“Chloe,” he said. “Was it you?”
His sister clutched my hand under the table, and I looked at her. She was trembling. Her eyes were huge, and her breath came in pants. She shook her head slowly, and Neil turned his attention to Logan. Alyssa had gone white as a sheet next to him while Logan had wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“Neil, why would any of us rip up your drawings?” Logan slowly got to his feet; every one of his small movements was carefully measured. Neil watched his hands warily.
He looked like a wild animal put on the defensive, ready to tear apart anything that made a false move in his direction.
Logan raised his hands in surrender, a gesture I’d seen him make in the past. He’d done it outside of Blanco to get Neil to throw away a shard of glass that was cutting into his palm.
“You can’t touch my things,” Neil hissed, lowering the arm holding thepad of paper. Logan nodded and moved away from his seat to stand closer to Neil.
“Neil, you’re the only one with access to the pool house right now. Your drawings have been in there lately. And none of us would do something like that.” Logan continued to approach him slowly. Mia tried not to cry, but she let out a small sob, catching Neil’s attention. As he looked at her, a cruel expression came over his face, and she looked down, unable to bear the chilling gravity of her son’s stare.
“Neil, try to get ahold of yourself. Please.” Logan spoke to him in his usual calm, tolerant fashion. A few more steps and he would be able to touch Neil, but instead he paused a little ways away, perhaps seeking permission to continue. Neil gave him a suspicious look and backed up.
“Okay, I’m stopping here,” Logan said, correctly interpreting Neil’s standoffish look. “Can I… Can I just see what happened?” He stretched out an arm in Neil’s direction, open palm face-up.
Neil’s golden eyes flicked down at him, but once again, he didn’t seem capable of communicating normally. He somehow looked like a scared child and a dangerous man at the same time. His imposing frame loomed over Logan’s and his broad shoulders spoke his insurmountable strength.
His whole body was a tight bundle of muscles and nerves. The bulging veins on the back of his hands showed the rising rage that he was trying to tamp down in any way he could. He shook his head again and touched his hair nervously. A move he always made when he was feeling anxious.
“I’m going to go… I… I… I’m going,” he muttered confusedly. He stepped back and took a deep breath.
“Neil…” Logan tried to call his brother back, but he raced out of the room.
None of us commented on what had just happened after Neil left. We were all shocked speechless.
After lunch, I went to my room to chat with Alyssa. I found out that she couldn’t stand Neil but that Logan didn’t know that because Alyssa was afraid she’d lose her boyfriend if he found out how much she disliked his older brother.
“I think he’s completely off his rocker.” She twirled her index fingeraround her temple, and I glanced at her in the mirror. I was brushing my hair while Alyssa talked about Neil.
“We don’t know what might have happened to make him that way,” I responded shortly. I was irritated by the flippant way she was talking about Neil. First of all, she barely knew the man. Second, I felt this primal urge to come to his defense, especially now that I knew some of the truth about him.
“I get why the girls at school are content just to fuck him. I mean…that’s all you can really expect from a guy like Neil. They say he’s a beast in the sack,” she said boldly as she lay on my bed and perused her red fingernails. Though I’d told Alyssa a lot about me and Neil, I’d never gone into specifics about his skills in bed. She’d tried to get me to spill the beans in the past, but I was deliberately vague, and I recognized this as another attempt to coax more details out of me.
But Alyssa, like most everyone else, was making the mistake of judging Neil solely on his physical appearance. Neil was more than what he showed to the world, though.
“He’s not a sex object.” I quit brushing my hair and switched to applying makeup.
“How are things going between you two anyway?” Alyssa watched me curiously as I applied mascara.
“They’re not going at all.” I sighed. I hadn’t told her what happened at the beach. If I had told her that Mr. Disaster had treated me like crap and then rejected me, she would think I was an idiot for continuing to pursue him. Sometimes I even thought that about myself but then I thought about what Neil had gone through during his childhood and my anger gave way to understanding.
“I figured,” Alyssa murmured. “I’ve seen him with Jennifer a lot since you’ve been gone,” she added. I froze with my mascara wand in midair and stared sharply at her through the mirror’s reflection. I had long suspected that Jennifer was back in the rotation, but knowing it for sure hurt.
I turned to Alyssa and fought for a breath. Jealousy had my lungs locked up. My stomach swam with nausea.
“Where?” I asked in a small voice.
Alyssa chewed on the inside of her cheek and gave me a shamefaced look. She obviously regretted telling me.
“Enough about that guy. Come on!” She hopped up off the bed and approached me, looking beautiful as ever. Sometimes I really admired how charming and confident she was. “Why don’t you come out with us tonight?” She took me by the shoulders and gave me a vigorous shake—the way she always did when she was trying to convince me to say yes to one of her suggestions.
“And be the third wheel while you and Logan cuddle up and make out? No, thanks,” I said teasingly, and she arched a disappointed eyebrow.
“Oh, come on. We’ve never made you feel like that,” she huffed, and that was true, but I still didn’t want to crash her night with Logan. They were a couple, and if they decided to switch it up and spend a few hours alone, I would have been in the way.
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and we both turned to see Logan, who had poked his head inside to peer at us.
