The Fight In Us: A Brother's Best Friend College Romance (The Four Book 4) by Becca Steele (little readers .txt) 📕

the final house, where there was a series of large ponds surrounded by bullrushes, with a clump of trees behind them.

He removed his helmet, and his icy eyes met mine, his expression giving nothing away. Curious, I removed my own helmet and followed him down to the ponds. He stopped next to the trees that backed the pond on our right, sprawling out and resting his elbows on the grass. The sun was bright, but here under the shade of the trees, it was dim and cool.

“There was a girl,” he began, then stopped. His tone turned low and threatening as he levelled me with one of his signature looks. “What I’m telling you now is confidential.”

“Can you not use your serial killer voice, please?” I was only half-joking.

He made a noise that sounded a lot like a growl, making me roll my eyes. “First Winter tells me I have a serial killer stare, now you say I have a serial killer voice. What the fuck?”

Since it was clear he was talking to himself, I ignored that question as I lowered myself to the grass, reclining back on my own elbows.

“There was a girl,” he said again, his expression completely blank. “We were…close. I used to come here with her, sometimes.”

I just stared at him, unable to comprehend a world in which Zayde even had a girl he was close to, let alone one that he’d bring anywhere like this.

“She reminded me of Lena, in a way. Not…” I waited while he gathered his thoughts. His fingers shredded an unsuspecting flower while I waited for him to continue, ripping it into tiny pieces that were carried away on the breeze. “Not much, really, but she had a wild streak to her. And blonde hair. Like a fucking angel.” His voice grew quieter as he lost himself in his memories.

He paused for a moment, then raised his eyes to mine. “I saw your face when you saw me with Lena in the kitchen this morning. And the other times, too.”

“Sooo…” I prompted, when the silence stretched uncomfortably.

“When we were at that party and I gave Lena a ride home…”

My stomach churned.

“At that moment, there was something that made me remember. I wanted—” He stopped talking but dropped his mask for a second, and I could read him.

“You wanted to remember? You wanted a piece of her?”

He nodded slowly. “It wasn’t fair. No one could take her place.” He tipped his head back, staring up at the branches of the tree. “Nothing happened with Lena. It wouldn’t have even if I hadn’t come to that decision. She wanted you.”

“Why did she go home with you, then?” I couldn’t disguise the hurt in my voice, no matter if it was irrational or not.

“Ask her” was all he said.

Pushing myself up into a sitting position, I waited until his eyes returned to mine. “What happened to the girl?”

There was a brief flash of pain in his eyes, so raw and powerful that my jaw dropped. He masked it so quickly that I wondered if I’d imagined it.

“She’s not around anymore.”

His tone was final, and I took the hint. Instead, I voiced the question that I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to.

“What about this morning?”

“What about it? What was it you think you saw?”

Plucking at the blades of grass between my fingers, I watched him carefully. “I think I saw two people who had something to hide.” He opened his mouth, but I continued. Fuck it. My dad was right. Might as well talk it out, even though talking to Zayde was as useful as talking to a brick wall sometimes. “I hope that it was just my imagination.”

“Do you really think I’d fuck around with your girl?” His tone was flat and impossible to read.

I went with the truth.

“No. But she’s not my girl.”

“Isn’t she?” He raised his brow. “Want to bet on that?”

“Not really.”

We lapsed into silence after that, but for some reason it wasn’t weird. I watched the dragonflies darting around the pond, gradually relaxing. Across from me, Zayde’s eyes catalogued everything around us, his gaze constantly on the move, until he paused on a tree behind the central lake. He sucked in a harsh breath, and before I could do or say anything, he got to his feet and disappeared.

A couple of minutes later, he reappeared between the trees, and he ran his hand over the bark of the tree that he’d been so intent on when he was sitting with me.

My head was fucking spinning. It felt like this moment was significant for him, somehow, and yet he’d shared it with me. I didn’t know what was going on with him, and I knew he wouldn’t tell me. One thing I was sure of now, though, deep down, was that he didn’t have any interest in Lena.

He finally headed back to me, unreadable as always, but there was a heaviness to him that hadn’t been there when we’d arrived. We stayed by the ponds for a long time, sharing a joint, not talking, just soaking up the quiet. Long enough that my phone started lighting up with texts asking where I was.

Presumably Z had had the same texts, because he suddenly stood, and without a word, picked up his helmet.

Once we were back at the house, he turned to me after removing his helmet. “Don’t let your issues cloud your judgement” was all he said before he disappeared.

Okay then.

I headed inside to face the music.

TWENTY-NINE

Weston had been gone for most of the day. Ever since he’d seen me with Zayde in the kitchen, I’d had a sick feeling in my stomach that wouldn’t go away. I was so fucking in love with Weston Cavendish, and I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise that. I knew he didn’t feel the same way as me, but from the devastated expression on his face when he’d seen me with Zayde this morning, he had feelings for me.

Truthfully,