I narrow my eyes at him.“You’re dead to me.”
“Love you, too,” Joel says, chuckling under his breath as he follows after our mother.
Joel snickers, clearly reveling in my suffering.“I can’t wait to see this.You all dressed up, looking like the perfect little?—”
I whip around, pointing a menacing finger at him.“Finish that sentence, Price, and I swear to god?—”
His hand catches my wrist.
Not hard.Not yanking.Just—firm.
Intentional.Like a silent demand that I look at him.
A shiver ghosts up my arm, unwelcome, unwanted.
My brain stutters, short-circuiting for the briefest second.Because this touch—his touch—is different from the casual, infuriating Joel I know.There’s no smirk, no teasing.Just the weight of something unspoken stretching between us and because he’s not talking, my brain is sputtering.
His thumb barely brushes my pulse, like he’s testing something.Like he’s waiting for me to pull away—or waiting to see if I won’t.
I should yank my hand back.I should roll my eyes and tell him to shove off.But for a fraction of a heartbeat, I don’t.
Joel notices.I can tell by the way his grip tightens, just slightly.
And then?—
“Oh, I forgot my tea bags.”
My mother bustles in, completely unaware that she just shattered whatever this was into a thousand tiny, irretrievable pieces.
Joel’s hand disappears.Like it never happened.
I exhale too sharply.Step back like I wasn’t just standing there, waiting for?—
I wasn’t.
I wasn’t.
Mom plucks her tea bags off the counter, then gives us both a knowing smile that makes my stomach twist.
“Well,” she says, eyes far too observant, “see you both soon.”
Joel smirks, like he’s enjoying this way too much.“Can’t wait.”
I don’t even have a clapback for that.
Because my wrist still tingles.
Because I have no idea what just happened.
Because I don’t want to know what would have happened if my mother hadn’t walked back in.
And that thought?
That’s what really terrifies me
CHAPTER12
Joel