Chapter 10 Kai #2
In answer to my question—though it answers nothing—he holds up a paper bag smelling of eggs and bacon. Then waits, like he’s got all day for me to give in.
Teagan’s a few inches shorter than me, skin a few tones darker. Hair an abundance of tight black curls, and in his usual uniform of tight jeans, baggy T-shirt and hoodie, all splattered in every colour of paint, a toxic-green skateboard clutched at his hip.
Trying to hold back an eye roll, but not quite managing it, I step aside for him to stroll in. Teagan only talks when he feels like he’s got something to say, which isn’t often.
Even with that button nose and hoodie swallowing his frame, Teagan carries a quiet confidence.
His diamond-shaped face and small, rarely smiling mouth give him an unapproachable air.
Yet his eyes, which verge on too round and too large for his face, framed by sweeping lashes, are where his curious personality shines.
His obsidian gaze takes in everything like an inquisitive little owl. It might be his first time in Apollo’s flat, but he’ll enter even his own room like it’s his first time, and he needs to find and examine every angle.
Kicking the door shut, I make my way over to Teagan just as he pushes aside a stack of cassettes and props his skateboard against the wall.
He tips the greasy bag upside down, spilling two breakfast sandwiches and four hash browns across the scratched wooden surface, then slumps into one of Apollo’s rickety folding chairs.
I sit beside him, taking in his soap-clean scent, and any lingering annoyance I had for my little brother vanishes. Even more so when he pushes food towards me, my grumbling stomach coming back to life with a vengeance.
Neither of us speaks as we eat. Teagan scoffing food as if at any minute it’ll be taken away from him. Probably because when we were kids, our other brother Thomas would sneak food off his plate.
“You didn’t message ‘goodnight’ and ‘good morning’ in the family chat,” Teagan finally says, as if time hadn't passed.
“So you came all the way here? And again, I ask how you knew where I was?”
“You’ve got your location on,” he answers around a mouthful, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
This time, I don’t bother hiding my eye roll.
“And you always message.” He stares, both annoyed at me for always checking in, yet annoyed at me for not checking in.
“The only time you haven’t was a few weeks ago when you started acting weird. ”
I rub the back of my neck. “I haven’t been acting weird…”
Teagan doesn’t call out my obvious lie, or even react to it. Instead, he takes another large bite of his sandwich and rocks back and forth on his chair, reflecting my image in his big-ass eyes.
I don’t want my little brothers to lie to me, so I don’t lie to them. When Thomas first started partying, he called me—not our parents—to pick him up or help nurse a hangover, and when Teagan started sleeping around, I’d take him to the clinic to get checked regularly.
Even when we were kids, if someone had a problem with my brothers, they’d soon have a bigger problem; me.
But telling either of them about this vampire shit?
No way in hell am I putting them at risk.
Especially Teagan, the kid has no fear. He was born without the side of the brain that said scaling skyscrapers and skateboarding down rusted railings was dangerous.
Fuck knows what would happen if he discovered supernatural creatures have been living in the shadows all this time.
Or that his big brother is one.
“Can I have your hash brown if you aren’t gonna eat it?” Teagan asks, already taking it.
Waving him off, I don’t stop him. His intense focus doesn’t waver from me as his teeth crunch into the crispy fried potato.
Knowing I have to tell him something, I reluctantly say, “You know how I always told you I had a one true love? Well, I met him.”
He nods. Not like Golden does with his whole body. It’s a half thing, the smallest incline that's meant to encourage me to continue.
“But he doesn’t want me,” I admit, stomach sinking, “and can never want me.”
Teagan stares at me for a long time, then whispers, “Oh…”
“Yeah,” I mutter, eyes dropping to my breakfast sandwich, “oh.”
Slowly, a half-eaten hash brown slides into view, Teagan’s long, paint-stained fingers pushing it over. Affection fills me so quickly, tears rise close to the surface.
“It’s alright, little bro. You eat it. I’m okay, I just…I always thought I’d have someone who loves me unconditionally.”
Teagan continues to munch on his—my—breakfast, tipping further back on his chair until he’s balancing on two legs. “You still got that unicorn pencil?”
“Of course, it was the first present you bought me with your own money. I use it every day.”
He starts to lean back too far, so I catch the backrest and push him forward onto all four legs.
Teagan doesn’t react, just takes another bite.
“I don’t know much about love…” Teagan’s words trail off, like he has more to say but not the word count to say it. I wait, not rushing him to speak, which would only make him clamp up more. Not out of nerves, but because he can be a stubborn ass at times and doesn’t like to be told what to do.
Then finally, he says around a mouthful of potato, “Love shouldn’t be something that hurts. It's making sure you’re holding the other person up, right? That’s what you told me, and unicorn pencils.”
My heart swells. “Definitely about unicorn pencils, little bro.”
“Yeah. Also, don’t let some small dick loser break your heart, it’s embarrassing.”
Laughter bursts out of my chest, dislodging a single tear that rolls down my cheek. “Stop fuckin’ swearing, mate.”
Then I pull him into a hug, his head tucked into my chest so I can rest my chin onto his crown, the subtle coconut scent in his hair filling my lungs. Teagan doesn’t struggle like Thomas would, but he doesn’t hug me back either.
“So…” I hear a crunch as he finishes off the hash brown. “Can I borrow twenty quid?”
Tossing my head back, I laugh harder than I have in weeks. When I’m done, I promise him that I won’t stop messaging. To which he replies by shoving the last of the food into his mouth.
Once we’re finished—and Teagan’s taken ￡40 off me—I clean up and drop the spellbook into my messenger bag without him noticing. I manage to contain a shiver of disgust; despite the freezer, it’s still a little warm. Then we leave Apollo’s flat and head down to the street.
“I’m ordering a taxi, do you want a ride?”
Teagan doesn’t answer, instead hops on his skateboard and scares me half to death as in one hard push, he zooms down the pavement with total skill and zero fear. I’ve watched him do this a thousand times, and it always ends up with my heart lodged in my throat.
Little jerk, I bet he did it on purpose.
Once the taxi drops me home, I climb up towards my flat. Not excited to clean up the mess the sprinklers and fire left, but lighter than before Teagan’s unexpected visit.
I step into the hallway leading to my flat, and immediately my feet falter. Freezing in place as a familiar figure, one I hoped was gone from my life, comes into view.
She’s a tall woman with tan white skin. Black hair tied back with a shock of white that resembles a lightning bolt.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Emma singsongs as she leans against my door, lips pulled back in imitation of a smile.