Chapter 34

Tyler stared at him for several seconds.

“Huh?”

Wasn't Miles supposed to settle this for them? Why was he looking at them more coldly than he'd looked at Jade's group?

He turned to Dylan for help. Dylan shook his head and gave him a look that said he was on his own. Behind Tyler, the other boys had gone silent. None of them seemed inclined to ask questions, either.

With no one coming to his rescue, Tyler trudged toward the women dancing outside the supermarket. He wanted to ask Miles why, of course he did. He just wasn't brave enough. One more question might earn him a beating, and then following a dance routine would be the least of his problems.

Dylan had worked out a little of what was happening. Miles could lose his temper without warning, and Tyler had managed to set him off. As for the reason, that unusually gentle voice he'd used with the girl was a fairly big clue.

Still, Tyler was his classmate. Miles had never got along with Jade. Refusing to help Tyler was one thing, but he almost seemed to be taking her side.

Who exactly was this girl?

Once Tyler obediently headed off, Miles relaxed a little. Then he looked at Elise, and his brows drew together again.

He came over to her, giving Jade an unfriendly look.

“Why are you hanging out with her?”

Elise couldn't make sense of his behavior. Speaking to her of his own accord was surprising enough. Had he actually just stood up for her, too? The whole dispute had begun with her skateboard. Jade and Tyler had fought because of it, and Tyler had looked as though his salvation had arrived when Miles appeared. Instead, Miles had turned against him.

Something was wrong between Miles and Jade. Elise could feel it. Jade glanced at him with open contempt, and his answering look was colder still.

“She's my friend,” Elise said quickly.

One was a dear friend, the other her fourth brother. She had no desire to watch them start fighting.

“Your friend?”

Miles frowned. Jade was every bit as much of a troublemaker as he was. Between them, there probably wasn't a way of tormenting a teacher they hadn't tried. He couldn't feel easy about leaving his sister with her. What if she picked up Jade's habits?

“Yes. We met today,” Elise said. “We get along really well. We both like skateboarding.”

Jade had been puzzled by Miles's sudden change of attitude. She'd prepared herself for a much uglier end to the evening, only for him to let the whole matter go. He also seemed to know this girl very well.

Jade liked her. She had from the beginning. The girl had worried about her getting hurt, then about her clashing with Miles. Now she'd called Jade her friend in an obvious attempt to protect her.

Jade valued loyalty, and apparently so did she. Whatever her connection to Miles, Jade wasn't about to turn down a friend like that.

Her cold expression eased into a smile.

“When are we going skating again?”

Elise brightened. Jade wanted to be friends with her in this life, too.

“Yes, let's do that. We should add each other first.”

Jade took out her phone and brought up her contact card for Elise to scan. Elise finished adding her with a thoroughly pleased look on her face.

Beside them, a muscle twitched above Miles's eye.

He didn't even have his own sister's contact information. Jade was getting added before he was, and Elise looked delighted about it.

Jade. His sworn enemy.

Why did it seem as though his sister liked her more than she liked him?

“You should be careful who you make friends with,” he said darkly. “Someone smokes, drinks, fights, skips class, and you still want to be friends with them?”

It would have been different with anyone else. This was his sister. There was no way he was letting Jade be a bad influence on her.

Elise looked up, bewildered.

“But don't you smoke, drink, fight, and skip class, too?”

He'd managed to miss half a month of school already.

Miles almost choked. How could that be the same? He was her brother.

Then he thought about it. She wasn't actually wrong. In those respects, he and Jade were much the same.

His face darkened further.

Fine. Whatever. Jade was his enemy, and he refused to let her corrupt his sweet little sister.

Jade gave a small, derisive laugh.

“I can tell the difference. However much I hate you, I'm not throwing away a friend over it.”

Nobody could have missed the insult.

Dylan hurried forward. The two of them had barely exchanged a few sentences and already looked ready to fight. Even when Miles was furious, he didn't usually let it show quite this plainly. This was bad.

And it all seemed to have something to do with the girl.

Dylan stepped between Miles and Jade, then turned to Elise.

“You two know each other, right? How about we find somewhere to sit down and talk?”

Elise could see the tension getting worse. She barely knew her brother in this life, but she certainly didn't want him and Jade coming to blows.

After she said goodbye to Jade, Dylan led the remaining group to a small restaurant nearby.

The booths had long upholstered seats facing each other. Miles slid into one, still looking furious. Dylan started to sit beside him and received a glare that stopped him halfway down.

Right. Understood. That seat wasn't for him.

By the time Elise came in, the only place left was beside Miles. She sat down there. She'd already asked Ethan to wait outside and let Julian know she wouldn't be home until after dinner.

Miles's expression softened a fraction once she was next to him. He took a plate, rinsed it with hot water, and set it in front of her with the same forbidding look on his face.

