“It’s hard not to think that way. I don’t remember everything because I was so young, but from what I remember...it wasn’t good,” Arianna said.
Quintus stood and went over to his sisters, kneeling in front of them. “I get it. It’s hard to open up your heart when you’re afraid to get it broken. But I’m going to tell you what Mama told me the other day.”
“What’s that,” Miya asked.
“Don’t let fear hold you back from finding love. You can see Mama is doing fine. She loves Gabriel, and we know he loves her. I’m sure there are days she regrets being with our father. But I know she doesn’t regret having us. We bring her joy.”
“Is that what you’re doing? Moving away from your fear and finding love?” Arianna asked.
“Maybe one day I’ll find that love. But yeah, I’m not letting my fear hold me back.”
“It’s not easy,” Arianna said.
“Hell no, it’s not,” Quintus told them. “Nothing in life comes easy, not even love.”
“I can’t promise you we’re going to put things behind us and run out to find a mate, which I still don’t believe in anyway, but living in Vale Valley, it’s hard not to.” Miya said.
“But we will try,” Arianna answered.
“That’s all I ask.” He stood then looked at his watch. “Shit, I gotta go meet Scott for lunch. I’ll get the information on the second floor to you.”
“Sounds good,” Miya said.
They both leaned up and kissed him on either side of his face. “Good talk, big bro,” Miya said, then started walking to the door.
“Oh and tell the dude you’re seeing to treat you right, or we’ll kick his ass,” Arianna said.
“Why do you think I’m seeing someone?”
“Your scent changed. Are you sure you’re not about to go into heat?” Arianna continued.
“Nope. I’m not close to my next heat cycle,” he answered.
“Well, be careful. You never know what will happen. We don’t need anybody else in the family getting pregnant right now. Let Sareena have her shining moment.” Miya advised.
“I would need to mate with someone for that to happen. Until then, no babies.”
“Good to know. Enjoy your lunch with mister sexy as hell Scott Shelton,” Arianna said and got a dreamy expression on her face.
“He’s been her crush since high school,” Miya told Quintus.
Tell her to get over it. He wanted to snap at his sister.He’s mine. But he held his thoughts back trying to find the right words to say and not giveaway that he was with Scott the night before and earlier that morning.
“You do remember that he’s gay, right?” Miya asked.
“I know that. But it won’t stop me from admiring the beautiful body the gods gave him. It’s a shame he’s not over his lover,” Arianna said.
“What lover? What are you talking about?” Quintus hadn’t ever heard of Scott having a lover in town before. He knew the man had been alone for a long time only focusing on his music.
“The one who died. I heard he loved him so muchhe became a doctor, because his ex-lover was a doctor. I think it’s pretty romantic—to go into a field in remembrance of someone he loved so deeply. He was on his way to becoming the next musical genius but gave that up and became a doctor.”
“I don’t get how his ex-lover caused him to become a psychiatrist. And how did you find this all out? It’s not good to gossip about other proper, if you don’t want them talking about you behind your back.”
Quintus could feel his emotions rising. Not about Scott having a past lover, but because people were gossiping about a good man who did a lot for the community.
“Chill, big bro. She wasn’t talking bad about him,” Miya defended.
“And Marlow told me,” Arianna said.
