Chapter 25
Lucas
Following Levi out of the bedroom and back to the kitchen, I dragged my heels, feeling like a child being torn away from their favorite toy. A grown ass man unable to separate from a woman he barely even knew but felt like he’d been with for centuries.
Soulmates was a term I’d hear loosely thrown around from time to time, whenever someone fell in love, whether it be on screen or in real life. But did any of those people genuinely feel the true meaning of the word? I had never believed in a bond that strong until now.
The feelings I’d developed toward Tessa were explosive—the epitome of what it felt like seeing nobody else in a sea of billions. She was my one and only, and I had fallen so fucking hard.
“You need to get back on tour,” Levi stated bluntly as he stopped at the edge of the counter before turning to face me with a serious look.
“I? No. Fuck you, I’m not going anywhere. I found her first, you—”
“And you lost her. I found—”
“She walked into the club for an audition, you didn’t find fuck all.
” I spat, pissed off and fuming at his nerve.
“Just because you hate touring doesn’t mean that you get to come in here and spend time with Tessa first. I’m not fucking leaving, not when the woman I’ve been tearing my hair out over for weeks on end is lying in my bed waiting for me.
” My chest heaved with every exasperated word. “Waiting… for fucking me.”
I spent days on this tour reeling from her sudden disappearance, wishing I had a second chance to do things right. To have swept Tessa off her feet and taken her with me that night. To have her fall in love with me as I doted on her like the princess she was, and to make her our fucking forever.
I refused to cave on this. I may be the youngest by fucking seconds, but he wasn’t the one in control here, and he fucking knew it.
Levi pressed his lips together before pulling his phone from his back pocket, scrolling through it.
“Fine.” He sighed, sucking on his teeth and shaking his head in shallow acceptance.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m letting go of my fucking pride and letting my little brother have his one-on-one time with his bride.”
“You—You’re serious?”
“I don’t want to fight over a woman, let alone one that I know we’ve already agreed to share. What’s the point of straining our relationship when I can come home to her in a week?” I could hear the exhaustion in his voice.
Levi was always the reasonable one. We shared the same amount of stubbornness, but he was always willing to compromise for the benefit of our relationship. We fought like kids even in our thirties, but we still took care of one another when it mattered most. We were best friends.
“Thank you… I owe you one.” I released a heavy sigh as I scratched the back of my neck, finding relief in his words; my aggravation dissipating.
“I’m still annoyed and salty as fuck about it, but I didn’t lose her like you did—and that's not a dig at you… I remember the look in your eyes at the club. I felt everything you did that night, and it wouldn’t be fair of me to betray that same feeling now.
” This was why nothing could tear us apart, not even a woman—those rare times when we understood more about one another than basic siblings ever could.
“You’ve fallen for her already, haven’t you?
” Levi added softly with a sympathetic tone.
“Is it that obvious?” I groaned, feeling like a fucking love-sick idiot, as I fell against the archway while raising my hands to press into and cover my face.
“To someone else?” Levi pursed his lips with a casual shrug. “But to me? Yeah. And I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
“Why’s that?” I peeked through my fingers, narrowing my eyes as I asked, wondering why he wasn’t concerned about my blatant display of weakness toward a woman, instead of being an alpha asshole as I usually was.
I swear to god if this is his fucked up way of calling me a puss—
“Because I’ve been asking myself that very same question since last week, and you’ve just made me realize that I’m standing on the edge of that cliff waiting to take the leap myself…”
I dropped my hands to my hips, my head resting back as I stared up at the ceiling with a feeling of ease and a growing list of probing thoughts.
“So… she’s the one?”
“She’s the fucking one.” My brother confirmed, as the two of us silently raved in our shared moment of joy and success.
Life couldn’t get better than this.