“Milo.” Jasper surprised me by touching my arm. “I don’t need protecting. I don’t. And you don’t have to handle this yourself.”

The air crackled, a charge sweeping through the room, reaching my stubborn brain. Handle. Yourself. And in that instant, I knew what I had to do, and maybe I’d known it all along because certainty settled over me like a heavy cloak.

“I think I know what I have to do.” But it wasn’t going to be easy, and as with most things, I didn’t want an audience. “I need to go.”

“Right now? Alone?” Jasper dropped his hand as his mouth went slack.

“I’ve got some stuff to work out in my head.” What I really needed was a long, cold walk to grant me clarity. I wasn’t like Jasper, human search engine for a brain, quick-firing neurons. I needed to think. Also I knew he’d try to talk me out of this plan before I even got it settled. “Trust me?”

“I’m trying.”

“Fair enough.” I grabbed my coat.

“Milo. I hope you’re not making a mistake,” he warned.

My heart galloped because I hoped that too. But if it was a mistake, it was going to be my own mistake. And it was Jasper who made me brave. I was finally, finally going to solve everything, and this was a chance I had to take.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Jasper

The door shut softly behind Milo. No slamming. No screaming. It wasn’t even a storming off as much as a bid for space, which even if I wasn’t as introverted as him, I did sort of understand. I’d grown up in a big family with space at a premium. Finding a spot to be alone to think had been a challenge at times. But with Milo, I wanted to be together. A team, like we’d been earlier. The dynamic duo, solving all Milo’s problems. Him shutting me out hurt. If he didn’t want the same kind of partnership I did, I wasn’t sure where that left us.

But mainly, I was super worried about Milo. As I cleaned up the last of the card mess, I kept debating exactly how worried I should be. He was a big guy, sober, on a clear night that for once was showing signs of spring. If he needed a walk in the dead of night, so be it.

However, his parting words had been rather…ominous. I took my phone out. No messages. Should I text someone? My mom? His? A friend? I didn’t want to call for backup this late at night without a good reason. I didn’t think Milo would do anything too rash. For all that he could brood, he’d never shown a tendency to self-harm, but I was still worried.