So even if I manage to break free from him, he can smell me in the night, follow my trail and bring me back to his evil lair.
So yeah, nights are easier.
Because at night, it feels like we’ll never be apart. When he cuddles with me after it feels like love.
Other times though, I try to keep myself busy.
With school, with baking, with my large family of friends and brothers.
Who all come over when I finally get my acceptance letter from Juilliard.
I thought it would never come and that it was too late.
Everyone already knows what they’re doing after graduation, including Wyn, who also got her acceptance letter to one of her dream art schools in New York. Salem is going to California for youth soccer camp and to be with her Arrow. And Poe, well, she is still deciding what her next move will be after she kills her guardian.
Anyway, after I get my acceptance letter, I decide to invite everyone over for a little get-together.
All my brothers, Tempest and my St. Mary’s friends, who all got day passes via Conrad, even Salem and Poe. We’re all gathered out in the backyard, against the backdrop of woods and dangerous cliffs.
And it’s a happy occasion, or at least, it’s supposed to be.
First, there are my brothers and Reed.
As I said, they have thawed toward him slightly. But still, all of them together in one place is not without some glares or awkward pauses and sarcasm. All courtesy of Shepard and Ledger, my two rowdy brothers. Reed doesn’t care or looks like he doesn’t. He keeps his cool and his barbs to a minimum.
Then there’s Tempest, whose usually laughing gray eyes appear sad. Not a lot though — I bet she’s trying to hide her sadness from her own brother, Reed; I would do the same thing for my brothers if I were her — but I can tell.
And I can also tell that it’s because of Ledger.
How he’s hardly paying her any attention and how all his attention is on my St. Mary’s group of friends, especially my quiet, dreamer friend, Wyn.
I know Tempest and I haven’t talked about him in years because of our no brothers rule. But I can tell now that her crush on my idiot brother hasn’t gone anywhere.
You know what, I’m going to give Ledger a piece of my mind as soon as I get a chance. First, he needs to be careful of Tempest’s feelings. And second, he needs to leave Wyn alone; she’s innocent and sweet as opposed to his player ways.
And sad.
Yeah, Wyn is sad too.
Again, not a lot but I can tell. I don’t know what’s bothering her and she doesn’t tell me — absolutelyrefusesto tell me — when I ask. But I know it can’t be art school anymore; she already got in, as we all knew she would.
Oh, and there’s another person who looks slightly upset.
Okay, a lot upset. Alot. About something. My oldest brother, Conrad.
I have no idea what’s happening and I know that he will never tell me either. But about an hour ago, he disappeared into the house for something and when he came back out, he was glowering.
At nothing in particular, but he was glowering.
Finally there’s me.
And the fact that I’ve done something that all my brothers never wanted me to do. Not again.
I don’t know how they’ll react if they find out.
That I’m in love with him. That I never fell out of love with him.
So I’ve decided that I won’t tell them. I won’t tell anyone.
