I smiled, nudging him slightly. “Now who’s using an improved vocabulary?” He’d always poked fun at the eloquent way I spoke sometimes, and it was nice to see I’d been a good influence on him.
“What can I say, it’s infectious.” He chuckled. “Anyway, I never thought I’d have a chance at being on the receiving end of your affection. I mean, you wereveryadamant about being straight.” I winced and looked away with a nervous smile, but he tiled my jaw back to face him. “But I couldn’t deny the attraction I felt towards you. I’d felt it the moment I’d laid my eyes on you the first time I’d stepped through the doors of Downpourand it only doubled over when I met you for the first time in that private suite. There was this overwhelming magnetism we had and I’ll forever be floored by the fact that you felt it too.” He pushed forward, pressing his lips against mine in the softest, most heartfelt kiss I’d ever experienced. When he pulled back and our eyes locked again, I thought I was going to cry from the sheer adoration reflecting back at me in Qwill’s golden eyes. “I’llalwaysbe the lucky one.”
The flood gates on my emotions were throttling toward high voltage overload, and I needed to let Qwill know exactly how I felt about him. In the past several weeks we’d started this journey of seeing where our mutual attraction would lead, I’d fallen helplessly head over heels for him. He was more than my boyfriend, and even though it absolutely scared the shit out of me to even mentally admit that to myself, I had to tell Qwill. If I didn’t tell him right now, in this perfect moment we’d curated, I feared it was going to eat me alive from the inside out.
“Qwill, I—”
And then a new series of knocks littered my door, pulling both of our focus to the closed door of my apartment as we stood there in-between the kitchen and the living room, still holding on to each other like our lives depended on it.
He chuckled, leaning down to kiss my cheek before unraveling our limbs from each other. “Hold that thought.”
I scrambled out of his hold, albeit begrudgingly, and made my way back over to the door. Checking through the peephole only set my mind on edge. As quickly as I could, I pulled the door open and stared back at my twin with confused features. I really wanted to get back to my conversation with Qwill as it started burning a line through my brain.
“Troian, now’s not a good time—”
“I’m sorry to barge in, but it’s really important.” Without waiting for the invitation, my brother stormed beyond me and let himself into the apartment. Rolling my eyes to myself, Iclosed the door and whipped my head back just in time to see Troian realize that I wasn’t alone. His stare lolled back and forth between me and Qwill. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, but it’s about Madison.”
Just hearing her name set my teeth on edge, bringing me back to reality that I still had to face whatever future was waiting for me in regards to what the Rhodes family might do to me next. Qwill stepped forward as I walked back over to him and stood by his side.
After glancing at my boyfriend, I shook my head at my brother. “Now really isn’t the time.”
“Thayer, this is important.” I’d expected to hear this from Troian, but this came from Qwill. He nodded at me to prove his point. He had no idea that I was about to confess my love for him, so I had to smile. He looked so sweet and innocent and eager to learn of the newest development regarding the Rhodeses that I couldn’t burst his bubble, even if it would’ve benefited both of us.
But first my brother needed to leave. This was the kind of declaration that I’d envisioned only Qwill and I confronting together.
“Alright,” I blew out an annoyed breath so that I could replace it with a more understanding one. “What happened?”
Troian nodded, getting all the approval he needed to tell his tale. “Well, you know how I haven’t heard from Madison since that day after you got home?” I didn’t have to speak to acknowledge, an unspoken twin thing that was simply understood as he kept going. “I was getting kind of worried that it’d been a couple days and that I hadn’t heard from her. But then I thought, you know, she’s dealing with the fact that two of her sisters are MIA and one of her sisters was just arrested for kidnapping Orbs. So I thought she’s probably busy and needs a couple days in order to even remember that we spoke.”
“Troian, you’re rambling.” I scoffed in jest.
“Right.” His grin grew wide before his face reset to neutral. “But then I heard from her this morning.”
“And?” Qwill chimed in.
“And she texted me saying she was going to be in Piper soon and wanted to know where we could meet.”
I shook my head in confusion. “She went from not answering to immediately hopping a flight to Piper?”
Troian nodded. “I know, it’s a lot. Which is why I’m sorry that I went ahead and gave her your address.”
Scoffing, I stared at my brother like he’d just suddenly taken up a foreign language and was fluent without any practice. “You told her to come here?”
“I mean, I could have given her the address to my hotel room, but you have more space than I do.” My brother said, oh so matter-of-factly.
I scoffed incredulously, my hands flying up in the air in protest before allowing them to rest on my hips. I glared at Qwill as I saw him twist away from us followed by the sounds of laughter muffled by his hand. Troian was trying to hide his smile and I squinted my eyes at Qwill as he turned back around to face the pair of us.
My slacked jaw told him how annoyed I was at him. I was only half serious, which was read by the inevitable upturn of my lips.
“I’m sorry,” Qwill finally said after he’d halted his guffaws. “It’s just sweet, seeing you two like this. I’m an only child so it’s entertaining to see brothers being brothers. And with how much your relationship has changed, it’s a beautiful thing.”
Troian and I gave each other a glare, but it turned into a mutually admirable gaze paired with lazy smiles. I wasn’t really that mad, just a little surprised by the abruptness of his announcement with Madison’s impending arrival. It was a gift that we’d been given, Troian and I. Five year ago, we’d been less than strangers to one another. We hadn’t spoken, hadn’t tried toreconcile. And though I felt valid in my determination to remain no contact with him after everything that had transpired, I was ecstatic that we’d found our way back to each other, being real brothers again.
“Fine, she can come here.” I stated, gesturing to my twin. “Did she say when she was landing?”
He shook his head. “She never responded after I gave her your address.”
A third installment of knocks rapped against my apartment door, the most action and attention it’d seen in one day in, well, ever. Exhausted by the amount of interruptions I’d had this evening when I was supposed to be enjoying a lovely night with my boyfriend, I ripped across the threshold of my apartment and swung the door open without checking the peephole this time. Considering all I’d been through, it wasn’t a smart move.
