Life had already handed him a shit deal between his stuttering caused by anxiety from being in the crash that killed our mom, some facial scars from the accident, and the bouts of depression he tries to hide from everyone.

Just like our mother.

But every time he saw Dylan, he said it was like the sun was finally shining on him.

As his brother and friend, I refused to be the one to tear that away.

No matter how much I wanted her, I couldn’t do that to him.

For years, I ignored my feelings and pretended they didn’t exist.

Until the day she dared me to kiss her.

It confirmed my greatest desire and my worst fear.

She had feelings for me too.

I just hope like hell Liam will understand, because this thing between us…it’s too powerful to ignore.

I sense the shift the moment I walk back into the gymnasium. Something’s off.

People are looking, some of them are whispering…others are laughing.

And there’s no sign of Liam.

I catch Cole in my peripheral vision and grab him. “Where’s Liam?”

He shrugs. “What do I look like, his keeper?”

No, but as the oldest, I am. And right now, there’s a brick in my gut the size of Texas.

“Cole,” I grit through my teeth.

“He ran home crying like a little bitch.”

“Why?”

A hint of sympathy flashes in his eyes. “I’m not sure. Tommy and Liam left the gym for a few minutes. When they came back, Liam was crying and Tommy was grinning like a cat who ate a goldfish.”

“Shit.”

“It gets worse.” He winces. “Tommy started pointing and laughing at him. Calling him a prissy fag. Pretty soon everyone else joined in.” He averts his gaze. “Liam tried defending himself, but he was so upset he—”

“Got stuck on the first word.”

He snorts. “More like the first letter. It was pretty brutal, even I felt bad for him.”

Not bad enough to step in and do anything about it.

But I don’t have time to worry about Cole and Liam’s lousy relationship. I have more important shit to take care of.

Rage lights me up like an inferno and I scan the gym for Tommy. “Where the hell is he?”

I’m gonna shove my fist down his throat and rip out his goddamn tongue so he can never talk shit about Liam again.

“Not sure. I saw him leave a few minutes after Liam did.”

I check my watch. “Dad won’t be here for another half hour.”

If he gets here, that is. Most of the time he’s still working at his office and it’s easier to walk the twenty minutes to our house rather than wait for him to remember his kids.

“I’m gonna walk home.”

Cole nods. “Have fun. I’m gonna find Hay—”

I grip his jacket. “The fuck you are.”

Annoyance twists his features. “This isn’t my problem. Why do I have to—”

“Because you’re his brother, too.” I shove him. “Start acting like one, prick.”

“Fine. Whatever.” He looks over at Hayley and sighs. “Let’s go.”

We make it home in fifteen.

Bianca’s parked on the sofa painting her nails. Given I see no signs of Mrs. Garcia—the babysitter my dad hires on the rare occasions me and my brothers aren’t around—I assume Liam is home.

“Liam is so mad at you,” Bianca says when she spots us.

Cole and I exchange a glance.

“It’s not my fault he ran out of the dance crying,” Cole says with a scowl. “Blame Tommy DaSilva.”

Considering Cole didn’t defend him tonight, Liam has a right to be pissed at him.

“Not you.” She looks at me. “You.”

“Me?” That doesn’t make any sense. “Did he say why?”

She thinks about this for a moment before replying, “Nope.” Smirking, she looks up at the ceiling. “But he did ask me where the bat was.”

As if on cue, there’s a loud crash upstairs.

Cole whistles. “I’m gonna take a guess and say you pointed him in the right direction.”

Bianca blows on her nails. “Duh.”

“Thanks a lot.”

I take the stairs two at a time.

Cole follows behind me. “What did you do?”

“I have no idea.”

“I’ve never seen him so mad before,” Bianca whisper-shouts.

Cole and I turn around. “Go downstairs.”

Pouting, she slinks down the staircase. “I hope Liam takes a bat to your balls.”

Great. Another sibling I’ve managed to tick off tonight.

Glass shattering assaults my ears as I open my bedroom door.

My stomach falls when I see my broken computer screen. “What the hell are you doing?”

Bat in hand, those angry green eyes swivel to me. “T-t-taking s-s-something you l-l-love aw-w-way.” He swings again, attacking the tower this time. “Maybe n-n-now you’ll k-k-know w-w-what it f-f-feels lik-k-ke.”

Jesus Christ. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t take anything away from—”

“Dylan,” he seethes, moving on to my Xbox. Various pieces of plastic and metal fly across the room. “I s-s-saw you two k-k-k-kissing in t-t-the c-c-c-loset.”

Shit. How do I even begin to explain this?

Easy…I can’t.

“About damn time,” Cole says unhelpfully.

“S-s-shut up,” Liam screams, his voice breaking.

Cole holds up his hands. “Bro, you’re acting like a psycho. Put the bat down.”

“No.” He strikes the stack of my most prized video games next. “You k-k-knew how m-m-much I l-l-loved her.”

He’s right. I did.

My chest feels like it’s made out of lead. “How did you find out?”

Dylan told me he was dancing with Heather, there’s no way he could know we were in there.

“I j-j-just t-t-told you, dumbas-s-ss. I s-s-saw—”

“How did you know we were in the closet?” Cole’s words from earlier detonate my brain. Tommy. “Goddammit.”

He smashes my television next. “Tommy t-t-told me you were s-s-sneaking around b-b-behind my b-b-back. I didn’t b-b-believe him, but he s-s-said he could p-p-prove it.”

How did he know?

It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters right now is Liam thinks I betrayed him.

“I’m so—” The sound of my phone ringing cuts me off.

The ringtone tells me it’s Dylan calling, but no way in hell am I going to answer it in front of him.

As if sensing my internal debate, Liam zeros in on me. “Is t-t-that her?”

Taking my cell out of my pocket, I turn it off. “Doesn’t matter.”

Shaking his head, he places my brand-new laptop on top of my desk.

I take a step toward him. “Liam, stop!”

Liam swings at the air between us before he flips my laptop open and proceeds to smash the screen and keyboard to smithereens.

“Did you t-t-tell her I l-l-loved her?” He swings again and his voice cracks. “Did you b-b-both g-g-get a g-g-good laugh?”