own interests. She’s made it abundantly clear in nearly every interaction with us since she shipped Web and me off to boarding school a month after our parents died.”
He locked eyes with Hadley and she shivered, the temperature in the room dropping to arctic levels.
“Her schedule didn’t allow for children, let alone two who were grieving,” he said, answering her question before she could have asked it.
“Will—”
“It is what it is,” he cut her off and flopped back on the bed, his gaze turned toward the ceiling. “So trust me, being on the inside of Harbor City society isn’t always so great.” The words came out slowly, as if he’d never before put it into words. “Everything is so close, so in your face, that you can’t see the stars at all and it’s easy to still feel like you’re the only one there.”
“But you have Web,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze.
“And you have an entire extended family who want you around so much, they’ll handcuff you to keep you close. I don’t think you realize how lucky you are for that.” He let out a harsh breath and pulled his hand away. “If you think Web’s money will give you that sense of belonging, I hate to break it to you, but it won’t.”
Hadley lay there, an angry white buzzing noise filling her ears, her cheeks burning with heat as if he’d smacked her across the face with his words. She didn’t want anything from Web other than his friendship, and if Will couldn’t see that, he could go jump in a lake because she wasn’t about to justify his wrongheaded belief with a response.
She rolled onto her back and pulled the covers up to her chin. “Good night, Will.”
She forced her eyes closed and timed her breaths with his long, steady ones. Miraculously, her thoughts got slower, the blanket got heavier, and before she realized it, she was being woken up by the not-so-gentle nudging of her brother Knox poking a stick against her shoulder.
“Wake up, sis,” Knox said, keeping his volume low.
Hadley glanced over at Will. His eyes were still closed, his breathing even, and he had his hands tucked up under his chin. Before she could stop herself, she let out a mental awwwwww.
Come on, Hads. Wolves probably look sweet when they sleep, too.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in a harsh whisper, giving him the bug-eyed, twisted-mouth, get-the-fuck-out-of-here face.
Forever the youngest brother, Knox ignored her silent leave-now message and lifted the two large sticks in his hands. “Time to go snipe hunting.”
Oh, for the love of hazing the city slicker. “You cannot do that to him.”
Knox shrugged and grinned. “It’s a tradition.”
“Since when?” Oh my God, the ridiculousness of this whole situation.
He looked down at his watch. “About five minutes ago.”
“Knox,” she whisper-shouted, reminding herself that her parents would be really pissed if she killed him. “I’m warning you—”
“I am awake, you know,” Will said.
“Good,” Knox said, dropping any attempt at whispering. “Let’s get on out there. Best time of the day to catch snipes is right after dawn when they’re tired after staying up all night. Not that you two would know anything about that.”
“Shut up, Knox,” she said.
“You’ve known me your whole life; you know that’s not gonna happen.” He headed toward the door. “Let’s go, you two.”
Sitting up, she tried to figure out how to explain that her brothers weren’t wanting to make a fool out of him so much as bust his chops in a way that they’d no doubt document on video so the whole family could watch later. “There’s something you need to know.”
“Is it about your intentions toward my brother?” Will said, his voice rough with sleep.
He left the “and his bank account” unspoken, but it hung between them anyway. And here she was going to do Will a solid before he made a total fool of himself by explaining there was no such thing as a snipe. She should have known better. He was, after all, the evil twin incarnate.
“Good luck catching the snipe,” she told him, covering her annoyance with a sickly sweet tone.
“You’re not coming?” he asked.
She hadn’t planned to, but after that comment? Oh yeah, she was going to be there to make sure they got all the angles of Will making a snipe-hunting fool of himself on video. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Chapter Thirteen
Will was turning into a sucker. That was the only explanation that made any sense