Free After Ever Happy (After #4) by Anna Todd Page B

that we are at the wrong room when I take in Kimberly’s appearance. Her eyes are swollen and she doesn’t have an ounce of makeup on. I like her better that way, but she just looks so wrecked right now, like she’s been crying all her tears plus somebody’s else’s.
    “Come in. It’s been a long morning,” she says, her normal sass completely absent.
    Tessa immediately hugs her, wrapping her arms around her friend’s waist, and Kimberly begins to sob. I feel incredibly uncomfortable just standing in the doorway, given that Kim irritates the shit out of me and that she isn’t the type that wants an audience while she’s vulnerable. I leave them in the sitting room of the grand suite and wander into the kitchen area. I pour a cup of coffee and stare at the wall until the sobs turn into muffled voices in the other room. I’ll keep my distance for now.
    “Is my dad coming back?” a smooth voice says from somewhere, causing me to jerk in surprise.
    Looking down, I see the green-eyed Smith has taken a seat in a plastic chair next to me. I didn’t even hear him approaching.
    I shrug and take a seat next to him, staring intensely at the wall. “Yeah. I think so.” I should tell him just what a fucking great man his father . . . our father really is . . .
    Holy shit.
    This strange little specimen of a kid is my fucking brother. I absolutely can’t wrap my head around it. I look over at Smith, which he takes as a cue to continue his line of questioning.
    “Kimberly said that he’s in trouble, but he can pay his way out of it. What does that mean?”
    I can’t stop the scoff that comes from my mouth at his intrusive eavesdropping and thorough questioning. “I’m sure that’s the case,” I mumble. “She just means that he will be out of trouble soon. Why don’t you go sit with Kimberly and Tessa?” My chest burns at the sound of her name as it comes from my mouth.
    He looks over in the direction of their voices, then assess me sagely. “They’re mad at you. Especially Kimberly, but she’s more mad at my dad, so you should be okay.”
    “You’ll learn that women are always mad.”
    He nods. “Unless they die. Like my mom did.”
    My mouth falls open and I look at his face. “You shouldn’t say shit like that. People will find it . . . odd.”
    He shrugs his shoulders as if to say that people already find him odd. Which is true, I suppose.
    “My dad is nice. He’s not bad.”
    “Okay?” I stare down at table to avoid looking into those green eyes.
    “He takes me a lot of places and says nice things to me.” Smith places a piece of a toy train on the table. What is with this boy and trains?
    “And . . .” I say, swallowing the feelings that come with his words. Why is he rambling about this now?
    “He will take you places, too, and tell you nice things.”
    I look over at him. “And why would I want that?” I ask, but his green eyes tell me that he knows much more than I assumed.
    Smith tilts his head and swallows a little swallow, watching me. It’s both the most scientifically detached and the most vulnerably childlike I have ever seen the little oddball. “You don’t want me to be your brother, do you?”
    Damn it. I desperately search for Tessa, hoping that she will come save me. She would know exactly what to say.
    I look at him, trying to appear calm, but certain I’m failing. “I never said that.”
    “You don’t like my dad.”
    Right then, Tessa and Kimberly enter, saving me from having to answer him, thank God.
    “Are you okay, honey?” Kimberly asks him, ruffling his hair slightly.
    Smith doesn’t speak. He merely nods once, adjusts his hair, and takes his train car with him into the other room.

chapter nine
TESSA
    J ust use the shower here—you look like hell, girl,” Kimberly says in a kind voice despite the unflattering words.
    Hardin is still sitting at the table, a cup of coffee between his large hands. He has barely looked at me since I walked into the