I SLOWLY OPEN my eyes, first the right, then the left. I am still in Jeremy's guest room, but for a moment I thought I was in the apartment with Bronwyn. Still a little confused, I prop my hands under me and sit up. Since when is the mattress so hard and .... warm?

And since when does it move?

Dean mumbles something under me that I can't understand. I can't believe that this guy looks good even when he's talking in his sleep. His features are relaxed, his lips part a split, and his breaths are regular beneath me. Lost in thought, I brush my fingers through his hair, hoping it will wake him up, but he sleeps like a baby.

I'm pretty sure I stared at him for at least five more minutes until I quietly get up and go to the bathroom. I brush my teeth there, using the same new toothbrush I used yesterday. Then I tie my hair up, which is even more tangled than usual. My eyes drift to my lips and the conversation I had with Dean last night comes to mind.

I wish he had kissed me.

At the same time, I can understand why he didn't. Besides Kolin and my almost ridiculous complexes, Dean is still wanted by the police and I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if we hadn't made it last night.

It's all so twisted and like yesterday, I wish we had just met two years ago. I would be seventeen, he would be nineteen. Maybe we would have had a few complications because of the minimal age difference, but I'm sure it still would have been easier.

As I walk into the kitchen, the smell of Jeremy's infamous pancakes fills the air and my mouth literally starts watering. My brother is standing in front of the stove flipping the pancakes by grabbing the pan and throwing them up. I have no idea how he can do this without slapping the pancake into his face.

"Good morning," I say as I sit down.

"Morning, Syd." He looks at me over his shoulder and hesitates with his smile as he gives me an almost scrutinizing look.

Good to know that this situation isn't just weird for me. "Where's Avery?"

"She's still sleeping. She sleeps longer on Sundays." He drops the last of the pancakes on a plate that already has at least twenty pancakes stacked on it, then places it in front of me. "Bon appetit."

For some reason, I have to grin. "Thanks."

"How are you? How do you feel about your college? You probably chose psychology, right?" He sits across from me, seemingly making it his mission to pick every piece of information out of me.

He can ask me as many questions as he wants, as long as I'm allowed to ask questions, as well. "Psychology is just what I've always been interested in. I'm doing well according to the circumstances, and college is even better than I expected. I'm really happy with my college choice."

"How happy were Mom and Dad?" asks Jeremy, half laughing, half scornful.

"I talk with Mom on the phone sometimes, but Dad ... he doesn't really answer my messages. Still, they love me and you, Jer, and you know it."

"I haven't had any contact with them in three years. They hate New Haven, they hate my college, and they hate my fiancée. Is there anything they don't hate?"

"Kids who stay around them and have decent relationships," I counter, really just imitating Dad.

Jeremy snorts. "At least I know now what Dad meant with that. I mean, Dean Walker? How the hell did you get that one, Syd? Did he just randomly knock on your front door to say hello?"

Well, if he knew he had a point... I choose my words well but then conclude that it doesn't matter what I say because Jeremy will find a way to talk the contact with Dean out of me no matter how. "Are you going to tell anyone?"

"Of course not," my brother insists. " You would be in real trouble, and that's the last thing I want. But you can't expect me to just sit here idly and watch you gradually fall in love with him, either."

My fork drops clinking on my plate. "I'm not falling in love with him, Jer, we're kind of friends."

"You can't fool me, Syd." For the first time since we met again, I see that boyish grin on his face. "You've always tried to do that, but I know exactly the type of guy you're attracted to."

"Oh yeah, you still know it three years later?"

He leans back again, sighing. "I want us to stay in contact after today. That means if anything happens, you can always call me, okay? We're adults now, Sydney. Our parents can't control with who we can hang out and with who we can't."

I nod in agreement. "Any more sibling advice besides staying away from Dean?"

"Avery told me a few things yesterday." He pauses for a moment. "I don't know if you knew about this, but Kolin and her have been friends for a while, long before you two were a couple and I started dating Avery. She overheard a lot of arguments between Dean and his parents and said that Kolin is not what he may seem. She thinks he's a lot more involved in this whole murder thing than we may think."

I falter. "So your advice is that I should stay away from Dean and Kolin?"

He shakes his head, looking seriously worried about me. "My advice is that you shouldn't trust anyone until this case is finally solved. Because if you don't, you'll end up much further in it than you actually want to be."

At this, I keep quiet because I can't say what I'm actually thinking.

I'm already in too deep in it anyway.

And that's because I'm not going to leave Dean alone from now on, and I'm still going to ask Kolin enough about everything, even if these things aren't the smartest decisions I've ever made in my life. But I want Dean to have a life, the college rumors to stop, Gavin and Bronwyn to stop worrying, and at the end of this murder case, I can say that I believed in Dean's innocence the whole time.

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