Somehow, I know these three little words just destroyed one of the last walls standing between us. And when we both find our release, I dare hope that we’ve been through the worst. That my brother will be happy for us when he comes back. Forgive our lies. And everything will fall into place.
But as Will once said, that’s the thing with high hopes…
They break your heart.
Kassidy
Seven weeks later
“What the fuck?”
It’s just before 6:00 a.m. when Alex’s voice jolts me awake. Out of it, I rub my eyes, crippled with back pain, and catch myself wishing I’d stayed at my own house last night instead of crashing with Will. Not a fan of the shitty inflatable mattress he calls a bed. I usually don’t make a habit of staying with him. He sleeps in Alex’s pool house, which means Alex could walk in on us any second and…
Wait.
Realization smacks me right across the forehead. My eyes fly open and I sit up straight, nearly having a cardiac arrest at the sight of Alex standing inside Will’s temporary home, staring at us with this striking shock in his eyes.
“Alex, wait… This isn’t… It’s not what you think,” I lie.
Will and I are lying in bed.
Together.
Cuddling.
Might take more than “It’s not what you think” to get out of this one. I shake Will’s shoulder, who groans as an answer. I shake him again.
“What?” he growls, his cheek propped on my stomach, and blinks a few times. I motion to Alex, and Will sits up, taking forever to comprehend the shit we’re in.
I expect him to panic, back me up, feed Alex a bunch of excuses, but instead, Will—being Will—yawns, stretches, and says, “Oh, hey man.”
Smooth.
“What in the hell? You two?” Alex’s gaze sways between Will and me for a second. “But… you said you were just friends.”
“And you said you didn’t scratch your mom’s car last week. Look at us. Like two peas in a pod.” Will grins.
I elbow him.
“Don’t listen to him. There’s a perfectly rational explanation for this,” I sputter.
Why am I even bothering?
We are so busted.
Alex scoffs. “You mean to tell me you didn’t fuck in this bed last night?”
“No, we didn’t,” I say truthfully.
Will shrugs. “She’s right. We fucked in your hot tub.”
My eyes grow three sizes.
“Will!” I screech.
When I convinced Will to confide in Alex about his homeless status, I was hoping the Holmeses could spare him a room until he got his own place. Alex’s parents reluctantly agreed to let Will use their all but empty pool house, only allowing him inside the house to use the bathroom.
No one was home yesterday and Will convinced me to spend the night with him against my better judgment. I told my mom I was sleeping at Morgan’s. He assured me Alex and his family wouldn’t be back until later. And well, from the looks of it…
He was wrong.
“You had sex in my hot tub?” Alex blurts out.
“To be fair, you did fuck that Mia girl on my bed last week. Call it even?” Will suggests.
My mouth drops.
Alex did what?
Does Morgan know?
Holy shit!
Granted, last I heard they’re not on speaking terms anymore, but I thought Alex wasn’t over her. At least, until now. I can’t believe he’s still with that Mia chick.
“I told you nothing happened.” Alex clenches his jaw.
“Right.” Will snorts. “That why I found a condom wrapper in the pool house? Because nothing happened?”
“Nice try changing the subject. How long has this been going on?” Alex points an accusing finger at us.
I make eye contact with Will.
We seem to share the same reasoning.
He’s already figured it out.
No point in lying anymore.
“Since the kegger,” Will admits.
“Two goddamn months?” Alex spits.
It is crazy to think it’s already been seven weeks since Will and I exchanged I love you’s and worked through our issues. Seven weeks of sneaking around, kissing in dark corners, and ultimately, being so happy we make single people sick—and by people, I mean Morgan and Ethan, who are the only souls that know about us as of now.
Oh, and Alex.
Alex nods in understanding. “Of course. She was the only one who could pull you out of the bar when you lost your shit… Jesus, how the hell did I miss this?”
“Don’t beat yourself up. We’re pretty good at sneaking around.” Will attempts to soften the blow.
