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“She’s never done anything to you. Nothing you’ve ever told me about, anyway.”

No, she hasn’t.

I remember her from the wedding, a silent and plump girl on the verge of womanhood and hunched over to betterblend with the crowd. She stuck close to her sisters rather than talking with anyone.

Alistair’s family, my family, was loud and obnoxious and almost abrasive in their affection. It had to be a completely different experience for her, so I’d cut her slack.

Gilli has been a taciturn presence on the absolute outskirts of our lives. I understand why Soren would want to work out his issues on her, but there’s a time to draw the line.

I’ve learned it firsthand. Haven’t I? When to fold and when to keep fighting?

“Hey. You’re oddly quiet, Aiden.”

I blink at the sound of my name, looking up from the plate and realizing the conversation has gone on without me, and Soren’s concerned.

“Sorry. What did I miss?”

I finger my empty shot glass, the edges of my vision blurry.I’ve had enough.

“This idiotic prick thinks he might be able to drive your step-cousin out of town if he makes things harder on her at home. And he wants our help,” Tase explains like it’s the worst plan in the world.

Soren sniffs. “You make it sound primitive and churlish, dude.”

Tase leans forward, his fingers curled into fists. “Because it fucking is. Let it go, Soren. You’re missing the plot. You’ve got a rancid idea in your head and refuse to drop it.”

Tase is sick of us. It’s clear in the tense lines around his eyes and his high cheekbones. “You sound like a goddamn child.”

I’ve been there. So convinced that what I was doing was the right thing, I mentally and physically couldn’t stop to see the trees for the forest.

I kept hammering at the poor girl, kept pushing her and trying to get her to be the person I thought she should be. One who didn’t make me so uncomfortable with her existence.

I pushed until she slit her wrists and the paramedics nearly didn’t make it in time.

Soren was with me every step of the way, so he should understand what he’s asking of me with this.

The impossibility of his request.

“It’s not a game I’m willing to play again.” I slowly lift my gaze to meet his. “I know what happens to people when you bully them into a corner. It makes their existence a living freak show.”

Soren wilts a few inches before he regains control of himself. His gaze softens. “Shit. I’m sorry.” His nostrils flare. “Blame it on the booze. I wasn’t thinking.”

I flash him a half grin. “I figured.”

“Or maybe Aiden just wants her around to fuck her.” Tase offers it as a joke but something inside of me immediately sobers.

So what if I do?

I’ve never had to ask permission from my friends about who to sleep with before. Soren and I have even shared girls in the past, passing them back and forth between us until they go pliant and take us both at the same time.

Is it wrong of me to want more from Gilli if she’s game?

“You’ve never been interested in my sister before,” Soren says to me with a flash of teeth.

“Stepsister.” I’m compelled to correct him. “No blood relation. You’re my cousin.Sheis not.”

Tase sucks in a breath, volleying his attention between the two of us and waiting to see which one will come out on top. Like this is suddenly getting good.

“You know what, Aiden? If something happens between you two, then it happens.” Soren looks like he just spent a night sucking on a lemon as he holds his hands up in the air in surrender. “I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do. Or stop you from doing anything youdowant to do.”