When I rang the doorbell, Chase Anderson himself answered.

"Lex?" He glanced behind me cautiously.

"You're a piece of shit," I jabbed at his chest violently. "I know you're blackmailing Lee Castellan and you're an asshole for it."

"What?" Surprise registered on his face but Chase looked up and down the street as if expecting someone to be recording this conversation behind the bushes. "Uh - we can talk inside."

I pushed past into his house which was surprisingly modest. I had been apprehensive when Dennis begrudgingly gave me the address and walking inside now, I wanted to keep an open mind.

I looked around, noticing a smashed beer bottle on the floor. "It smells like cigarettes."

"Keep your voice down," Chase mumbled back.

We walked into the kitchen where there was a stack of dishes in the sink. He stood on the other side of the counter as I looked around.

"Is anyone home?" I asked.

"No."

I walked over to the window, peeking out at the overgrown brambles outside. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chase shift uncomfortably. There was obviously something going on here, but I didn't comment on it and decided to get straight to the point.

"What's going on?" I said finally.

"I should be asking you that," Chase replied with a short laugh.

I walked back to the bench. "Don't even try to bullshit your way out of this. Lee wouldn't do your bidding just because you asked nicely."

He raised his eyebrows, looking impressed. "So he sold it?"

"He's fifteen! Where are your morals?"

Chase rested his hands on the countertop, shrugging. "Look, Lee Castellan asked for a target on his back the moment he stepped into my school. But he's smart. He's helping me make some cash, that's all."

I scoffed. "Given your history with Reid?"

"Not everything is about Reid," Chase returned, an edge to his voice. When I stared back at him, suddenly unsure, his expression softened. "Alright. Have you met Lee? He's all tough like his brother but he has a heart of gold."

I shook my head, not quite understanding. "He wanted to... help?"

"He offered to."

I did a double-take.

Chase shrugged again, brushing over the revelation and went on. "You're right - he's a good kid. Maybe he felt bad because my Dad went to prison. Or maybe he just likes to kiss ass."

"He - what?"

He remained silent, waiting patiently for this information to click in my head. As I studied Chase, I noticed the fading bruises on his knuckles and the fresh one on his jaw that he had haphazardly covered with makeup. His expression was open, the kind of honesty that was unmistakable. And suddenly, I felt guilty for jumping to conclusions.

I shook off my embarrassment, knowing that there was still more to the story but also knowing that I was overstaying my welcome. "I'm sorry. I should go."

Chase gestured for me to see myself out.

My mind was reeling as I got back into my car and started the engine. Back on the road, I used voice recognition to text Dennis. Just as the message sent, a familiar gleaming black Porsche sidled up next to me on the highway. I couldn't see the driver but I instantly knew who it was.

Shit.

I pulled over and watched sullenly as Reid got out of his Porsche. He leaned his arms on the roof of my car, green eyes blazing and I braced myself for a temper tantrum.

"Did you really think I wouldn't find out about all this?"

I stared stubbornly in front of me. "I hoped you wouldn't."

Reid swore quietly under his breath, leaning down so he was eye-level with me. "Stay out of it, Lex. If you won't do it for Kade or Lee, then do it for yourself."

My blood boiled, composure swept away by an overwhelming surge of anger. I couldn't stand listening to Reid chastise me when I was putting my ass on the line - for him. It wasn't quite the same as Dennis risking Harvard but Reid wasn't about to bite his head off.

Suddenly, I found myself unbuckling my seat belt and climbing out of my car. Reid stepped back, eyeing me warily as I slammed the door.

"I had a brother," I said with as much calm as I could muster. "If he didn't die two years ago, then he would've been Lee's age. I couldn't save him. I couldn't even help him. But if he were still here and he was in trouble, I would want my friends to step up. I would want them to do what I couldn't. And I'm sorry that I thought you'd want the same thing."

My voice broke at the end and he flinched away, as if taking a physical blow. Immediately, I wanted to retract those words. As he drew in a sharp breath to steady himself, I chewed on my lower lip, praying that he would say something – anything, to fill the silence.

"I'm sorry about your brother," said Reid finally. I turned my head away, nodding once and furiously willing myself to keep it together. "This shit always happens to good people."

He was close enough that I could feel the heat from his body and smell the cool, fresh composition of his cologne. He had obviously been in the middle of something, dressed business casual in a light blue button-down and grey jeans, Tom Ford sunglasses pushed up into his tousled dark hair. My gaze absently snagged on his mouth and his hand on my arm didn't help either, sending my entire body into overdrive. Oh no. What was happening?

