“Ty!” Skylar called as he rushed through the door. He instantly felt relief when he saw his brother sitting at the kitchen table, completely calm. “Hey,” he greeted, moving to stand next to the other man. “Are you okay? I got back as soon as I could.”
Tyler’s eyes darted up to meet his brother’s, a warm smile coming to his lips at Skylar’s words. “Yeah, I’m better now,” he answered. It took everything in him not to touch Skylar. “I’m sorry,” he apologized once more. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to be closer. I got carried away. I don’t know what happened.”
While Skylar knew that Tyler was telling the truth, he wasn’t sure he could just forget about it that easily. Not only had Tyler crossed a boundary that he’d put in place, but he also caused a fight between Skylar and Jessie. And now Skylar felt like a complete asshole. And Jessie probably thought that he belonged in an institution because he blamed Tyler for the mark on his neck. “I know you didn’t,” he assured his brother. “I just…I wasn’t expecting it. And it caused problems between me and Jessie.”
Jessie. Everything always seemed to come back to Jessie. “Oh,” Tyler mumbled. He honestly didn’t have anything else to say about that. But he knew Skylar wasn’t going to let it slide. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to scare you.”
A small frown came to Skylar’s lips when Tyler repeated himself. “I know you didn’t want to scare me,” Skylar assured him once more. “And I’m not…scared of you. I just wish you wouldn’t have done it. Or…at least that you would have listened to me when I told you to stop.”
He visibly winced when Skylar told him he wished he would have listened to him. “I didn’t hear you,” he whispered, his voice small. “I don’t know what happened. One minute, I was just…close to you. And then I needed more. I didn’t even realize what I was doing. I just…did it.”
Again, Skylar nodded. “I know,” he answered quietly. Venus’ words echoed through his mind again – every time you leave, he loses you all over again. “We just have to figure out how to deal with this before you lose control again, okay?”
Slowly, Tyler nodded. “Okay,” he answered. “I’m sorry. I don’t want you to have to fix me.” His eyes fell to the table, watching his fingers work as they picked at the skin around his nails. “I don’t mean to be broken.”
“Hey!” Skylar shushed, dropping to one knee in front of his brother as his hand moved to his shoulder. “You’re not broken. You’re just…hurting. We’ll learn where the lines are before either of us gets hurt again, okay?” He could see that Tyler was about to apologize again, but he quickly stopped him. “Don’t apologize again, okay? You don’t have to. I know you’re sorry. And we’re going to figure this out, okay?”
Biting into his bottom lip, Tyler whispered, “Are you mad at me?” Again his eyes ticked up to meet Skylar’s, the brilliant glow reminding his brother that Tyler was anything but normal. “I know you had plans today, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. When you leave…I feel like I’m dying.”
Although he knew that leaving Jessie calling out after him had probably been a mistake, he would have done it again if presented with the same option. Jessie would get over it. Eventually, she would realize that Skylar was telling the truth, and she would see that he’d had to leave. For Tyler. So, he’d done just that. He’d dropped everything for his brother. Because that’s what he had to do. He had to make sure Tyler was okay. This was just his reality now. And he was going to accept it.
Without thinking, he pulled his brother into a hug. “No,” Skylar answered, resting his chin on top of Tyler’s head. “I’m not mad at you. I’m not going to be mad at you over something you don’t have control over. And this isn’t your fault. I’m just as much to blame as you are in this situation.”
Tyler couldn’t help but wrap his arms around Skylar and pull him impossibly closer. “What do you mean?” he asked, when Skylar said he was to blame for this. “You didn’t do anything. You were just letting me take comfort in you.”
“I brought you back,” Skylar explained, staring at the wall across from him. “I did this to you. And I’m sorry. I was so focused on what losing you did to me that I never stopped to think about what bringing you back would do to you. I didn’t know how to be in a world that didn’t have you in it, and now you’re paying the price. But I won’t let you pay it alone. I’m going to be here with you every step of the way.”
