Page 4 of Antidote

He shakes his head at me, his lips pinching. “How could you?” He whispers, and I flinch. Tears trail down my face, and I open my mouth to apologize, to say something, but then it just snaps shut when he storms toward me and grabs me by the front of my hospital gown. “How fucking could you?!”

“I’m—” I close my eyes and force the words past trembling lips. “So sorry.” I can’t even bring myself to look at him, so I stare down at my hands.

“Fuck you and your apologies, Oliver.” I wince at my name coming from his perfect lips. He never calls me that. It’s always Ollie or Blue. What the fuck did you expect? “I hate you.”

Crying out, I grab onto his arms, tightening my grip the closer he brings me to his face. Our foreheads touch, and he rests his against mine. “No, please.” I whimper. “You don’t mean it.”

“You’ve ruined—everything,” he growls, and his soothing scent fills my nostrils. Citrus. But it’s not supposed to be soothing right now. I fucked up. “How could you do this to me? To us?”

There is no us.

You made that crystal clear, Hunter.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper hoarsely. “I wish I could take it all back—I’m sorry!”

“Fuck.” He lets go of my gown. “You.”

Just when I think he’s going to walk away, he cocks his fist back and hits me right in the eye. I feel my skin split open from his ring—our ring—and I cry out. But he just pulls his fist back and hits my jaw, too. I see red—literally. All I see is blood pouring over my eye, and he becomes blurry again. But I can feel his fury and grief in waves. He doesn’t have to say anything for me to know that he’s never going to talk to me again. I’ve been able to read him like an open book for years now, ever since we became one.

There was a shift a few years ago.

One where he started being more affectionate and loving towards me—and not in the way brothers are. He started calling me baby and then coming into my room in the middle of the night to…well, it doesn’t matter now.

It’s over.

All of it.

“I fucking hate you!” he screams. “You’re fucking dead to me!”

And then he leaves me behind, slamming the door shut.

And my heart breaks all over again.

10 YEARS OLD

It’s been a couple of years since it’s been just my dad and me. He says it’s because Mom couldn’t take care of me anymore, and she had to go. I say it’s because she was selfish and didn’t care about me. She only cared about her drugs.

I’m only ten—except I’m not stupid. I’ve paid attention to the way she always missed my soccer games and how she never followed through with taking me to my art classes. My dad had to do it all, and he didn’t complain once. But I noticed how she was never there, and no matter how much I told myself it was okay, it still hurt.

Now, my dad has met someone new. He said she and her son Hunter would be moving in with us soon. Apparently, they’ve been seeing each other for a while, but he didn’t want to introduce us until they were sure. About what, I don’t know. But they’re getting married soon, is all he told me.

Hunter and Lucy are from Atlanta, Georgia. They will be moving into our house in North Carolina soon, but Dad said he wanted us to meet them where they’re comfortable, so here we are—in an aquarium—one of my favorite places to go. I’ve always been obsessed with whale sharks, and apparently, this is one of the only places in the United States that has them.

My hands shake slightly as we wait for them by the whale sharks, and I twist my fingers to keep them from being noticeable. I don’t know why I’m nervous. I guess I don’t exactly have lots of friends, but I get by.

Someone steps up to me, standing at my side until our shoulders are brushing. We’re about the same height, and when I look next to me, there’s a kid with light brown hair and the darkest green eyes I’ve ever seen. My stomach flips when he smiles at me, and I gulp at the unfamiliar feeling.

“So I guess we’re gonna be brothers?” I ask him with a small smile, if only to not make this awkward for either of us.

“I guess so.” He says. “But we don’t have to share a room, thank God.”

I snort at that. “What’s your name?”

“Hunter.” He replies with awe on his face as he glances at the whale sharks.

“You have really green eyes,” I blurt, then almost smack myself for it.

“And you have really blue ones. Oliver, right?”

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