Chapter 2
GABE
She’s back. Drew is back. Finally.
Something inside of me settles at the sight of her. Even though she looks so different.
Her dark brown hair is longer, more inviting to twist between my fingers. Her lips are fuller, and she’s added a new piercing in her earlobes.
Those innocent brown eyes hold more hurt, which I should have expected with the wave of scandal she rode into town on.
One that the citizens of Pinebrook have already carried to every corner of town.
My hands clench into fists. I can’t protect her from them just like I couldn’t last time.
And it makes me want to tear something apart.
How can the people and the town I love treat her this way? Again?
It makes me so angry.
That someone else would hurt her. Because the Drew I know would never do the things they’re saying.
Would never wreck someone’s home.
Not on purpose.
And knowing too may fucking men who lie and cheat and use women…
I’m sure our history doesn’t make me biased. I just know her.
Drew is the sweetest, most sensitive person I’ve ever met. If I had been here when Franklin targeted her…
I went nearly berserk when I heard. Came home to find her gone. But I couldn’t do anything then. And I can’t do anything now.
Drew sighs and tips her head to look at me, blinking those long lashes. “I could eat.”
I barely hide my smile. “That would be the munchies.”
I guide her to my back door and back inside. The pizza is cold, but she grabs a slice and shoves a giant bite in.
It’s such a small thing, but it puts me at ease. I grab the box and lead her to the couch with it.
And it’s almost like nothing has changed. We lounge like we have so many times before.
One of the crime shows we used to watch when she was a pre-teen is streaming on my TV.
I do my best not to stare at her. To remind myself that she’s back. Pinebrook hasn’t been the same without her. In fact, it’s been dull without her.
We settle into an old, easy silence.
Questions simmer at the edge of my thoughts. Like how long she plans to stay this time.
If she’s okay. Why didn’t she call or text the entire time she was gone?
Why it took her so long to come back?
She devours the second half of the pizza in record time, and slowly she falls over into me, her head against my arm and her foot drawing circles on the coffee table.
Drew huffs and grunts and nuzzles against my leather jacket.
She’s absolutely high.
It’s kind of adorable. She seems lighter than she ever has.
“You’re the best thing about being home.”
That hits me with a wave of warmth. She’s always been one of my favorites. Someone I seemed to get on with straight away.
But as she tugs at my sleeve, a new heat burns hotter in my very center. Because Drew is exactly the same person I’ve always known. Yet…
Drew’s also all grown up now.
So different, physically, that there’s no way for me not to notice the shape of her legs in those skinny jeans.
How they hug her hips, too. Her face has leaned out, cheekbones sharp, eyes wider, mouth poutier.
Noticing all of those things is inappropriate, yet the thoughts won’t leave me.
I look down into her pretty eyes, and she’s so much more than she was the last time.
“You’re the only one who doesn’t judge me based on what other people say.”
I roll my eyes. Of course I don’t. I know her better than they do.
She sits up, kneeling on the cushion; the high has made her serious. It’s made her so sad. So familiar.
Drew swallows hard. “I didn’t know.”
“I know.” I hate how much her voice shook when she said that. Like I wouldn’t believe her. I pull her back against me, tucking her under my arm.
I’m not a touchy-feely kind of person in general. Except with Mom. But there’s always been something about Drew.
When she’s upset, the drive to give her a hug or hold her hand or push her down and tickle her until she laughs takes over.
I can’t stand how many times I’ve seen her so sad.
Whoever this married asshole is who broke her heart…
My hand balls into a fist before I stretch out my fingers to push away the feeling. It’s hard though. I want to break his nose.
It’s worse that it’s some unknown target.
That I don’t have a face or a name to go with the story. Especially since Drew won’t talk about it. She’s said her peace.
But I have a fucking mountain of questions.
They shift like tectonic plates in my middle until Drew’s fingers find my necklace.
A skeleton key I found in an abandoned house.
There are plenty in the county, and I’ve explored nearly every one of them.
She twirls it back and forth between her fingers, and everything inside of me goes still.
Builds heat. Even though she’s just fidgeting, she’s fidgeting with me.
Those plates grind together, and the innocence of this exchange morphs into guilt and shame.
Am I the reason she trusted those men?
Because she can be like this with me and know I won’t treat her like she’s asking for more?
With how similar in age Franklin and I are, it’s hard not to blame myself.
I was sure for a long time that she blamed me, too.
Now, though, I think it might have been something else.
I’m not completely sure what. Pretty sure she’s not sure either.
I’m just happy she’s back.
That she’s somewhere I can watch out for her. Take care of her like I used to.
The key drops back to my chest when the front door opens, sending a cold gust of air through the living room.
Drew turns, her eyes wider as my brother walks in with a paper sack in his arm.
Recognition and a smart smile spreads over her features.
Greyson grins back at her, the subtle twitch of his brow says he’s noticing how close we are.
Her under my arm, against my side, face tucked into the crook of my shoulder.
A wild part of me wants to tighten my grip on her. Stake a claim I shouldn’t want to make.
I take a deep breath and hold it, letting it free when Drew pops up from the couch to go give him a hug.