For a brief moment, Venus’ warning hung in his mind. The tighter you hold someone, the more they struggle to breathe. But Tyler couldn’t let go. No after everything. Skylar had once again chosen him – he proved that he loved him. And Tyler wasn’t going to let that go for the world. Instead, he held on a bit tighter, breathing in his brother’s intoxicating scent as he nodded his agreement.
~~
The phone vibrated on the table where it had been tossed about an hour ago. For the last twenty minutes, the phone had been vibrating. Skylar desperately wanted to grab it, but he knew that was a bad idea. So, he let it ring…and ring, and ring. Text messages were sprinkled in, too. He could only imagine what they were saying.
“If you don’t answer that, she’s just going to keep calling,” Tyler bit out, obviously annoyed. “You can answer it.” He pushed himself off of Skylar’s chest where he had been laying, listening to his brother’s heartbeat again. “I’m going to take a shower anyway. Wanna play cards, or something when you’re done?”
As soon as Tyler pushed off of him, Skylar braced himself. But the fight didn’t come. That was a nice change of pace. Maybe they were making progress. Skylar could only hope. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll never miss an opportunity to kick your ass at Poker.” He chuckled when Tyler merely rolled his eyes and headed up the steps.
He checked the text messages first. Just as he’d suspected, they were all from Jessie. At first asking him where he was, and then as the hours had ticked by and he hadn’t answered, she got apologetic and pleading. He hated it. But the text messages weren’t as bad as listening to the voicemail messages. Hearing Jessie cry was far harder than reading apologetic text messages.
Sighing, he pressed her name on his phone and waited for her to pick up. She did on the second ring. “Hey baby,” he greeted, pressing his thumb and forefinger against the bridge of his nose as he waited for the fight.
“Hey baby?” Jessie asked, obviously annoyed. “Really? That’s what you’re going to say to me after what you did?”
Skylar had been expecting that. “I’m sorry,” he immediately apologized. “I haven’t had my phone all day.” It wasn’t a lie. He had been sitting on the couch with Tyler and his phone had been on the coffee table. Sure, he’d heard it going off, but Tyler had basically been in his lap, so he couldn’t reach it. Which was fine – Tyler needed it.
She scoffed, rolling her eyes though she knew Skylar couldn’t see it through the phone. “Oh, you didn’t have your phone?” she asked, obviously not buying it. “That’s funny. Because lately when you’re with me, it’s like a third appendage. I was trying to talk to you last night, and the phone was more important than I was.”
He could understand why she thought that, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. “It’s not like that, Jessie,” he tried to placate. “You know it’s not like that. You know me. It was an emergency. I never would have left you like that if it hadn’t been.”
“An emergency?” Jessie questioned, her tone lightening just a bit. “What happened? Is everything okay? Are your parents okay?”
Of course Jessie would go straight toward his parents. And he could have easily told her some lie, but he didn’t want to. This had gone on long enough. He didn’t want to lie to her anymore. “No, they’re fine,” he answered. “Look, I need to tell you something. I’ve been weird, and I know I have. I owe you an explanation. But not over the phone. Just…please, let me explain everything in person.”
There was a hitch in her breath. “Okay,” she answered, sounding very unsure. “I can meet you in an hour. I have a pilates class. Or I can skip it, and I can meet you right now. Whichever you prefer.”
Quickly, Skylar shook his head, forgetting for a second that Jessie couldn’t see him. “No, I can’t do it right now,” he apologized. “I need to finish taking care of something first. I can meet you tomorrow morning. At the coffee shop we used to go to after school? Ten o’clock? I’ll buy you that frozen mocha drink you like.”
Although waiting was going to feel like torture, Jessie really didn’t see that she had much of a choice. “Fine,” she answered, obviously unhappy about it. “Can you at least text me when you’re done dealing with the emergency? I just want to know you’re okay. I’m worried about you.”
“Yeah, I will,” he assured her. His attention was dragged back to the steps when he heard Tyler padding down. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Bye.” He didn’t wait for a response before he hung up, tossing the phone back on the coffee table. He managed a tired smile as he turned his attention back on Tyler. “You ready? I’m gonna grab a snack. And maybe a beer. You want one?”
