Page 146 of Before You Fell

“Because she didn’t answer.”

“She did answer. You just didn’t like it.”

Jax’s mouth flattens. “What the fuck is your problem?”

Jett’s eyes cut to him. “Right now? You.”

Cruz stops beside me.

I look between the twins and there it is again. That thing that has been happening more often lately.

It used to be nothing. A glare. A shove. Jax getting loud. Jett going cold. Then both of them moving on because that’s what brothers do.

But lately, it sticks.

Jax says something with too much heat behind it and Jett answers as if he knows exactly where the soft tissue is buried.

Cruz exhales beside me.

“Jesus Christ, I’m so fucking sick of this shit.” He looks at both of them. “Pull your heads out of your asses and remember why the fuck we’re here.”

I turn my head to gaze at Willow. Her brows pull together in that small, careful way they do when she knows something is wrong but doesn’t quite know what it is.

I walk over and sit beside her, close enough that she knows I’m there, but not so close as to crowd her.

“Do you need a minute?” I ask quietly. “If you want me to send them on their way, I’ll clear the room.”

Willow turns her head toward me. “No.”

“You sure?”

“I haven’t seen them in months.”

Her gaze returns to the twins. Jax has dropped onto the edge of the armchair, elbows on his knees, jaw set hard enough to crack a molar. Jett is by the window, staring through the glass.

Cruz stands between them, watching both with the expression of a man calculating how many teeth the next wrong word might cost.

Willow leans a little closer to me. Not touching. But close enough that I feel the heat of her at my side and every nerve in my body notices.

“How long have they been like this?” she asks.

“A little while.”

Her eyes come back to mine. “Since when?”

“The tour.”

Her gaze flicks between Jax and Jett. “They always fought.”

“Yeah.”

“But not like this.”

I look at the twins again.

Jax is still staring at the floor. Jett is still looking out the window. Whatever is sitting between them now has teeth.

“No,” I say to her. “Never like this.”