I stuffed the paper into my purse. “You know. The Key Club does that flower fund-raiser every February fourteenth. I’ve never had an occasion to buy one before.”

“Oh. Right. I have the paper at home. When are they due?”

“By the thirty-first. So you have time to think of eloquent, inspired words of passion. If, by chance, there was someone you wanted to send one to,” I said, giving him an innocent look.

He tapped his chin. “I’ll have to think on that one.”

“Snot.” I jumped into his arms and kissed him. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“That’s the first kiss you’ve given me this year, you know,” he said. His eyes didn’t sparkle the way they usually did, and he kept his hands in his pockets as I kissed him. Cool, aloof, his body tense, like a rod. Something was wrong.

It hit me that I was supposed to have gone back up to his room that night. Hadn’t I? I guess I hadn’t. He’d gotten a stomach bug right after that, so I thought that was what was keeping us apart. I hadn’t realized it was something else. “You’re angry about New Year’s.”

He shook his head slightly. “Just tired.”

I studied his face carefully. I would have apologized, had I known what I was apologizing for. But the rest of New Year’s Eve after I’d done Jell-O shots was still a blur. Nina and Javier had gone on and on about some hilarious antics, but I’d missed most of that. I hadn’t been the subject of any of those good gossip-worthy stories, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t done anything gossip-worthy. Maybe it meant that no one had the guts to remind me of what I’d done. That scared me.

We got into the car. I shoved the key in the ignition and pumped the heat to ward off the frigid temperatures. Our favorite song came on the radio. Usually Declan usually would have remarked about it or sung along. Instead, he was silent.

I couldn’t take it for another second. I said, “Tell me. Please. I can’t take the silent treatment.”

I was waving my hands, and he plucked the nearest one out of the air and held it between his two warm ones. He said, “You’d been drinking.”

“But that’s no excuse.” I closed my eyes, hating myself. So I had done something horrible. “I’m sorry if I hurt you. What happened, Declan. Please.”

He shrugged. “You were hanging all over my stepbrother.”

I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t.

“Is that all?” I laughed. “You know how Kane and I are. We always do things like that. He’s like my brother.”