I pick up the pace of my jog. “My mom just got divorced for the fourth time. There are only so many weddings you can sit through before you start to picture the awful ending each time. I want nothing to do with that shit. I like being alone, Niko.”
“Maybe your mom just believes in love.”
“Well, maybe her life would be a lot less hollow if she gave that up,” I say, bitterness creeping into my tone.
“Damn. Who hurt you, Sev?”
I pull in a long breath. “I just don’t need anyone else to make me feel whole.”
We run in a comfortable silence for a while.
The Crimson campus looks good like this, when the sky is grey and the stone buildings look a little bit gothic.
Some people probably hate it, but I love a grim-looking day.
Makes me feel alive.
Everything makes me feel alive, when I can run like this.
After a while, Niko starts telling me about some light Onyx House gossip. It’s nothing that Kieran would be rabid for, but instead more about hookups and parties.
When the conversation turns to Weston, my curiosity is piqued.
“Feel bad for the guy sometimes, honestly,” Niko says as we run down the path that cuts through the quad. “Seemed like his dad always treated him like dirt, then he went and died. All while his best friend starts fucking his brother.”
“His dad was also your dad,” I remind him.
He waves a hand through the air. “I know, but not really. I literally never met the man. I was his rejected bastard son.”
I hum. “Do you think Weston was jealous of his brother? When Hunter and Rayne started hooking up?”
“I get the impression he’s always been a little jealous of his brother. They get along now, but that definitely wasn’t always the case.”
I listen to the sound of our footfalls for a while. Once we’re out of the busy part of campus, we take a ridge along a hill on the south side.
The air is fresh, and the buds on the trees are slowly getting greener, even if today is gloomy.
“Still don’t understand why Wes has to act so intense all the fucking time,” I say. “Even when his phone was vibrating on the table last night, he treated it like a goddamn bomb.”
He cuts me a glance. “He doesn’t like getting texts.”
“What’s the big deal?”
Niko lets out a long breath. “Sev, I’m going to tell you something, but don't repeat this, okay?”
Nice.
Secrets.
Fucking tell me everything, please. Not for Kieran, but for me.
“What is it?”
Niko slows to a stop, pausing at the edge of a flowerbed and looking at me, catching his breath.
“Weston had a really fucked up childhood. He kind of kept it secret for a while, apparently, but after a night drinking with Noah a few weeks ago, he… let a lot of it slip to me and Ollie.”
I frown. “How fucked up?”