She fake shudders, making me laugh. “Your brother sounds like my brothers.”
Which is the truth.
My brothers are overprotective and it can be annoying sometimes.
But I don’t begrudge them that. I don’t begrudge them their overprotectiveness and all their rules and curfews, their genuine worry about me.
Mostly because we don’t have parents.
Our father took off just after I was born and our mother died of cancer when I was four.
So they’ve brought me up, you see.
Together, they’ve taken care of me, loved me and protected me more as my parent figures than my brothers.
Especially Conrad.
“But I guess they do it out of love,” I continue, “since we’re all we’ve got. I don’t have parents, so we take care of each other.”
That makes Tempest smile. A sad sort of smile but a smile nonetheless as she says, “Me too.” Then, “Well, I do have parents but they’re as good as nonexistent so my brother takes care of me and Itryto take care of him.”
I smile then too.
I’ve never met anyone who has understood this, understood what it feels like to have no parents and only siblings.
But I guess this new girl gets it.
What a fun coincidence.
“So your brother,” I chirp, wanting to know more about her. “Does he go to school in New York too?”
Oh and does he know Reed as well?
How doyouknow Reed?
Why are you here for him? Do you like him? Are you…
God.
I need to stop.
It’s none of my business.
She isn’t the first girl to be in love with him and she won’t be the last. If anything, I should probably warn her about him.
I should tell her that he’s never ever going to reciprocate her feelings.
Because all he does is break hearts and makes girls cry.
“Nope. He goes to school here. He’s a senior,” Tempest replies.
“Oh! Who is he?” I ask. “Maybe my brother knows him. He’s a senior too.”
Before Tempest can answer though, there’s a roar around us and we both get distracted. The crowd is cheering and the reason for it is apparent as soon as my eyes land on the field.
It’s him.
He’s the reason, the Wild Mustang.
