I heard Tiffany’s words again. ‘The chick is a survivor.’

I’d survive. I had to.

“You have me.”

“I know.”

My heart split again, but not from pain, from overwhelming warmth. I had Jesse. It was the first time I allowed myself to trust in him. He wouldn’t leave me. He hadn’t, even though I always felt like he would go. Angie had been wrong so long ago. I’d been wrong. But there was one thing I’d been afraid to ask. Biting my lip, I asked it now, “Jesse?”

“Hmmm?”

I felt his answer rumble through his chest and my back. It soothed me for some reason. “Why didn’t you tell me about Ethan? I know I said I can’t think of him like that, but why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“I felt guilty.”

“Why?”

“Because I should’ve stopped him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew about Claire and the baby. I knew how your parents handled it and that your dad scared Claire away, but I never spoke up. I should’ve helped somehow and then you didn’t know. I couldn’t tell you. I mean, I knew about the baby and Ethan didn’t want you to know, but I should’ve told you.”

“That he killed himself or about his baby?”

“About both. I was scared that you’d blame me and I’d lose you.”

My heart began pounding. I swore he felt it through my back. I couldn’t stop it. “Why would I blame you?”

“Because I’m the reason he got in that car.”

I froze. My heart stopped.

He felt it, tensing as he said further, “Claire went into labor that night. I called him to tell him. He got in the car to go to her.”

“What?” The word ripped from me. “What are you saying?”

“He took drugs that night. He was going to intentionally overdose, but when I called him, he decided to try to get to the hospital. He wanted to see his baby before he died.”

My mouth gaped open. No sound came out. None could come out. Searing pain rippled through me and it paralyzed me. I couldn’t do anything, but lay there in his arms. Then Jesse finished, his voice thick with guilt, “I didn’t know he had taken drugs. I thought maybe he had, but I had no idea he was going to kill himself that night. I should’ve called the cops on him. I should’ve done something, but I didn’t. I went to the hospital to meet him. I thought he was in the room when she gave birth, but he wasn’t. I didn’t realize it until later that he’d been in the ER the whole time. He had already crashed by the time I left Sarah’s and got to the hospital. He died from the car accident before they realized his body had already shut down from drugs too. I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Alex.”

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything, but imagine that night again. And I cried. I didn’t stop the entire night.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

It was another month before I finally called Ethan’s lawyers. They wanted verification of my name. I sent them a copy of my passport. It was another month after that when they told me they wouldn’t be able to give me Ethan’s inheritance. The spelling wasn’t correct. I didn’t understand it, not at first. His will and testament said all of his monetary assets would go to Alexandra Claira Connors.

I never blamed Jesse for any of my family problems. It took me a while to fully understand that Ethan had been sick. He wanted to die. I remembered the day of his graduation when he hugged me. It had been long and he wouldn’t let go of me. He’d been saying goodbye in his way. I never remembered it until recently. It woke me during the night, but Jesse was with me. He held me the rest of the night. We had a lot of those nights. I’d remember new information about that last year with Ethan. It would send me spinning. I’d cry. I’d tell Jesse about it and he’d tell me how much my brother loved me. It helped me accept that my brother was gone in a new way. It was different ever since I learned the truth about him. I would never accept that he killed himself. That wasn’t right, but I accepted that he was gone. It probably didn’t make sense to anyone else so I never tried to explain it. It was how I coped with it.

After another week trying to stay at the dorms, I eventually moved back in with Jesse. And because I was on better terms with Tiffany, I started going to the games with her and Kara. Chandra joined us as well, but she never took up with Cord again. He always had a new girl every few weeks. One night, when he was drunk, he confided to me that there was a girl from our school that he always loved. She never reciprocated his feelings, or at least that’s what he told me. I wondered if he knew for certain that she didn’t. He refused to tell me who it was, but she was the reason he never settled down.

I only knew it wasn’t Marissa.

She and Angie came a few times for basketball games. She had hit on Cord, but he never took up her invitation. I was thankful that she never brought Sarah, Jesse’s ex-girlfriend, along because she hadn’t reacted well when she heard about the exclusive status of my relationship with him. Marissa told me a few weeks later that Sarah was now dating a fraternity guy. She seemed happy. And surprisingly, Marissa and Angie even seemed friendly with each other. Justin stayed behind and the two planned girls’ weekend with me. They remained cautious around Beth and Hannah. Beth never talked to them and Hannah was the opposite. She got into people’s faces too much. Eventually they asked not to hang out with them. That was fine. Beth and Hannah told me they were fake. The dislike was reciprocated.

Jamie and Tiffany broke up at the end of the year. He cheated on her and she didn’t want an open relationship anymore. Hannah started taking care of her sister instead, and Tiffany fought back like Hannah had earlier in the year. The two bickered almost daily.

Jesse’s sister came to his championship game. She sat beside me this time instead of her father, who sat courtside with my parents. She was relieved when I told her I wouldn’t be going to the dinner afterwards. Then she confided that night had been too much for her. Unlike her mother, she liked normalcy and quiet moments. She stayed at the house a few weekends and I came to learn she really was a quiet girl. And she worshiped her brother. When she applied for Grant West the following year, I wasn’t surprised. I caught Jesse staring at her at random moments. It was like he was trying to figure her out, but maybe that was how Ethan stared at me too. Jesse never had a family, but he did with her now. He took her home one weekend and introduced her to Zala. His housekeeper instantly took her under her wing.