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Jack and his adopted sister Clotile had been in that army Only one of them had made it out alive

"What was your decision?"

"Still here, ain’t I?"

"What swayed you? And why now? It isn’t like you’ve learned soe your ht," I said pointedly Unless he hadNo That suspicion was too huured some stuff out on s for you That was before I realized you could never accept my nature You saw me and freaked out"

He narrowed his eyes "I doan freak out, no I think I’ve handled this pretty daing it on me--"

"That shit saved my life"

"From what I understand, it also led you to a madman The Alchemist, non?"

Touché "You treated me like a leper when you saw , and took another swig "You expect ht?"

"My reactions,I’ve never seen before, and I reacted"

"With the sign of the cross? Really, Jack?"

"I’htered sohty pleased about it It was like you were possessed by a de!" He shook his head "You expect me to be perfect"

"It hurt, Jackson Okay?" I pulledwater

As if helpless not to, he glanced down, seeaze up when I cried, "It broke h the most horrific event in usted with me" My eyes pricked with tears "I needed you!"

He pinched the bridge of his nose "Does it count for nothing thatthat I’ to handle all this?"

"Maybe you shouldn’t have to try so hard Coae I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve had a civil conversation Most of the ti on in that head of yours"

"What you want to know?" He sank down in the chair again, resting his elbows on his knees "You want s? Goddamn it, how do I even start?"

I blinked in surprise He wasn’t being a senuinely baffled how to do this And why shouldn’t he be? Where would he have learned how to discuss his thoughts and emotions?

Not from his mother She hadn’t even been able to feed Jackson as a boy, s that bothered him From his dad? The man had washed his hands of his son

It was a wonder Jackson was as decent as he was I remember how he’d admitted that he didn’t kno to behave with me You can teach me how to court you ’Cause I doan knoay around that

He was trying And how should I help hi this shit on et over the fact that irlfriend ain’t exactly huirlfriend or the human part

"Damn it, Evie, you been to my house, you sa I lived Can’t you understand why I hate surprises? Why I doan like it when people live secret lives?"

Maybe ere too different "Too much has happened And you’ve been hideous to ry because I didn’t understand any of this I doan like things I doan understand And thatto coht as you were about to cut that Irish kid’s throat"

"He attacked us, after I tried to call a truce"

"I get that people are gonna be hurt I understand the progra hurt, well before the Flash But when I saw you liked it"

I buried my head in my hands "I don’t want to!"

"I understand that now Soot a probleot a proble with you hurts"

"But soht aze flicked from my lips, to my neck, to my collarbones

"I never told you--" Realization dawned "Oh, my God" My jaw dropped,as I’d feared "You took the Alchemist’s recorder!" Which contained the tape of rin "Ouais Been listening to it for days That was one reason why I got held up thatfor some earphones, so I could listen underrole in that tale, wanted to ht"

"That’s why you’ve been so up and down?" The angry looks, the troubled looks The ss you said pissed rated, "Had to listen to you talking about your boyfriend Bad enough the first tiuy Iood heart His and Jackson’s personalities had been as different as day and night The two had hated each other

"But then you’d turn around and say soood Like when you were nice to Clotile You smiled at her and waved hello, when not another person in school was kind to her"

I could’ve been nicer to her, wished I had been

"Or when you described our kiss at the pool at Selena’s house" Jack scrubbed a hand over his face "Ito that over and over"

The way his lids went heavy and he shuddered, you’d think he’d had an eargasrew shallow in reaction And suddenly I was very aware ofat my damp skin

"That tape was private!"