Page 7 of Tell Me It’s Right

Liam Brooks grins.

He somehow manages to look exactly the same and completely different. His dark, wavy hair is longer—and messy—though I’m willing to bet he purposefully makes it that way. That damn knowing smile is all too familiar, but he’s got at least two dozen more tattoos than the last time I saw him—on his arms, his hands, his legs.

Jesus, how does he have time to do anything else?

“You hiding from me, Gracie?”

“I—no.” I gesture to the charger in my hand and plug it into my laptop for emphasis.

“The usual,” he tells the barista.

Then he saunters to my table.

You are not Leo’s awkward little sister anymore. You are a grown ass woman.

A grown ass woman who is unemployed and living in Leo’s basement.

I sit up straighter and focus on my laptop screen.

“I heard something about you coming back to town,” he says, sinking into the chair across from me.

“I’m just visiting.”

He presses his lips together, a smile threatening at the edges. “Congrats on graduation.”

I peer up at him, but the amusement is gone from his expression. His eyes flit over my face just…curious. It seems he also added some piercings since the last time I saw him. One through his lip and a ring in his nostril. Though he might have just taken them out for Leo’s wedding.

I realize a beat too late it probably looked like I was staring at his mouth and drop my gaze to my laptop. “Thanks,” I mumble.

The barista appears with a large hot coffee and slides it in front of him. He thanks her and closes his hands around it, revealing a scorpion that wraps around his wrist and over the back of his hand.

“Been a long time, Little Leo.”

There it is.

I roll my eyes, and he laughs, the sound full and deep. He started that stupid nickname when I was in third grade, and that’s allanyonewould call me for months. Even the teachers.

“Oh, come on,” he says. “I had to.”

“Glad to see you’re stillthe worst.”

He spins my cup around so he can read the label. “You missed me.”

“Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?” I mumble. “An emo convention, perhaps?”

“Aha! She goes off to college and comes back with some teeth. I respect that.” Before I can respond, he knocks two knuckles on the table between us and stands. “As a matter of fact, Idohave somewhere to be. But I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you around, killer.”

“Hopefully not.”

He laughs again, sets his skateboard down, and waves to the barista before gliding to the door. The bell rings as he opens it, and he pauses and glances at me over his shoulder. “Good to see you, Gracie.”

Two coffees and nine job applications later, I find myself back at Leo and Keava’s eerily quiet house. I restlessly pace around, trying to figure out what the heck to do with myself. I have plentyof unpacking left, but my options are limited with my furniture sitting in the garage.

Plus, unpacking makes this feel a lot more real. Permanent. Maybe I’m not ready to accept my fate yet.

My hands tremble at my sides, still burning off the energy from seeing Liam. I should have expected it. The Brooks mansion sits squarely between Edgewater and Sweetspire, so he’s always spent a lot of time over here.

Leo and Liam have been a package deal ever since we were kids. I was hoping his single favorite pastime of getting under my skin would fade with age, but alas…

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