“You told him about us? About thefoster home?”
She flinched.
“We promised,” I hissed. “You and me. We promised to protect that part of us. We said we’d never say it aloud.”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen like this,” she said quietly. “But yes. I told him.”
“Why?” I asked, broken. “Why now? After everything?”
“Because he’sin my life, Jer. For real. And you’re not.”
That stung more than I wanted to admit. I stared at her like she was a stranger. “You left. You went to London. You broke up with both of us. You said you couldn’t do it unless it was all three, and then you ran.”
“I ran because you weresick,” she said, tears pooling in her eyes. “I was falling apart trying to keep us all together. So I left.”
“And now what? Now you’re back, and he gets to know everything, and I’m just some ghost from your past?”
“Youdisappeared, Jeremy. You went to rehab. You went no-contact. You blocked me.”
“You told me to.”
“I told you I couldn’tdo it anymoreif you were going to keep drinking yourself to death!”
Silence.
I looked between them. The two people I loved most in the world. “So that’s it? You told him everything.”
“Not everything,” she said. “But enough.”
I turned to Dirks. “And you? You okay with this? With what she is? With whatwewere?”
He didn’t flinch. “I’ve known pain. I’ve known secrets. And I love her anyway.”
It hit like a fucking gut punch.
“I don’t care that you two are sleeping together.”
Both of them froze, wide-eyed at how casually I’d said it.
“You think I didn’t know? I followed him after the game, Luna. Watched him walk right up to your guesthouse. You think that’s what I’m mad about?”
Her expression softened like she wanted to reach out, but she didn’t.
“What pisses me off is that you told himthat.” I shook my head. “That we’re foster siblings. That we hadthathistory. Thatwe—fuck.” I dragged my hand down my face. “That wesharedsomething that was never supposed to leave us. That was ours. And just because you two are playing house again, you thought you could give him our story like it was yours to give?”
Dirks’s voice broke the silence. “She didn’t just give it to me. She told me because she trusts me. Because it mattered. And if it means anything—I know it wasn’t easy for her. She’s still struggling with it.”
Luna turned to me, guilt all over her face. “Jeremy, I didn’t want to hide it from you, but it’s been years. You disappeared. I didn’t know if you were ever coming back. I had to keep going. Nova needed me. And I-I couldn’t keep dragging that promise around if it meant burying every other part of my life.”
I looked at her then—really looked at the girl who used to press her forehead to mine in the dark, who made me promise we’d never speak aloud about the things we shared. The girl who didn’t ask for any of this and still tried to carry it all with some kind of grace.
Luna narrowed her eyes, arms folded tightly across her chest. “So, what now? You showed up in the middle of the damn night just to lurk outside like some sad little voyeur? Hoping to hear us fuck?”
“Why not? Wouldn’t be the first time I got off listening to you scream his name.”
Dirks blinked. “I’m sorry—what?”
Luna’s mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”
