Tyed(40)

She waves her hand dismissively, refusing to make eye contact. "Nothing. It's just...has Shane really tried to hook up with you?"

My eyes widen in disbelief. Christ on a cracker, that's the one subject I asked her not to bring up in front of Ty...and sure enough, there he is, about two feet away from us, holding Izzy's suitcase and looking just about ready to destroy it.

"The f*cking *." I hear his gruff voice behind me.

I shake my head. "He didn't try..."

"But you said so yourself." Izzy's voice sounds desperate and...is she crying? It's hard to tell in the dark, but she seems genuinely upset. All thoughts of Ty are thrown out the window once I realize that my sister is hurt.

"I said he groped me. Once!" Yup, that doesn't sound any better. "It was weeks ago. And I made it clear that I have no interest in him whatsoever. Anyway, he is dating a girl named Gemma nowadays, so..."

Oh. Oh shit. The writing was on the wall, but I refused to see it. Izzy and Shane. Shane and Izzy. Something happened between these two...a date? A kiss? A one-night stand? An affair?! Brain is just about ready to explode.

Wide eyed, I rush to my sister, who has already taken the suitcase from Ty and is now making her way to the entrance of the apartment complex.

"Izz, I didn't know..."

But she pivots on her heel and rests one flattened palm on my ribcage. "Sorry for doing this in front of Ty. I couldn't help it, sissy." She maintains the space between us like it would kill her if I got any closer, and hell if I even care anymore. She's so hurt, the only thing I care about is her.

"Let's go upstairs and talk about it."

She shakes her head violently. Ty's done being the good guy, obviously, since I can hear him behind me climbing back into the Hummer and slamming the door with force. I don't even blame him this time. Dude, I lied.

"Go with your boyfriend."

"No way, Izzy. I'm coming with. Come on, let's—"

"No." She practically pushes me in the car's direction. "I haven't been home in weeks. I want to take a bath, I want to have a glass of wine, I want to walk around naked and have my me-time. Shane's an old story. Go with your boyfriend. Have fun. I'll still be here when you get back."

I search her face to see if it's really okay. Izzy sees the doubt in my eyes and almost throws her suitcase at me.

"Oh my God, just go, sissy. Go!"

***

We drive silently. After we roll onto the highway to Concord , Ty turns down the volume of the music playing out of the speakers. It's my playlist, and I bet you anything it's also one helluva statement.

"I'm sorry," I blurt into the deafening silence. I wish he'd say something, anything. "I didn't mean to lie to you. I thought Shane was just trying his luck with me. But now I see that he was just trying to hook up with me to get back at Izzy for whatever it is between them."

Ty arches one eyebrow, looking thoroughly pissed off. "You think your best friend is trying to tap you to get back at your sister?" He scowls.

“Yeah. Not that I'm mad or anything. I mean, she's gorgeous and successful and..."

“And lonely and detached and no matter what, she’ll always be the less cool, less independent— and if you ask anyone with a dick—less sexy sister.”

“Come on, Ty.”

“Coming on, Blaire. You don’t need an army of PR people coming out of your ass and million-dollar contracts to be awesome. Izzy can spread her legs in every magazine under the sun and she still won’t be half the woman you are. The worst part is you have no clue. You really think you don't matter, that Izzy is better. But I see you.” He parks in front of his place.

I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes.

"I see you," he repeats, whispering. "I see what you don't see about yourself, and it pisses me off that Shane sees it too."

I can't believe he doesn't give me shit for not telling him about Shane. Unless... is he is planning on paying another visit to Shane's place? No. That was a one off, I tell myself. And besides, there's still a chance it wasn't Ty.

I listen to his heartbeat, slow and steady, and snuggle into his delicious, singular scent. No one else smells like him. I kind of like that.

"Whatever this thing between us is, I won't tolerate any lies." He growls.

"I swear to God," I answer, and I mean it.

But when the words come out, I realize that I don't actually believe that what we have is secrets-free. I may have nothing to hide, but Ty is full of mystery. He has a pretty bad reputation, judging from the Internet and The Grind, and he's never even mentioned his family around me. I have a nagging feeling his whole life is pretty much his work and teammates.

"This is the only tiny secret I had,” I say. “Hey, question—you think your mom will like me?” It may sound random, but I hate that he already knows so much about my family, and I still don't know anything about his.

The only thing I do know is that Ty’s dad isn’t in the picture and that he has no siblings. I stumbled upon an interview of his a few years back and found out he was raised solely by his mother.

“I don’t think my mom likes anyone, including me.” He laughs bitterly. “Na, you got lucky. I have no family that you need to suck up to. Just Dawson and his wife and kids. Maybe Jesse, but that’s it.”