Page 105 of The Best of Us

Hudson: She has a point. Daniel digs his own grave if Jamie or Brian Cormac find out he’s the reason we were at the rave in the first place.

Me: True.

Izzy: The second I hear anything, though, I’ll sound the alarms, I promise.

Me: I’ll just be sure to carry, then.

Hudson: Don’t you always, anyway?

Also true.

Me: Talk later.

Me: Easy on the coffee, Izzy.

I pocketed my phone, then swung my gaze over to the closet and decided to grab the NYU shirt before I headed out to find Juliette and Colin.

Juliette was holding Colin’s chin when I walked into the living room, and he swatted her hand away at seeing me, as if embarrassed by his bruise.

“His black eye is more noticeable today,” Juliette explained, and when I zeroed in on the purple mark circling his eye, that worry about leaving the house ratcheted back.

“Does it hurt?” I asked while tossing him the shirt, and it felt like I sent my heart along with it.

“Nah, I’m good.” He caught the shirt and held it out.

“It should fit you. You’re about my size.” I did my best to keep my voice level, to act like this wasn’t a huge deal, even though it was.

“Mom told you I want to go here?”

I nodded, hoping I wouldn’t have to talk more about this. I didn’t want to break down before my son like I had outside his bedroom door. Like I did again in Juliette’s presence as I revealed the truth about my scars.

“That’s a thoughtful gift.” Juliette patted Colin’s back, giving me a sweet smile, and her eyes said it all. She remembered that it was my sister’s alma mater.

“Why do you have this?” And, of course, he’d ask.

“Bianca went there. She bought it for me.” I’d assumed he’d have already read up on this, given his Google search of me the other day, but he’d probably forgotten with so much happening since yesterday.

His jaw hitched to the side as it clicked, as it hit him how important this shirt was to me, and yet, I was giving it to him.

He wordlessly set it on the couch and removed his hat, sweatshirt, and whatever T-shirt he’d had underneath it. He put on the NYU tee and smoothed a hand over his chest as if removing wrinkles that weren’t there.

He didn’t bother to put back on his hoodie but did position his hat backward instead of forward, copying me. Judging by Juliette’s quick smile, she’d noticed that distinction, too.

I did my best to backburner my emotions for now and let them know, “I have concerns about being out in public. There are risks.”Even if I plan to be armed.

“Oh.” Juliette lost her smile and walked around the coffee table to come closer, waiting for me to continue.

“Come on, you’ve got us covered. No one would dare bother us when you’re around.” Colin guilted me with sad eyes and prayer hands. “I need to get out and get some fresh air. I feel like I’m suffocating.”

Suffocating in a thirty-million-dollar penthouse? Yeah, right. “You don’t have plans to meet up with Lennon secretly, and that’s why you want out?”Believe me, I’ll find out.

“Of course not.” He fidgeted with his hat. “I was hoping you’d let me get behind the wheel of your car, though.”

“Do you know how to drive?”

He shook his head. “I thought you could teach me.”

Giving him a first anything was too appealing to turn down. Too appealing for me to remember the risks of going out.

---