Tyler sighed as he allowed his head to fall back against his headstone. His chest ached, but he refused to move from this spot. He couldn’t believe Skylar was going to tell Jessie about him. So that he could invite the woman into their world again. That was the last thing Tyler wanted. He wanted her gone – not even more present.
Yet here Skylar was, pushing him away once again for some woman. Hadn’t he shown Skylar that he was the only constant in his life? That he was going to be here no matter what happened? And now he was trying to get away from him?! Maybe Venus had been right. Maybe Tyler was suffocating his brother. Maybe he’d been going about this the wrong way.
As if on cue, Venus emerged from the trees, her glowing green eyes staring sadly at Tyler. “You look upset,” he stated the obvious. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Not really, but he also felt like he didn’t have a choice. Venus had always been so forthcoming with advice – she seemed to have all of the answers. “Skylar wants to tell Jessie that I’m back. He thinks it’ll be better for us because then someone else will know.”
Eyeing Tyler, Venus took in his body language. “And you don’t want that,” she stated, not asking because there was no doubt in her mind that he didn’t. “You like it that he’s the only one who knows about you?”
His eyes ticked up to meet Venus’ own glowing orbs. “Yes,” he breathed, knowing that he didn’t have to lie to her. “I don’t want Jessie in our lives. I want him to break up with her so I don’t have to compete for his attention anymore. And he doesn’t care.”
A small frown came to Venus’ lips when Tyler poured his heart out on this matter. “He doesn’t?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “I think he just doesn’t know what you expect of him. Have you explained this to him? Have you given him the chance to choose you?”
Slowly, Tyler shook his head. “I…don’t know,” he answered, wracking his brain for the answers. “I don’t think so. I don’t want to push him. The last time I pushed, he got freaked out and pulled away from me. I don’t want that to happen again.”
“But he came back,” Venus reminded Tyler. “He may have had to take a breather, but he came back. He always comes back. Isn’t that what you said to me?” When Tyler nodded, Venus repeated the action. “You think he’s choosing Jessie over you?” she asked, studying him.
Tyler wrapped his arms around his legs tighter, curling into himself even further. “Isn’t he?” he asked, looking away from Venus. He couldn’t handle this. His chest was aching, and he felt a burning behind his eyes. He hadn’t cried since he’d come back – he wasn’t even sure he could, honestly.
Although he wasn’t looking at her, Venus shook her head. “No,” she answered. “He’s just trying to stop carrying this alone.” Again, she felt oddly sympathetic toward Skylar. This was a lot and he’d been doing it all on his own. He was the first person to ever do it for this long. Most people had already cracked by now. He was resilient.
Scoffing, Tyler spat, “By telling her?” Of course it was her. He could have chosen literally anyone else, but he was still clinging to Jessie. And Tyler didn’t understand why! Skylar didn’t need her! He had Tyler!
Again, Venus slowly shook her head. “By telling anyone,” she answered. She moved toward Tyler, taking a seat beside him and resting her hand on his knee. She didn’t miss the way his eyes snapped to her hand. “Those are not the same thing, Tyler.”
“I don’t care,” Tyler whispered, shaking his head. “If she knows, she’ll want him even more. She already thinks she deserves him.” She would always intrude when he was alive. And now was no different. Tyler was the only thing that was different now – his reaction to sharing Skylar. He hated it.
But Venus’ answer of perhaps wasn’t helpful at all. Tyler needed to know what to do. He was lost. He’d come here to think. And honestly, he thought Venus might be here because she seemed to always be around for some reason. But she wasn’t helping him right now. “And every minute she’s with him…” His hand pressed against his chest, pushing hard as if it would make the ache go away. “…I’m not,” he breathed, finally admitting the problem he had with Jessie at its core out loud.
Venus felt Tyler’s confession in her soul. She’d felt the same way about her wife. “Then you need to ask yourself something,” she urged, squeezing Tyler’s knee when he looked at her again. “If Skylar chooses you because he wants to, isn’t that worth more than pushing someone else out of his life?” Tyler didn’t answer. Venus’ voice softened, “Love that has to imprison someone eventually becomes another kind of loneliness.”
Another deep frown came to Tyler’s lips when Venus spoke. That wasn’t helpful…again. “So…what do I do?” he asked, desperate for someone to show him the path. He had thought they were making progress, and now all of a sudden, he felt further away from Skylar than he ever had.
“Nothing,” Venus answered with a shrug. “Trust him.” Slowly, she pushed to her feet. She felt like she had gotten a lot of good information here tonight. The boys were on completely different wave lengths, and something had to give eventually. She just hoped the clash was as climactic as she thought it would be.
Again, Tyler frowned deeply. He pushed himself off the ground, matching Venus’ movements. “But…what if trusting him means losing him?” he asked, fear slamming into him like a freight train. He couldn’t lose Skylar – he wouldn’t.
