Page 131 of The Truths We Burn

“What’s the point of you lying about Dorian?”

They aren’t the only ones who could see through lies.

“What are you going to do when he gets out of rehab for a drug problem he never had? Your parents can’t keep him locked away forever. What are you going to tell Briar when she finds out the truth? We all have our secrets, and they come out when they are ready to, but don’t stand there and act like you don’t have any either.”

“Don’t be an asshole,” he says. “I’m not pissed about you and Sage. I’m pissed that you felt you needed to hide it.”

“I just didn’t think you’d understand.”

“We don’t need to, Rook. We’ve never needed to.”

The rain falls faster, buckets of water pouring down from the sky. This storm had been brewing all day, and it’s finally here with cracks of lightning and thunder.

“If I say no, you’re still going to kill Cain, aren’t you?”

I look at them, all of them.

Each of them represents a part of my life that I wouldn’t know what to do without.

It is dysfunctional, and we don’t always see eye to eye. We fight probably more than we do anything else. But they are my home. A dark, bloody, haunted house, but still my home.

Stopping at Alistair, I stare at him hard. The older brother I never got.

“If it were Briar?”

“He’d already be dead.”

I nod, knowing that would be his reaction, knowing his response before he said it.

“This means it’ll be my problem. I would take the fall if shit went south. I’ll protect you all from the blowback if there is any.”

“You’re not killing anyone alone,” Thatcher says. “Sharing is caring, but just so we are clear, I’m not fond of Sage, and I don’t trust her.”

“Is there anyone you are fond of?” I raise an eyebrow, amused.

“No. The human species disgusts me.”

I laugh for a short moment before looking at Silas, who hasn’t stopped staring at me since he walked out.

“Si, I know—”

“Do you love her?” he asks bluntly.

I know what love is. I felt it for my mother and at one point for my father—sometimes I still do. I feel it towards the guys even though I’ve never spoken those words out loud to any of them. I’m aware of what it feels like.

But nothing feels like Sage does. I’ve never experienced anything like her in my life, and it makes this question difficult.

“I don’t know what it is I feel towards Sage.” Lightning strikes hard, shaking the ground. “But whatever it is, it’s mine.”

Sage

“What are you doing in here?”

I spin from my open suitcase to seetwo shorter Silas look-alikes, with light brown skin and dark hair that is styled differently on each. One has a basketball shoved beneath his arm, while the other is gazing at me with his arms crossed.

“Well, it would appear I’m breaking into your spare bedroom,” I say humorously, hoping my joke will somehow break the ice between me and these teenagers who are watching me like a hawk.

When they don’t laugh or grin, I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.