“You really need to stop trying to hit me,” I ground out, yanking her closer when she tried pulling away.
Geo laughed. “She hasn’t even been back a day and she’s already tried hitting you before this? I don’t remember her ever being so violent.”
As fast as I grabbed her, I let her go and backed up, giving myself some space. What the hell was she doing to me? I never let anything slip out that I didn’t want. The last time she tried slapping me was in Kalamazoo. Something I would never mention in front of anyone. She was messing with my head. Geo claimed the space I had moved from, and Sage glared at him.
“You’re not going to break our brother’s heart, are you?” Geo asked, his voice going quiet.
“I love him. I’ll admit, I’m not over everything that’s happened. But I’ll get there.” Her words were slathered with truth. If anything, she’d learned to lie while she was gone.
“Good.” Geo’s hand went back to her hair, and my heart seized, knowing exactly what he was about to say. “Because I would hate to see someone put a knife through your heart like I did to Lacey.”
No one spoke. All that could be heard was the crickets as emotions raced across her face. Heartbreak. Pain. Then rage.
“You did it,” she breathed out, hatred gleaming in her eyes.
“I did. It fell on me since I’m two minutes older. Of course, Niko helped. He was part of the ceremony. He handed me the knife. Alex would have been part of it too if he hadn’t needed to keep you distracted.” Geo was calm as he told her the answer she’d been desperate to know. “You going to try to hit me, Sage?”
“Move,” she demanded, shoving him in the chest. “I can’t fucking look at you—”
“Does this change things?” Geo asked. “Do you think you can still be with Alex, knowing his brother killed your sister?”
He was pushing her, trying to see what she’d admit. It was what the group wanted. To see if she’d snap and admit she’d rather run than stay with Alex. She froze and locked eyes with me before looking back at Geo.
“Alex didn’t kill her. You did.” She took a deep breath. “I can hate you. And still be with him. But you better stay the hell away from me, Geo. Because you’re right, I’m a lot more violent than I used to be. And you might be Alex’s brother, but you’re nothing to me.”
“That’s all I wanted to know.” In a dramatic move, he slid to the side and let her pass. Without another word, she fled into the house, and the bedroom door slammed shut. I sank back into the chair, running my hand down my face.
“I thought you would have already told her it was me who did it,” Geo said, shooting me a questioning glance. “It would make living with her easier for you.”
“It’s been a long fucking day,” I muttered. “I was waiting until everything calmed down.”
Truthfully, I hadn’t wanted to tell her. The more I was around her, the more I began questioning things I should never be thinking about. I didn’t know if it was the guilt. Or her tears. Or how my heart raced when she was close to me. But I couldn’t fucking deal with it. I hadn’t been raised to question anything. And her having that power over me was driving me insane. If she thought I’d killed Lacey, she’d stay far away from me. Me being part of the ceremony was probably just as bad to her. But I had a feeling she would try to get me to open up about the group now that she knew I hadn’t done it.
“Alex is on his way back.” Geo was looking at his phone. “What do you think Sage would think if she knew he knew about this? It was the reason he left. So we could talk to her.”
“I know. That was the plan. I didn’t expect you to show up.”
“They thought it would be better with more than one person. You think she’ll run again?”
“No. I think she understands that anywhere she goes, there’s a chance someone from the group will see her.” I stood up and headed toward the door. “She’ll stay with Alex. She wants to live.”
“Have fun with your new babysitting job.” Geo laughed as he jumped off the porch when headlights lit up the driveway.
It was going to be anything but fun.