Page 103

“Gotta go,” I snapped. “Do whatever the fuck you want.”

I hung up and called Grace.

“Hey, how’s the show? Dalton said you met with⁠—”

“I need you to find Bett for me,” I interrupted.

“What? Ells, what’s wrong? You sound upset.”

“I am upset. Apparently, my fucking roommate got roped into fighting at the Pit. I need you to find a way to stop him.”

There was silence on the line for a beat.

“Does this have something to do with Arden Wisbey and the…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “The baby?”

I nearly drove into a fucking ditch. “The what?”

“Nothing! Never mind! I don’t know anything.”

“Gracie. Tell me.” Even I could hear the unhinged tone in my voice, so my twin sure as hell could.

“I overheard…” She huffed out a breath. “Look, I don’t even know what I overheard, okay? I was sitting in the dining hall the other night, and I could have sworn I heard them talking about a pregnancy. And how Arden needed Bett to… to give her money. I didn’t mean to hear it, and I felt super creepy for even hearing that much, so I totally ditched after that.”

I thought back to Saturday night, when Bett had come back to the room looking one deep breath away from a complete breakdown. How he’d been hiding something from me all week. How his stress had seemed to multiply overnight.

Fuck.

He’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant.

I could understand why he hadn’t wanted to tell me. Why he’d needed time to wrap his own head around it.

But I was still angry.

Angry he hadn’t come to me for comfort, if not advice.

Angry he hadn’t asked me for the money instead of putting himself in harm’s way.

Was I pissed his ex-girlfriend was pregnant with his baby? Yes. Furious.

I was sad, too, that he had yet one more thing weighing on him. That he couldn’t catch a fucking break from the pressure.

And I was jealous. Jealous as fuck. I didn’t want the two of them facing a challenge together that wouldn’t involve me.

I also knew there’d be immense pressure for them to get back together and try and make it work. To be their daddies’ perfect angels doing the right thing in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of God.

But I knew there was a solid chance Bett wouldn’t agree. Not now. Not after he’d seemed to get something completely different, something he needed desperately, from me. And I wasn’t saying I wanted him to choose me, but⁠—

My heart rate sped up at the sudden knowledge that, actually, that’s exactly what I wanted.

I wanted Bett to choose me.

Wanted him to give us a chance at something… real.

I wanted ten thousand more nights curled beside him after fucking, murmuring half-asleep thoughts into each other’s skin.

I wanted to know more about his secret obsession with reading football biographies and scrolling social media accounts from the current pro kickers. About the trans teen he’d met through his volunteer work last summer who’d needed help emancipating so she could get the healthcare she needed. About how embarrassed he was when he realized how little he understood about people who were different from him and how it made him realize he had a lot of work to do to fix it.

I wanted to keep spilling my shit to him, too, even though it startled me every time I found myself sharing something I’d never intended. Like my dream of having a high-end bike restoration business. And my secret pride at winning fights. The disgust I felt at the complexity of US business compliance and how I thought our politicians were selfish assholes for not fixing it. How impressed I was with Grace and my selfish hope that we’d always live close to each other—after which he’d accused me of being a secret softie who was protective of the people I loved.