Instead of giving him an answer, Venus stayed silent. That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? Without another word, Venus turned on her heels and headed toward the treeline, disappearing almost as fast as she’d appeared.
Not long after Venus disappeared, Skylar showed up at the grave. “I figured I’d find you here,” Skylar said quietly, nudging a loose stone with the toe of his boot. He hadn’t come straight here. They’d both needed time to cool off after their fight. “Are you okay?”
Another million-dollar questions, Tyler supposed. Was he okay? Not really. Not for a long time. “I don’t know,” he answered with a shake of his head. His eyes slowly ticked up to meet Skylar’s. “My chest hurts. And I’m…annoyed. But…I get why you wanna tell her.” He swallowed thickly at the thought of letting anyone else in on their little secret world they’d built. “But I don’t want to see her. And I don’t want her at the cabin. That’s our place.”
“Okay,” Skylar answered with a small nod. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask you first. I just didn’t think it would be a big deal. But I see now that it was. And I’ll make sure to ask you about things in the future before I do them, okay?”
Slowly, Tyler pushed himself off the ground, closing the distance between himself and Skylar. His glowing eyes searched every inch of his brother’s face, studying any tiny shift in expression. “You brought me back because you couldn’t live without me,” he reminded, biting into his bottom lip. “So why do you still need her?”
A deep frown came to Skylar’s lips at his brother’s question. His heart sank. “Because you and Jessie aren’t the same thing,” he tried to explain. But Tyler’s expression fell. “Ty, I don’t love her instead of you.” He took a slow step forward. “I love her differently.” Helplessly, he gestured between them. “You’re my twin. My brother. My family. My best friend. I tore the world apart to bring you back.” His voice cracked slightly, though he tried to conceal it. “Nothing Jessie could ever do would change that. But…loving you doesn’t mean I’m supposed to stop loving everyone else.”
And that’s the part that he didn’t understand. He didn’t understand why Skylar needed to love everyone else. Tyler didn’t – he only needed Skylar. “I know,” Tyler mumbled, lowering his eyes. “I know she’s different.” His fingers curled against his palms. “I just…when you’re with her…you’re not with me.” His voice cracked. “And when you’re not with me, it feels like I stop existing.”
Slowly his eyes lifted to meet Skylar’s again. “When you leave with her, I know you’re going to come back,” Tyler continued. “My head knows that. But…” Slowly, he allowed his right hand to slide over his chest, pressing hard against the ache. “But this doesn’t.”
Again, Skylar’s heart sank. He couldn’t comprehend how Tyler was feeling because he didn’t actually feel it for himself. But he knew that when he wasn’t around Skylar, there was an ache in his chest. And he hated that it happened to his brother. “Ty,” he whispered, shaking his head slightly.
For a moment, he hesitated. Everything he’d been doing to comfort Tyler recently had him questioning whether he was helping him or hurting him. Ever since the bite, he’d been wary of allowing Tyler to touch him because he was worried he was reinforcing bad behavior. Worried he was encouraging something Tyler couldn’t control.
In the end, though, he couldn’t help himself. He hated it when Tyler was hurting and he knew there was a way to make it stop. “Do you need to touch me?” he asked, biting into his bottom lip. “Would that help?”
Slowly, Tyler nodded. It would help tremendously. “Can we just…go home first?” he asked. “I know you want to get to bed. I can…sleep with you.” He could immediately see the shift in Skylar’s body language, which hurt him more than he’d like to admit. “I won’t bite you again. I promise. I just…wanna be close to you.”
“Okay,” Skylar answered, not having the heart to tell Tyler no when he was looking at him like that. His brother had told him things tonight that helped him understand the way he was feeling a little more. Between Tyler and Venus, Skylar was starting to get a pretty good picture of how his brother had changed.
The walk back to the cabin was done in silence, Tyler bumping against Skylar every now and then while they walked. He was tired. No, exhausted, more like. Tonight had been a whirlwind. And he was sure tomorrow wasn’t going to be much better. After all, it wasn’t every day that you had to explain to your girlfriend that you’d brought your brother back from the dead and that was why you had been acting so strangely.
~~
The bell above the coffee shop door jingled, drawing Skylar’s attention to the newcomer. He sighed when he saw that it wasn’t Jessie. He sat alone at a corner table, trying to figure out exactly how he wanted to tell her this big news. And honestly, the more he thought about it, the more he was second-guessing his decision.
Another person entered the shop, drawing Skylar’s attention to the door once more. This time, it was Jessie. Quickly, Skylar jumped to his feet, meeting her at the entrance and pulling her into a hug. “Hey, thanks for meeting me,” he greeted.
