I didn’t want him to be right. I gazed away. “He’s an asshole, Bruno. He’s been an asshole, and once again, you’re out here having his back and not mine.”
“I do have your back, sis.” He frowned. “That’s why I’m doing this.”
I couldn’t even look at him, but he angled in front of me.
“You do want to say yes.” He nodded. “I know you do because I know you.”
I wished he didn’t, and like hell, I wanted to protest, but I couldn’t.
I wanted him to be wrong. I wanted to say I didn’t think about Dorian, or I didn’t
care. I wanted to say that I threw out every letter he gave me.
But I hadn’t.
I had each and every one, and I probably wouldn’t ever throw them away.
Bru’s smile was slow. “I’m also saving you from yourself. Fuck, I’m saving you from the school,” he said, chuckling. “If the coaches keep him from playing because of that dress shit, the pitchforks will definitely come out for your stubborn ass.”
He rocked my shoulders, and I shoved at him, trying to not smile, but I couldn’t help it.
His head tilted. “I’m not happy about how you said he treated you, and you were totally right for being as unmovable as you were on the issue.”
He was right about that.
“But I also know how you feel about him.” He rubbed my arm. “I know what I’ve seen, and as far as I’m concerned, that trumps any way I feel about the situation. If I had it my way, I’d deck his ass, which would probably not be a good idea because dude’s like twice my size.”
That hadn’t stopped him from hitting Ares and standing up for me.
He probably only hadn’t done anything because he knew how I felt about him fighting.
“You and your happiness come first, Sloane,” he said, then faced back toward Wells and Thatcher. “It does, and regardless of how I feel about it.”
But going along with Thatcher and Wells on this, really? I waved my hand toward them. “But those guys weren’t here for you. They didn’t even come to see you when you were at the hospital.”
“And that’s on us.”
Thatcher came over after he spoke, Wells behind him. I had a feeling they’d been listening the whole time, and I hadn’t been trying to keep quiet about anything. Thatcher stopped in front of me. “We talked to Bru at the game. Told him we were idiots. We shouldn’t have given you the cold shoulder like that.”
“We came at you fucked up.” Wells dropped an arm over Thatcher’s shoulder. Wells’s lips pulled tight. “We should have given you the benefit of the doubt. Wolf did that, and we should have had enough brain cells to do it too.”
“We were assholes.” Thatcher opened his hands. “Point-blank. We went about shit with a mob mentality, and that wasn’t cool.” He gestured toward Bru. “Not to mention ghosting you, bro, over that shit. Was so messed up. We messed up.”
Bru acknowledged that, nodding. “I get standing up for people you care about. If it was my sis, I would have done the same thing, which is why I’ve forgiven them,” he said, facing me. “I did mostly for you. This thing with you and Dorian anyone can see. I wanted to help. Like I said, I want you to be happy.”
I studied my kid brother, really looked at him. These boys had more than treated him like shit too, but here he was teaming up with them. He’d done that for me.
My brother definitely hadn’t been in my corner in the past. More than once, he favored his interests over mine but that wasn’t the case now.
“And we owe you an apology too.” Thatcher waved a hand between him and Wells. “Wolf tried to talk some common sense into us, but we didn’t listen.”
“Yeah, which is why we did after we finally stopped being assholes.” Wells frowned. “Ares said you were pissed at D, and that we should all give you breathing room. Especially after what we did and shutting you out. He said talking to you should be on your terms.”
I’d been told this, him of all people looking out for me. “Where is he? Ares?”
Thatcher grinned. “He’s actually at the school presenting the project you both worked on. I guess some big-time art school reps wanted to see it in person after getting his applications.” Thatcher nodded. “Seems you guys worked really well together.”
Well, congrats to beast boy. He really did deserve it. He worked hard. We both did.