Shaking his head, Tyler grabbed the cards from the closet and tossed them onto the table. “You still wanna play Poker?” he asked, glowing blue eyes locked on Skylar as he grabbed a bag of chips and a beer from the fridge. “Or did you wanna play something else? Because we don’t have any chips, so we would just have to play for fun.” A small smile tugged at his lips before he suggested, “Or…we could bet something else.”
His brother had a point. Poker wasn’t necessarily fun unless there were stakes involved. “Like what?” he asked, tossing the bag of chips on the table and taking a seat. “Winner gets out of loading the dishwasher for a week?”
Again, Tyler shook his head. “No, I wasn’t thinking along the lines of housework,” he answered. When Skylar asked where his head was at, Tyler merely shrugged. “How about…the winner gets one favor?”
That was vague. Skylar wasn’t necessarily sure he liked that, but he was going to give his brother the benefit of the doubt. “Define favor,” he pressed, wanting to know what he was getting into before he agreed. Once it was done, he couldn’t take it back.
Favor could mean a lot of things. And right now, Tyler didn’t exactly know what he wanted favor to mean. “It can mean a lot of things,” Tyler argued with a shrug. “How about anything that doesn’t hurt you?”
Eyes narrowing playfully, Skylar accused, “That’s…a pretty broad definition.” He needed more to go on. Something that didn’t hurt him physically? Or mentally? Because those were two different things entirely.
Tyler’s fingers fidgeted with the deck. Truthfully, he didn’t know exactly what he wanted the favor to be yet. He only knew that, if he won, he’d want something that let him be closer to Skylar. “I wouldn’t ask for anything bad,” he promised quietly.
Not buying it, but trying to keep things light, Skylar took a long pull from his beer. “That’s exactly what someone planning to ask for something bad would say.”
The smile on Tyler’s face vanished. He looked genuinely hurt. “I wouldn’t,” he repeated, setting the shuffled deck in the middle of the table. “Forget it. We don’t have to bet. Let’s just play.”
Almost immediately, Skylar regretted the joke. “Hey, no. I’m sorry,” he said. “I was just messing with you, okay? We can make the bet.” He reached for the cards. “One favor. Winner has to cash it in within a week or they lose it. Deal?”
Tyler’s expression brightened instantly. “Deal.” He wanted to win. This was exciting – and it was huge. If Skylar owed him a favor, Tyler could ask for anything. More time. More closeness. More of Skylar. Maybe another kiss. Maybe an entire day where it was just the two of them. Maybe then Skylar would finally realize that Jessie was only standing between them. The possibilities were endless.
After exchanging two cards, Tyler felt pretty confident with his hand. There were only a handful of hands that could beat him. However, one look at Skylar let Tyler know that his brother had a good hand as well. After all, Skylar had a tell. When he had a good hand, he would tilt his head to the right and his eyebrows would wiggle just a little bit. If you weren’t paying attention, you’d miss it. But Tyler was always paying attention.
Again, Tyler’s eyes locked on Skylar’s when he assured him that he was still in this game. “Are you sure about that?” Skylar asked, allowing the confidence he was feeling creep into his voice.
Shrugging, Tyler answered, “You’re awfully confident.” If Skylar won, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, he supposed. His reward just wouldn’t be as great. But there was no way he wasn’t playing this hand. It was too good.
“Maybe because I know what I have in my hand,” Skylar tossed back, smiling at the other man. His smile faltered just a little bit when Tyler answered that he knew. For a second, he wondered if maybe those radioactive eyes had given his brother xray vision. But that was insane. “What do you mean?” he asked, suddenly curious.
He shrugged once more as a fond smile came to his lips. “The corner of your mouth twitches when you have a good hand,” Tyler explained, gazing fondly at his brother. “What do you have?”
Great – of course Tyler would recognize his tell. There wasn’t a single thing he did that Tyler didn’t realize. Slowly, he put his hand down, displaying his cards. Three aces and two kings – a full house. Not entirely unbeatable, but it was a damn good hand. But Tyler didn’t look scared. Tilting his head to the side, Skylar narrowed his eyes at his brother. “You didn’t know what I had,” he assured him, almost guaranteed his brother couldn’t read him that well.
