Nicholas swallows. “I kind of hoped we’d be like partners in crime, sort of. When Mom’s trying to sink her claws into me and I can’t get away on my own, you’d have my back. The two of us, a team.” “I wanted that, too,” I manage quietly. Past tense. “I didn’t know you did. I’ve felt second place for a long time.” “I never wanted you to feel like that. But . . . you didn’t step up. You didn’t become my partner. You left me to fend for myself.”
This is what i was afraid of... He wanted her to help him stand up to her
