Page 96 of Five

Don’t.

He does, anyway. “Are you okay?”

“No. Not really.” I attempt a smile and feel it flop. “But I will be, so it’s all good.”

“What’s wrong?” Cope asks, running the tip of his finger up and down my arm. I shiver beneath his touch.

Jesse snorts, shaking his head and looking away. The amusement in his gaze irritates me.

“What, Jesse? What’s so funny?”

He lashes back, as I knew he would. “You’re just eating all this up, aren’t you?”

Part of me is angry that he still apparently thinks so little of me, but the other revels in the challenge. I need to be angry right now. It burns off the sadness and helplessness. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?” I shoot back, pushing myself up from the table.

Jesse rises, too, followed by Oliver. “I mean you thrive on the drama, on the uncertainty.”

“You call this thriving?” Oliver’s voice is incredulous as he looks at his friend. “She’s a wreck, dude.”

“She’s lapping up every little bit of attention we give her.” Jesse sits again. “Fucking attention whore.”

My hand jerks up, and I just barely keep myself from slapping him, instead curling my hand into a fist and bringing it slowly down. I don’t even know how to respond to that. I almost hit him! I’ve never hit a person in my life.

Tears spill from my eyes and run down my cheeks. “You are an asshole,” I say, voice shaking. “I—” I cut myself off before I can say the words perched on the tip of my tongue.

I hate you.

I adjust, instead. “What did I ever do to you? Why do you hate me so much?”

Remi and Cope stand at the same time as Jesse, both of them putting placating hands out as he gets in my face. “What did you do? You want to know what—”

“Jesse, you need to cool it, man—”

“Shut the hell up,” he replies, his gaze never moving from mine. “You came here, and you wiggled your way into the lives of my brothers, with zero thought as to what it’s going to be like for them when you leave. You sit here with your big eyes and your poor, pitiful me, I’m-so-sad thing you’ve got going on, bringing everyone further and further under your spell. But you’re no better than any other lying, conniving female, and one day soon—as soon as we catch this guy, I warrant—you’ll be packing your bags and breaking their hearts.” He points, his finger driving a nail into my chest. “That’s what you did.”

I shake my head frantically. How had he gotten things so twisted? Jesse’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, empathetic and kind one minute and cruel and cutting the next. “But I…I’m not planning to—”

“Save it. I don’t need your half-baked lies.” He stops and looks at the faces around him, twisted in shock and anger. “I’m going to the car.”

Jesse stalks away, Remi and Cope following him. I can hear the anger and frustration in their tone as they give him hell.

Oliver’s still here. I look at him and try to wipe my face. “That was…I don’t understand…”

“I know we can only say this so many times, but it’s not you. Just try to be patient with him, please.”

“He hates women,” I reply. “I can’t fix that.”

“Time will fix it. He was hurt by someone, and he’s not fully back, yet.”

“I’m not here to heal anyone, Oliver.”

“Aren’t you, though?” He tilts his head as he watches me, his hand reaching out to push a loose piece of hair behind my ear.

“Yeah, no. I’m too much of a mess, myself.”

His hand drifts down, takes mine within its grasp, and he twines his fingers through mine. “Maybe we’re all here to heal each other, then.”

Dipping his head, he kisses me, slow and easy. I respond, warming quickly to his mood, and smile in bemusement as he begins to draw me away from our picnic spot, into the privacy afforded by the trees and foliage. “What are you—”