Page 43 of Silver Sweet

Then he sits beside me. I can viscerally feel the tension in his rigid, perfect-postured body.

I rest my hands on my head again, leaning backward. “I’m sor?—”

“I’m not angry at you.” He blinks a couple times, staring at the new footprints I left behind on the coffee table.

Fuck me. Charlie is already grabbing the Clorox off the kitchen counter where I’d set it. I wish I could say this is the first time I’ve accidentally made a mess that Charlie cleaned, but it’s not even the tenth time.

Beckett focuses on me. “I know the attention Leo gives you might feel good, but it’s not worth reciprocating when his intentions have nothing to do with you. You fall for him, he’ll hurt you.”

“Yeah, understood,” I nod.

Beckett is trying desperately to save me from a shattered heart and a mistake I can’t take back. “Just think about the type of guy who’d do something like this,” he adds. “You really want a jackass who’d lead you on just to piss off your older brother?”

“Tom is attracted to the conflict,” Charlie says like it’s a historical fact everyone should know by now.

He might be right on this account because I’ve never really been drawn to guys who are uncomplicated. I’ve never been enticed by dull and mundane.

Still, I assure them, “I’m not going to play into Leo’s hand, don’t worry. I already promised.”

Beckett stands and tries to take the Clorox from Charlie, but he won’t let Beckett clean it. I can’t tell what’s stressing him out more. The footprints or Leo.

The three of us simultaneously glance over at Ben. He’s retreating to his bedroom with Harriet. We hear the door click shut.

“Was he okay?” I ask them.

Beckett looks to Charlie.

“He was breathing hard,” Charlie confirms.

I frown. “So Ben must think he’s causing this rift, right?” It sounds absurd even saying it. Because Ben is such an outlier to this conflict, but his mind is warping this situation and telling him he’s the source. The domino that pushes all the other ones down. That hurts us.

Just in case Ben heard me, I raise my voice and add, “And so it’s clear,Leois the one to blame! Everything is his fault!”

Charlie hasn’t taken his eyes off Beckett. “He’s withHarriet.She’ll calm him down. He’s fine.” He says it so bitterly, you’d think he’d wish for Ben to remain panicked. Really, I think he just hates seeing Ben in love.

Or anyone in love for that matter.

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” Beckett says, keeping his hands to himself. Not touching anything. So it’s obvious to me that he’s not doing well either with his contamination OCD.

I could say I am a trigger, but this is definitely on Leo. I did not send those texts.

On my feet again, I take the cleaner from Charlie and wipe down the coffee table. Successfully shiny and smudge-free.

Then I snatch the neck of my guitar. I might just go hang out in Eliot’s room until he comes home.

Beckett and Charlie are speaking in hushed French, and I don’t strain my ears to hear them. I’m about to walk down the hall when Beckett calls out, “Tom.”

“Yeah?” I spin back around to meet his concern. It seems different. More confused.

“Dad called me on the way home,” he says. “The background check for Phoenix St. Pierre is complete.”

I feel a little bad about that. Phoenix wants this whole partnership to be equal. Technically, if he wanted, hecouldrun a background check on me too. But I could’ve also warned him that my parents run background checks on pretty much anyone who is in constant contact with us.

“Any skeletons in his closet?” I ask playfully.

Beckett furrows his brows. “How well do you know this guy?”

I think about our short encounters. The twenty minutes at the studio, the half hour at the diner, the briefest presentation at Riot’s office, and then the various phone calls bitching to each other about font. “I know we can’t stand each other.” I rest my shoulder on the wall, gripping the guitar loose against my leg.