The last thing I wanted was to talk to Jacen. Second on that list was my brother. Third, fourth, fifth…Piety, Astra, Dash.

Writing a letter came to mind because that was pretty much what I planned to do to officially resign my position at the clinic. Maybe it was the coward’s way to handle it, but I’d been facing the hard shit for the past year, trying to own up to every mistake, every wrong I’d made and what good had it done me?

It sure as hell hadn’t fixed things with my family.

Now, painfully aware of Jacen as he stood silently behind me, waiting, I decided I was so…completely…done. Done with having people tell me how it was going to be, tell me who I was.

Done with fighting to prove to other people who I knew I was.

“Fine. Go ahead and come in, but you’re not staying long. I’m fucking exhausted.”

I didn’t bother holding the door open as I stepped inside the building, and I didn’t wait to see what he’d do when I closed the elevator. But when I stepped off the elevator onto my floor, he was there, waiting. He didn’t say a word as I unlocked my door and stepped inside.

The bare walls of the apartment taunted me, reminding me of the decision I’d made.

At least I wouldn’t have to worry about packing up the portraits.

They were all in the trash.

I was in the middle of my living room when I turned to look at him, arms crossed over my chest. I was cold, although I suspected it was withdrawal and exhaustion more than anything else. Still, I was having a hard time controlling the shivers, and if he didn’t get this over with, I was going to grab the throw from the back of the couch.

“Well?” I demanded when he stayed quiet.

He was looking at the walls.

“What happened to the pictures?” he asked softly.

I’d forgotten he’d been in here once.

“They’re in the trash,” I said shortly.

I wasn’t going to bother explaining to him that somebody had broken in. He probably wouldn’t believe me and if he did, he’d assume it was Daytin. And while it probably was, she already had her past stacked against her like I did. I wasn’t going to make things harder for her because she’d trashed my place.

“What? Why?” He whipped his head around to stare at me.

“I’m moving,” I announced. He could draw his own conclusions. “The less I have to take with me the better.”

His eyes closed briefly. When he opened them again, there was a stark emotion in them that I couldn’t identify. I couldn’t identify it, but it unsettled the hell out of me.

“Why are you moving?” he asked, voice low and intense.

“Is this really why you’re here?” I demanded. “To glare at me and at my walls and ask questions that don’t concern you? Would you just say whatever you need to say so I can get some sleep?”

He took a step toward me, then another. That look in his eyes…

Hell, if he’d looked at me like that earlier, my heart might have melted. Now, I was just too tired for this.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t unsettling. Those obsidian eyes had a way of making me feel like he could see clear through me. He couldn’t though. He didn’t look any deeper than anybody else did.

“I was wrong.”

“Fine. Now you can…” His words registered. “What?”

“I ran into Daytin. She told me…look, I know you weren’t using last night. I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

He reached up to touch me.

I smacked his hand away. The action startled me as much as it did him, but not for long. It didn’t take that long for me to figure out the new emotion simmering inside me, burning away the exhaustion.

I was pissed.

“Excuse me,” I said, squeezing each word out. “Did you just tell me you talked to Daytin?”

“Yes.” He had a look of caution on his face now.

Too little too late.

“She was at the club…asking…hell, you know what she was probably after. She made a comment, and we made a deal. I’d buy her some food if she’d talk to me and…well, she told me what happened last night.” He shrugged, looking embarrassed.

“Wow.”

I turned away and walked a few steps over to the island where my phone sat. I was afraid to even touch the thing now. When Kaleb had given me the phone and said I could ditch the pay-as-you-go I’d had, I’d been thrilled. A gift from my big brother.

But the only reason he’d given it to me was so he could spy on me.

And now Jacen was telling me the only reason he was believing me now was because somebody else had told him the same story I had. Not just anyone else, but a stranger who had all the problems he’d accused me of still having.

“So Daytin explained what happened and that’s why you’re here to apologize,” I said quietly, still staring at the phone, wanting to smash it into smithereens.

They’d told me I’d have to rebuild trust.

They’d told me I’d have to rebuild bonds.

What else had I been doing over the past year if not that?

“Camry…”

“Is that a yes?” I bit off.

Slowly, I reached out and picked up the phone, squeezing it so tight, the edges cut into my fingers. It rang abruptly, startling me. Looking down, I saw my brother’s face staring at me from the screen. Kaleb was calling me. It was barely past dawn now and he was calling me. Probably checking up on me.

Jacen answered, “Well…yeah…”

I spun around and hurled the phone at him.

I had to give him credit. He still had the reflexes of a pro-athlete, because he dodged the phone like I hadn’t been trying to take his head off.

It bounced off the wall and landed on the ground, still ringing, but I ignored it.

“So you’ll believe a girl you don’t even know, but you won’t believe me—somebody you’ve known for half your life, somebody you were sleeping with,” I said, some of the hurt I’d tried to hide spilled out, mixing with anger. “Well fuck you, Jacen.”