Chapter Twenty
“WHAT’S IN THERE?”
Sammie swung the door open, letting Kieran into her brother’s house.
She looked tired, dark hair pulled back at the nape of her neck into a messy bun, hair falling from the tie to frame her face.
There were dark circles under her eyes, a heaviness to her stance that made Kieran want to send her away for a nap.
She gave him a soft smile as he sat his lunchbox down on the kitchen counter.
“It’s soup,” he finally answered. Sammie raised her brows.
“You made it?” She sounded impressed. Kieran chuckled.
“It’s nothing special. Had mom send me the recipe she always used when I was sick.”
“Well.” She let loose a bemused sigh. “He’s been whining for dinner for the last fifteen minutes, so this might be just what we need to shut him up.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” Kieran blurted. His words took Sammie by surprise, and he fought back a cringe.
He’d spent the afternoon making the soup, thinking the whole time about how he wouldn’t even be making a guilt-soup if he’d kept his head in the game the night before.
“I wanted to ask you to come with me, but you usually work on Mondays, and you’ve got enough on your plate as it is so I didn’t want to saddle you with my need for an emotional support person while I apologize to your brother again.
” Kieran clamped his mouth shut to keep from rambling on.
Sammie blinked at him.
It was cute, the way her eyes went round, the lightest shade of pink tinting her cheeks.
“Not sure what all being an emotional support person entails, but I’m happy to be of service.”
It was Kieran’s turn to blush. It was silly, he knew, but he’d been nervous all afternoon.
And the idea of Sammie being there… Well, it felt like a security blanket.
Kieran wasn’t sure when she’d begun to feel like that for him, but he couldn’t deny it now.
Not after texting with her the night before had calmed his heart almost as much as the words Coach Rodriguez had offered him.
“Being the emotional support person is overrated.”
Kai stepped into the kitchen, hair hanging limp past his shoulders, oversized sweatpants and a hoodie enveloping his form.
Kieran was pretty sure that was the hoodie given out to all of the team at the end of last season, a dull gold shade with a stylized Chicago Wildcats in script across the front.
His cat, a pretty little tabby with a bright red collar, followed him into the room before finding a small, round bed in the corner to curl up in.
Sammie huffed a laugh. “Would you have it any other way?”
Kai narrowed his eyes at her. “No.”
“I brought soup.” Kieran held up the lunchbox.
“Thank god.” Kai snatched it out of his hands. “Wasn’t looking forward to scraping together something from the pantry. We’ve been getting takeout a lot lately.”
“I told you, I’ll help with cooking until he’s back on his feet.” Sammie bumped Kai with her hip as he walked past to grab some bowls from a cabinet.
“I know,” Kai said, chewing on his bottom lip. “Thanks, Sammie.”
Kieran watched them, Kai setting out four bowls, Sammie ladling the soup in. They already moved so seamlessly together, even though Kai had only been dating her brother for a few months.
A family. They were already a family.
Sammie mumbled something about going to pull Atticus away from his game, and Kieran was left with Kai, who was carrying the warm bowls to the small table across the room. Kieran grabbed the other two bowls and followed, sitting down across from Kai.
“He’s not upset with you.”
Kieran hadn’t yet had much reason to interact with his friend’s partner. He didn’t quite know how to take the streamer, who always seemed so guarded, intelligence sparking behind his bored stare.
“I know,” Kieran said with a shrug.
“Dinner more than makes up for it, so thank you.” Kai watched him, and Kieran felt like he was being examined down to his soul. Kai tilted his head to the side. “Attie trusts you.”
The words were heavy, knowing. The emotion behind them seemed so much bigger than three little words. An implication there that Kieran couldn’t look away from, reminiscent of the text conversation he’d had the night before.
Atticus trusted him not to hurt Sammie.
“Soup?”
There was that loud, bright voice that Kieran knew so well.
Atticus limped into the room, leaning his crutch against the counter before he flopped into the seat next to Kieran. “Isn’t soup for when you have a cold? Or the flu? What’s soup supposed to do for my ankle?”
“You are such an asshole.” Sammie slid into the seat on Kieran’s other side, glaring at her twin.
