Leaf took Dev’s place and cuddled against Seth. “Yeah, I think so too.”
THE NEXTday, Rain sat in Seth’s office with Leaf as he made the call to Seth’s therapist. He got two possible names: one who specialized in childhood abuse victims, and another who also knew a thing or two about cults and survivors.
She warned Leaf that the latter might be too busy, but to call them anyway.
Leaf didn’t call. He sent emails to both therapists, explaining the basics of his situation and that he had come to the point in his life where he wanted to do something about the memories that had resurfaced lately, and all the rest of the mess in his head.
Once he hit Send, he closed the laptop and turned the chair, ready to get up. Rain walked to him then, plopped on his lap, making the chair groan under their combined weight, and hugged him.
“This is the right thing to do, you know that, right?”
“Yeah. I know it’s not healthy to suppress the feelings or the memories. It’s just….” Leaf sighed.
“Scary shit you think is better hidden in your head even though you know it’s really not?” she guessed, making Leaf chuckle. “Hey, we’re survivors, big brother.”
With that in mind, he agreed to drive to Denver twice a week to see Dr. Lauren Reynolds, the therapist who knew about cults. If she was any good, it would be worth the drive.
Chapter Ten
ON SUNDAYevening, Dev packed a suitcase for the week he’d be house-sitting for Seth and Leaf, and figured out what exactly he needed to take, computerwise.
His normal setup was two desktop computers—one a badass gaming machine and the other one for work and more casual gaming—and total of four screens. He had the regular stuff, like external hard drives, keyboard, mouse, headphones, and shit to take care of too. That meant figuring out how to pack them.
Now, if he’d wanted, he could’ve worked on his laptop only, but since he rarely did that at home, he had never really gotten into the habit of doing it in the first place. Besides, being somewhere for what could be up to a week, he might as well have as fully functioning, regular setup as he could.
He’d been puttering around in his room for a while when Angel knocked on the door frame. “What are you doing?” he asked, looking at Dev in confusion.
“Uh, yeah, I’ve been meaning to tell you. I’m going to house-sit for a friend for about a week. Starting tomorrow,” Dev said, feeling oddly edgy.
“What?”
“House-sitting. For a friend. They have to leave town for family stuff and need someone to watch their house and pets,” he continued, then sighed, turned around, and plopped into his gaming chair—another thing he might want to bring to Seth and Leaf’s, really. Dammit. “The guy I’m seeing needs help, okay? I’ve been meaning to tell you, but I’ve only known for a while”—he was stretching the truth, but oh well—“and you haven’t been around much.” That much was true. Angel had been working on a group project almost every night that week.
“Dev, what’s going on?” he asked, sitting on the edge of Dev’s bed across the room.
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you not telling me who this guy is? You’ve never acted this weird before about anyone.”
“I’m not—”
“Wait,” Angel said suddenly. He held up his hand and did something complicated with his face, or so it seemed. “Don’t tell me….”
Suddenly Dev knew his brother had somehow made the connection.
“Angel—”
“Are you fucking my professor?” Angel asked in a carefully calm tone that Dev knew was actually his “extremely pissed-off” voice.
“It’s not like that!” Dev hastened to say, knowing Angel was about to blow a fuse.
“He’s fuckingmarried, Dev! What the fuck are you thinking?” Angel got up and paced. “So it’s not official, but he’s been with this guy for something like a decade, Dev. What the fuck are you—”
Suddenly Dev couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m dating them both!” The words flew out his mouth like missiles.
“You…what?” Angel stood there, frozen to the spot all of a sudden.
“I, uh… I’m dating them both, Seth and his—Leaf.”
