Chapter 85
eighty-five
EZRA
“I’m sorry about the whole . . . gay thing,” Kai says, turning red and scratching the back of his neck.
“It was more funny than offensive. It’s not like I think you’re a bigot,” I tell him. “But what happened?”
“It took me longer than I’d like to admit to get used to the idea of you being gay.
Not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because you weren’t the one who told me.
And you still weren’t there to tell me,” Kai says, kicking at a knot in the wooden floor.
“You’re my twin, Ez. We literally have the exact same DNA, and you didn’t feel you could tell me.
I’m so sorry for making you feel like that.
And I’m so sorry that you felt you still couldn’t tell me when you realized you were demi. ”
I throw my arms around my brother and squeeze him so tight I hear his bones crack.
There’s a lump in my throat I force down so I can speak.
“You didn’t, Kai. At first, I was excited to be attracted to someone because I hadn’t been before Maverick.
Then, as I really fell for him, we kept it a secret for his protection.
I should have told you, but I was embarrassed.
I thought something was wrong with me because I wasn’t sexually attracted to anyone. Not until Maverick.”
“And now Jo,” Kai says with a soft smile.
“Yeah, and now Jo,” I agree, looking over my shoulder to see the woman in question glaring out the window.
“I think Mrs. Griffin has noticed we’re over here,” Jo announces.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Kai grumbles and joins Jo at the window.
They both have their arms crossed and are glaring.
It might be kind of funny if the woman wasn’t evil.
She thought Belle, her own daughter, should stay with an abusive man because he had a good-paying job and wasn’t ugly. Because that makes fucking sense.
“Is she coming over here?” Belle asks, coming to stand next to me. I put my arm around her and pull her to my side. Like hell will I let that woman near her. Not that Kai will, either.
“Ezra, take Belle upstairs. She can’t see you, or she’ll alert every media outlet within ten minutes.” Kai says. He takes Belle into his arms and kisses her fiercely. “I’ll take care of her.”
I can see Belle wants to protest, but her eyes bug out the minute a fist slams against the door.
“Let’s go,” I whisper, taking her hand and leading her upstairs to my old bedroom.
It’s exactly the same as the day I left.
Cream walls with old band posters. Full-size bed with dark blue bedding.
My old black wooden desk still has my college textbooks on it.
Everything in here is clean, like my mom was waiting for me to come back.
Which I guess she was, since she knew I was alive.
“Weird,” Belle says. “It’s like a time capsule, except boring.”
I laugh and shove her gently. I never really cared about stuff. Still don’t. It helped with the amount I’ve moved around over the years. I just needed some clothes and my camera. Back when I still lived at home, it was my bass instead of a camera.
“It’s at Maverick’s,” Belle says, when she catches me looking at the corner where I used to keep my bass. She sits on my bed and pulls me down next to her. “I missed you,” she says, wrapping her arms around one of mine and leaning her head on my shoulder.
“I missed you, too.” I let my head rest on her curls and just breathe. Belle and I used to sit on my bed just like this and talk for hours. This is the first time I’ve felt like I have a little of what I lost back. And I refuse to lose it again.