Chapter 38 CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 38
YAEL
“Aaron—don’t start,” I said immediately, but nope, he was already walking toward Knox like a storm with legs.
Knox didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. Just stared back with that flat, bored look that made Aaron even angrier.
“What the hell are you doing with my sister?” Aaron demanded, stepping up so close their chests almost brushed.
Knox tilted his head. “Walking.”
“Don’t play dumb—”
“That’s my natural state,” Knox deadpanned.
I groaned. Not helping. Not even a little.
Aaron shoved him. “I said don’t play games with me.”
Knox didn’t shove back, which somehow made it worse. “Relax, Levi. I don’t need to breathe the same air as her to piss you off. That part comes naturally.”
“Aaron!” I hissed. “Stop.”
But it was too late. Aaron grabbed him by the shirt.
Knox’s jaw tightened, his fists flexing.
“Touch me again,” he warned quietly, “and I won’t stop at one hit this time.”
“This time?” Aaron snapped. “Oh, trust me, I’m not done with you either—”
They were seconds away from beating each other unconscious.
I squeezed in between them. “STOP!”
They both froze—mostly because I looked insane enough to bite someone.
Knox stepped back first. “I’m not doing this with him.”
He looked at me briefly—something flickering in his eyes—then walked off without waiting for anyone to respond.
Aaron watched him leave with pure disgust, then turned to me.
“And YOU—what the hell was that?”
I threw my hands up. “Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I’m literally in the debate club. He’s the head. Are we supposed to avoid each other and telepathically communicate?”
“You can quit the club.”
I laughed. Loud. Bitter. “Are you serious? I’m not quitting something I love because you can’t stand Knox.”
“Yael, he’s dangerous.”
“So are you, apparently,” I snapped. “You almost fought him in front of a professor.”
“He deserved it.”
“For what? Walking next to me?”
Aaron clenched his jaw. “You know EXACTLY why. He’s been hovering around you. He’s getting close. And I don’t want you involved with someone like him, Yael!”
“And I don’t want a brother who thinks he owns me!”
That shut him up.
His mouth opened, closed. Opened again.
“You’re my sister,” he said quietly, voice tight. “I’m supposed to protect you.”
“I never asked you to!”
The hurt on his face punched me straight in the chest, but pride wouldn’t let me stop.
He exhaled shakily. “You almost got kidnapped, Yael.”
I stiffened. He continued.
“And you didn’t tell me.” His voice cracked. “How could you not tell me?”
I swallowed, guilt clawing up my throat. “Because you overreact. Like now.”
“So what?!” he exploded. “I’d rather overreact than bury you!”
My mouth fell open.
He wasn’t yelling out of anger.
He was yelling out of fear.
That realization made my stomach twist—but pride kept my face cold.
“And let me guess,” he continued, quieter now, “it was Knox who saved you.”
Silence.
I looked at the ground.
Aaron’s breath hitched. “Oh my God… it WAS him, wasn’t it?”
I whispered, “Yes.”
Aaron’s expression shifted—anger melting into shock, then into something like devastation.
“He saved you,” he said numbly. “And you didn’t even tell me.”
“Aaron…”
“No, don’t.” He shook his head. “I would’ve burned down this school to find the guy who grabbed you. But instead you kept it from me. Why?”
My throat tightened.
I wanted to explain.
I wanted to tell him everything.
Instead, pride won again.
Because I was tired—of being treated like a child, of being handled, of hiding everything.
I snapped.
“I didn’t tell you because you’re NOT my dad!”
Silence.
Aaron blinked. Once.
Twice.
Slowly.
And I watched, in slow motion, as the words hit him—harder than any punch Knox ever threw.
His shoulders sagged.
His eyes dropped to the floor.
“Oh,” he whispered. Not angry. Not yelling. Just… hurt. “I see.”
I stepped forward. “Aaron—”
He took a tiny step back.
Just one.
And it felt like the most painful distance I’d ever seen.
“I have to go,” he said softly. “Class. Or something. Doesn’t matter.”
“Aaron—wait—”
But he was already walking away.
Not fast.
Not angry.
Just… quietly.
And that hurt a thousand times more.
I stood there frozen, feeling like the worst human alive.
My chest felt tight, my eyes burning, but I swallowed everything down because pride was still screaming at me not to run after him.
So instead, I turned around and walked to my dorm like a coward.
No Knox.
No Aaron.
No explanations.
Just me, my guilt, and the echo of my own stupid words:
You're not my dad.
It tasted like ash in my mouth the entire way home.