“Not really, but something tells me you’re not going to let me off that easily.” I glance over at him and Conner grins.
“You know me too well.”
“What happened to Cole, Conner?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you were raised in the Heights but you’re not...”
“A miserable bastard?” He chuckles.
“I was going to say you’re not broken.”
“I think we’re all a little broken, Hadley. We just deal with it differently.”
“You use humor as a defense mechanism.”
“And the winner is... Hadley Rexford.” He fakes applause and I roll my eyes.
“Case in point.” I level him with a hard look.
“Cole feels a lot more than he lets on. If anything, I’d say he feels too much. When we were kids, he was always getting sick. He spent a lot of time at home with our mom. Back then, I used to think he had it lucky. But as I grew up, I realized we were the lucky ones. We got out of that hellhole. But Cole was there, seeing and hearing things no kid should ever see or hear.”
“Has he ever talked to you about it?” Because I get the feeling there’s a lot more going on than Conner or Ace know.
“This is Cole we’re talking about.” He frowns. “We might be twins, but it ends with our DNA.”
“You’re his brother. He loves you.”
“I don’t doubt it. But loving someone because they’re your blood is different to choosing to love someone.”
“What happened last night, Conner?”
“Ace ripped him a new one. Took Cole all of two minutes to work out you’d ratted him out...”
Guilt swells inside me. “It wasn’t like that.”
“I know that and you know that, but Cole isn’t you or I. His brain is wired differently. The way he sees it, he trusted you with something and you broke it.”
“What do I do?”
“Usually, I’d be the first one to tell you to push him. But this time, I think it would be best if you give him some space. Cole doesn’t let anyone in, Hadley, but he let you in. That kind of trust isn’t going to be rebuilt overnight.”
I sag back into the worn leather. “Is being a senior supposed to be this hard?”
“It’s life. Shit happens and then you die.”
Laughter spills out of me, but it feels good.
“Thanks, Conner, for everything.”
“You’re my brother’s girl,” he says with complete conviction. “He might not realize that yet, but he’ll figure it out. Until then, I’ve got your back.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Cole
My vision blurs as I watch Conner wrap his arm around Hadley’s shoulder and lead her away from me.