"IT WAS YOU!" Rafe said with a vengeance as he poked his index finger like lightning into his brother's chest. Rafe had him against the wall. Cade struggled back, yet Rafe knew Cade must have expected this. He felt Cade squirm. Still Cade looked him in the eye that he'd gone too far.
"Why?" Rafe's eyes lit. "Why did you have to tell her!"
Cade gritted to push his twin brother off of him. For a moment he thought Rafe might really hurt him with his forearm against Cade's neck as he was forced against the wall in their room.
"Because Maddie needed to know! That's why!" Cade pushed back, but not until he let Rafe tumble back, practically on the floor. "It was better now than god knows when. She had a right to know!"
For a second Rafe imagined everything perfect with him and Maddie. He didn't want to believe she'd be this upset.
Rafe's face was full of disgust. They really never had anything to fight about, until now.
Cade gave him a grim look.
"I hate you!" Rafe decided. "I want you out of my room!"
"Can't do that," Cade told him with a straight lip. "It is our room."
Rafe was in a huff. His fists tighten. He wanted to beat something up. But he needed to keep his cool. Still, he was finished being somebody's twin.
"Fine," Rafe's face swelled with anger as his dark hair covered his ominous eyes. If only he could hit Cade where it hurt. His luck, he'd hit the wall and never hear the end of it. As far as he was concerned, he knew who was the chosen one. Cade was already accepted at the University of Lincoln. His life was so well planned out with a four-year scholarship in engineering. Actually, Rafe hadn't applied anywhere and he was too much of an emotional wreck to think on it at the moment. "I'll go to the basement."
"But..but it's cold down there," Cade reminded him that their dad's ongoing project might never be done. It wasn't the most pleasant place filled with yesterday's memories and junk they needed to get rid of but never got around to.
Rafe shrugged back. Maybe he needed the dank cave to think in. It was useless to say anything else to his perfect brother. "We're done."
It was the last thing he thought he'd say. It had always been a rocky relationship. They seldom saw eye to eye on anything. Oh, he could hear his grandmother now, "We always knew Rafe was the bad seed."
It made him cry harder as he packed his backpack. He wanted to move out as soon as possible, but he knew in the end Cade would make his exit first. It just wasn't fair. What had he done that was so wrong? Why was he like this?
Was something wrong with him? Rafe managed to find what he needed and headed downstairs. Honestly, there was no place to sleep in their junky basement. At the moment, Rafe made himself comfortable in the laundry room which smelled of sweet fabric softener as the dryer hummed with warmth. Yes, he needed a place to be alone with his sad thoughts. Life was not as he knew it.