Across the table, Dylan and the others scarcely dared breathe. A dish of peanuts sat in front of them. Each took a few, eating them from their hands while sneaking curious looks at Elise.

What was so special about her? She'd met Jade today and somehow been welcomed straight into her circle, as though they'd known each other for years. Now Miles, of all people, was treating her gently.

Nobody at any of the nearby schools wanted to cross either of those two. And they'd nearly fought over her.

There had to be a story here.

Elise felt awkward. She hadn't shared a meal with her fourth brother in this life, and she'd never met the people across from them. Miles seemed to be in such a bad mood that she didn't know what to say.

She remembered the crash in their previous life, and the limp he'd been left with afterward. Until today, she'd never known how confident he'd once been, how readily everyone had done what he said. Thinking of the withdrawn, dispirited man she'd known then, she felt her heart soften.

For all his sulking, Miles got on with ordering. He didn't ask her what she wanted. When the food arrived, however, Elise realized that nearly every dish was something she liked.

Did they have similar tastes?

She put the thought aside, picked up a shrimp, and placed it in his bowl.

“Have some, Miles.”

His hand stopped. Slowly, the corners of his mouth began to lift. He cleared his throat twice, peeled the shrimp she'd given him, then took another and peeled that one, too.

He kept going until his bowl was full of tender white shrimp. Then he set it in front of her.

Elise looked at the bowl in surprise. With the tips of her chopsticks resting against her lips, she thanked him.

His whole expression relaxed. There was unmistakable affection in his eyes now.

“Eat up.”

Across from him, Dylan nearly dropped his chopsticks.

Seriously? One shrimp, and that was it? All that anger, gone? What had happened to the pride of Northbridge's most feared student?

Miles went back to peeling.

Pride could wait. Making his sister happy mattered considerably more. She'd made an effort to soothe him. That meant her fourth brother had a place in her heart. He could ask for nothing more.

Watching Elise eat was making Dylan hungry for shrimp, too. He reached for one, only to have Miles strike his chopsticks with his own. The warning look that followed left no room for negotiation.

“Come on, Miles,” Dylan pleaded. “Look how small she is. She can't eat all of them. At least let us have a couple.”

None of them came from families that were short of money. How had eating a shrimp become such a struggle?

“Order another plate.”

Dylan had no choice. He ordered one for their side of the table. They had to peel those themselves, though. Nobody was offering them Elise's level of service.

In his quiet study, Julian listened to Ethan's report.

Elise had been spending time with a girl named Jade, a troublesome student she'd described as her friend. Jade's group and Miles's had nearly fought. Miles had finally settled the dispute, apparently taking Jade's side.

Julian raised an eyebrow. He'd taken Elise's side.

Since when had Miles become so protective of her?

Then again, perhaps that was putting it too strongly. Everyone else there was unrelated to him. Faced with strangers, he ought to stand up for his own sister.

Julian was more concerned about Elise getting mixed up with Jade. He had Ethan look into her. Fortunately, what came back was reassuring. Jade was rebellious, but she hadn't done anything truly vicious or crossed any serious lines. She was loyal to her friends. Most girls were afraid of her; very few actually disliked her.

A sound came from downstairs. Elise must be back.

He closed his laptop, rose, and went down. Then he saw Miles following her into the house and stopped.

“What are you doing here?”

The youngest of his brothers was firmly in his rebellious phase. He'd never accepted Julian's attempts to keep him in line. He'd moved out of the family house early, got a place of his own, and spent his days with friends Julian had very little use for.

Miles resented being told what to do. Julian found him a headache.

And now he'd come home with Elise?

Miles looked uncomfortable at the sight of his eldest brother. It had been nearly half a year since they'd seen each other.

“I'm moving back.”

When dinner ended, he'd remembered how unwelcome his sister was in this house at this point in their previous life. He'd wanted her to come to his place instead. She'd refused. She said she liked living at home, and that Julian and Adrian were both very good to her.

It had left him baffled. Hadn't all the brothers been cold to her? Had he remembered it wrong? During all that time when he'd scarcely had anything to do with her, had the others actually treated her well?

Had he been the only one who'd ignored her?

The possibility made him sick with regret. He'd insisted on coming home with her and decided to move back. At least here he could spend time with his sister.

Julian raised his eyebrows. He didn't understand the decision, but there was no need to dwell on it. They had plenty of rooms. If his brother wanted to live here, he could.

Elise looked around the living room. Adrian usually waited there whenever she came home. Today, there was no sign of him.

“Where's Adrian?”

“He's been busy lately,” Julian said.

Adrian had been unusually secretive about whatever he was doing. Julian had heard rumors that he wanted to terminate his contract and had someone check. The rumors were true. His brother was working on leaving his label and setting up on his own.

