"That's why you're here." Adam pulled the T-shirt over his head. "And why everyone's acting as though everything's fine."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Luc asked. He almost stepped into the room, but stopped himself.
"Do you have any idea how upset Mum was when you decided to move so far away and then didn't even bother to come and visit?"
Luc shook his head, although he could guess. His mum had always been emotional.
"Yet no one's mentioning it. No one's hauling you over the coals because of it. You're back and everyone's treating you like you God's fucking gift or something." Adam gritted his teeth and glared at Luc for several seconds. "But once you're done here, you're just going to fuck off and break Mum's heart all over again and it'll be me and Dad who have to pick up the pieces, whilst you're living it up." He marched forward and pushed the door shut.
Luc stepped back just in time to avoid getting smashed in the face by the door as it slammed closed. He'd known Adam was angry with him, but he hadn't realised just how bitter his brother really was. Now he knew, but the problem was, he had no clue what to do about it.
Chapter Six
Adam
Adam was letting Luc get under his skin in the worst possible way. Even whilst he worked on ideas for dance lessons for youngsters, he couldn't get his stepbrother out of his head. Luc really didn't have a fucking clue what he'd put their parents through. He thought he could just waltz back in, like some kind of prodigal son. And that's pretty much what their parents had let him do. Their dad was a little less receptive than their mum, but still, neither of them were calling Luc on his shit. Were things really that bad with the dance school that they had to pander to Luc and forgive everything he’d done to them?
Sighing, he rested his elbows on his desk and clasped his hands behind the back of his neck. There was a distinct possibility that he was the one who was being unreasonable. That by not being able to let go of the past he was hurting his parents. But he wasn't sure he could.
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to push past the hurt and pain to a time when he and Luc had been inseparable. A smile tugged at his lips as he remembered how they'd once chased one another—Luc had been taller and faster then—and had ended up wrestling, seeing who could pin the other for the longest. Adam generally won that game, because dancing had made him physically strong.
And then everything changed. His skewed memory wanted to tell him that it had happened overnight. That he and Luc had gone from best friends to Luc waking up and suddenly being an ass to him. But it had been slower than that. Not much slower, granted. The change in Luc had happened over a couple of weeks. He'd decided that he was too old to wrestle; too old for 'games'. Then he hadn't wanted to sit up talking until all hours of the night in one or other of their bedrooms.
Next, he'd started to avoid Adam altogether, getting up early so he was already downstairs by the time Adam surfaced to take a shower in their shared bathroom. Finally, he'd found himself new friends at school and started ignoring Adam. Maybe he could have coped with that and found it in himself to forgive his stepbrother, but what he couldn't forgive is that the friends Luc had found for himself were all fucking bullies. They tormented Adam because he danced and Luc not only let them, but he'd jeered along with them. He wasn't sure what he'd have done if Mason hadn't stepped in to support him. But Mason wasn't around anymore and everyone was expecting Adam to smile and pretend that everything between him and Luc was fine.
A soft knock on his door prompted him to look up.
"Come in," he called, glad his voice was stronger than his emotions in that moment.
His mum slipped into the room, smiling. She was carrying a plate of ham, egg and chips and a cup of water, which she set down on the desk beside him, before sitting on the end of his bed.
"Busy?" she asked. "It's not like you to not come down for lunch."
Adam glanced at his watch. "Sorry, I lost track of the time."
She smiled faintly. "You normally only do that when you're dancing."
"I was... sort of..." He picked up the pad of paper he'd been writing on and waved it at her. "Ideas."
"How's it going?"
He shrugged. "Okay, I think. There are exams little ones can do, so I was looking at the requirements for those. I'm not suggesting we do any of them," he added quickly, grimacing at the unhappy expression on her face. "I think you and Dad would probably agree it's too much pressure for little kids. But I figured it would be a good starting point."
She pursed her lips and nodded. "That's a good idea. I'm glad you're on board with Luc's suggestions."
Adam scowled and turned away. "I want to help, that's all."
She stood and rested her hands on his shoulders, using her thumbs to knead his tense muscles. "Can't you try a little harder to get on with Luc? You've barely spoken to him, or even looked at him. The two of you have been shut up in your rooms avoiding each other. And us."
"I guess you'll be having this chat with him, too, then?"
She sighed. "He's been trying, Adam. Can't you see that?"
Luc wastryingall right.
"You two used to be so close."
"Yeah, well, we're not anymore." He shrugged his shoulders to loosen her grip, so he could spin his chair around to face her again. "I'm sorry," he breathed. "I'll try harder."