Alex’s eyes light up.
“Does Kendrick know?”
Here it is.
The defining moment.
“Not exactly.” Will cringes. “We were kind of wondering if you could—”
That’s Alex’s detonator.
“You finish that sentence and I’m out of here.”
His reaction was to be expected. Alex had to cover for Blake and me with Kendrick once before, and he hated lying.
“Dude, it’s not like that. We just didn’t get a chance to tell him ye—”
“Yep. I’m out. Got to give Kendrick a call.”
Alex stomps off, slamming the door.
“Shit,” Will mutters. He doesn’t miss a beat, leaping to his feet and chasing after Alex with nothing but the bedsheet covering his ding-dong—his fault for sleeping undressed. I don’t know how I wanted Alex to find out. But I know this… It didn’t include Will chasing after him naked.
I can hear everything as Will catches up to him.
“Look, I’m not asking you to cover for us for three fucking years here. I’ll tell him as soon as he’s back. I just couldn’t do it over the phone.”
“Do you realize what you’re asking from me?” Alex scolds. “You want me to lie to our friend again so you can keep tapping his sister behind his back. Out of all the girls, man. All the girls in the goddamn world. You had to choose her!”
“You think I wanted this? That I meant to fall in love with my best friend’s sister?” Will snaps.
A beat of silence.
“The hell did you just say?” Alex says in disbelief.
More silence.
“It’s true, I… I love her, man.”
Butterflies wreak havoc in my stomach. Hearing him say that will never get old.
“And I don’t want to fuck this up, so please, I’m begging you, don’t say anything. Let me talk to him.”
Alex hesitates, keeping quiet for long seconds.
“Fine.”
Thank God.
“Thanks.” Will exhales.
“Don’t thank me yet. There’s a reason I came into the pool house at the buttcrack of dawn. Had to tell you something.”
I know what Alex’s going to say before he says it.
“Kendrick and Winter are coming back today.”
“Thank the Lord,” I hear my mother say downstairs a few hours later. The front door closes, distant voices emerging in the kitchen as I hop off my bed in a frenzy.
“Is that Winter?” I yell from the second floor, scampering down the stairs in no time to welcome my cousin home. I’ve been worried sick about her. My mom stuck to her funeral story for a while, then started singing a different song once the time frame stopped adding up. Seven weeks is a hell of a long funeral.
She said Winter and Kendrick were taking a vacation in Canada—because them taking a vacation right before the end of senior year isn’t weird at all. Eventually, I decided enough was enough, sat my mom down, and told her I knew everything.
She wasn’t nearly as shocked as I’d anticipated. She admitted to suspecting I was in on it due to my lack of interest in the matter. My mom knows I can get real neurotic sometimes. After all, I hounded her with questions about my dad for weeks after he left, so for me not to bat an eye at my own brother leavin
g town?
Might as well write I know on my forehead in red Sharpie.
Turns out Winter has been staying with Haze in a secluded town for a few days now, although she spent the past five weeks locked up at the penthouse with my brother. I wasn’t the tiniest bit surprised to hear Haze had tracked her down and stolen her away to his hometown to keep her out of harm’s ways. He hasn’t been at school for a while.
We sure weren’t expecting Winter back into town so soon—Scratch that, we weren’t expecting her back at all. She was supposed to be flying straight to Canada at the end of the school year. Then my brother called my mom, informing her that he’d secured a deal with Haze’s psycho case of a brother, allowing Winter to move back home. Terms are, she’ll remain unharmed as long as the morning after prom, she’s on the first plane back to Toronto.
The second I turn the corner, I find myself mentally listing all the ways to chop off Haze’s balls. Because Winter’s eyes are teary, her makeup smudged down her cheeks, and her heart seems so miserably broken, I’m tempted to kneel down at her feet and pick up the pieces. Safe to assume her getaway with Haze didn’t go as planned?
