“Go away,” I said. Of course, no one in this family ever did what they were told. I heard the knob turn and felt the press of the door at my back.
“Kaine, let me in,” he said quietly.
I sighed. I knew Bishop wasn’t going to go away. He was stubborn like that, so I got to my feet and pulled the door open.
Bishop stood there and looked at me, his shaggy, dark-brown hair a halo around his head.
“You going to invite me in?” he asked, raising one eyebrow at me.
“What, are you a fucking vampire now?” I asked, stepping away from the door and throwing myself down on the bed. “You need an invitation?”
“No, but I do suck…” He said, waggling his eyebrows and grinning at me salaciously.
I threw a pillow at him, which he ducked easily.
Bishop, like the rest of my brothers, was gay. That was pretty much where the similarities ended. Bish was a little shorter than all the other Devereaux boys, but he was easily the match of any of us in the dojo. Being the shortest just meant that he’d had to be the best if he wanted respect. He moved with a cat-like grace that I envied. I had power, sure, and skill. The result of many hours of practice in the dojo. Bishop was a natural. Watching Bishop on the mats was like watching an Olympic-level skater or dancer. Pure magic.
He flopped down next to me on the bed and wrinkled his nose as he watched the blades of the ceiling fan rotate.
“You stink,” he commented.
“It’s called sweat. I wasrunning,” I responded. “Hence, the whole ‘I need a shower’ comment.”
Silence fell for a moment, then he turned and looked at me, his golden-brown eyes searching my face.
“You want me to tell him to go away?” he asked after a while.
My eyes burned and I sighed, trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do.
“I don’t know,” I finally admitted.
“Talk to me,” he demanded.
I sighed again. Dammit, at this rate, I was going to hyperventilate.
“You know what happened between us, Bish. He promised he’d keep in touch, and he wasn’t gone two months before he cut off all contact. He promisednotto leave me, but he did anyway. Just like everyone else in my life leaves me. End of story,” I said angrily.
“Hmm. I wouldn’t sayeveryone,” he said gently nudging me with his shoulder. I broke his gaze and sighed. Goddammit, I had to stop sighing like a fucking teenager over Edward Cullen. Fucking sparkly vampires.
“You really think there’s nothing more to his story?” he asked as he studied the ceiling of my room.
I sat up.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Think about it,Special K,” he drawled. I rolled my eyes at the nickname. Bishop had called me Special K since we were kids. He’d dubbed me partly because of the spelling of my name and partly because it had been my favorite cereal growing up.
“Youknow Nicki.Iknow Nicki. The three of us were best buds for years, even before he came out. Do youreallythink he would have stayed away from you all this time if he had a choice?” my brother asked, continuing to look around my room.
I took a deep breath and considered his words. It wasnota sigh, goddammit!
Bishopdidknow Nicki almost as well as I did. We had been the three musketeers. We had doneeverythingtogether, up until our sophomore year. It was the end of our freshman year that Vinnie Avery had dumped me, and Nicki had come out in front of the whole school to ask me to prom.
Bishop had helped him plan it.
We’d been dating for a few weeks, but we’d kept it kind of on the down-low. No one knew that Nicki was gay, and since we always spent time together anyway, we really didn’t have to change our behavior.
It was prom season, and all week, people had been coming up with creative, hilarious methods of asking their crush out. Over the lunch periods, the school PA system would be co-opted to play music, make announcements, and do the occasional prom invite. The PA system was run out of a little glass booth in the cafeteria. One door opened into the cafeteria, the other opened into the office area.
