Page 8 of You Belong With Me

CHAPTER FOUR

Wyn

My breath is caughtin the back of my throat as Lucas turns and sees Gabriel standing in the bathroom doorway.

“Hey,” Gabriel says.

Silence.

And that silence is so profound, you could hear an ant scurry across the floor.

Lucas steps forward, and I wish to God I could see his face. But he’s turned away from me. “Gabriel?” he whispers, disbelieving. “What the fuck?”

Reaching out, Lucas touches his cousin’s face. The movement is hesitant like he’s half-expecting Gabriel to vanish under his fingertips. When it’s clear, he’s actually flesh and bone, Lucas shakes his head. “How is this possible?”

Gabriel laughs and stumbles back like he’s uncomfortable with Lucas’ sudden burst of emotion. “I uh…” He shakes his head and glances down. “I don’t know. I woke up in a hospital bed two months ago with a head injury, and no memory of what happened or who I was…”

Lucas glances back at me. “Did you know about this?”

“He showed up this morning,” I say, leaving out the bit about Gabriel finding me inhisbedroom. The last thing I want to do right now is incite Gabriel’s anger all over again.

Lucas looks back at his cousin. “This is insane,” he says, pulling back again. “This is fucking wild. What’d your mom say when she saw you?”

“I haven’t…” Gabriel pushes out a breath. “I don’t remember anyone—” His gaze flicks to me “—except for Wyn. I know she’s my girlfriend, and that’s about it. Everything else is a blank.”

Lucas takes a step back. “You remember me, right?”

Another thick moment of silence before Gabriel shakes his head. “I don’t. The doctors say it may take a while for my memory to return if it ever does.” His gaze fixes on Lucas. “But I do have one question…”

“Yeah, shoot.”

“Why was my girl in your room last night?” He shoves his hand into his pocket and pulls out the necklace Lucas slid over my head yesterday. The necklace signifies his claim on me. “And why was she wearingthis?”

Lucas flicks his chin at the necklace. “Do you even know what that is?”

Gabriel glances down at it, his brows pinched, like he’s trying to conjure up the memory. “I know it’s not just a trinket,” he answers. “I know it means she’s been claimed—but when I try to remember why, or how, there’s nothing. Just a black void where that information once was.”

Lucas takes the necklace from Gabriel’s hand. “Don’t worry about it, Cuz. We need to call your mom, and get you to a doctor.”

Gabriel takes a step back, his eyes narrowing, almost like he suspects Lucas is trying to trick him or something. “I’ve seen plenty of doctors.”

“The police, then. Dude, they think someone killed you.”

Lucas stops just short of telling Gabriel that the police think it was him.

Gabriel’s gaze travels over Lucas’ shoulder and lands on me. “I’m not going anywhere withouther.”

Lucas half-turns and follows Gabriel’s gaze, those crazy blue eyes focusing on me. I feel trapped, pinned down by that stare. I can see it in his eyes that he wants to tell Gabriel about what’s happened between us, that Lucas now considers mehispossession—but he can’t. He’s always given deference to Gabriel. Now I know why—guilt over what happened when they were teenagers.

But now I’m stuck between two guys who have a claim on me—both very public claims. Everyone knows I was Gabriel’s girlfriend before the incident. And just last night, Lucas pronounced me his consort in front of the entire Burning Crown membership.

Goddamn,how did things get so unbelievably fucked?

And what’s worse, there’s nothing I can do to unfuck it. Not yet, at least. I can hardly even wrap my head around the fact that Gabriel is alive, let alone how to untangle this mess with Lucas.

“Yeah,” I say, still in a daze. “Um, I’ll call Gabriel’s mom on the way to the police station. Maybe she can meet us there.”

Lucas nods, then looks back at his cousin. I get the sense that he’s still trying to figure out how this is even possible.

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