Page 24 of The Broken Note

Finn shrugs, unperturbed.

Zane studies me. “Untwist your granny panties. We’re just joking around.”

I grunt and pace the front steps.

“Finn? Caveman translation please?”

“He slept with her and now he’s hooked,” Finn mumbles, eyes still on the tablet.

I freeze.

Zane does too. “Bro.”

I give my brother a stunned look.How the hell did he know that?

“Did Jinx tell you?” I growl.

“I don’t care enough to pay Jinx for that information.” Finn rolls his eyes. “It was all over your face when you came back home… the next morning.”

I flinch. Oh right.

Zane covers his mouth, eyes wide. “That night after she trashed our practice room… were you and Brahms…damn! No wonder you said we didn’t have to get her back. You’d already taken the price.”

I scowl.

Zane slaps me on the back. “About time.”

I knock his hand off.

“Wait,” he scrunches his nose, “why are you so anxious to see her? Girls are usually the ones acting clingy after se—ah!”

I grab his shirt collar. “If you keep flapping your mouth, I’ll stick my fist in it.”

Zane chuckles. “Try it and see what happens.”

I wheel my hand back.

“Enough, Zane. Go easy on him.”

“Why should I?”

“Don’t you see he’s been rejected?” Finn unfolds himself from the steps and tilts his neck from side to side, massaging the kinks. His eyes meet mine when he straightens. “For the first time in his life, Dutch genuinely cares about someone and that person would rather die than be involved with him.”

My anger surges.

My cheeks burn.

I release Zane and swing at Finn.

He blocks me with one hand and looks at me with bored eyes. “Compose yourself. Your woman’s walking toward us.”

Immediately, I whirl around.

Finn’s right.

Cadence is stalking toward Redwood Prep. She’s wearing one of her old uniforms—the really short skirt with the white top. I pause for a moment and glance over her, noticing her big brown eyes rimmed with dark purple circles of exhaustion.

What the hell happened?