Page 187 of Tag

The guard shack appeared ahead. Mom and Dad peeled left, their headlights fading toward the interstate. They must have told Norman, the guard on duty, who was in the misplaced car behind them, because he let us out with a friendly nod.

We took a hard right, officially on route to our destination.

We didn’t ever need alibis, but that night, just in case, ours would be solid.

My truck would be miles from what we were about to do. If things went sideways, we still had Uncle B. He could bury crimesdeeper than most people dared to dig. I leaned my head back and let the silence stretch. This weekend wasn’t supposed to go like this. I had every intention of getting Sanj in my bed, but not in the way it went down the night before.I’d take it, though.

I did take it.

I wasn’t fucking sorry either.

Whoever sent that text should be put on my payroll.

She didn’t even know how perfect she looked at that moment. Her body soft and bare beneath me, lit only by the fireplace glow. I saw every inch of her I had always fantasized about it. I memorized and branded it onto every inch of my brain. But I didn’t just want her in my bed. I wanted her to break open and be rebuilt with only me inside.

And that was coming soon.

Cade was quiet most of the drive, fingers tapping against the steering wheel. He finally glanced over at me. “So, about what comes next...”

“Yeah?”

“I mean, you and Sanj,” he said. “That’s happening. You know that.”

I nodded. “Been happening.”

“Right,” Cade said, a grin pulling at his mouth. “And I know you’d never hurt her intentionally.”

I waited, catching the shift in his tone.

“Don’t let your head get in the way about deadweight. You know what I mean?”

I did know what he meant.

I wasn’t bothered by his concern.

He was the other half of me, and almost as protective of Sanj as I was.

“Listen,” I began, keeping my voice even. “I’ve known her since we were born. I’ve seen every version of her. Happy, sad, guarded, raging. I’ve loved each of them a little more.”

Cade nodded, silent, letting me finish.

“She’s been with him. It’s killed me. Like breathing with fucking glass in my lungs and acid in my veins, but the way I see it, he got to enjoy it while it lasted. He played a small part in a story that was already written; by the end, he won’t matter enough to be more than a footnote.”

My brother grinned. “That was kinda deep, I love it.”

We fell into silence again, only the engine’s low hum and the radio crackling through the ancient speakers.

“You still getting those private texts, right?” he asked after another few minutes rolled by.

“Yeah. It’s been pretty steady since they started.” I reached for my phone.

“Nick’s are fucking hilarious.”

I thumbed through my inbox, skipping right past the Marked group chat with over a hundred unread messages. I wasn’t reading that shit again.

“Got a new favorite from 0428. They said:

I know where you sleep. I’ll tuck you in.

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