I don’t say a word, closing the gap between us and trapping her into a tight, tear-jerking embrace. She starts to sob almost instantly. My mom joins in on the hug, whispering reassuring lies, the first being “It’s okay.”
Whatever he did, it’s not okay.
And it probably won’t be for a while.
But she’s home now.
And I’ll be there to help her through the storm.
It takes my cousin a whopping two hours to tell me everything. She walks me through an unexpected, gasp-worthy story, the twists and turns keeping me on the edge of my seat. To think I believed her tears were the product of Haze being a typical scared-of-commitment asshole. There’s so much more to this guy. This whole side of him I never would’ve thought existed.
We hear the front door close.
“Canada, come say hello!” a deep voice calls downstairs.
Will’s.
Two other voices reach my ear—my brother’s and Alex’s. I’m surprised their new recruit didn’t come with. Will and Alex found Blake a replacement while Kendrick was out of town. Some guy named Ryder.
Will had to go retrieve his belongings from the pool house this afternoon. Alex’s parents made it crystal clear his time was up. Something about Alex’s mom disapproving of Will running around in her backyard naked—go figure.
My anxiety shoots up by a thousand, my pulse quickening as I give Winter a quick hug and excuse myself to my bedroom to finish “homework.” I can’t believe this is the time. The moment we shed this weight from our shoulders, chase the black cloud constantly hanging over our heads. The moment we tell Kendrick the truth.
Winter zooms down the stairs to greet Will and Alex. I wait for Will’s text, following the plan we crafted this morning to a T. Will said he’d text me to come down once he’d pulled my brother aside so we could talk to him together.
I wait and wait.
He takes his sweet time texting me. Finally, my phone pings. Only problem is, the message on my screen is not the one we agreed upon.
Willy Wonka: Not the right time. I’ll tell him later. Promise.
Kassidy
Have you ever tried ghosting someone while living in the same house? Let me tell you it is not an easy task.
When my brother took pity on Will and convinced my mom to let him crash on our couch for a while, I was ecstatic. Thought surely it meant Will would find the right time to tell Kendrick about us.
Maybe squeeze in a revelation at breakfast. Fit a quick chat into one of their video game tournaments.
Nothing.
Zero.
The right time must be one hell of an elusive bastard because Will still hasn’t delivered on his promise. Three days have gone by, all of them a blur, and we’ve barely spoken once. Turns out it’s a lot harder to sneak him into my room with Kendrick on the other side of the wall.
He’s been texting me.
A lot.
Asking why I’ve been giving him the cold shoulder. Why I sweep past him in the halls. I’ve been turning a blind eye to his existence, dead set on ignoring his lingering stares when I walk into the room. Let’s just say if he hasn’t figured it out by now, it doesn’t bode well for us.
Willy Wonka: Upstairs bathroom. Five minutes.
I sigh at Will’s text and get dressed, slipping on a pair of high-waisted jeans and a crop-top hoodie. I tie my blonde hair into two loose braids as a finishing touch—thought I’d try something new. Winter and I are going to the movies with the guys in an hour. Then I’m covering Ethan’s afternoon shift at work. Late payment for my getaway with Will two months ago.
I pad out into the hall, inspecting the vicinity and tiptoeing toward the bathroom. I slip inside to find Will waiting for me, leaning against the sink. Silence drifts between us. He smiles, looking painfully beautiful, as always.
“Lock it.” He gestures to the knob with his chin.
I oblige.
In response, he cuts across the room, anchoring me to the door and ravaging my lips with an openmouthed kiss I return right off the bat. His tongue pushes past my teeth as he finds one of the blonde braids cascading down my shoulders and swirls it around his index.
“Fuck. Love the schoolgirl look, by the way.” His voice is packed with lust, his lips remolded by a mischievous smirk. I come to my senses just as he’s angling my chin for more.
I mash my palms to his chest, keeping him at a safe distance.
His smile wears off.
“What’s wrong?”
