Page 113 of My Brother's Best Friend

I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “Sorry.”

She sighed softly, then pinched her lips into a small smile. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”

As we entered the house, the scent of freshly cooked chicken noodle soup drifted through my nose. I eyed the dining room table that had two bowls sitting atop it and clenched my jaw.Did I interrupt her lunch with another student from Redwood?

“I thought we could have lunch together,” she offered, her smile strained, as if she feared how I’d respond. “And you can finally tell me how it went with the Glaciers. I … I don’t know how good the food is. I made it myself.”

Swallowing all the nasty things I wanted to say, I took a seat at the dining room table and picked up a spoon. She sat down in front of me and glanced down at the table, two lines forming between her brows.

“I wanted to apologize for everything that’s been happening around here,” she whispered. “Your father and I wanted to keep you out of it as much as possible, but I think it’s finally time that we come clean.”

I stiffened. “Come clean about what? What’s happened now?”

Between Spencer and Piper and what Poison had just told me about the police force—the extent and detail of what some of the girls had gone through—I couldn’t even begin to imagine anything anymore.

Everything I knew about this town … had turned on its head.

“Your father and I have an open marriage.”

I snapped my gaze up to hers. “An open marriage?”

She grimaced and dipped her spoon into the soup. “Something like that.”

“So, that’s why you both are fucking students from my school?” I asked, balling the spoon into my fist and glaring at the soup. “And don’t try to deny it again. Oliver told me what happened last week.”

Mom reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “I really am sorry, Alec.”

“Why?” I asked. “Why’d it happen?”

“Because … your father asked for an open marriage years ago when you were about ten. I didn’t know what to think, but I didn’t want to break this family up, so I agreed to it. But he stayed out later and later as the years went by, and sometimes, he didn’t even come home. And it broke me.” Her voice cracked. “It broke me to pieces, Alec.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and it took everything inside me not to wipe them away and tell her that everything was fine. Because it wasn’t. Both her and dad had hurt me, and I wasn’t ready to forgive anyone.

“When I found out that he had been sleeping withmen, I … I lost it.” Her bottom lip quivered. “I would’ve been fine if he had told me from the beginning that he was having doubts about his sexuality, but to expect him being out with women and finding out that … that he wasn’t even attracted to me at all anymore …”

“So, you fucked my best friend to get back at him.”

“Alec …” Mom whispered. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Well, that’s what you did.”

“I was so lonely,” she cried. “Your father hasn’t touched me in years.”

I dropped my spoon into the bowl, making the soup splatter everywhere. “So, why Oliver? You could’ve slept with any other person in the entire town. You could’vepaidany other man to sleep with you. But you chose my best friend.”

“He was there,” she whispered. “And always flirting with me. He made me feel … sexy.”

For the second time tonight, bile rose in my throat. I swallowed it and closed my eyes, wishing I could close my ears, too, and never have to continue this conversation with my mother ever again. Because,fuck, it hurt.

“Mom,” I grunted, swiping a hand across my face.

“What?” she asked. “You wanted me to be honest with you. This is me being honest.”

“You telling me this doesn’t make up for what you’ve done.”

She dropped her head. “I know it doesn’t, but I just want the best for you.”

“The best for me would be if you hadn’t slept with my best friend.”

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