A small frown came to Jessie’s lips as she hugged her boyfriend back. “Yeah, well, you made it sound urgent,” she answered. “Not that I’m going to complain about getting to see you.” Her eyes ticked to the table Skylar had stood from, noticing that there were already drinks there. “You wanna sit down and tell me what’s going on, or are you planning to bolt again?”
Quickly, Skylar shook his head. “No, yeah, let’s go sit down,” he suggested, allowing Jessie to lead the way. “I don’t know where to start,” he mumbled, picking at the sticker on his drink cup. “Before I tell you anything else, I need you to know something.” He twisted the cup between his hands, feeling more nervous than he had the day he asked her out. “I haven’t been cheating on you.”
Jessie’s expression softened, though confusion quickly replaced the anger. “Skylar, I never said that you were,” Jessie assured him, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.
“I know,” Skylar answered. “But I know that’s what this looks like.” If their roles had been reversed, Skylar knew he would have questioned it too. “But I haven’t. I swear.”
Deep down, Jessie knew Skylar wasn’t lying. He wasn’t a cheater. They’d talked about it at length on multiple occasions. Even just recently when Adam had been caught cheating on one of his many conquests. So, she believed him. But that hadn’t been the issue. “So…why have you been avoiding me?” she asked, her chocolate eyes searching Skylar’s face for the answers she desperately needed.
Sighing, Skylar shook his head. “It’s not like that, baby,” he assured her. “I haven’t been avoiding you. At least not on purpose. I’ve just…I’ve had a lot going on recently. And I’m just having a really hard time balancing everything.”
While Jessie did feel for Skylar, she also had to protect herself. She’d noticed that her boyfriend had been pulling away since his brother’s death. And she’d tried to help in any way that she could, but she also wanted to give him space. There was a fine line she was walking, and she was sure that she was messing up, too. It wasn’t just Skylar. “Look, I understand that you’ve been going through a lot,” she explained. “I know that I can’t even begin to imagine how you’ve been feeling since Tyler’s death – I understand that. But I’m trying, Skylar. I’ve been trying to be there for you, and I’ve tried giving you space, and I just feel like I’m doing everything wrong.”
Again, Jessie sighed, allowing her arms to drop to the table. “I don’t…think you’re cheating on me,” she admitted. “I mean, for a second, the thought did cross my mind. But I know you. I just…I think you’re going through something and you’re not letting me in. Ever since the funeral, you’ve been drifting further away. I just want to help, Skylar. Let me help you.”
Help him? Was there even any help for him at this point? “I know you do,” he assured her, giving her a small, tired smile. “And I appreciate it. But…I haven’t been dealing with Tyler’s death the way you think I have.” His hands tightened around his coffee cup. “I haven’t been…grieving the way everyone thinks.” He spat the word grieving, it feeling like acid on his tongue. “It’s more complicated than that.”
He was dancing around the truth, and Jessie could tell. “What do you mean?” she asked, leaning in a bit closer. “You have been grieving. And of course it’s more complicated. He wasn’t just your brother – he was your twin. You two were inseparable your whole lives. Of course it’s more complicated.”
“No,” Skylar snapped, immediately regretting it. “I’m sorry. It’s just…you’re not–I’m not explaining this the right way.” Sighing, he took a deep breath, trying to decide how he wanted to drop this bombshell on Jessie. After all, it wasn’t every day your boyfriend told you he used an ancient resurrection ritual to bring his brother back from the dead. And even worse, since he’d done it, his brother seemed to be obsessed with him. He needed to explain this just right.
Gently, Jessie reached for Skylar, covering his hand with her own. “Hey, listen, calm down,” she coaxed, her voice barely above a whisper. “You can tell me anything. You know that. I love you. And whatever it is, we can deal with it together, okay?”
Again, Skylar took another steadying breath. “Yeah, okay,” he answered. He had to admit, it was nice not having to feel like he needed to be in control for once. It was nice to have Jessie taking the ropes and helping him calm down. “Do you…remember what I told you after the funeral?” he asked, ice blue eyes darting up to clash with chocolate browns. “About the woman in the cemetery?”
The funeral seemed like eons ago, though it had only been a few months. “Um…I think so,” she answered with a small nod. “Her name was Venus?” When Skylar nodded, Jessie wracked her brain trying to remember the exact details of this specific conversation. Her heart sank when she remembered the details. “Sky…babe, please don’t tell me you’re still thinking about that.”
This was it. Time to rip off the band-aid quickly. “I’m not thinking about it,” he answered with a shake of his head. He could see Jessie immediately relax, and he knew his next confession was going to sting. “I did it.”
Jessie’s face was a mix of emotions. It started off with relief, then morphed into confusion, then shock, then something Skylar couldn’t really name. Pity, maybe? “What do you mean you did it?” she asked, brows knit in confusion. “You…performed the ritual?” Skylar nodded. “Skylar…that doesn’t mean–That doesn’t bring someone back.”
