Ruin - By N.M. Martinez Page 0,28

themselves. Maria steps forward a bit to stand closer to the fire pit and look me directly in the eyes. "Wait, he didn't tell you about him?" She points over towards Gray Eyes.

I shake my head. Except for earlier, Brandon hasn't really been around when Gray Eyes was around. And even then, Brandon only came after the incident, so there were other things to talk about. "No. Why would he have?"

Another look passes between Maria and Angel. It's starting to annoy me. Mitchell stares at the fire clearly refusing to meet my gaze. Alex watches them, and when I turn he catches my eyes as if he were unsure of what was going on himself.

He speaks softly and simply. "Because they are brothers."

I hear a gasp. Maybe it's my gasp, but it's followed by a silence filled only with the snapping of the flames. "What?"

Maria huffs. "It's complicated."

It sounds very simple to me, but maybe I'm just coming at this with my Neutral version of common sense.

Brandon's with his brother for a few minutes before he heads back over to us. Gray Eyes scans the group of us, his eyes pausing on me a second before he walks off with large strides. At the edge of the group, Brandon stops. The friendly warmth of his gaze fades. Maybe he wasn't expecting me to recognize Gray Eyes in the dark, but he knows I did.

Brandon looks over the others. "She knows, doesn't she."

The whole group avoids looking at Brandon or me. Except for Alex. He looks from me to Brandon like he's going to be the one to step between us even though he just met me. For a fraction of a second, gratefulness swells up in me and I have to fight to keep it down. I don't know Alex any better than I know Brandon, and after staying with Brandon for a few days I was sure I at least had a feel of the man. But I was completely wrong. People will only tell you what they want to tell you, and what they don't tell you could be important.

The gratefulness is shoved down and I let my surprise anger quell up. It gives me the strength to stand, but my voice is so thin that it almost doesn't sound like it comes from me.

"Why wouldn't you have told me that?”

There's a shift in the air as all eyes fall on me even the ones previously looking into the fire, and it feels like they're actually looking at me as more than just a curiosity from the Neutral Territory.

Maria bites her bottom lip and takes a step back. Angel scratches at the back of his neck, and Mitchell goes back to looking away from me.

I expect Brandon to be just as fidgety, but he's not. His hands rest at his side and he looks right at me.

"You weren't ready."

My breath becomes very heavy. How would he know? How in the world could he possibly know what I was or was not ready for? Though I want to scream, I realize it won't do any good and will only draw the attention of the others are nearby. The last thing in the world I'd want is a crowd.

The tall, quiet man who's spent most of the night with Brandon chatting away from the group crosses his arms and stands up straight with a look of disapproval. I can't help feeling out of place and threatened again. Standing in front of them, I feel so very small. Brandon stands with hard pressed lips and expressionless eyes that are much too similar to his brother's. How can I ask for answers from him if he doesn't want to give them to me? How can I ask for answer when I don't even know what questions to ask?

Brandon clears his throat. He looks around at the group with his serious expression unchanging. "We should probably go."

The rest of the group doesn't say anything. Brandon waits for me, and the second I'm by his side, we walk back to his apartment together.

At the apartment, we still don't bother to speak. There's a hardness over Brandon, and though I don't like the dark of the apartment, I like this new side of Brandon even less.

"I'm gonna go to bed," I say, though it still comes out half sounding like a question.

Brandon shifts in the darkness, the tiniest bit of light streaming in from the window lights him up enough that I can barely make