Page 31

I shoved him in the opposite direction of Selena, who seemed to have regained some clarity at the sound of my voice.

She frowned at me, probably about to open her mouth and release her usual scathing complaints.

“Okay, heathen, time to go home.”

“What?” She reared back from me, pushing me away. “No, it’s not. You don’t tell me when it’s time to go home!”

My patience with the entire conversation snapped, and I bent down, grabbed her around the waist, and hoisted her over my shoulder.

“Shh,” I directed to her as she squawked in outrage.

I carried her throughout the sitting room, skirting the crowd. She wriggled madly in my arms, kicking my chest as much as she could. It wasn’t a token protest. She really wanted down.

On the lawn, people looked at us. Another scandal waiting to happen. I lowered her to the ground and had barely finished straightening up when she pulled back and slapped me.

I finished standing and narrowed my eyes at her.

She glared at me, but there was something vulnerable about that look. Something burning in those violet eyes.

“Stop ordering me around—you’re not in control of me, no one is,” she murmured, low and ragged.

“That is certainly true… not even yourself,” I snapped at her, furious for no good reason. “I told you that you were done here. It’s not my fault you’re hard of hearing.”

She clenched her jaw, and her goddamn hand rose, arching toward me. I caught her wrist long before her palm made contact.

“You get one for free,” I growled at her. “The next one would cost you.”

She wrenched her hand from my grip and stepped back. “You’re a fucking nightmare. Stop trying to control me, Brody!”

“Then stop trying to destroy yourself,” I ground out. “You’re a Sinclair now, fucking act like it. There is no alternative, heathen, accept that.”

She shook her head slowly, her gaze stuck to mine. There was a lot in that look. Universes. Hers was as alien to me as some distant solar system.

“Get out of my face, or I’ll scream. You don’t want a scene? You’d rather die than have one? I will make the biggest fucking scene that has ever existed if you don’t leave me alone right now. Your daddy will be so annoyed.”

Good. Go ahead.It’s what I should have said. It was what I wanted, after all. What I needed to happen. Selena made such a scandal that the high-and-mighty John Sinclair couldn’t be associated with her or her mother anymore. Mission accomplished.

But the words wouldn’t leave me. I couldn’t summon a single one. Because Cal was right, just like always. Selena reminded me of Emily. Not her appearance or personality, but her pain.

Instead, I watched her stumble back, her mouth tight and pinched. Then she turned and ran back into the frat house.

And I let her go. Not because I believed or cared about her threat… but because of the tear that streaked down her cheek.

Brody

After a night of shitty sleep,I went through my morning routine without enthusiasm. My father called before six a.m. Never a good sign.

I put him on speakerphone so he wouldn’t be shouting right in my ear.

“Brody,” he began, “Marjory says that Selena didn’t come home last night.”

Fuck. How’d she know that?

“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“You hadn’t noticed? I told you that she was your responsibility. You need to keep her under control.”

“It’s not so easy to keep a tornado under control,” I muttered. “I think you’ve severely underestimated how difficult Selena is.”