When Skylar didn’t say anything else, Jessie frowned. “Sky…magic isn’t real,” she explained gently. “This woman…Venus, or whatever her name was…she was just messing with you. She could see that you were grieving, and she fed off of it. Skylar, come on, you have to know that.” Suddenly, she felt a rush of jealousy wash over her. “Has she been the one you’ve been spending all of your time with?” She could just see another woman with her boyfriend begging for time with a promise to perfect a ritual to bring his dead brother back.
Quickly, Skylar shook his head. “No, I barely see her anymore,” he answered honestly. Though, he would have laughed at the implication under different circumstances. As if he would spend any time with Venus unless he was trying to get answers. Honestly, the woman barely tolerated him, he was sure. “I’ve been spending all of my time with Tyler.”
Another deep frown came to Jessie’s lips when Skylar admitted what he’d been doing with his free time. “At the cemetery?” she asked, her frown deepening. “Skylar, that’s not healthy. I understand that you miss him, but spending all of your time at his gravesite isn’t doing anything for your mental health.”
“I’m not,” he answered, quickly shaking his head. “I’ve been with him. He has been standing right in front of me the whole time. I performed the ritual on the night of the full moon after he died, and ever since then, Tyler has been with me. I’m not grieving because he has been with me the whole damn time!”
Without realizing it, his voice had increasingly gotten louder, which caused some of the other patrons in the shop to look his way. Smiling sheepishly, he waved at them, relaxing when they went back to their own conversations. “I brought him back. The ritual worked. But…he’s different now.”
Fear caused her entire body to stand on edge. She wasn’t sure if she believed Skylar or if she should be calling a doctor. “Skylar…this is crazy,” she whispered, shaking her head. “Magic isn’t real. This isn’t a fairy tale. People don’t just come back from the dead.”
Again, Skylar’s eyes locked on Jessie. “Not without a price,” he countered. He could see that Jessie was scared, and he hated it. “I understand this is a lot, okay? And you probably think I’m nuts. But I swear to you, Tyler is alive.”
“Say I believe you,” Jessie tried, pushing down all of the rational thoughts in her head. “Just for a second. You’re telling me that Tyler is back from the dead?” When Skylar nodded, Jessie mimicked the action. “Then I want to see him.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Skylar shook his head. “No,” he answered. “I’m not doing that to him.” He could tell it wasn’t the answer Jessie wanted. “He is overwhelmed enough already. He isn’t ready for anyone else.” Sighing, he scrubbed a hand over his face. “He made it very clear that he was fine with me telling you, but he doesn’t want to see anyone.”
Another deep frown came to Jessie’s lips. “He made it very clear?” she whispered, almost unable to believe the words coming out of her boyfriend’s mouth. “Do you hear yourself? You’re talking like he’s sitting right here next to us.” Taking another deep breath, Jessie continued, “Skylar, you expect me to believe something unbelievable, but I can’t actually see him?” she asked, shaking her head slightly when Skylar just blinked at her. “That’s pretty convenient, don’t you think?”
Of course it was. “Yeah, I know how it sounds, Jessie,” he assured his girlfriend. “And I figured this would be your reaction. But I am telling the truth. And once Tyler feels more comfortable, you can see him all you want, okay? I just…I can’t force anything on him.”
Although she was still not convinced that Skylar didn’t need professional help, Jessie was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Okay,” she sighed, pressing her thumb and forefinger against the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Just…promise me that you’re going to stop ignoring me, okay? I really am worried about you.”
Again, Skylar shook his head. “Jessie, I can’t,” he answered apologetically. “I understand that you’re worried about me. And I appreciate it – really, I do. But Tyler needs me. I told you…he’s different. I wanted to tell you so that you understand that this has nothing to do with you, or how I feel about you. I still very much want to be in this relationship. But right now…I need to focus on Tyler. So…please…give me the benefit of the doubt. I’m not ignoring you. And I will call and text when I can. But I can’t…always be there like before.”
Almost as if on cue, Skylar’s phone buzzed on the table next to him. Jessie’s eyes immediately snapped to the device, her face falling. “Because Tyler needs you,” she reiterated, biting into her bottom lip.
Snatching the phone up, Skylar stood, pocketing it. “Yes, he does,” Skylar answered. He squeezed Jessie’s shoulder as he walked past. “I love you,” he assured her. “This will all work itself out, I promise. But please…you can’t…tell anyone, okay?”
Slowly, Jessie allowed her eyes to travel up Skylar’s body, barely holding back tears. “Yeah, Sky, I promise,” she answered with a nod. “Call me when you can.” With a muttered thanks, Skylar left the coffee shop. Only when she saw his JEEP pulling out of the lot did she let the tears fall.