Something in me detonates. “What?”
My brother swipes both hands down his face, trying to erase the shame in his eyes. “Fuck,” he curses. “I’m sorry. You were never supposed to find out. I was trying to protect you.”
I blink a billion times.
My eyebrows swing up like they’re trying to escape what I just heard.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
This isn’t happening.
First Chase. Now Tag.
Two completely different betrayals. Two cracks in the same fault line.
One left me. The other stood beside me and said nothing.
Is that all I am? Someone people walk away from and lie to in the name ofprotection?
Because I don’t feel protected.
I feel stripped. Exposed. Like every person I’ve ever trusted has been holding a secret behind their teeth, just waiting to let it rot.
“How dare you,” I rasp, tears pooling in my eyes. “How dare you stand by and watch me suffer, all while you had the remedy in your back fucking pocket.”
His eyes flare. He looks shattered. Taking me by the shoulders, he bends to eye level. “I never wanted this.”
I wriggle out of his grip. “Don’t touch me.”
“Christ, Annalise, I didn’t plan any of this. A guitar showed up at my door—one of his builds. No note.” He swallows hard. “So I traced it.”
The air leaves me. “How?”
“There was a return label. Rural post office, no name. I got curious.” He lets out a bitter breath. “I dug into it, dropped the band name once or twice. One thing led to another.”
“You found him?”
“Yeah,” he murmurs. “I found him.”
For once in my life, I can hardly string together a handful of words. “Is that where you really went back in June when you said you were visiting your college buddy in Boston?”
A rueful nod.
“So you lied.”
“Because he begged me not to tell you,” Tag says, stepping forward. “He said if you knew where he was, you’d come after him. And he didn’t trust himself not to let you.”
My stomach pitches. “That doesn’t make sense. I don’t—”
“He was scared. He told me everything that happened that night…minus a few details I made him leave out.” Sighing, he rakes a hand through his hair and stares over my shoulder. “He said he hurt you. Said he was afraid he was becoming—”
“Yeah, I got that speech too,” I cut in, grief spilling down my cheeks. “He fed me the same noble, self-sacrificing story. But you know what no one did? No one asked me. Not once. Not what I wanted. Not what I could handle. You both made choicesforme like I’m some delicate flower who needs shadeand watering, when all I needed was to be heard. To have a voice in my own story.”
Emotion glimmers in my brother’s eyes as he stares at me, pleading for forgiveness with just a look. “He didn’t want to leave you,” he says. “God, he looked broken. But he was convinced staying would hurt you more, and I believed him. I believed him because I couldn’t watch you go through that again. I believed him because if someone has the balls to walk away from the love of their life, they’re either a coward or they’re trying to save her.” He pauses, reaching for me again. “And Chase isn’t a coward.”
“I don’t need saving anymore,” I counter, pulling back. “I just need him. I’ve needed him foreight months.”