“I made another friend today,” Elise told Julian happily.

“Jade?”

She looked up at him. “How did you know?”

Julian paused. He could hardly tell her Nora had messaged him.

“Ethan told me what happened this afternoon.”

“Oh.” That made sense. Julian paid Ethan's salary, after all.

Julian frowned slightly.

“I heard she smokes at school. Fights and skips class, too.”

Miles watched them. Elise had started telling Julian about her day the moment she got home, as though they were wonderfully close. He might as well have been a stranger sitting off to one side.

Now Julian was bringing up Jade's bad behavior. Miles's mouth began to curve. He'd already learned how this went. His sister had decided Jade was her friend. Smoking, fighting, skipping class, none of it was going to change her mind.

Go on, then. See how that works out for you.

Elise already knew how to answer.

“You can't judge someone just by how they look. Jade's really loyal, and she's kind. I like her a lot.”

Julian's expression softened.

“She stood up for you today. I think she's a good friend, too. Make friends with whoever you like, Ellie. I'll support you.”

Elise felt immediately better. Her eldest brother was being so reasonable, especially after the way Miles had acted.

“You're the best, Julian.”

Miles stared.

What had happened to disapproving of Jade? Since when was Julian this easy to get along with? Whenever Miles spent time with Dylan and his other supposedly useless friends, Julian tore into him.

They'd both criticized Jade. Why had Elise been so cool with him and so warm with Julian?

It wasn't fair.

Miles put away his phone, got up from the sofa, and headed upstairs without a word.

Elise noticed his expression.

“Miles?”

He kept going, ignoring her.

Daniel happened to be coming down the stairs. He greeted Miles respectfully and received no more acknowledgment than Elise had.

The butler watched him pass, utterly confused. Who had upset him? He looked ready to kill someone.

The bad mood lasted into school the following morning.

Miles and Elise were in different classes. His course group ranked lowest in their year. The livelier boys became considerably more subdued when he finally showed up.

Dylan couldn't work him out. He'd been silent and scowling since early morning. During lessons, he put his head down on his desk and slept. Any attempt to talk to him went unanswered.

Hadn't everything been fine yesterday? What had happened now?

They knew him well enough to be sure he wouldn't get this angry over something minor. Something serious had to have happened.

None of them was willing to ask.

English class was nothing like a lesson in one of the advanced groups. Below the front of the room, students played cards, watched shows, and read novels. They were a little more restrained with their other teachers. Their English teacher, however, had only graduated recently. She couldn't keep them under control.

At the front, she called for quiet until her voice was almost gone. Nobody listened. She stood there looking painfully helpless.

Miles was in a foul mood already. The noise kept reaching him wherever he turned, grating on his nerves until he couldn't stand it.

He shot to his feet and slammed a hand on his desk.

The crack brought instant silence.

“Shut the fuck up.”

The young teacher started trembling. For a horrible moment, she thought he meant her.

Dylan sat with his mouth open, the cards still in his hand. He hadn't even had time to hide them.

“Next person who talks can get the hell out.”

Students who'd been turned around to chat hastily faced the front. Nobody wanted to test him. If they kept talking, Miles was perfectly capable of throwing them out of the room himself.

The teacher let out a relieved breath and looked at him gratefully. He'd already put his head back down to sleep.

After class, Dylan and a few others gathered together.

“I've never seen him go off like that. What's wrong with him? Has he told any of you?”

They shook their heads.

Dylan made a show of knowing more than they did.

“Are you idiots? He got angry yesterday, too. Remember?”

“Oh, right. I knew it felt familiar. That was over the girl, wasn't it?”

“You think this is, too? What are they to each other?”

Dylan rubbed his chin. All that shrimp Miles had peeled for her, then telling the rest of them to leave first. He'd obviously wanted to take her home. Now this temper. Didn't people in love have wild mood swings?

Was Miles in love?

“Think he's about to get himself a girlfriend?” Dylan ventured.

They were still whispering when Miles suddenly stood up. Dylan jumped. Had he heard them?

Miles didn't look their way. He walked straight out.

“We've got basketball against Section Three in a minute!” Dylan called after him. “Where are you going?”

“To apologize.”

As he walked, Miles admitted to himself what had happened. He'd been jealous. Seeing Elise so close to Julian had upset him, and he'd taken it out on her.

She'd called to him when he went upstairs. He'd heard her and deliberately refused to answer.

Now he regretted it. Had she been angry? Had he hurt her? What if she'd taken it to mean her fourth brother didn't like her?

He'd barely slept at his desk. Every time he went over the evening again, it became harder to stay where he was.

How could he be so petty? He wanted her to forgive him for the past, yet he still couldn't control his temper.