Page 4 of Pick Me

“Why don’t you trust me?” I clutched my chest to emphasize how painful the metaphorical knife he took to my heart was. If he wanted drama, I could do it ten times better.

His tense smile fell, replaced with the tiniest hint of amusement. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

Throwing my hands up, I tossed my head back and stared at the textured ceiling, sending a small apology to the people who lived above us since I was about to go nuclear on his ass.

Locked and loaded, I glared at Tanner. “Tan Tan, I am twenty-one years old, and you’re acting like I need constant supervision.”

“Senior year.” With that short statement, all bravado left my body. Did he really have to bring up the worst night of my life again?

“What about it?” I huffed.

Tanner’s blue eyes widened, and without a word, I knew what he was thinking, and it irked me to no end that my own brother couldn’t see past what had happened and how desperately I wanted to move forward. “You’re kidding, right?”

That was the issue between us. We were too close. He’d been all up in my business since the womb, and living together wasn’t helping matters. It might be a three-bedroom apartment, but the lack of privacy made me feel like I was back to sharing a uterus with my ungrateful bro.

“You spend one night in jail because of someone else’s mistake, and suddenly, your own brother doesn’t trust you.”

“Thea. Please don’t joke about that.”

His lips went flat, his jaw tense. He was pissed I was joking about something that happened to me.Me.I take it back. The issue between us wasn’t that we were too close. It was that even though we’d lived the same life, we were worlds apart. He didn’t get it. Tanner was the perfect twin.

The athletic one …

The handsome one …

The funny one …

When he walked into a room, people took notice, and that was before they even knew he was a football phenom. He just had something about him, and me… Well, the only thing I had was a sarcastic attitude and a resting bitch face.

“Would you rather I wallow in misery about a life event I can’t change?”

“No. I’d rather you stop getting yourself into trouble.”

“Okay, so while you’re gone, I’ll just lock myself in my room and never leave. Jackson will need to push food under the door, and I’ll have to use my balcony for bathroom breaks, but I guess that’s the price I’ll have to pay to keep myself out of trouble.”

Tanner raised a brow and had a slight curl to his lips.

I stepped forward, wagging my finger at him. “That was not a real offer. I am not going to stay in my room because you have an irrational fear that I’ll end up somewhere I shouldn’t. I’ve learned my lesson. I haven’t gotten in trouble in three years. Yet here you are reminding me of everything.”

He shook his head, distracting me with that tiny bun. Jealousy bubbled in my stomach. Not only was Tanner the athletic one, he also inherited our mother’s silky blond locks. I, on the other hand, was stuck with raven-black hair. Combine that with my usual pale complexion, and I bore striking resemblance to Morticia fromThe Addams Family.

“Have you forgotten the fire?”

“Seriously? You can’t blame me for that too?” I huffed out a breath and crossed my arms. As usual, it was my fault. It didn’t matter what I did, screwed-up things always happened around me, andIwas always the reason for it in my brother’s eyes.

“Didn’t they conclude the fire started in your room?”

I narrowed my eyes as I raised a finger. “You’re paraphrasing. They never proved it was my hair straightener that did it, and considering all the technology they have these days, that’s something they should be able to find out.”

Tanner’s eyes crossed as he looked at my finger. I hoped he was admiring the purple and white animal print I had painted on the tip in homage to his team.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

I dropped my hand, letting out a low grunt. “It was inconclusive because there was too much damage to the area. Their best bet was thevicinityof my room. Could have easily been someone else’s. Heck, there could have been an internal wiring problem that had nothing to do with me. The house was one hundred years old, after all.”

“Thea, you were the only one living in the attic where the fire started.”

I wanted to cut that tiny bun off his head and see how he liked being interrogated about his questionable choices. “Typical. Why even ask questions if you’ve already made up your mind and aren’t willing to listen to all sides of the argument?”

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