I gasped, realization hitting me like a head-on collision. “You know why he left, don’t you?”
“No.”
“Yes, you do!” I raised my voice. “Tell me!”
“Grace, quiet. The neighbors are going to hear you.”
“Do you think I care about the neighbors? You lied to me. You let me suffer.” I stopped in mid-fume, the worst-case scenario popping into my head. “Oh my god, Jake, did you have something to do with him leaving?”
“No,” he said, but there was some hesitation. “Look, all I will tell you is Rory wasn’t cheating on you.”
Tears instantly flooded my eyes. Jake reached over to comfort me, but I jerked away. “How do you know that?”
“I was with him that night just before it all went down. I called him out to the street to talk.”
“Why?”
“Because someone from his past was blackmailing me.”
“Was it his sister?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Whoever it was had also been threatening him. He left to protect you, Grace.”
“Then why nottellme that? Why make up a whole story about his foster sister?”
“That’s a question for Rory. And now that you’ll be traveling with him on the tour bus, you’ll have plenty of time to beat it out of him.”
“And you haven’t seen him since?”
My brother hesitated again.
“Oh my god. You’re worse than Quinn.”
“I saw him at the hospital. Right after you left the bathroom, I went in. We exchanged a few words, and then I left.”
I sighed, beckoning for the next part with my fingers. He knew the drill by now.
“I told him he owed it to himself to start playing again… and he might have expressed a desire to get back together with you.”
I kicked his chair. “And you’re just telling me this now?”
“Don’t you get all righteous with me, Grace. I didn’t see you running to Elliott and telling him you were in the bathroom with your ex. You’re no innocent when it comes to keeping secrets, so back off.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He paused, then lifted his eyes to mine. “The Reindeer Man?”
I gasped. Full-on horror movie worthy. “You were awake?”
“In the loosest of terms, yes. Things from that time are blurry, but I definitely remember you whispering that in my ear.”
“Why didn’t you say anything then?”
“Because you didn’t want me to know.”
“Yes, I did.”
“No, you didn’t. You said you’d never tell me if I was awake. And then when you came in to see me in my room later, you were so freaked out, sliding against the walls. Just like when you were a little girl. It’s why I never told you.”
