The four of us “Greeks,” as the dorks at school liked to call us, still kept as close as we could despite the distance. It was a complicated dynamic, but somehow, we all knew it was a brotherhood for life. We’d always keep finding our way back to each other, like its own version of the gravity that kept me glued to Charli.
Logan, Tristan, and Kennedy were waiting at Dead Ringers when we showed up. I had my arm around Charli’s waist, thinking for about the thousandth time how much I loved the way she felt so tiny in my arms.
I frowned as we sat down. “Why do you all look so fucking grim? Is it the freshmen twenty I put on?”
Charli pinched my stomach, which was as ripped as ever. “I don’t think the freshman twenty means twenty pounds of muscle, you meat head.”
Tristan leaned forward on the table, eyebrows drawn. “It’s about Gage…”
For the next few minutes, it felt like the lights dimmed in the diner while Tristan spoke. I barely heard the words. All I knew was that Gage, who had always seemed like the least burdened of the four of us, wasn’t going to be the same.
I squeezed Charli’s hand and saw the pain on her face for him—for me. She knew we were all bound together, and she knew when one of us bled, we all did.
THE END