Page 49 of The Twilight Theft

“Not your fault.”

“—I didn’t get the clone of Gideon’s phone or even Liana’s. I didn’t tell Drew anything we talked about for tomorrow—”

“We rarely have a job go perfectly.”

Everything in my life had been perfect twelve years ago. A lifetime of planning and hard work was about to pay off.

It wasn’t only my life that fell to pieces.

I’d ruined Tanner’s, too.

“His parents wouldn’t let me see him. They blamed me for him being out that night. The accident wouldn’t have happened if we were in our hotel rooms for curfew.” I looked down at the street again, at the two shops I’d considered stealing from and the convenience store I did. “And when I couldn’t bring in gold medals anymore, my mom started blaming me, too. Said I wasn’t taking my recovery seriously enough. Said I needed more hours in physio.”

“Your mom is a self-centered opportunist.”

But she was still my mother. She was supposed to be the one supporting me through everything, not giving up when I couldn’t reach the podium anymore.

She wasn’t supposed to replace me with someone else, even if it was my sister.

“I just want someone to want me, despite my screw-ups.”

“I want you.” Emmett moved closer and put an arm around my shoulders. “Not in the same way Drew does…”

A tiny chuckle burst out of me. “That would be so eww.”

“Watch it. I can still throw you over the edge.”

I wiped more tears away. “Except you want me around, so you won’t.”

“Exactly.”

“I can’t work with him, Em. I couldn’t even go over the scenarios Scarlett tasked me with or get any information about the scarab.” I took a long, shuddering breath, trying to find some composure. “She was already pissed at me for missing the meeting. I can’t imagine what she’ll say about this.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’d hoped you and Drew could figure things out, but I warned her you might not.”

“What about Saturday?”

He pulled me closer, subtly moving me farther from the edge. “Leave it to me. You’re going to team up with Wyatt if you think you can handle his obvious come-ons.”

Him, I could handle. He was all bluster and overt flirting. I could laugh at Wyatt. With Drew, it was all serious and tingles and now tears.

Emmett sat with me in silence for a few minutes, just being the friend I needed.

“He made Beef Wellington.” The apartment had smelled so good.

“He called me ten minutes before you did.”

Probably to complain.

“He was out looking for you. Said he was worried.”

“Worried about his irritating little bug?” I scoffed. “Sure he was.”

Emmett shrugged—what did that mean?—and stood. “Not everyone’s your mother, Jayce.”

“Well, duh.”

“You say that, but you spent five years trying to get her attention, then five years with us, trying to pretend you don’t care about anyone.”

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