Page 49 of I Would Stay Forever (Parkhurst Prep #2)

“Oh, for the love of everything, just stop!” Dean shouted.

I jumped in surprise, having almost forgotten he was there.

Dean was breathing hard. He looked at me first—and I knew what he was about to do.

The one thing I had been working hard all these weeks to keep from Sebastian and now Dean was going to come in and ruin it all.

Couldn’t he see that it was already bad enough that Sebastian knew we were together? If he found out about this too…

“Lavender wasn’t the one who confronted your dad,” Dean said. I reached out to grab him, to stop him from saying the full truth, but before I could even begin to beg him not to, Dean finished with, “I was.”

It was like ice had been dumped through my veins.

I expected my heart to speed up, but instead, it seemed to slow down, like my body was afraid that if it pumped too hard, I wouldn’t be able to hear what was going on.Sebastian looked like someone had knocked the air out of him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your dad,” Dean said. “I’m the one who saw him.

He was out on a date with some woman at a restaurant.

I saw him and I confronted him. Lavender was out with her friends and she saw us in the parking lot of the restaurant.

She heard the yelling and—” Dean’s voice broke.

He dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry, Sebastian.

I thought I was doing the right thing by making him tell your mom. I didn’t know that you...”

Sebastian looked at me, and there was some deep emotion in his eyes that made me look away. I wasn’t sure if it was remorse or anger or whatever else, but I couldn’t stand to see it.

“You let us all think it was you,” he said, his voice almost broken,

“I thought that was easier,” I admitted.

I didn’t want to tell him this, any of it, but the secret was out whether I liked it or not.

What else could I do? “I thought it was easier for you to blame me than…” I slipped my hand into Dean’s and took a deep breath.

“I’m your sister. You have to live with me.

I knew you would have to forgive me one day, but.

.. After the way you reacted, I was scared that if you knew it was Dean, then you would cut him off.

You would cut off your best friend just because of what happened.

I knew it would all be just misdirected anger at Dad. So, I let you blame me.”

Sebastian looked like he might be sick. He stumbled back, covering his mouth with one hand.

“It was easier!” I insisted. “You all thought it was me anyway. It was for the best.”

I wasn’t sure if I was telling him or begging for him to understand. Perhaps a tad of both. But after everything we’d been through the last couple of months, I couldn’t let him blame Dean anyway. I couldn’t let my whole plan fall apart.

“You two love each other,” Sebastian said suddenly, pointing between us. “You’re in love, right? Because you wouldn’t have done that for somebody you didn’t.”

For what felt like the millionth time tonight, tears began streaming down my face. Had I ever cried so much in my life? I didn’t think so.

“Well, it wasn’t about him. Yes, I do love him, but I didn’t do it for him, Sebastian—I did it for you. I didn’t want you to have to lose one of the most important people in your life. Especially after you already lost Dad.”

He looked like he couldn’t breathe. Honestly, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“I never meant to blame you,” he whispered. “I didn’t want to blame you but…”

“But Dad wasn’t there,” I said, finishing it for him. “How can you blame someone who’s gone?”

And that was what this all boiled down to, wasn’t it? It always had been. Nora stepped away silently and Dean followed suit a moment after, once I nodded at him to tell him I would be okay. It was just Sebastian and me now, staring at each other with tears in our eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice cracking. “For keeping it all a secret. I thought I was doing the right thing, I swear.”

Sebastian dropped his chin and took a deep breath. “You were. I… Thank you.”

I hadn’t realized how desperately I needed to hear those words until he said them.

I crossed the space between us in only a couple of running steps, throwing my arms around my brother’s neck.

He stumbled from the sudden weight but wrapped his arms around me too, tucking his face into my shoulder and murmuring, “I love you.”

We stayed like that for a long time, as if this might all fall apart again if I stepped away.

It felt like that was what had been happening for the last two months, that every time we took a step forward, we took another two back.

But today was different, or at least I was telling myself it would be. I wouldn’t let this fall apart.

“So, uh, what is actually happening between you two?” Sebastian asked, nodding toward Dean, who was sitting next to his sister on the ledge.

I laughed and wiped away the last of my tears. “It’s a really long story. I can tell you it tonight—just so long as you tell me what’s going on with you and Nora. And don’t say you were just ‘driving around.’”

He grinned. “Okay, so maybe it was a bit more than a drive.”

I mirrored his grin, almost without realizing it. “Tell me everything—starting with what happened to you and Tiffany.”

Sebastian sighed. “Is this you looking for a chance to say I told you so?”

“Only if it comes up naturally,” I said with a small shrug, even though it was pretty much exactly that. “Because seriously—why on earth would you get back with her?” Almost as an afterthought, I mumbled, “Even if it did last less than a week.”

Sebastian shook his head. “It was that stupid party.”

I thought back to last weekend, before he and Tiffany had gotten back together.

I couldn’t remember if he’d gone to a party on Saturday night, but I did remember the one from Friday.

It was the night Tiffany had come up to me and insisted that she and Sebastian would get back together, right before she went to suck Ashton’s face.

“She dug her claws into you, huh?” I asked. That would be just like her, to kiss Ashton then turn around and ask Sebastian to get back together with her.

“Not exactly. I’m the one who went back to her.”

I gaped at him, not sure exactly what to make of that. Then I punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow!” He rubbed at the spot. “What was that for?”

“You went back to a girl who cheated on you a week after promising me you wouldn’t?” I snapped. “Are you kidding me?”

Surprisingly, the anger and betrayal I’d been feeling until now wasn’t there anymore. Instead, it all just seemed… ludicrous.

“It’s a very complicated story,” Sebastian said. “But it was never about Tiffany, okay? It was always about Nora.”

I raised my eyebrows and glanced down the road to where Nora and Dean were sitting together. This was certainly a story I wanted to hear.