The way, the way, the way…
Knowing Julius watched it too.
“How long has this been like this?” I questioned before I could stop myself.
“Like what?”
“This.” I gestured back and forth between us. “You… knowing what I need before I say it. You being here with me like you’re meant to be. You and me, these feelings… this love… how long has it been this way between us?”
He didn’t say a word, just watched me.
“He noticed it,” I confirmed.
“Yeah,” was all he retorted.
“And he left.”
“He needed to.”
Silence settled again. We didn’t try to fill it in, explain it, or even justify it. We just lived in it as we waited for Julius to return.
And somehow, it made it worse.
Hours passed, or maybe it just felt that way. I couldn’t tell. Kraven had convinced me to lie down at some point. The next thing I knew, I was lying in his arms. We hadn’t moved from the couch and must have passed out.
I wasn’t fully asleep when the front door opened. I heard his footsteps. They were slower than before and less controlled too. My eyes fluttered open, and that was when I saw Julius staring right at us.
Except I was still in his brother’s arms. Though that wasn’t the truth, since they weren’t real brothers anymore, and by the expression on Julius’s face…
He felt that truth just as much as I did.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
ISLA
I sat up,blinking through the haze of sleep. Julius stood in the doorway, leaning against the wall. I could tell right away he was less controlled by his composure.
“You’ve been drinking,” I announced as Kraven sat up too, noticing what I did.
It wasn’t an accusation. I was simply stating a fact.
Julius’s stare found mine. It was dark and unreadable. He was hiding from me.
“Yeah,” he breathed out.
Kraven didn’t say anything, and he didn’t move toward him. He just watched him, taking it all in, possibly adjusting to it. Julius stepped farther into the living room, his gaze flicking briefly to Kraven before coming back to me as if he couldn’t decide who to look at more.
Julius bit out, “I needed a minute.”
My fingers gripped the blanket. “You could’ve said something.”
A faint smile pulled at his mouth. “Would that have made a difference?”
I didn’t answer, too scared to say the wrong thing.
Julius made his way closer to me, to us.
