just stared at each other, the air between us thick and dangerous. When I finally broke the silence, it was my words that caught him off guard.
“Even if you’re right,” I said evenly, “what exactly do you plan on doing about it, Holden?”
