“Cheer up. Things always work out the way they’re supposed to.” He smiles, then turns and walks up the driveway. The gate closes, and Brody puts his arms around me. I want to scream back at Iain, What does that mean? or You don’t understand, but he’s too far away and it’s pointless. He doesn’t get my pain.

“Jesus, Raven, you scared me. What happened?” Brody pulls back so his eyes can assess me.

“I can’t talk about it now. Just get me out of here.”

He nods and walks me over to the passenger seat as if I’m made of glass, so gentle… The complete opposite of Jett. He’d have pulled me in tightly and held me, letting his strength assure me that everything was okay, that he was there, and that I didn’t need anyone but him.

Except Jett is a monster, not my knight in shining armor. How did I lose sight of that so fast?

I drop into the passenger seat and let Brody fuss over me, not really listening to his rambling, hearing bits and pieces of how he’s gonna take care of me and I’ll stay with him.

“I’m going to Spain, Brody.” I look over at him. At least he looks like he’s been in the sun, so his coloring is better.

“Spain? What about school?” He almost misses a turn.

“I’m done with school for right now.” I look back out the window, leaning my head against the cool glass.

“But… I thought…”

“I’m going to Spain. Do you want to come with me?” My voice sounds far away, and I realize I don’t really care if he comes with me or not.

I’m all alone.

I hate being alone, but I am, and no matter how much I’d like for Brody to be able to fix me, he can’t.

“Now?” His voice goes up an octave.

“Yes.”

“I can’t. I mean…” He looks over at me, then back at the street. “Goddammit, Raven, why Spain?”

“Because that’s where I’m supposed to be.” I bring my knees up and wrap my arms around myself as if that can protect my heart from this pain.

But it doesn’t.

It hurts, I hurt, and something tells me this might never go away.

Chapter Twenty-Six

JETT

I roll over and squint at the blinding sun in my eyes. “The fuck?” Groaning, I sit up and blink away the black dots, then look over at a naked Rachel.

“Christ.” I lie back, scrubbing my hands up and down my face. The events of last night flood my brain.

Raven. Her face, her lips, her fucking pain as she watched Rachel and Emily touch me.