GAGE
Coco pressesa kiss to my cheek. “You having fun, honey?”
“Yeah, Ma.”
She smiles like she believes it, pats my chest once more, and then someone calls her name and she glides back into the party.
The second she’s gone, Cruz steps into the space she left behind, beer dangling loose from his fingers. Shoulders relaxed in a way that’s never real. His gaze tracks the direction Bellamy disappeared.
“Let’s go talk,” I say.
Cruz’s brow lifts slightly, mouth tipping like he might smirk but decides not to give me the satisfaction. “Sure,” he says easily. “Let’s chat.”
We slip through the side gate, cross the strip of grass, and head into the garage. Cruz locks the door behind us and punches in the keypad. The scrambler hums to life overhead.
It feels like overkill for a simple conversation. We do it anyway. Habit’s a bitch.
The garage is the same as always. Safes bolted into the back wall. Workbench cluttered with tools. Boards racked overhead.Beverage fridge stocked. Chest freezer humming behind the couch that Rafe insisted we have.
Cruz hops up onto the workbench, expression blanker than it has any right to be.
“Bellamy Hale, hm?” he muses with a low whistle. “Didn’t see that coming.”
I brace my hands on my hips and force out a laugh that doesn’t fool either of us. “I didn’t tell you anything.”
Cruz hums with amusement, like I just said something charming. “You didn’t have to. I’m not an idiot.”
I glare. He takes a slow drink, forever fucking unbothered.
Silence stretches—thick, familiar, wrong in a way that makes my shoulders tense. My head fills with things I don’t invite.
Bellamy laughing so hard she snorted when she wiped out.
Cherry Cokes stolen from the fridge, cupcakes eaten by the pool.
Nights skating under the pier lights—Cruz too fast, me chasing, Bellamy darting between us like she belonged there.
Then everything shifted.
Jobs. Responsibilities.Fuckingfeelings. Lines drawn without us noticing.
Now it feels like there’s a canyon where that space used to be.
Cruz breaks it first. “You going to tell me what’s going on?”
A smirk ghosts across my lips as I meet my little brother’s eyes.
“Why don’t you tell me? You’re the smart one, aren’t you?”
Cruz barks out a soft laugh. “Nah, that’s Bishop.”
The mention of our oldest brother in the same breath as everything spinning through my skull feels like a spike to my gut.
“You gonna tell him?”
Cruz tilts his head. “Should I?”
Something cold cracks open in my chest. My smirk dies instantly.
