Page 138 of All the way home

“My cousin falls hard. Like, head over heels. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. And I see firsthand exactly how Kieran makes him feel like he’s the center of the universe.”

Fighting the urge to squeeze his eyes shut, Zach says, “Okay.”

“And then, after all kinds of promises, we all go home. And Kieran?” Lucas steels his jaw, gaze intent as he stares into memory. “To this day, has not said a word to my cousin. Not even a goodbye.” A shiver runs up Zach’s spine when Lucas flicks his eyes back to him. “You know what’s even weirder? He looks just like you.”

He picks up his phone and swipes through photos until he finds what he’s looking for, turning the screen toward Zach.

The picture makes Zach’s stomach turn over. The guy on Lucas’s screen isn’t him, exactly, but the shock of scruffy dark hair and the close-mouthed, self-conscious smile is enough that Zach catches what Lucas means, what Kieran told him: Kieran has a type.

“Kieran did the exact same thing to Rena’s friend Oscar back in high school. He’s not exactly . . . careful with the people he says he cares about.” Lucas sighs heavily. “He’s hurt Rena too.”

Zach’s mouth opens, then falls shut.

“I’m not saying Kieran is a bad guy. I guess I just thought you should know that he can be . . . careless. So take whatever he’s been telling you with a grain of salt.”

“Good to know this is a pattern,” Zach says. It feels as though something in his chest is crushing inward.

“If it helps, it’s not about you. It’s just how he is.”

It does not help.

Zach wants to punch a wall. All he says in reply is, “Yeah, okay.”

Then he hooks his fingers around his suitcase handle, swings his backpack onto his shoulder, and walks away.

Chapter Forty-Four

Rena

“What?” Rena asks. “Why?”

“Don’t you get it?” Kieran runs a hand through his hair. The brilliant spark he’d had when he’d first shown up is gone, replaced by a feverish brightness to his gaze. “If we don’t fight, we’ll never talk. And if we don’t talk . . .”

She does get it. She dreads it too, the thought of a repeat of this year. The silence. The space. The horrendous knowledge that Kieran’s got a storm in his head and she doesn’t ever get to see so much as a hint of it.

All Rena’s been trying to do is avoid fighting with Kieran.

But he’s right. There’s no avoiding this one.

“Okay,” she says shakily. “Then let’s fight.”

Grimly, Kieran nods.

“How do we . . . do that?”

“You asked me why I didn’t tell you my real opinion about you and Lucas,” he starts, without hesitation.

Rena has the sudden, sickening suspicion that he’s been preparing for this for a long time.

“And I said that I knew my opinion wouldn’t matter to you.” Kieran heaves a shaky breath. “So ask me why.”

Voice small, Rena asks, “Why do you think your opinion wouldn’t matter to me?”

“Because I know what you really think of me.”

“Which is what?”

“I know what you think I did to Josiah,” Kieran says dully. “I know what you think about last year.”