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I followed him up the open slope, angry with him, angrier with myself.

I didn’t owe him an explanation. I deserved one.

That was the difference that kept getting me into trouble.

The kitchen was empty. There were open bags of chips on the counter and a stack of paper plates beside the sink. Somebody had left a wet towel over the back of a chair. Ordinary things.

I noticed all of them because looking directly at Declan felt increasingly dangerous.

He stood on the other side of the table, one hand braced against its edge.

“I don’t want you acting like that,” he said quietly the moment I closed the door.

I eyed him warily.

He wasn’t even looking at me. Why wouldn’t he look at me? Why did he never look at me?

“It’s harmless,” I told him. “Everyone is doing it, and no one cares.”

“I care.” He lifted his head then. “Can’t you show even one ounce of self-control?”

I jerked like he’d slapped me.

First the cold disdain, and now he was accusing me of something I couldn’t even identify.

I had been sitting in a chair. I had stood up to go swimming. Somehow, between those two things, I’d become shameful.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.

My voice came out small. I hated that too.

I didn’t want to know.

Too bad I had to know.

“If you’re going to hook up with my brother,” he said, each word controlled enough to sound painful, “at least have the decency not to do it right in front of me.”

For a moment I could only stare at him.

“We weren’t hooking up—”

“You were getting there,” he cut in.

Heat climbed my neck. I thought about Clayton laughing from the water. A stupid remark that I hadn’t taken seriously for even a second.

Chief had apparently taken it seriously enough for both of us.

“We were going swimming,” I said. “And I don’t have a clue what in the world that has to do with you.”

His fingers tightened against the table. He looked furious. He also looked like he had no intention of answering that question.

Of course he didn’t.

The rules were apparently simple. He could object. He could be disgusted. He could pull me out of a group of people and tell me to have some decency.

I wasn’t allowed to ask why.

“You kissed Megan against her locker in front of half the school,” I reminded him. “I managed not to drag you into an empty room and tell you to control yourself.”