“You can’t be mean to me while I’m sick.” Atticus grinned as he pulled a spoonful of the soup to his lips. The tiniest smile curled the corner of Kai’s mouth.
“It’s apology soup,” Kieran said plainly. “That’s all.”
Atticus slurped a noodle. “It’s good. Apology formally accepted.”
Sammie rolled her eyes, but even she couldn’t keep fighting back her smile.
It was easy with the twins, it always had been. They’d latched onto Kieran as children, and he’d been happy to follow along with their plots and schemes. And now with Kai there too, it still felt easy. Like he was with family.
The realization didn’t hit him as hard as it had the night before.
The understanding that family didn’t mean one thing.
Shared blood was not a requirement. The knowledge that he, Kieran, had so many people around him that cared for him unconditionally.
People that accepted him into their circles, that pulled him into their jokes, sharing their lives with him and listening to every word he said.
Sammie and Atticus were bickering now, an easy back and forth that was innate. Kai caught Kieran’s eye from across the small table, quirking a commiserating brow as if to say will we ever get used to their shit?
“Kieran will back me up.” Atticus smashed his fist down on the table dramatically, earning a sigh from his sister. He turned his full, beaming attention on Kieran. “Socks in bed, yes or no?”
Kieran hesitated, unsure which answer would earn him more ire. He’d been so lost in his own thoughts that he’d missed which side of the argument belonged to who. “No?”
Sammie smirked, pointing a finger at Atticus first, then at Kai. “You’re both fucking weird.”
“My feet get cold,” from Kai, at the same time Attie said, “Don’t kink shame!”
Kieran laughed. It was loud and abrupt, and everyone at the table watched as he descended into a fit of giggles.
“You broke him,” Sammie said to the others, but she was smiling still. It was wide and pretty, banishing some of the exhaustion Kieran had noticed earlier.
Atticus folded his arms over his chest, frowning. “I don’t know if I like the two of you teaming up against me.” He waved a hand between them. “This might have to end.”
Sammie was opening her mouth to spew a retort at him, even as a blush turned her ears red, when Kieran’s laughter subsided enough for him to finally speak.
“You two wear socks during sex?”
Sammie choked on her soup as Atticus threw his hands in the air.
Kai only smirked down at his half empty bowl before meeting Kieran’s eyes again. “It might be nice having someone else around to balance those two out.”
And as they continued with their meal, those words stuck with Kieran.
He thought about how he’d seen a glimpse into their small family, how they’d let him be a part of it for an evening.
How often Sammie smiled at him, a slight, close-lipped expression that still managed to scrunch the corners of her eyes.
How he was beginning to look forward to those smiles.
Something sparked to life in Kieran, something so unrecognizable he couldn’t put it to words.
It flared a little brighter every time Sammie offered him that smile.
Sammie burrowed under the blanket, pulling it up to her chin.
“Stop wiggling!” Atticus smacked at the covers, failing to land a blow on her. Kieran had left after dinner, but Sammie wanted to stay longer.
Not just because her brother was hurt, but because that lovely apology soup had come with a side effect Sammie wasn’t prepared for.
It had happened as Kieran laughed. As he’d thrown his head back and let himself loose in front of them. No stoic masks, no guarded expressions. Simple, free laughter, and it had pierced through Sammie like an arrow.
She loved him.
And maybe it had been inevitable. Some part of Sammie had always been infatuated with Kieran, the older boy who’d taught her how to spike a ball. The same boy who’d broken her heart in the rain. And now, despite her every effort, that boy was the man she’d let herself fall for.
“Attie.”
Her brother’s eyes were glued to the television as he continued to place stone block after stone block in the game he was playing, slowly but surely building some sort of dark overlord-looking fortress.
Kai was across the room at a small desk, pink cat-ear headphones on as he quietly edited a video.
“Attie!”
Atticus finally looked away from his game, confusion in his eyes that quickly melted the moment he took in Sammie and the way she was all but hiding under the covers. He dropped his controller onto the blanket, leaning back against the headboard.
“What’s wrong?” There was concern in the question, and it twisted around Sammie’s heart, flooding her chest as her eyes began to sting.
