Chapter 30
It’s three in the morning, and I can’t sleep.
This isn’t unusual; most nights when Keo isn’t here, I struggle to fall asleep. Instead of even trying, I’ve been scrolling through social media. I’ve got caught up in funny cat videos while Clover is curled against my head.
I’m convinced this cat is something supernatural.
I know that’s crazy, but I’ve seen crazier.
I’m startled when my screen lights up with a call from my sister. Furrowing my brows, I swipe to answer.
“Hey, lefty.”
“Oh my god, you’re awake. Is he alright?!” Her voice is frantic, and my adrenaline spikes, shooting me upright in bed.
“What…?”
Her question comes out with a soft whimper. “Where’s Keoni?!”
My heart feels like it’s floating somewhere outside my body, searching for home. “He’s… at work…” Goosebumps crawl across my left side, and numbness follows.
Especially when she says, “Ayden, there was a fire. A bad one.”
“How do you know…” My voice barely comes out, drowned by my racing pulse and Alysa’s frantic words.
“I’ve got the local news on my phone. For Dad. I never turned it off. Oh my god—”
I hang up and immediately call Keo. The tightness in my throat makes me turn and sit at the edge of the bed. Bending forward eases some of the sickness creeping up my stomach, though not all of it.
Except when he doesn’t answer, I nearly vomit.
I call one more time, then slap my hand over my mouth as I shoot to my feet. No answer.
I grab one of his sweaters from the dresser and sprint out of the bedroom, sliding into my sneakers without socks and running straight out of the cabin.
Checking several ride-share apps, the soonest a car can get here is forty-five minutes.
No… no, no.
I pull up Calista’s number and dial, running through the freezing night along the gravel road. When she doesn’t answer, I scream in frustration before opening the group chat.
Neighbors of Sapphire Valley
Is anyone awake?!
Levi
Very good, early, morning, Ayden. Why are you awake?
I need a ride to the hospital now
Levi
Shit. We are in Switzerland.
What’s wrong?
I damn near drop my phone. Fucking Switzerland?!
Suddenly, my screen lights up with Calista’s name flashing across it.
I answer and keep running at full speed.
“Ayden?” Her sleepy voice tugs at me, but guilt never comes. It should, but right now, I just… don’t care.
“Calista, please. Drive me to the hospital.”
“What?!”
A deep, grumbly voice rumbles in the background. “This better be fucking good.”
“I think something’s wrong with Keoni.”
“Where are you going?” Ronan, I assume, asks.
“Where are you, Ayden?” Cal asks.
“I’m running toward your cabin.”
“I’ll come get you.”
“No.” Ronan’s voice is forceful, leaving no room for argument. Then, after a shriek from Calista, he says directly into the phone, “Where are you? We have two two-person vehicles. If anyone’s going anywhere with you, it’s me.”
In less than ten minutes, I’m buckling into a red Mustang and fighting not to black out. I’m so sick with worry.
Ronan’s squished in the driver’s seat, and within seconds, we’re out of Sapphire Valley, barreling toward the hospital.
I search news articles on my phone and quickly find reports: A fire at the only hotel in town.
One critically hurt, two people missing.
No details on who was injured or missing.
My entire body shakes, and I’m silently grateful that Ronan isn’t talking.
If Calista had been driving, she would’ve tried to make conversation, and I just… can’t.
Ronan drops me off at the hospital the reports say received the injured. Seeing a firetruck parked off to the side gives me a sliver of hope.
“I’ll be back with Cal,” Ronan says before speeding off.
I spin on my heels and rush into the bright-white waiting room. The oval desk in the center is what I slam into, bypassing the two people waiting in line.
“Hey!” one of them shouts.
“I’m looking for Keoni Pierce.” The woman at the desk that has two other women and a man standing around her, peers up at me. “Please, is he here? Was he admitted?”
“Sir, I apologize but you’ll need to wait like—”
“Just tell me if he was admitted. He’s a firefighter—that’s likely his squad’s firetruck outside.”
The devastated look on her face makes my legs shake.
“Go down the hall. There’s a separate room on the left. C2. It’s for the families.”
I push off and rush through the metal doors that buzz open. One sharp turn, and I see the room.
Nothing in me is ready to see nearly ten people huddle over themselves, crying, or pacing back and forth.
I shove my phone into my pocket and step through the threshold. Heads turn, but any small relief vanishes when they see a man in pajama pants and an oversized sweater—not a doctor.
I don’t recognize anyone. Instant anxiety grips me, and I step back. I’m going to demand they tell me where Keoni is. Fuck waiting.
“Hey.”
A male voice pulls me from the brink of spiraling into a shadowy, numb place. I look up at brown eyes framed by wrinkles, and dark ebony skin contrasted by short, gray curls.
“Who’re you looking for?”
Swallowing hard, I clutch to Keo’s sweater like it’s my lifeline.
“Keoni Pierce.”
He nods. “You’re in the right room, son.”
“Is… is he okay? Are they all okay? Kali? T-Taylor? Corey?”
He gently leads me into the room and sets me beside a woman with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“There’s no news. They just set us all in here. You’re with family. We’ve got you.”
Heat builds behind my eyes as I sit, my leg shaking uncontrollably. This feels wrong just sitting here. My gaze drifts around the room: mostly women, but a few men. They all look as I feel—dreadful.
“How long have you been here?” I ask, terrified of the answer.
“About an hour.”
My chest tightens. If I lost him while lying in bed, scrolling on my fucking phone… I don’t know how I’d live with myself.
“I’m Delilah.” I turn to the woman with watery brown eyes. “Corey’s wife.”
