Page 84 of Level With Me
“For obvious reasons, I ask that you not tell anyone outside this room about our arrangement,” Blake said. “Though… I won’t force anyone to keep my secret.”
He looked at me when he said that. Something squeezed in me.
No, this was only a tactic—a way to make my brothers think it was their idea to keep the knowledge in confidence.
Jude held up three fingers. “Your secret’s safe with me, man.”
“It doesn’t sound like it, but Jude’s actually good at keeping secrets,” I said. “Even if it’s just because he forgets them five minutes after you tell them.”
Jude shrugged.
“Griff?” I asked.
He was still eyeing Blake, but after a moment, grunted. “For you.”
“Great,” I said. “That’s great.”
“Okay, so now that we got that out of the way,” Jude said, “Come check out what we found!”
Blake gave Griffin a nod, and briefly met my eyes before heading back to Jude, who was kneeling by the wall under the window.
“It’s a long story,” I said to Griff once the other two were out of earshot. “But I can explain it. And anyway… Blake is leaving tomorrow.”
“I thought things weren’t finished until next week?”
“Like I said, it’s a long story.”
Griff raised his eyebrow and folded his arms. “I got time.”
“You going to tell me where you were the past month?”
Griff grimaced. “Fine.” Then he gave me what passed for a Griff smile—it wasn’t far from the grimace. “I found Dad.”
My heart lifted. “Oh my god, where was he?”
“Indonesia.”
My jaw fell open.
But then Jude was calling us over, his voice excited.
“I’ll tell you more later.” Griff wrapped his arm around my shoulder as we headed to the others.
“Ugh, you’re covered in dust! And you stink!”
“That’s just the old familiar Eau du Griff.”
I laughed. Then I held my breath as I wrapped my arms around his torso to give him a squeeze before freeing myself, coughing exaggeratedly. “Thank you,” I said quietly. “For finding Dad. And for understanding the thing between me and Blake.”
“I’m glad things are on the level, Cass,” he said before we reached them, his voice serious.
I smiled, though I imagined it was as sad a smile as there ever was. “As level as they can be.”
“You’re right, Jude,” Blake said, his voice awed. “There’s something in there.”
Okay, now I was interested. I squatted down between Blake and Jude. There was a heat vent here; the old kind that sat on the wall, its cover an ornate design of flowers and vines. But inside, it was too dark to see anything.
“Where?” I asked.