"Hey," he said. "You still with me?"

Reid smiled when I finally met his eyes, the concern I found there only knocking me further off-balance. It was the smile that made my heart feel like it was going to explode, both tentative and hopeful and so unlike Reid Castellan. My thoughts were suddenly quieter and I couldn't think clearly so I cleared my throat, walking around to the other side of my car. I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, wishing that this distance made me feel better.

"Lee wanted to help Chase," I found my voice eventually. "He offered to help Chase. I'm not sure if he's on your side."

Reid didn't respond immediately and then shook his head, as if to say of course. "Even as a child, Lee thought he could fix all the injustice in the world. It's like all the compassion meant for my other siblings went to him. He feels everything so keenly, a hundred-fold. It's changed overtime but this distorted sense of righteousness... I call it Hero Syndrome."

He's all tough like his brother but he has a heart of gold.

"You should go talk to him, Reid."

"And I will - but it's complicated." At the apprehensive look I gave him, Reid frowned. "There's history between Chase's family and mine. Lee can't fix the bad blood but he's never going to stop trying - that's just who he is."

The way he was describing his brother made him seem like a completely different person to the boy I met at the café two weeks ago. This Lee, who suffered from Hero Syndrome, sounded more like Kade, who was always buried in a book, finding comfort in his own solitude.

"I'm worried about him," said Reid suddenly, making me turn back to him. He seemed taken aback by his own confession, looking away as the breeze tugged on his dark hair. "As a big brother, I'll always be worried about him. So will you leave that to me, please?"

My anger fizzled out as quickly as it rose. "Yeah, of course."

"Thank you for trying."

I nodded, because that was good enough for me.

-

As December came around and Christmas was fast approaching, I felt more distant than ever from everyone else. With Kayley due to return in a week, the boys actually proved to be good company but it did little to ease my immense dislike for festivities.

For the past two years, the house was cold and empty and I'd celebrated Christmas alone in my room, eating takeaway and watching Netflix. Mom took the opportunity to work extra hours at the firm with nobody around to distract her and while her work ethic was admirable, it would be nice if she remembered that she still had a daughter.

Some part of me hoped that Mom would take Christmas as an opportunity to reconnect with the family that she had recently reunited with. I knew it was only wishful thinking but the idea of a proper Christmas dinner in a lively household was something I'd missed.

"Guess what?" Dennis dropped his pile of hundred-pound Calculus textbooks onto the table, making me jump in surprise. "I have some good news."

I looked up at him as Jarred made himself comfortable on the unoccupied seat beside me.

"Thanks to this guy's brilliant hacker skills, we managed to sell all of it." Dennis grinned, fist-bumping Jarred who beamed. "It was all done through proxy dealers, of course. And Chase texted me that he received all of the money in full sixteen minutes ago."

I closed my half-finished essay, sighing in relief. "Both Lee and Kade are clean?"

He nodded. "And since Jarred cleared all the camera footage from our list of timestamps, nobody can trace the dealers back to us if anything goes wrong."

"I'm impressed," I said honestly. "Jarred, I didn't know you were a tech genius."

Jarred propped his feet on the table, flicking through a sample essay on Macbeth that I had been looking at and smiled modestly. "You'd be surprised at the number of security cameras I had to hack ever since Reid started fighting everyone in his path."

I remembered the incident at Carlson Training Centre when Reid assured me that there was no more footage of that night and that it would be my word against him in case I snitched. It had been Jarred's impeccable skills that got him out of trouble.

"Have you spoken to Reid?" I found myself asking eventually.

To my surprise, Dennis and Jarred shared a look that I wasn't able to decipher.

"Not yet," said Dennis finally with a small shrug. "I think we'll let him hear it from Kade. He promised that he would talk to him."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Jarred asked, handing the essay back to me. "You're really sitting in the library by yourself during lunch?"

"I was studying," I defended.

They shared another look and it was Jarred's turn to shrug.

"Well, we came to find you," he said. "We saved a spot at our table."

Embarrassingly, I was genuinely touched that they had noticed my absence at all. In the back of my mind, part of me still couldn't help but feel wary about anyone's concern other than Kayley's. For so long, it had been just the two of us but today, I pushed that all away.

"Yeah," I said with a smile. "Okay. Let's go."