Chapter 3

My phone buzzes. It's a company-wide email.

HR is looking for someone to transfer to the Seattle office. Three-year contract.

I reply. I fill out the form. I hit send.

Then I go back to packing.

I've barely unzipped my suitcase when the door swings open.

Caleb is standing there. His eyes drop straight to the open bag.

"What are you doing?"

Jax walks in behind him. Whatever softness was on his face a minute ago is gone.

"Where are you going?"

I keep folding.

"Home."

Sienna hovers behind both of them. Her voice goes soft and small.

"Birdie, you're not leaving because of me, are you?"

My fingers pause on a shirt.

She always does this. One sentence, and suddenly every eye in the room is on me, waiting to see if I'll be the villain.

Sure enough, Jax looks at me like he's waiting for me to make it right.

I give her a thin smile.

"Don't flatter yourself."

Caleb steps forward and grabs the pouch on my nightstand. Passport. Boarding pass. Everything.

"I canceled the flight. You're not going."

I stare at him.

"On whose authority?"

"On mine. I'm your big brother." His voice drops. "I'm not letting you run around a foreign country by yourself."

Oh. So now he remembers he's my brother.

Jax sighs and walks over to pet my hair.

"Baby. Stop pouting. We booked a sunset dinner cruise for tonight. You're always saying we leave you out, right? This time you're in."

I look at the pouch in Caleb's hand.

My passport. My cards. The last little bit of leverage I had to walk out that door. All of it, in his fist.

Caleb gives the pouch a little shake.

"Enough. I'll give it back tomorrow. We already paid for tonight. We're not throwing that money away."

I grit my teeth. Before I can get a word out, Jax's arm is around my waist, steering me toward the door.

On the boat, Jax pulls out the chair by the window for me and leans in close.

"There we go. My princess."

I sit. Caleb starts ordering. For every single dish he asks the server, slow and careful, whether anything on it contains nuts.

My head dips. My stupid, soft, pathetic heart dips with it.

Halfway through dinner, the boat drifts into open water and a host picks up a microphone.

First round. Couples game.

He walks right up to our table, grins, and asks in English, "Couple?"

I open my mouth.

Sienna is already on her feet, arm hooked through Jax's.

"Me! I'm so good at these!"

Jax glances back at me. Just once.

I look back.

One sentence. All he has to say is "My girlfriend is right here." And this whole thing stops.

Instead he says, "Don't be mad, baby. If I win, the prize is yours."

Three couples line up on the little stage. The challenge is squats, girlfriend in your arms.

Jax's hand lands on Sienna's waist, and she bursts out laughing.

"Jaxie, stop! Not my ticklish spot!"

He's laughing too. He hoists her up and starts pumping out squats like a man possessed. Like winning this matters.

The whole deck is clapping. Caleb and Miles are the loudest ones in the room.

Jax lives at the gym. Of course he wins.

Sienna comes bouncing back with the prize. A pair of matching friendship bracelets, dinner-cruise exclusive.

She slides one onto her own wrist and holds the other one out to me.

"Here, Birdie. BFF bracelets!"

I don't move.

Her hand hangs there. The air goes still.

Jax takes it instead and slides it onto his own wrist.

"I'll hold onto hers for now."

Caleb pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Wren. It's a bracelet."

Right.

It's a bracelet.

It's a snorkel spot.

It's a chair.

It's a first-aid kit.

They can turn every single time they chose her over me into it's just a thing.

But all those little just a things, stacked on top of each other, are starting to crush me.