I’ve been in her room for a while now.

Long enough to know that she has a thing for 80’s hair bands and doesn’t keep a diary.

At least not one that I can find.

I told myself I was breaking into her room because she took off like a lunatic the last time I saw her and left me with two tons of cat litter and squeaky toys that I have absolutely no fucking use for. That I was going to slip in, throw the shit in her room and bounce.

As usual, when it comes to Tess, what I told myself is a big, fat fucking lie because once I was in, I found every excuse to stay.

I fed the cat.

I played with the cat.

I even set up the goddamned litter box.

And watched the clock.

I should probably leave before she gets home from school. If she finds me in her room, she’s going to blow a gasket. The thought turns me on more than it should, which is probably why instead of leaving, I stretch out on her bed and let the scraggly scrap or fur she calls a kitten claw its way onto my chest.

I’m lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the faint clang of tools and idling engines floating up from the ground-floor garage. Tess and her family used to be our neighbors. When her mom died, Tess and her father moved in here. The place is a dump. With the money I’m making him, her dad could afford a better place. A place where Tess could have a real home. Maybe—

I hear Tess laugh downstairs, the sound of it instantly clenching my gut. I’ve never heard her laugh like that before.

You’ve never heard her laugh, period, asshole.

Against my better judgment, I get up. Open her bedroom door and make my way down the short hallway, past the bathroom and through the kitchen. Total travel time is less than five seconds before I’m in the living room, standing in front of the huge plate glass window over-looking the garage. It’s mylared. Like the two-way mirrors that have in interrogation rooms on cop shows. She can’t see me.

But I can see her.

She’s with my brother.

I watch her present him to her father like a fattened calf. Mr. C wipes the grease off his hands before offering one of them to Con.

Con takes his hand and shakes it, mouth moving and smiling.

Nice to see you again, Mr. Castinetti. Don’t mind me, I’m just here to fuck your daughter. I’ll be through with her before you know it.

All that moon-eyed bullshit about loving Henley and here he is, practically five minutes after she dumps him, trying to move in on her best friend.

I watch Tess gesture up the stairs and her dad nods.

Of course you can fuck my daughter, Conner. You seem like a nice young man and not at all like your thieving asshole of an older brother.

I can hear them on the stairs, getting closer and for one insane moment I don’t have any intention of moving. I see Tess opening the door, Conner behind her. The look of absolute shock on her face when she sees me. Con will stand his ground. He might be a fucking freak but he’s no bitch. When I go for him, he’ll meet me head on. He won’t know why we’re trying to kill each other but he has so many reasons to hate me that he won’t care.

They’re on the other side of the door before I come to my senses. Retracing my steps, I duck into her room and shut the door, just as they step into the living room.

I listen to Tess ask Conner if he wants something to drink.

Con declines.

Leave, asshole.

She’s going to catch you.

Start screaming and yelling.

Con will see you.

Her dad will come and then there’ll be hell to pay.

I glance at the window I used to break in. I could be squeezed through it and down the fire escape and be gone inside of ten seconds.

Fuck that.

Fuck my brother.

And while we’re at it, fuck her dad.

I’m not going anywhere.

The cat lets out a yowl.

I’ve been holding it the entire time.

Okay, Let me dump my backpack and—

She’s moving through the kitchen as she talks, down the hallway. Getting closer.

She opens the door and she sees me standing in the middle of her bedroom. Her eyes go wide. Her mouth opens.

But she doesn’t scream.

Casting one last look over her shoulder, she slips across the threshold and shuts the door. “How the hell did you get in here?” She hisses it at me, gaze flying around the room like she’s looking for a clue that will answer her own question.

“Window.” I drop the cat on her bed. “What’s my brother doing here?”

“It was locked.” She shakes her head, like I’m lying to her. “I always keep it locked.”

“Shitty lock.” It took me three seconds to break it. “What is my brother doing here?”

“You can’t just break into my house whenever you feel like it, Declan.” She drops her backpack off her shoulder and kicks it into a corner. She looks around, taking in the neatly stacked cans of cat food on her dresser. The litter box set up in the corner. The pile of cat toys on her desk. “How long have you been here?”

“Sure I can.” I ignore the question because the answer is just long enough to warrant a restraining order. “I can always go out there and ask him myself.” I take a step in her direction. “That might be fun.”

