Page 151 of Take What You Want

“We thought we were alone.”

“And it landed on the news. He treated you like one of his whores.”

I grab his shoulder and stop him in his tracks. “Don’t you dare call me a whore.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” He sighs heavily and throws his head back. “I would never call you a whore. You know I don’t think you are.”

“You have a right to be angry, but not cruel.”

“I do have a right to be angry,” he agrees. “My best friend and my twin sister went behind my back for years. We had an agreement. None of our friends, Janie.Youwere the one who put that in place.”

“I know I did.” And I knowingly violated that pack. “But I never let it affect your friendship with him. Neither did he.”

He scoffs. “I wouldn’t exactly call our relationshipsunaffectedat the moment.”

“James, be reasonable.” I sound like our mom. “He’s one of your best friends. You know who he is.”

He throws his arms out. “Exactly! I know how he is and that’s exactly why I would never want you to get hurt by him.”

“I understand he’s had a past with women,” I try to reason with him, “but our relationship is very different. This isn’t a fling. This isn’t something we’re both doing because we’re bored and having fun. We have history.”

He takes his sunglasses off and narrows his eyes on me. “He said you guys were together during senior year.”

I nod and a muscle in his jaw tics.

“Did he cheat on you?”

“No,” I say on an exhale. “We broke up before you guys moved to LA.”

He bites the inside of his cheek and looks over the hills. I let him process that information silently because he finally seems to be listening. “And when did you get back together?”

“There’s not a clear cut answer to that.”

“Try.”

I sigh. “We had some things to work through and we started patching things up when I moved out here.”

He shakes his head and laughs humorlessly. “So this entire summer, while I was thanking him for taking you in and watching out for you, the two of you were hooking up behind my back.”

“Stop cheapening it to sex. We have a relationship. We love each other. It’s not some casual situationship.”

His face twists as he says, “I don’t want to hear about the two of you having sex.”

“I don’t particularly want to discuss it with you either, but that’s the part you seem to be focusing on.”

A couple comes up the trail and we move off to the side to let them pass. They nod in passing and I smile at them, hoping they didn’t overhear our conversation.

“We should keep walking,” I tell my brother and he nods. My thighs burn at the incline and my lungs begin to ache with every breath.

He walks ahead of me and I follow silently until we reach a clearing. “I need a break,” I gasp. When he peeks at me over his shoulder, I swear I see a faint smile cross his face and my middle finger is tempted to rise. He did this as a punishment to me.

Well played, brother.

I intertwine my fingers on my head and focus on my breathing. Walker barely broke a sweat and he watches me with satisfaction.

“You did this on purpose.”

“Maybe,” he snickers.

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