I peel our bodies apart, wriggling out of his hold. His features pinch with worry.
“Do you really have to ask?”
He nibbles on his bottom lip, knowing damn well what I’m getting at. We were so happy just three days ago. He seemed so sure. Like there wasn’t a doubt in his mind as far as telling Kendrick went. He even asked me to prom. Convinced me my brother would know about us by then and now…
Now we’re hiding in a bathroom.
And that speaks volumes.
“Will, you promised we’d tell him.”
“I know.” He exhales.
“It’s been three days.”
“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just… not the right time.”
“Don’t you get it? It’s never going to be the right time. He’s going to be just as pissed whether we tell him now or in two months. The quicker we rip the bandage off, the quicker he’ll get over it. Because he will get over it. Unless, of course… you changed your mind.”
He clamps his mouth shut, obviously conflicted. His lack of a reply hits me where it hurts.
“Got it.” My gaze strays to the bathroom tiles. I turn away, but he beats me to the door.
“I didn’t”—he cups my face—“change my mind. I didn’t. I’m never changing my mind about you. Fucking never, okay?”
I refuse him the eye contact he seeks.
“I’ll talk to him. I promise. No more lying,” he relents.
He kisses me once more, and I feel my pain decreasing at his touch, my body softening under his fingertips, and it scares me shitless. Because I know a few more minutes of that kiss—who am I kidding, a few more seconds—and I’ll be right back to where I started.
Back to making excuses for him. Back to believing promises he has no intention of keeping.
After Blake, I swore on my life I’d never be that girl again. The one you sweep under the rug. The secret.
And I won’t.
Not even for him.
“Okay?” he asks again.
I cave. “Okay.”
Will
“Man, you’re never going to guess what I found out,” Kendrick says halfway through an arcade racing game. Our movie ended twenty minutes ago, and while Kass, Winter, and Ryder wanted to get coffee across the street, Kendrick, Alex, and I decided to hit the arcades by the theater. Okay, fine, we sent Ryder
on coffee duty.
Consequences of being a newbie.
“What?” I act uninterested, but inside, I’m counting down the seconds to my last breath. If Kendrick found out what I think he found out, I won’t survive the rest of the day.
“Blake fucked my sister.”
I swear when he says that, I squeeze the fake steering wheel so tight I swerve off the virtual tracks and crash into a concrete wall at full speed. GAME OVER, the screen taunts, and the irony isn’t lost on me. My gaze flicks to Alex, who shifts in his seat, eyes glued to his console.
Snitch.
“Really?” I clear my throat.
“Yeah. For six months, too. They dated behind my back. Can you believe this shit? She’s been with two of my friends. Fucking two out of three.”
Looks like Alex skipped the part where he covered for them the whole time and never actually dated Kass himself. How convenient.
“What’s next? She’s going to sleep with you, too?”
Someone kill me now.
“You going to talk to her?” is all I can bring myself to say.
He shrugs. “Nah, last I heard, the asshole broke her heart. Plus, it’s not her I blame. She grew up with a shit dad, so she goes for the shit guys. Oh, except you, man.” His gaze whisks to Alex, who nods in appreciation, playing the part.
This is getting ridiculous.
“So, you’re fine with Alex dating her but not Blake?” I ask.
“Yeah, because Alex is… Alex. Blake is a self-serving asshole with girls. He doesn’t do serious.”
“Neither do you,” I point out.
Kendrick’s only ever dated one girl: Nicole. And it always ended with him hurting her. Always. This time, it was him leaving town overnight with Winter that did it.
“Exactly. I know guys like you and me, man, and I’d die before letting a guy like that anywhere near my sister.”
My stomach twists.
“Mark my word, if the bastard was still here, he’d wish a bullet in the leg was all he got away with.” Kendrick refers to Blake’s injury the night we rescued Winter. “If that piece of shit ever shows his face again, he’s fucking dead.”
Forgotten Rules: A Brother's Best Friend Romance Page 32
