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Once she’s warmed herself, she starts stretching her arms. She can’t start explaining things without doing something else. She has to put her attention on something else.
“Is there anyone you can think of who is of age, wants us back in, and would be close enough to us that it would make sense for social services to move us with him? Wait. Let me give you another clue. He looks a lot like us, but a blond, fucked up version.”
My heart practically stops. How could I not think of this before?
“Bianco is not rushing us to come back because he knows he doesn’t need to. I’m sure pretty soon, we won’t have a choice.” She shrugs as she concludes her theory.
Theory that we both know is entirely true. She shrugs but I know deep down she’s terrified. If Nate becomes our guardian, our lives are over. There’s no way we can get out of that one. We can kiss goodbye to our best friends, Stoneview Prep, Jamie. We’ll be back to being surrounded by gang members, some probably even younger than us but with a will to please Nate much stronger than ours.
“He can’t do this to us,” I whisper in disbelief. She gives me a sad smile as a response.
“Didn’t Jamie tell you where he lives? He just bought a huge ass mansion in Stoneview, Jake. He’s already planned it all.” She looks back at her phone after it pings.
“Is that Rachel?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
What are we going to do about it anyway? I want to talk about her night at Bianco’s but she’s never going to tell me what happened, so I’m left with changing the topic.
“Nope. It’s Sam.”
I’m surprised she told me the truth. She usually hides when they’re texting or seeing each other.
“Rach is over my shit for good. Trust me.” She takes another drag and talks as she exhales the smoke. “Sam, however, is texting to tell me, to tell you to lay low for a few days. Unsurprisingly, Nate is pretty pissed about the whole situation.”
“I don’t fucking care what Nate thinks. I’m not scared of him,” I snap.
Why are we still living our lives depending on what that fucker threatens to do?
“Jake,” she sighs. “Nate isn’t just your big brother that used to order you around. He leads gangs now. He’s building a crime syndicate with Bianco. He’s got people working for him, dangerous people, and he’s pissed at you. You stole his girl. You, Chris, and Luke kicked his ass. And now you fight him in front of his distributors. Don’t act so fucking stupid, you know he’s gonna get back at you. Try to use that brain of yours and take Sam’s advice for once.”
“I didn’t steal his girl,” I growl. “She was already mine.”
Rose raises an eyebrow at me, unimpressed. “Really? You gonna pull this shit on me? I’m glad you found a girl you fell in love with, but I was there, Jake. I saw it all. You can’t bully a girl into being your girlfriend. Especially when she was holding back because she had a boyfriend. That boyfriend was Nate.”
“Who’s fucking side are you on, Ozy?” I shout uncontrollably.
It makes me lose my shit when she sides with him. Does she really believe I stole Jamie from him?
“Fucking hell, what is with the guys in this city and their obsessivity? Why do I always have to pick a side? You and Nate, Chris and Sam. Can’t you get in your fucking heads that there’s right and wrong in everything you do? I’m just stupid enough to forgive your shit.”
She gives me a second to think but she’s not done.
“Nobody’s perfect. I’m not choosing sides, you’re not a side to pick, Jake, you’re my twin. You’re part of me. But Nate is my brother too, and he’s allowed my forgiveness. If not that, at least my understanding. You pushed him to his limits, and you know it. I’m just trying to protect you and him both.”
I laugh. It’s loud and cold. So. Fucking. Cold.
“Protect us both?” I slowly get up from my chair and lower the ice from my eye. It’s crushed in my clenched fist now. “You shot him in the chest you fucking hypocrite,” I fume before going back into the pool house.
I slam the door behind me. How can she talk about forgiveness after everything he did to us? That’s Rose White for you ladies and gents.
I’ve met a lot of different girls in my life. I don’t have a mentality of ‘you’re not like other girls’ because everyone is so different and similar at the same time. Camila is a cold bitch, even to me. She likes to hide and manipulate her feelings and when she doesn’t, she looks weak. Jamie is the opposite. She’s whole. When she’s mad or sad, it breaks her heart. She cries easily and laughs heartily. But when she loves, it’s deep and warm like a summer afternoon.
Rose…her brain is wired differently. Her feelings for people change like her mood. Love them one day, hate them the other. She forgives people she shouldn’t and breaks the hearts of those who would do anything for her.
Rachel has given her everything and my sister threw it away despite loving her with all her heart. Nate has betrayed her in ways I can’t even describe, and she still desperately looks for his approval. Sometimes, I wonder if she truly believes she doesn’t deserve love and happiness.
That’s what abuse does to someone though, doesn’t it?
I grab my phone and look at my texts. Luke is offering to spend time together this evening, ‘just us four’. He wants to make sure we’re all okay, but I think he also wants to take his mind off Emily.
I ignore it and go straight to the number of the only person I know will make everything better. She sent me countless texts, but I wasn’t exactly in a situation where I could reply.
I tap on her name and the only fact that her picture shows up on my screen takes a weight off my shoulders. Jamie Williams has some sort of power over me and right here, right now, she can make all the pain go away. I know she can.
