As the buzzer ended the game, we’d won by ten points. Jesse had been fouled and earned eight of those himself, but it’d been a close game.

“That was fun. I’m excited for this year.” Hannah was all smiles as we followed the crowd from the stands. When we got through the stairs that opened onto a wider area behind the stands, I started for the players’ door. Hannah called after me, “Hey!”

I turned around. This was the part I hadn’t shared with them. “Hey, uh, I’m going to go and say hi real quick.”

The two gave me similar looks. They were dumbfounded.

Hannah frowned. “You’re going to what?”

Beth was smarter on the uptake. “What are you really doing?”

Well, here we go. “Jesse didn’t ask me to come to the game. He asked me to go to dinner with them.”

Hannah’s mouth dropped while her cousin prodded, “With everybody everybody?”

“His dad. I’m assuming the girlfriend.”

“And your parents?”

“Holy f**k! I can’t believe you’re going to do that. Are you kidding me? Why did you even break up with him?”

I’d been asking myself the same question, but then I remembered the pain in his eyes. I succumbed every time so I only shrugged. They wouldn’t take that as an explanation. “I have to. Jesse and I are family.”

“You two are so confusing.” Hannah spun around in a tight circle before she stalked off.

“Forget her.” Beth moved closer so we weren’t crushed by the crowd.

“Is she leaving you?”

She shrugged. “Dorm’s two blocks from here. I’ll be fine.”

“Well.” This hadn’t gone how I expected it. “Come with me. Maybe Jesse got more people to go to dinner.”

“Sure.”

I grinned as Beth fell in step with me. With her suddenly chatty cousin gone, she seemed to have returned to her quiet ways. This was the friend I was comfortable around. And as we turned the last corner and went down the back hallway and headed towards the waiting area, I was glad she’d come. I hadn’t admitted to myself all week, but seeing my parents again was threatening to send me into another cycle of pain and misery.

When we stepped through the last door, I was surprised to see Tiffany and Kara beside my parents. They were in dressed with high heels. The hair and make-up was done so both looked stunning. A girl stood in the far corner, dressed similarly to them. I glanced down at myself. Jeans and a tank top. Jesse hadn’t said where dinner was going to be, but I should’ve known. This was Malcolm Hunt. He only went to the most expensive restaurants.

My gratitude for Beth’s presence went up another notch. She had dressed the same as me.

“Alexandra!” Malcolm threw his arms out and swept across the room to me. He embraced me in a tight hug and squeezed. “It’s so good to see you again. It’s been years.”

When he let me go, I nodded. “Yep. The day after Ethan’s funeral.”

“That’s right. His funeral.”

“You weren’t there.”

“Oh.” His welcoming smile fell. And he took a step back. “That’s right. I was…” His eyes widened as he remembered. It’d been the next morning when his girlfriend found her car had been keyed. She went to Malcolm, who stormed into Jesse’s bedroom. We’d still been sleeping. “Well.” He twisted and glanced at the new girlfriend, who stood with my parents. “Well then. It has been a while.”

I nodded. That’d gone exactly how I expected.

“What are you doing here?”

I glanced over, surprised at the hostility in Tiffany’s tone as she addressed her cousin. I spoke for her, “I asked her to come.”

“Why?”

Blinking at the scathing look she gave me, my eyes then narrowed and my chin tightened. “Because I wanted to.”

“Jesse said you were coming for dinner.” Malcolm’s smile resurfaced. His eyes twinkled as he nodded. “That’s wonderful. Have you two continued…your…um…you know?” He moved closer and lowered his voice so my parents wouldn’t hear.

“They found out before Christmas,” Jesse spoke for me. Unlike his father, he was tense and trying to drill holes into his father from across the room. He was dressed in a Grant West blazer over jeans. Freshly showered and tired from the game, his cheekbones were more striking than normal. He gave off an air of danger. It sizzled among everyone and they grew silent, watchful as Jesse jerked forward a step. His hand was clenched around his bag.

“Oh. Well.” Malcolm laughed at himself. “Cat’s out of the bag, hmm?”

Jesse narrowed his eyes and his mouth clamped shut. I watched as his jaw clenched and knew he was two seconds away from yelling at his father. Hurrying over to him, I glanced around and was surprised that no one else witnessed what I had. Everyone seemed unaware of the potential explosion, but as I touched his hand and moved him away from the group, Jesse seethed, “Don’t worry. I never lose it around my friends.”

“Yeah, well, you have around me.” The time when Malcolm found us had been the first explosion. I had heard others over the two years, even though his father never knew I had been in the other room and there’d been moments before Ethan’s death.

He forced out a breath, trying to calm himself, but he muttered, “I can’t f**king stand him.”

“Keep it together.” I skimmed a hand over his jaw, tapping it so it loosened. As it did and he tried to smile at me, I shook my head. It was a poor imitation. “Introduce me to your sister.”

I started for the girl, who had been keeping to herself in a back corner, but Jesse caught my arm and dragged me farther away. He took me in the opposite direction until we were out of earshot of the group. Then he caught my face in his hands and made me hold his gaze. “Stay with me tonight.”

“What? No.” I tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t release me.

“Please. I’m going nuts. Stay with me.”

“You know the deal. Tell me the—”

“Yeah, yeah. Tell you the secret and what then? You’ll come back? You’ll stay with me?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. We never defined us. I had no idea. I finally moved my shoulders in a movement that I hoped looked like a shrug. “Tell me Ethan’s secret and we can figure it out.”