“Not funny.” I playfully pinched his arm. I really didn’t know what to say, but I felt the ice inside my chest melt a little as I thought of Kael and how much he had helped my brother. I had to remind myself why I needed to keep Kael distant: he was moving to Atlanta, bought a house and hadn’t mentioned it, not even once. I wondered if Austin knew about that.

“Has he told you about Atlanta?”

“Yeah, and I was the one who told Dad about it. Which is what caused this whole thing with you and Dad, I guess. Even though Martin took the blame for me with that shit with Katie, Dad still has some grudge against him. It’s fucked up.”

“What do you mean he took the blame?”

Austin sighed and ran his fingers over his hair. His blue eyes were bright, even though they were bloodshot. “He took all the blame, didn’t even mention my name to anyone, and probably jeopardized his discharge.”

As the words sank in, I couldn’t help but shift my perspective on Kael. Why was he being kind to Austin? Was it for me? I shook my head, answering my own question. This was Kael. The kind of person he was . . . or is. He’s a good person, despite his lies. And I had to recognize that everything wasn’t about me. I knew deep down that he was truly a good person. He just wasn’t my person, and I’d have to come to terms with that.

“Kael and Dad have more of a history than we know,” I told Austin, reminding myself why I couldn’t see Kael anymore.

My brother looked at me with a confused but sarcastic expression. “Well, they all deployed together, you know that. They’re in the same company.” Austin shrugged as though he were telling me the score of a football game, like I gave a shit.

“You knew that?” I asked.

He nodded, sticking his neck out and hunching his shoulders as if to say Duh! “How else would I know these guys?” Austin studied my face, and after a second his eyes widened. “You didn’t know that?”

I shook my head. “No, but I guess it makes sense.”

It was all starting to make sense, but once again I was the last to know. Why hadn’t anyone told me?

“My fight with Dad was about me working with Martin. You know Dad hates anyone who challenges him, and that’s what Martin does. It’s almost like Dad’s intimidated by him.”

I looked up at the setting sun, staring at it long enough to see stars behind my lids when I closed them. I needed to be happy for my brother, even if he was intertwining his life with the one person I was trying to detangle mine from.