“Reign —”
“Nothing’s broken,” he says, pressing my cheeks tightly. “Trust me. I had ’em checked out. I had to. Homer wouldn’t leave me alone. So as I said, I’m fine. I’ve had worse. It’s going to be okay.I’mgoing to be okay.”
A breath escapes me, my eyes fluttering closed in relief.
He’s going to be okay.
“Now, I need to —”
I open my eyes. “It was my fault.”
“What?”
I grip his wrists and look him in the eyes. “I told him.”
“Told who what?”
Reign already knows that it was Lucas who’d found us and why he’d come over in the first place; Lucas was plenty clear andloudabout that last night with the cops. And while Reign knows that, he doesn’t know what role I played in last night’s debacle.
“About the kiss.” Then, as if the truth wants to come rushing out, I keep going, “I told him that I was the one who started it. That I kissed you first. That I always wanted to kiss you because I always… and I did it to hurt him. I did it because I was angry. I was furious. Because he knew. All along heknewwhat you felt for me, and he let you suffer. He let…” I swallow thickly, my fingers tightening around his wrists. “I’m sorry, Reign. I’m… Ineverwanted to come between the two of you. That was the last thing I wanted. I never wanted to break up a friendship. I —”
“You didn’t,” he rasps, his nostrils flaring.
“I —"
“It was never a friendship.” He swallows. “Not like I thought, at least.”
He’s right.
And that’s the tragedy, isn’t it?
That the guy Reign thought was his best friend, his brother, was nothing more than a snake. He was nothing more than a jealous and weak and pathetic human being who not only contributed to rumors about him but also tried to ruin his life last night.
God, and to think that Iwantedto mend their friendship.
I wanted to make their differences go away. Enough that I actually texted Lucas behind his back.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask next. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Why did you take this burden on all alone?
Why do you always do that?
He works his jaw back and forth, narrowing his eyes as if in thought. Then, “Because I didn’t know how to. I…”
I wait for him to gather his thoughts.
“I’m not,” he shakes his head once, “good at sharing. I’m… And it hurt. But then I thought maybe I deserved it. For everything wrong that I’ve done in my life. So there was no point in telling anyone anything.”
I bite the inside of my cheek.
I purse my lips.
I do everything that I can do stop myself from bawling. Sobbing and wailing.
For him.
For the pain I see on his tightened features. For all the pain that he’s gone through. At the hands of the people who should’ve been the closest to him.