James

The scent of garlic and buffalo sauce hangs heavy in the air. I can’t tell if it’s the smell that’s making me nauseous… or just the weight of the conversation I’m about to have. Either way, my stomach’s a fucking mess.

I sit at the kitchen island, staring at the spread like it might save me. Pizza. Garlic knots. Wings. A two-liter bottle of Dr. Pepper sweating beads of condensation onto the counter. 

All of Tyler’s favorites. 

Comfort food for the apocalypse… or at least, that’s what it feels like.

Annelly sits beside me, quiet. Her hands folded in her lap, fingers twining and untwining. Her gaze skims over the food, but she’s not really seeing it. She’s been like this since she finished packing—present, but only just. Like she’s so lost in thoughts of what’s to come, her mind can’t process what’s happening now. 

I feel it when she looks at me, almost like she can tell I’m thinking about her, but I don’t meet her eyes. Not this time. My emotions are too close to the surface. Too raw. Too fucking obvious. If I look at her now, she’ll see the panic suffocating me. 

My grip tightens around the neck of the water bottle in my hands. 

Any minute now. 

Any damn minute…

And then—like the universe is finally done torturing me—I hear the door downstairs swing open. 

Footsteps pound up the stairs. 

A backpack hits the floor. 

Then—

“Holy shit. Pizza? Wings? Dr. Pepper? Okay, what the hell did I miss? Did we win the lottery? Or are we dying?”

Tyler rounds the corner and freezes the instant he sees our faces. His smile falters for half a second, but then—like the pro he is—he slaps it right back on like armor. 

“Damn,” he mutters, dragging the word out as he drops into the seat across from us. “Dr. Pepper? You never let me have soda. Shit must’ve really hit the fan. We on DEFCON 1?”

He says it like a joke, but it falls flat. 

Because yeah—shit has definitely hit the fan.

But I don’t say that. Instead, I reach for a plate and slide it toward him. “Eat.”

Tyler raises an eyebrow. “Is there a reason you’re fattening me up? Am I about to be sacrificed to a cult?”

“Tyler. Just hurry up and eat,” I scold, needing him to be serious for once.

He huffs a dramatic sigh and starts piling food onto his plate like a starving college kid—which, to be fair, I guess he is. 

“I swear, if this is a last supper situation, at least I’m going out full and happy.” He takes a bite of pizza, groans loudly like it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted, then grabs a wing and rips into it like he hasn’t eaten in days.

But then… his chewing slows. He swallows. All the while, his gaze is locked in on me—assessing.

“I saw Ben and Zeb downstairs,” he says, still trying for lightness, but there’s an edge to his tone now. “Between that and this gourmet heart attack, I’m guessing you’ve got bad news. Might as well lay it on me now, before the food coma kicks in.”

I glance at Annelly. She’s watching my brother, lips pressed tight, eyes still sad. I wish I could pause long enough to wipe that look from her face, but I can’t. There’s no time. So instead, I reach under the table and rest my hand on her leg.

I clear my throat. “There was a delivery this morning.”

His brows rise. “You mean like… Amazon?”

“No.”

His posture shifts. “What kind of delivery?”

My stomach twists, and I drop my gaze to the countertop. “Flowers.”

Tyler blinks. “Flowers?”

I nod. 

Everything stills.

His chair scrapes back.

“He knows she’s here?” he asks, voice sharp, rising with each word. “Then what the fuck are you doing? You should be out there, getting her somewhere safe.”

“We are,” I say, swallowing hard. “Tonight. We were waiting for you.”

Tyler stares at me like I’ve grown a second head. “Why the hell would you wait for me?”

I blink, thrown. The words land like a punch to my gut—hard, violent, unforgiving—and way too casual for something that cuts this deep. It’s like he doesn’t know me at all. 

“What?” I utter helplessly.

“Her safety is all that matters,” he fires back. “If that asshole knows she’s here, then you should’ve gotten her the hell out the second those flowers showed up. What the fuck were you thinking?”

The words hit harder than they should. Because they’re wrong. Dead fucking wrong.

“I was thinking you’re my brother,” I say, voice tightening. “I was thinking that, like always, you and I are in this thing together.”

Tyler scoffs, shaking his head like I’ve missed the point entirely. And maybe he’s partially right. But what gets me—what twists the fucking knife even deeper—is that he really believes I should have left without him.

“Of course I waited,” I snap. “Because that’s what we do. We don’t leave each other. Not ever.”

He doesn’t respond right away. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Annelly shifting slightly in her seat. Her gaze drops to the plate in front of her, and I can feel the tension rolling off her in waves. She’s uncomfortable. Probably feels like this is a conversation that shouldn’t be happening in front of her. And if it weren’t for the goddamn threat hanging over our heads, I’d take this to my office—just to spare her.

We don’t have that kind of time, so I force my shoulders to relax. Then I inhale deeply through my nose, letting it out slowly as I try to steady the frustration bleeding through my tone. 

“Look, I’m not leaving you behind, Tyler,” I say, calmer now. “I never would. No matter what.”

Tyler exhales hard. “Well, then this conversation’s about to get a whole lot more awkward. Because I’m not going.”

I freeze. “What?”

“I have school. I just got my fieldwork placement. If I bail now, it could be years before they let me back into the program. I have a career I’m trying to build here, James. My own set of priorities. I can’t just abandon everything right now—and I shouldn’t have to.” 

He glances at Annelly, then looks back at me. “You’re more than capable of protecting her. She’s your priority now—keeping her safe, keeping that bastard away from her. As for me? You don’t need me for that. That asshole couldn’t care less about me. And with all the security we’ve got, I should be fine staying here until you get back.”

The words hit me like a backhand. Sudden. Brutal. And I don’t even try to hide the way they knock the wind out of me.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Tyler rolls his eyes like I’m being dramatic. “James—”

“No. You don’t get to say that. You don’t get to act like it’s that simple.” My voice spikes, hot and sharp, impossible to contain. “After everything we’ve been through? Everything we’ve done to stay together? You’re just gonna wave me off like none of it matters?”

“I didn’t say it doesn’t matter,” he snaps. “Don’t twist my words like that.”

“Then what the hell am I supposed to take from that, Ty? ‘I’ve got a life now, so screw it—you do you, and I’ll do me?’”

He glares at me, jaw tight. “Goddamn it, James. It’s not like that. Stop treating me like I’m still a kid.”

“I have to,” I shout back, louder than I mean to. “Because someone has to make sure you eat right. That you keep up with your schoolwork. That you take care of yourself. And I thought—we always said—we’d stick together. That’s what we do. We don’t leave each other.” 

My voice breaks at the end, but I don’t care. 

I need him to hear it. 

To feel it.

To understand just how much what he’s proposing is tearing me apart.

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