"Get it yourself." He hops up on the counter across from me and opens his soda.
"Why can't you just do something nice for me?" I get up and go to the fridge.
"I'm already nicer to you than I should be." He guzzles his soda, then burps as he sets the can down. "Shit, that hurt. I'm not used to carbonated stuff."
"How exactly are you nice to me?" I ask, sitting back down with my soda.
"I talk to you, for one." He chomps on his chips. "Like ask you shit. Nobody else does that. Nobody cares."
"Jackson does."
"Yeah, but you're fucking him. Hehasto listen to you." He sets the bag of chips down and picks up his soda. "Why him? Why Jackson? Just to get back at Braden?"
"No! Braden had nothing to do with it."
"Then why? Why start something with Novak when you know he's an enemy of our family?"
"I didn't know that when I met him. And he's not the enemy. Just because Braden hates him doesn't make him the enemy."
Trystan jumps off the counter. "You have no fucking clue."
"About what?"
"About the shit he's done." Trystan returns to my junk drawer, rifling through it and taking out a candy bar.
"You mean how Jackson dated Braden's ex? Andrea went after Jackson. He didn't try to date her. Same with Kristen."
"And then he flaunted it in Braden's face. Took them wherever Braden hangs out just to piss him off."
"Seriously? Braden's mad because Jackson just happened to show up at the same place Braden was?"
"With his EX," he says, like I'm not getting the point.
"Yeah, I get it, but that's not enough to make him the enemy. And you can't prove he purposely went there to piss off Braden."
"That's just one thing. The Andrea thing is even worse." Trystan rips open the candy bar wrapper and takes a bite. "Novak made Braden look like a killer to the cops. He made up all this shit about Braden getting pissed and hitting girls. Leaving them with bruises. Strangling marks."
"Wait—strangling marks? Like on their neck?"
"Where else do you strangle someone?" He takes another bite of the candy bar. "This is fucking good. I haven't had chocolate forever. I see why you like this shit."
I slide my empty plate aside and focus on Trystan. "Were the marks really there? Did he have proof?"
"No. He made it up. That's why he's the enemy and why you shouldn't be fucking him."
"What girls did Jackson say Braden did this to?"
"I don't know. I think Alyssa was one. Maybe Kristen."
"Kristen? He strangled Kristen and she didn't tell anyone?"
"He didn't strangle her. Or anyone else. Weren't you listening? Novak made it all up to make Braden look bad."
"What if he did it but not to hurt the girl?"
"What do you mean?" He tosses his candy wrapper on the counter.
"Like during sex. Isn't that a thing?"
