“Sure. I need another beer after that.”
“Seb,” Toby says, lifting his head from the crook of my neck before he opens the door.
“Please don’t—”
“I won’t say anything, Tobes. I know I’m an asshole, but you can trust me.”
Seb’s got the door open and is about to slip out when Toby speaks again.
“Galen didn’t kill your dad.”
Seb stills, his entire body locking up.
“W-what?”
“He just told us before we left Stella’s. It wasn’t him. I believed him.”
“So who was it?” Seb grits out.
“I have no idea. But I think there’s more to all of this than we’re aware of.”
A bitter laugh falls from Seb’s lips. “Yeah. There seems to be even more secrets and lies than we all thought.”
Without another word, Seb slips from the room, leaving me and Toby alone.
He sucks in another shuddering breath, his arms tightening around me.
“You’re not alone anymore, Toby. Whatever you need, you’ve got me. Them. We figure this shit out together, yeah?”
After a few seconds, he releases me so he can look up, our blue eyes meeting.
“You know, I always thought it would be cool to have a sister.”
“Well, it seems like I’ve made all your dreams come true.”
“Well.” He clears his throat. “You being my sister wasn’t the first thing I thought when I looked at you.”
“Well, thank fuck you didn’t act on that, huh? Imagine our kids.”
“I’d rather not.” He laughs, and it’s so fucking good to see a smile.
Although my next question wipes that clean off his face.
“How bad is she really, Toby? Is she going to come through this?”
“They’re hopeful this will have been successful and give her more time.”
“What does that mean?”
He shrugs. “How much time do any of us have?”
Silence stretches between us.
“Fuck. This is so fucking depressing.”
“I’m sorry. Why do you think I’ve not told anyone?”
“How have you carried all this around for this long?” I ask him, genuinely curious and concerned for him.