Page 96 of Sincerely, Your Enemy

He’s still out cold. Meanwhile, I’m wondering how the hell I’m going to explain myself to my twelve-year-old brother.

Not to mention, me having a sleepover with a boy is the least of my concerns right now. I still have to tell him about me and Sierra almost getting kidnapped so that he isn’t completely clueless when the cops drop by for a few follow-up questions later today.

“Did you want something?” I ask in an attempt to drag Oliver’s attention away from the elephant in the room.

It doesn’t work one bit.

He scoffs. “Seriously? Are you not going to acknowledge the half-naked man in your bed?”

“Oh, him? That’s TJ. He’s… Kelsea’s brother. You know, Sierra’s best friend. A lot happened last night, and we came home late, so he stayed over.”

TJ starts to stir next to me, slowly coming to, and I immediately dread the awkward introductions ahead.

“Why does he look like he was the designated target of an entire paintball team?”

He’s not wrong about that. Bruises spread across the side of TJ’s ribs and oblique muscles, and his wounded lip and cheekbone are impossible to overlook.

TJ opens his eyes a heartbeat later, needing a few seconds to adapt to the sunrays peeking through my drawn curtains. The first thing he sees is me, and his lips curve into the most adorable smile, a smile that fades as soon as he sees my brother standing in the doorway, watching us.

“TJ, Oliver. Oliver, TJ.” I get the formalities out of the way.

TJ releases my waist and sits up in bed, running a quick hand through his messy hair and saying a husky “Nice meeting you, man.”

“Have you been doing nasty things to my sister?” Oli says without a smidge of shame.

“Oli!” I scold him.

“Yeah,” TJ matches his energy.

“TJ!” I scold him, too.

Boys, I swear to God.

“What? He asked.” TJ’s amused grin makes me want to hit him in the back of the head.

“So, you two are dating?” My brother continues to demonstrate that he does not, in fact, have any type of filter.

“No!” I blurt out before TJ can get a word in. “We’re not. We’re… friends.”

“Friends who see each other naked,” TJ adds, causing Oli to laugh, and I punch TJ in the arm. Hard.

“Ouch,” he whines in between laughter. “Would you rather I lie to the kid?”

“I’m not a kid. I’m twelve,” Oli argues.

TJ knows better than to disagree with Oli. “My bad.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Oli circles back to the point. “Why’s he all bruised up?”

TJ and I exchange glances. This is the fun part. The part where I introduce Oli to the dangers of talking to strangers on the internet.

“Yeah, I’m going to let you take this one,” TJ declares and smacks a kiss on my cheek before rising off the bed. Then he’s walking out the door, probably headed for the bathroom.

I clear my throat. “Oli, I think you should sit down.”

It could’ve gone worse.

Words I’ve been mentally repeating since I broke the news to Oli about how he could’ve lost not one but two of his family members last night.

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