“Ayden. Keoni’s…” The hesitation cuts deep. I don’t want to lie but I don’t want to introduce myself as his stepbrother either. I could say friend… but that’s not what is true in my heart. “I’m…”
She places a hand on my back. “It’s alright. I understand.” Odds are she thinks I’m shy about my sexuality, which… I guess I don’t mind leaving it at that.
I want to be his boyfriend. I want to be with him. I just… want him to be alright.
That night can’t be the only time I felt his lips on mine.
It can’t be the only time I’ve ever felt like I was exactly where I was meant to be.
Age 17
The door at my back feels cold, but when Keoni licks his lips, my body warms.
“Ayden, I—”
I stride toward him so fast he barely catches a sharp breath before I slam my lips against his. The thump of his back hitting the wall is overshadowed by his groan into my mouth.
I grab onto his shirt just as he clasps the back of my head, tethering me to him.
It’s like I’ve been lifted out of the boring, ordinary world, away from this entire plane and placed into the sky.
He turns his head, and I mirror him, pulling him closer, wanting this—needing this beyond anything I could’ve imagined.
He pushes me back, and I don’t resist; tasting him makes me lose my damn mind. His tongue flicks into my mouth, and I think he’s waiting for me to respond.
I don’t hesitate, and as our tongues tangle, I fear I’ll never want anything but this. My stepbrother. The one that was meant to be mine.
My back hits the bed, and without collapsing entirely on top of me, he follows.
One of his knees hugs my hip while the other presses between my thighs, and I can’t help but moan.
“Fuck,” he mutters, biting my bottom lip. “Ayden. I’ve waited so—”
“Oooh, brothers of mine.”
Every bit of me snaps into anxiety mode. It isn’t just her voice either, the bedroom door is opening.
I catch the panic in Keo’s eyes as he immediately pushes himself off me. He scrambles so far away that his back slams into the dresser.
My gaze shoots to Alysa, who’s walking backward into the room. “Could they be in here?” She turns, grins at me, then looks between us. “Yes, they are!”
And no more than a few heartbeats later, our dad and stepmom appear in the doorway.
“There you both are,” my dad says.
“You going to say goodbye to your friends, dear?” my stepmom asks me, then looks at Keo. “Did I… miss something?”
I don’t dare look at him.
“You guys have all weekend to play games. Come downstairs.”
And I’m grateful I don’t, because when he mutters, “This was a mistake,” I could swear my teeth crack from how hard I clench them. “I should’ve never come back. Fuck!”
“Language!” Leilani shouts.
Without even glancing at me, Keoni brushes past our parents.
When I look at my sister, there’s a deep frown on her face, yet I can’t begin to understand why she’s sad.
He said what just happened between us was a mistake… but it didn’t feel like one. No. It felt right. And I fear I’ll never feel that again.
I shake my head, trying to rid myself of the memory of our kiss. If that was the last time… the only time… I might be chasing another in whatever place waits for us after this.
Heaven? Hell? I wouldn’t fucking care.
Footsteps echo through the room, and I look up. A doctor and a nurse stand there. It’s Dr. Alvarez. The moment he spots me, I shoot to my feet.
His gaze slowly drifts down to my right, and the sigh I release feels broken.
“Mrs. Lewis?”
Delilah begins to stand. “Yes?”
“May we speak with you outside?”
Shivers run down my right side, and I release a shaky breath. Her chair rattles beneath her as the man who first spoke to me reaches her side, and I slide quickly out of the way.
“Is Corey okay?”
I’m pressed against the wall, watching Dr. Alvarez hesitate. My hands tremble, followed soon by my entire body. I clutch Keoni’s sweater for support, but it doesn’t help when Delilah screams in understanding.
We all feel it.
We… all know.
“No, no, please… PLEASE!”
Tears blur my vision as I stand in shock, watching her nearly fall from the chair. The older man grabs her, holding her up. She’s clutching around her stomach, grasping for air as she begins to hyperventilate.
Then, a not-so-distant conversation erupts in my mind, and I slowly cover my mouth with my palm.
“His wife is pregnant… Yup, six weeks. Fucker won’t stop talking about it.”
“Anyone but him! Not him! Please, you’re wrong! You’re wrong!”
The doctor crosses the room and sits in the chair beside her. The nurses follow, and I shake my head before glancing at the door.
I slip out quickly, legs wobbling as I peer down the hall. There’s more activity at the far end on my left, so I move that way. I’m not going to sit and wait for them to tell me he’s gone. I can’t.
I just… can’t.
“Sir?” The nurse at their station makes an attempt to stop me. “You can’t be back here. Only—”
“Ayden?” I look up to see Taylor coming around a corner. Her red hair is pulled into a high bun, eyes rimmed the same color.
Without hesitation, I sprint to her. When she opens her arms, I hug her, and she trembles in my grasp. A choked sob escapes as she says, “C-Corey… he… Oh my god…”
I tilt my head back and release an unsteady breath. “Keoni… where… where is he?”
She squeezes me, and fear ripples through me.
“Is he…” I pull back slightly and look at her, lips quivering. “Please don’t—”
She shakes her head, struggling to speak. But I need her to. I need her to tell me he’s alright.
“Taylor, where is—”
“Here.”
In this moment, it feels like she’s holding me up.
I turn my head, and Keoni is there, standing in the doorway of one of the hospital rooms. His shirt is streaked with blood, wires dangling from his arm.
Completely releasing her, I move toward him. Tears break free as realization washes over me—he’s alive. He wasn’t the one taken, and the guilt that I’d silently prayed it wasn’t him, but someone else, has me crying even harder.