“Uh…no?” I look at them again too, but their side profiles do nothing to jog my memory.
“That’s Isabella Vic and Kel Steinberg,” Dylan emphasizes in a whisper, looking at me expectantly like I should already know who those people are.
“Okay…”
“You’re such a freshman.” He rolls his eyes. “Kel is best friends with Christian Vic. Isabella is Vic’ssister.”
Raising my hands, I press my index fingers against my temples. “I’m really failing to see the point you’re making here, Dyl. Can you help me out, please?”
“I don’t get how people can stoop so low. I mean, the betrayal? Hisbest friendand hissister?”
My heart plummets into my stomach.
A mechanical laugh bursts from my brother. “I mean, if that was you and Gareth? There’s no way I’d ever forgive either of you. You’d both be dead to me.”
I try to take a breath, but my throat tightens, restricting any airflow. Everything around me seems louder than it should be, and I hear the door to the locker room slam closed behind me.
I don’t need to look to know Gareth’s there. The air shifts—I canfeelhis presence.
“Hey man!” Dylan bellows entirely too loud for the echoing space we’re in. His voice rings in my ears, but it’s nothing compared to the silence that follows.
Turning slowly, I look at Gareth, standing just outside the doorway with his duffle bag hanging limply in his hand, his hair still wet from the shower.
Our eyes meet, and his normally rich hazelnut hue is darkened, clouded by the frustration he’s failing to hide.
For a second, I can see the devastation reflected, and I wish I could take Dylan’s words back—put them into a box that’ll never be opened.
But I can’t.
Just like we can’t change how Dylan feels.
Gareth’s jaw tightens as he drags his gaze from mine and over to my brother.
“Hey,” he finally says, voice hoarse and nearly cracking.
It feels like a knife to the heart when my brother claps him on the shoulder and they fall into step, walking with me expected to trail behind.
“You down to chill tonight?” My brother’s completely oblivious to the impact his words just had on us—his best friend and his sister.
He’dnever forgive us.
We’d bedead to him.
His voice rattles through my mind, the damage he just unknowingly caused settling deep in my soul. Damage I don’t know how to undo.
Because as much as it kills me to admit, my brother will always come first. He’s my best friend, practically my twin. Deep down, I know I could never do anything to hurt him, and now I know whatever thisthingbetween me and Gareth is—thisattraction—has the power to completely annihilate him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Indy, wake up,” the gruff whisper of a man echoes, but it’s not enough to pull me from the dream I’m having.
The rain pitter-patters against the window of my childhood bedroom while soft music plays through my headphones, but it’s not the normal songs on my playlist. No, right now, with Gareth on my mind, the only thing I want to listen to are the heartbreaking melodies of?—
“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey.”
I’m startled awake by the sound of a man’s voice in my bedroom—a man who certainly isn’t supposed to be here. When my vision focuses, I’m greeted by the sight of my brother’s face smiling down at me.
Quickly, I pull the covers up over my chest. I don’t sleep naked, but the thin white tank top and boy shorts won’t do much to hide what my sibling certainly doesn’t need to see.
