“Wasdating?” Justin asks, quirking an eyebrow as he glances down at me.
“It’s complicated. I broke it off, just recently.” I trail off, not sure what else to say. Then, clearing my throat, “So, you want to tell me why you dropped out? I thought you were enjoying studying…” My brain fizzles out. “Computers?” I guess.
Justin laughs. “Computer science,” he corrects, in a patient voice that tells me he’s had to explain it before. “With a focus on cybersecurity.”
“Right.” I nod, handing him another stack of shirts. “That. You seemed like you liked your program.”
“I did. I really did.” Justin lets out a long, sad breath. “Promise you won’t tell Jade?”
I mime locking my lips with a key and tossing it over my shoulder.
He chuckles but runs a self-conscious hand through his hair. “I didn’t really drop out. I was sort of kicked out of the program.”
I reel back in surprise. Justin? Golden boy Justin, who never broke a single rule when we were kids? “Kicked out for what?” I ask.
He stretches up to add the stack of shirts to the display. “Harassing another student. And… assault.”
“Assault?” I repeat, shocked. Justin is the least aggressive person I know. He was the sort of kid who caught bugs under a glass and insisted on releasing them back outside. “What do you mean assault? What happened?”
Justin refuses to look at me as he fiddles with the merchandise. “It’s a long story. There was this girl. And we were friendly, but not like…friends, you know? Then last semester?—”
Jade’s voice from the front cuts him off. “Hey, trainee!” she shouts. “I need you up here for garbage duty!”
Justin groans and lets his arms drop to his side. “Sorry. Duty calls. You can finish these on your own?” He waves his hand at the stack of shirts and totes that still need shelving.
I nod, distracted. As he heads back up to the front of the store, hands shoved in his pockets, I watch him, frowning.
Justin has always been thegoodkid. Always playing by the rules. He was the one who broke up fights, who tattled whenever Jade or I misbehaved.
He would never harass another student. He would never hurt a woman.
Right?
Hours later,I’m still bothered by the idea that this boy I grew up with might have become a man capable of things I never imagined.
But I never suspected Chase could be the man he turned out to be, did I? I didn’t see the signs until it was too late, until I was already caught in his snare.
Monsters hide among us, wearing the most pleasant faces.
I wonder if Jade has the scoop about him leaving grad school yet. I wait until there’s a lull in the café traffic before I head over to ask her.
“Weird question, but did your brother ever mention a girl? At school?” I ask her, leaning over the counter.
Jade glances up at me from where she’s squatting on the ground, restocking the bakery case. “Sydney, I say this with all the love in the world:Pleasedo not try to date my brother.”
I let out a shocked laugh. “What? No! I’m not trying to?—”
“I know he had a crush on you when we were kids,” Jade interrupts. “And your children would be so cute, I would just die. But it would be like you’re dating the male version of me, and that’s just weird. I won’t allow it.”
I shake my head, still laughing. “You’re insane, you know that? He never had a crush on me. Where are you even getting that?”
“Oh, please, he’s liked you since high school. Even earlier, maybe,” Jade insists. “I’m just saying, as much as I’d love to call you my sister, if you ended up dating him and you somehow loved him more than me? I just don’t think I could handle that. That would destroy me.”
“I could never love anyone more than you,” I promise.
“Good,” Jade says, standing up and pulling off her food-safe gloves. “Plus, the last thing you need right now is a rebound. Been there, done that. No, this time you’re going to focus on you.I call it… Operation Sydney.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “Operation Sydney, huh?”
