Page 123 of Don't Let Me Go (Don't Let Me 2)

“I’m not,” I sing.

“So…you’re still ignoring me?” Colt asks.

With a huff, I twist on the couch, using the back as a cushion for my elbows so I can face him fully. “I’m not ignoring you. I’ve been…busy.”

“Busy ignoring me.”

“Busy with my new job,” I clarify.

Despite his accusation, I’ve seen the bastard almost daily, thanks to his relationship with Ash. Not that I can complain. I love my brother. But I also know he lives with Theo, and plays hockey with Theo, and talks to Theo every day, and when I’m trying to avoid all things Theo, it makes our relationship a little stickier than I’d like it to be.

“You’ve also been ditching my games,” he reminds me.

“Again. I’ve been busy. Between classes and organizing activities for the charity, it’s kind of chaotic.”

He shakes his head softly, and I know he wants to argue, but the bastard’s nice enough not to. “I’ll let it go. For now,” he clarifies. “But I expect you at some of my next games, all right?”

I stick my tongue out at him and flop back onto the couch, facing the darkened television screen.

“Love you, sis,” he calls.

I ignore the pinch in my chest and how desperately I want to ask about his stupid best friend. But I don’t. Because I can’t. Even thinking Teddy’s name is enough to break me. Actually having a conversation where he’s the main talking point? Nope. No, thank you.

With a quick blind wave at Colt from behind the edge of the couch, I say, “Bye, big brother.”

I hear another lip-smacking kiss behind me as Ash says goodbye to Colt. I catch Kate’s reflection in the black television screen as she slips through the door before Ash can close it. Then, she slams the door behind her. I jerk up and look behind me.

Uh, this can’t be good.

Kate is never frustrated. She’s basically the nicest person on the planet and doesn’t have an angry bone in her body.

Until today.

Ash and I exchange worried glances as Kate marches into the family room and drops her backpack onto the floor. It lands with a solid thunk next to the couch as she collapses onto the ugly-ass recliner in a heap. But the girl doesn’t say a word. She just sits there, staring blankly at the window in the opposite direction of Ash and me.

“So…,” Ash drags out the word, eyeing Kate warily while rounding the arm of the couch and lowering herself onto the edge of the cushion next to me. Like she’s sitting on pins and needles. Then again, so am I.

Kate shakes her head but still doesn’t say a word. Not a damn one.

Footsteps echo from down the hall as Mia approaches the family room, her eyes glued to her phone.

“Good news. Ashton texted me. I don’t have work at SeaBird tonight. Hallelujah. We should––” Her heels digs into the floor when she sees all of us sitting in silence. Slipping her phone into the back pocket of her jeans, she tiptoes into the room and sits on the edge of the couch between Ash and me, mirroring our position.

“What’d I miss?” she whispers to no one in particular.

Good question.

“We broke up,” Kate replies. She isn’t crying. She isn’t angry. She isn’t relieved. She’s…numb.

“Oh, honey,” Mia starts, but Kate lifts her hand and stops her.

“It’s fine.”

“Kate,” I say because obviously, she is not fine.

“Seriously. It’s fine,” she lies, scratching at her temple while keeping her blank stare zeroed in on the window. “I knew it was going to happen. I knew he’d only see me as a problem. A girl who couldn’t give him what he wanted in the long run. I knew it.”

“But it isn’t true,” Ash murmurs.

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