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“No. We all receive a lot of training, and we’re put into divisions.”

“What are you?”

“Heavyweight.”

The corner of his mouth quirks into a smirk. “So you can do some damage, huh?”

I stop, frowning at his back as I try to figure out if he’s mocking me. He climbs a steeper incline, and his shorts stretch tight across his arse. I picture him bent over some rocks, bare-arsed, with my hands gripping his tiny waist as I show him just how much damage⁠—

“What are you staring at?” Noah asks, snapping me out of my fantasy.

“Nothing.” I shake my head. “Just keep going, there’s a while to go till we get to the top.”

We navigate the trail for a while before finally reaching the rock formation known as the Old Man of Storr. One giant shard of rock juts out from the ground, surrounded by several others of varying sizes, as if they were dropped from the sky. Noah leads the way, looking up in wonder as he walks between the monoliths.

“You like it?” I ask, chest pinching tight in anticipation. Despite him constantly sassing me, watching him struggle over the past few days makes me want to help him forget whatever fuels his nightmares. At least for a couple of hours. If he doesn’t want to talk to me about it, at least I can do this.

“They’re huge.” He looks over his shoulder at me, then up again at the rocks. I follow as he goes through them, coming to a natural stopping point where some rocks are piled up with what looks like a sheer drop on the other side.

Noah keeps going, and I hesitate. He puts one foot up on the lowest rock and pulls himself up.

“We should probably head back,” I say. He ignores me, pulling himself higher until he’s out of my reach. He stands on top of the rocks and walks towards the edge. “Noah,” I warn, placing a hand on the rock, ready to go after him. “Get down.”

“I’m fine.”

“It’s not safe.” I pull myself up, feeling sick when I get to the top. There are rocks dotted around, but they’re loose, and I wobble with every step. The area isn’t that large, and I can see that I’m right—on the far side, where Noah’s heading, the rocks jut out from the hill. One wrong step⁠—

“Where the hell are you?” Noah mutters. Then he leans over the fucking edge.

I freeze, watching him with my heart in my throat. Jesus Christ, this boy is going to give me a heart attack.

I close the distance and grab him around the waist, pulling him back.

“Get off!”

“No. You don’t stand on the edge of a mountain and think ‘Oh, I wonder what it fucking looks like down there’!” He struggles in my arms as I wrestle him off the rocks and back down onto solid ground. “Now, we’re going home,” I say firmly.

“You had no right to⁠—”

Before he can finish his sentence, I lift him and throw him over my shoulder. He lets out an oof.

“I told you earlier, if you don’t do as you’re told, I’ll make you.”

Noah’s fingers dig in as I walk, scratching me as he’s jostled from the movement. I squeeze my eyes closed, trying to focus on anything other than the way my cock throbs from the feel of his nails down my back.

NOAH

The weight of my locket is unbearable against my sternum as we drive through country lanes back to Robbie’s house. He asked if I was okay a while ago, but I didn’t answer him. I do not appreciate being manhandled outside the bedroom, and I especially don’t like how effortlessly he threw me over his shoulder.

His reaction was overdramatic. I wasn’t going to go too far—just enough to see if I could pull Jamie back. The longer I stay on this island, the more Jamie pulls away. I tried to picture his face this morning and struggled to remember the exact shade of grey in his eyes or the sound of his voice.

I’ve spent years putting up with my nightmares and torment just so I can keep my brother close. It seems like I can’t have one without the other. Sometimes my nightmares disappear for a while, and when they do, Jamie starts to fade away too. Which is why I don’t understand how he’s gone now. The nightmares are getting bad again, yet Jamie’s not here.

A few years ago, I accidentally learnt that adrenaline brings him back. I went to my childhood coastal town one night after waking up from a nightmare. It was the first I’d had in months, and I hadn’t felt Jamie for just as long. I climbed the sea cliff that my old house backed onto and stood on the edge, letting my body sway in the breeze until my baby brother told me to step back.

I’ve done a lot of stupid shit since figuring that out.

I flick open my locket and stare at the black-and-white photos of Mum and Jamie.