“What do you think he’s doing here?” She stands her ground, chin tipped up so she can glare at me. “Henley dumped him so clearly he’s here to fuck me.” When I snarl, she narrows her eyes and shakes her head like I’m the dumbest person alive. “Or maybe, he’s my friend and we’re going to hang out, because Henley did dump him, thanks to you, and he’s kind of a mess.”

A few days ago, knowing that I’d managed to cause enough trouble between my brother and his girlfriend to break them up gave me an immense feeling of satisfaction. Hearing it from Tess makes me feel something else. Like everything else she’s said that I don’t want to acknowledge, I ignore it—and the way it makes me feel.

“Con doesn’t have friends.” I take another step toward her, closing the distance between us completely. “Get rid of him.”

“Seriously?” She laughs at me. “You think you have the right to break into my house and tell me what to do, just because you—” She stops talking and her cheeks go pink at the memory of what happened the last time we were alone together.

“Made you come.” I plant a hand above her head and lean into her, my face hovering above hers. “That’s what happened. You fucked yourself on my cock while I licked and sucked your nipples until you came all over me.”

Somehow, she manages to blush and go pale, all at once. She licks her lips and shakes her head. “That was a mistake.” Tess is tiny. I’m a foot and a half taller than her, easy. Three times as wide. I’m used to people being intimidated by my size, whether I want them to be or not. Tess isn’t intimidated. She’s turned on and pissed about it.

“Didn’t feel like a mistake.” I say it even though I’ve been trying to convince myself of the same damn thing for days now. To prove my point, I lift my free hand, brushing my thumb across her nipple and she sucks in a breath when it hardens at my touch. “Get rid of him.”

“No.” She shakes her head for good measure, even as she’s pushing herself into the palm of my hand. “You don’t get to—”

The door she’s pressed against vibrates under my hand. “Tess?” Conner is on the other side of it, knocking. “Is everything okay?”

I open my mouth to tell him that she’s fine and to get the fuck out but before I can, she reaches up and slaps a hand over my mouth, and shakes her head, mouthing a single word.

Please.

Shit.

“I’m fine.” She pushes my hand away and I let her. “Just a second.” Dropping her hand to my chest, she shoots me one last pleading look before pushing me away completely. She darts over to the bed to pick up the cat before turning back to grapple with the knob.

I step behind her bedroom door, when she opens it and squeezes through it before pulling it closed behind her. “Let’s go downstairs.” Her voice is muffled by the door. Con’s reply is nothing more than noise as they move down the hall. Seconds later the front door slams and they’re gone.

I’m through the window and down the fire escape before I know it. Down the alley and around the side of the building before I can stop myself. Across the tarmac in front of the garage and standing in the open doorway less than five minutes after she left me standing in her bedroom.

Tess is pulling on her coveralls and Con is camped out on the same bench she planted me on Friday night when she super glued the gash on my chin closed. They’re chatting and laughing like their best friends.

I don’t like it.

“Hey, freak,” I say, raising my voice so they hear me over the noise.

When he hears me, Con goes stiff. Standing slowly, he cuts Tess a look before closing the distance between us. “What are you doing here?”

“Mom is looking for you,” I tell him, lying through my fucking teeth. “She wants you home. Now.”

“Why?” He looks skeptical. He doesn’t believe a word I say. Knows better than to trust me.

“How the fuck should I know?” I bark back, fighting to keep my gaze focused on him. Mr. C is staring at me and Tess looks like she wants to kill me. This is some next level pettiness but right now, I don’t give a shit. “Why don’t you go home and ask her?”

“How did you know I was here?”

“I used my Freak Finder.” I shrug like I don’t give a shit either way. “Look—you don’t want to go home, don’t. I’m just telling you what she said.”

He stares at me for a second and I’m 100% sure he knows I’m lying. Then he walks back to the bench, shoulders his backpack and says something to Tess that makes her smile. Laugh. When she flicks her gaze in my direction the sound dies off. The smile flickers out.

I hate my brother so goddamned much right now, I could kill him for real.

He strolls past me, throws a wave over his shoulder and thanks Mr. C for letting him hang out. Tells Tess he’ll see her tomorrow.

I stand where I am for a second, nailing Tess with a hard look. “See you later, Tesla.”

It doesn’t sound like a casual goodbye.

It sounds a lot like a threat.