“I think I messed up.”
Atticus watched her for a long moment. Sammie could see him working through all the information he had, puzzling out the pieces, pressing them into place, until the whole picture revealed itself to him without her needing to say a single word more.
He simply nodded, reaching an arm out to wrap around her shoulders, tugging her close.
“What are you gonna do?” He kept his words low, and Sammie appreciated the gesture, but she didn’t mind if Kai heard at this point.
He was a part of them now, and Sammie liked having a sort-of second brother.
Regardless, Kai still sat nearly motionless at his desk, eyes glued to the screen, unaware of the conversation happening behind him.
“I don’t know.” Sammie blinked hard. She wouldn’t cry over the mess she’d gotten herself into. She’d known the risks. She had accepted them from the beginning.
Didn’t make it all hurt any less.
Although hurt didn’t feel like the right word for it. There was an ache in Sammie’s core, squeezing her heart. It was wonderful and terrible all at once. Like breathing cold air, refreshing even as it burned all the way to her lungs.
Atticus hummed, a soft sound that vibrated through Sammie as she leaned against him.
“I know you’re making good money right now.
” He glanced across the room to where Kai was still engrossed in his laptop.
There was so much affection held in the gaze, and the fist around Sammie’s heart squeezed tighter.
Her brother had something good, something beautiful.
Sammie wanted the same. Atticus was still watching Kai as he continued.
“But don’t hurt yourself for the sake of that house.
I never wanted you to shoulder it all alone. ”
Sammie frowned. Her nose was tingling something fierce, and it was getting harder to ignore. “You wanted to sell the place from day one. I’m not putting it on you when you didn’t want it to begin with.”
It was her brother’s turn to frown. “How did you turn out more stubborn than me?” Sammie only shrugged, earning a deep sigh from Atticus.
“Look, I’m not going to tell you what to do.
If you can let me make my own dumb decisions in peace then it’s only right I do the same for you.
I just want you to know you have options.
Kai and I have talked about it. We want to help you cover the repairs.
It’s one of the perks of having a semi-rich boyfriend. ”
Sammie fought the urge to pinch him. “It’s not just about the money. I’m having fun. I enjoy what Keir... what I’ve been doing. I don’t think I want to stop.”
“But?” Atticus stared, his bright eyes patient as ever, a soft tilt to his lips that always set her at ease.
“But…” Sammie swallowed thickly. She didn’t want to say it out loud.
Then the words would be free, and she would never be able to pull them back into hiding.
“But I don’t know if I can keep working with him.
” There. That was enough. Still an admission, but one that only hurt to say aloud.
It wasn’t the admission that would break her.
“You can stop at any time. He won’t hold it against you.”
Sammie knew her brother was going for encouraging, but his words stung with exacting precision. Of course Kieran wouldn’t mind if they stopped working together. Because that’s all it was to him. Work. Business. A transaction that was starting to bleed her dry.
“I know.” But would she stop? Could she? Was Sammie willing to give up the only piece of Kieran she had ever been able to have?
“You’re not going to solve it tonight.” Atticus tugged a handful of her hair, so Sammie did pinch him. He squirmed out of reach, wincing as his injured leg shifted.
“No,” Sammie finally answered as he picked his controller back up. “But I’m going to watch you and your weird hoarding habits in this game as a means of distraction.” She snaked a hand out from under the cover, waving it at the television. “Distract me.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Atticus huffed as he unpaused the game. “And don’t make fun of my stash.”
“You never use any of it!”
“Of course not.” Kai’s quiet voice sounded out from across the room. “If he uses his stash, then he won’t have his stash.”
Atticus turned a smug smile on Sammie, holding his hands out as if what Kai had said made any sort of sense. Then he reached up and patted the top of her head, earning a scowl. “Just let your brain be empty tonight, sleep on it, and maybe tomorrow it’ll all look a little brighter.”
Sammie knew he was right. So she burrowed back down into the blankets, snuggling up against the only person who had always, always made her feel safe and seen.
Maybe he was right. Maybe tomorrow it would all look a little bit brighter.
~
Ivy: hey, i’m free tomorrow after 8pm if you wanna do something!