Chapter 15 ~ Rafe #2
“My point is that I have been in love with him for the last two years,” he says, voice rough and vulnerable.
“Two years of pretending we were just stepbrothers who hated each other, of wanting something I thought I would never get to have until yesterday when—” He stops, jaw tightening.
“When I finally had him, and he let me, it felt right, only for him to pretend nothing ever happened by avoiding me all day.”
I don’t say anything. I just watch him, letting the silence between us stretch so he can feel the weight of his own words.
“He’s not going to let himself have this,” Bellamy continues. “He’s going to pull away again, tell himself it was a one-time thing, that he doesn’t deserve to be happy. And I can’t—” He presses the heels of his hands against his eyes. “I can’t lose him again, not after finally getting this close.”
At least now he understands what he’s dealing with. He had me worried there for a second. Because yes, this is exactly what Minho is going to do, could do to me too, unless Bellamy and I do the one thing he doesn’t expect.
Choose him. Over and over again until he realises we aren’t going anywhere.
Something in my chest tightens. I understand Bellamy’s fear.
I feel it every time Minho walks out of my shop, every time he mentions Bellamy’s name with a hint of amusement in his voice.
But I also know something Bellamy doesn’t know yet.
Something I’ve been carrying since the day I tattooed Minho's name over my heart.
I love Minho too. I don’t know when it started, when things changed, but ever since things between us did, all I have wanted is his happiness.
“I will help you.” The four words come out quieter than I meant for them to. “I’ll help you get our guy.”
Bellamy’s hands drop. He stares at me, his blue eyes widening, and I see the moment my words register, the moment he understands what I am saying.
“You—” He closes his mouth, visibly swallowing. “You will?”
I keep my eyes locked with his. “I’ve watched him date other people, watched him pretend he was fine, watched him bury everything he actually felt under layers of 'I’m okay' and 'it’s fine.’ And I have never said a word, but it's all lies he tells himself because he’s scared of taking up space in people's lives only for them to leave him.” I pause, taking another sip of the whiskey.
“That is why he leaves first. It’s why he doesn’t do serious relationships; he won’t allow anyone to hurt him the way his mother hurt him. ”
“Why are you telling me this?” Bellamy asks.
“Because now I know for a fact he wants me too, but he won’t fully give himself to me.
” I let the words land. “We’ve been seeing each other in secret since your tattoo request, and I—” I stop, the memory of Minho’s mouth on mine, the feel of his skin, the sounds he made.
“We worked things out, so I know I can get through to him.”
I won’t tell Bellamy that nothing went further than the kiss and that I know it is because a small part of Minho wants Bells to be his first; no, he needs to figure that out on his own.
He is quiet for a long moment, his hands no longer shaking, but his knuckles are white around the glass.
“So what are you saying?” His voice is calm, but I catch the hint of anger in his tone. “That you’re staking a claim? That I should back off?”
I chuckle. “No.” I shake my head. “I’m saying I don’t think either of us gets to make that choice for him, but I am also saying—” I pause, choosing my next words carefully.
“I’m saying I have never seen the way he looks at you, the way he talks about you as if he could kiss you and then punch you.
So I am going to help you, but you need to tell me what your plan is to win him over. ”
“I need you to tell him we fucked,” Bellamy blurts out, and I see the moment he realises what he said when his eyes widen.
“What?”
Did he lose his fucking mind on the drive over?
Is he drunk?
Did I give him too much whiskey? Why the fuck would he want me to tell Minho that? Does he not want to win their little war?
“If you tell him we fucked that should get a reaction out of him,” he continues. “He likes you, you like him, so—”
“So why not lie and essentially make it sound like you repeated what got you in this mess in the first place?” I finish for him.
“Yeah,” he says, so unsurprisingly, I might need another drink before the night is over. “Yeah, I am fresh out of ideas, okay, I don’t know what else to do.”
I laugh dryly. “Not that.”
Anything but that. His plan sucks, but fuck it, I’m in. It just requires a few fixing touches, and he can thank me later when my corrected version of this crappy idea he concocted works.
But how do I fix this?
Bellamy sighs. “Well, I need to come up with something before he does.”
“Besides, if I were to have done that—” I stop, unable to stop the laugh that escapes me. “Chances are he would see right through that and kill us both.” That’s when it clicks. “Which is why you are going to get Nyla to do it.”
Bellamy’s eyes widen, and I think his brain short-circuited because he pours himself another drink and downs it in one go before laughing, but there is no humour in it. “That is insane, you know that, right? He’d hate me and her while you stay in the clear.”
I shake my head. “The only person on this planet he can never be mad with is Nyla,” I say without hesitation because it is true; she is the only one Minho’s comfortable letting his guard down with.
“She’ll do this if you tell her how you feel because she will do anything for Minho, and if she knows he’s holding back from having you, something great, she’ll gladly break his heart so he comes running to you. ”
Something in Bellamy’s expression softens before he scoffs. “Yeah, come running to fuck me up for 'touching' his best friend.”
I nod. “And that is why you need to come up with another reason for him other than sleeping with Nyla; you need to corner him to win the war, Bellamy.”
He smiles wickedly to himself then, and I fear I may have given him the wrong idea. “I need to let him think he’s won and then spring my trap.”
“Yeah—”
“Thanks, Rafe.” He crosses the distance between us and pats me on my shoulder, his hand lingering a little too long before he pulls away and clears his throat. “If this works, you may have a threesome reward in your future.”
I raise a brow. “Is that so?”
“Keep helping me and find out.”
Fuck me.
“You’re going to get me in trouble.”
He bites his lower lip and backs away toward the front door. “Maybe.”
I turn fully and lean against the counter as he opens the door and leaves me alone with my raging thoughts. When my phone buzzes and I check to see who is calling, I see Colton’s name show up.
Fuck.
I answer immediately.
“What’s with the late-night call?” I ask hesitantly.
There’s a stretch of silence that prickles my skin like a bunch of puncture needles. I pour myself another glass of whiskey and wait for Colton to say something.
“Armani Valentino is in town.”
I close my eyes.
“I know.”