Slowly, Tyler shook his head. “I knew enough,” he answered, revealing his own hand. Four twos and an ace – not necessarily a shoo-in, but it was definitely too good to just fold. “Four of a kind,” he stated the obvious, his glowing blue eyes flashing as he looked up at Skylar. “Guess that means I win.”
Tyler won. Skylar had really been hoping he’d beat him because the favor he had promised was daunting. At least if he’d won, he would have asked for the dishes to be done, or something. But Tyler – he could literally ask for anything. And Skylar wasn’t sure he’d mentally prepared for that. “Yeah, I guess so,” he answered, forcing a smile. “Congrats, man. What’s your favor?”
When Skylar asked what his favor was, Tyler’s head went blank. He had no idea. Honestly, he hadn’t thought about it. Or maybe he’d thought about it too much. There were just too many possibilities. “I-I don’t know,” he finally answered with a small shake of his head. “Can I pick later?”
“Sure,” Skylar answered with a shrug. “But you only get one. And I was serious about losing it in a week if it’s not cashed in.” Collecting the cards, he placed them in the middle of the table. “So…I should head to bed. I told Jessie I would meet her tomorrow for coffee. I…need to talk to her, Ty. I’m tired of lying.”
Eyes ticking to Skylar’s once more, Tyler frowned slightly. “What do you mean?” he asked, brows knit in confusion. Was his brother actually implying that he was going to tell his girlfriend that Tyler was alive?! “You’re…going to tell her about me?”
Without hesitation. Skylar nodded. “Yeah, I am,” he answered. “I can’t do this anymore. Lying to her is killing me. She thinks I’m cheating on her, Ty! It’s not fair to keep this from her anymore. I should have told her a long time ago. She deserves the truth.”
Anger bubbled inside him when Skylar fought for Jessie. “What about me?” he asked, eyes locked on the cards in the middle of the table. “Did it ever occur to you that I don’t want her to know?” His eyes finally snapped to Skylar’s. “Did you ever stop to think about what I want?” Scoffing, Tyler shook his head. “Of course not. Because that’s not what you do, right? You make decisions without me – decisions that affect me – and then ask for forgiveness later, right?”
Confusion was clear on Skylar’s face at Tyler’s outburst. “What are you talking about?” he asked, shaking his head. “Why are you so mad? I thought you’d be happy that someone else knew. Now we don’t have to keep it a secret from everyone. Jessie won’t tell anyone else. And she can come over and we won’t have to be alone all of the time!”
“Fuck you!” Tyler yelled, pushing out of his chair so fast that it toppled over behind him, causing Skylar to jump. His jaw tightened as he glared at Skylar. “You already decided to tell her before you even talked to me about it. Because it makes things easier on you! But what about me?! I don’t want her here! Maybe I like being alone! Being with you!”
Again, Tyler scoffed. “But yeah, you don’t care, right? Why would you?” His head was pounding. He felt like he had liquid fire running through his veins. “You didn’t ask questions about bringing me back. And now that I’m here, you don’t ask questions about what makes me happy. Nothing about what I want. It’s always about what everyone else wants! Jessie. Your friends. Football. Everyone gets a say except me!”
Now, it was Skylar’s turn to get mad. “All about everyone else?!” he asked, rising to his feet as well. “All I fucking do is worry about you! Ever since we moved to this cabin, I have cut myself off from almost everyone! I stay here like a damn princess locked in a castle so that you don’t think I’m leaving you! Everything I’ve done is for you!”
His body was rigid as he walked toward Tyler. “Do you think I like lying to everyone about you?!” he asked. “Do you think it’s easy for me to walk around in our old life and pretend like you’re still dead?! It’s exhausting, Tyler! And then you go and bite me and make everything so much more complicated than they were before! You’re taking me for a fucking ride and I’m barely holding on!”
Shaking his head, Tyler argued, “Then fucking let go!” With that, he turned on his heels and walked out the front door, slamming it behind himself. He could hear Skylar calling after him, but he didn’t stop. Instead, he picked up the pace, running as fast as his legs would carry him toward the cemetery.