Page 12 of That One Moment

This can’t be real,I think to myself before I close the gap, slanting my lips over his and kissing him with every part of me. Nothing has ever felt as powerful, as life-affirming, as fucking magical as this kiss. If I was head over heels for the guy before, I have no chance of ever standing on my own two feet again.

Everything around us fades away as his tongue demands entrance and I let him take control, let him show me what he likes and what he wants. Cooper groans, deep and primal, and I feel it rumble through me. Moving my hands from his waist to the small of his back and then up to his neck, I tip his head,changing the angle and deepening the kiss. We devour each other, neither one willing to take a break even as my lungs sing for air.

“I want to leave now,” a raspy, petulant voice says from my side and the world once again comes into focus as Cooper breaks away, dropping his hands and taking a step away from me. Turning, I find a pissed off Caiden next to us, his usual scowl directed at me.

“Take a cab,” I suggest, my one hand reaching up to lay on the small of Cooper’s back. He’s unleashed me now, and I have no intention of reigning in how I feel about him. Cooper leans into my touch but doesn’t say anything as his twin squares up to me.

“No, I want to go home with my brother.” Caiden sways on his feet and I reach for him, gripping his upper arm. “Get your hands off me! I don’t need your help,” he barks, the last word slurring as he tries to stand up straight. “Wedon’t need you Jamie, you’re not our brother. You’re nothing to us.”

Cooper pushes Caiden’s shoulder and he stumbles backwards. “That’s enough, Caiden. Don’t be so fucking rude.” It’s the second time tonight that I’ve seen Cooper angry at his brother and by the way Caiden’s eyes widen and his head drops, it’s not something that happens often.

With one hand pressed to Caiden’s chest, Cooper turns to me and places a warm hand on my cheek. “I’m sorry, he’s obviously drunker then I realised. Can we call it a night? Get him home and then maybe we can meet for lunch tomorrow?”

Turning my head, I kiss the palm of his hand then nod. All the while, Caiden shoots daggers my way before wrapping his arm around his twin’s shoulder and pulling him into a hug.

I have no intention of coming between the two of them, but I’m also not going to let Caiden’s bad attitude and childish behaviour ruin something that has the potential to change our entire lives.

Chapter Six

Jamie

“He’s insufferable!” I take a sip of my latte, flinching when I burn my mouth. Nine times out of ten these takeaway coffees are lukewarm but it's the one time that always gets me.

I had another delightful run in with the annoying twin yesterday during family lunch. The fact that he showed up seemed like a miracle to me even though he spent the afternoon either silent and forlorn or snapping at his father. The only thing he seemed remotely interested in telling us was about the trip to Spain he and his mum are planning.

I saw the lost, hopeful little boy he keeps hidden as he smiled excitedly, listing off all the plans they have. I didn’t miss the way Cooper and his dad shared a sad glance before plastering on fake smiles, all of us well aware that she’s unlikely to see it through.

“He’s jealous.” Next to me, Sage picks at her blueberry muffin. Autumn is in full swing and by the cold breeze that blows at my bare neck, I’d say winter will be here very soon. Underfoot, wecrunch on a rainbow of red, yellow and orange leaves as we make our way from the university coffee shop towards our first classes of the day.

Sage and I both live a few roads over from the engineering building of our university. It’s a good twenty minute walk from where Cooper’s classes are, but I’ve been seeing him at least once a day since classes started back up after summer break. After that first kiss at the party, we’ve been sneaking quiet moments together every chance we get. He called me his boyfriend last week, his pale cheeks had flamed red when the word slipped out and I’d slammed my lips to his with such force, I’d had to grab at his t-shirt to stop him falling over.

Our parents know, though we don’t flaunt it in their faces because I don’t think they want to watch our PDA anymore than I want to witness theirs. I’d feared what they’d say, but Mum and Duncan were genuinely happy for us. Mum said our situation wasn’t unheard of, and it wasn’t like we’d grown up together. We met as strangers and developed into more before we even had a chance to think of each other as brothers.

“Jealous of what? I’m not trying to come between him and Cooper.” I press my tongue to the top of my mouth, feeling a bump where the hot liquid scorched the sensitive skin.

Sage kicks at a pile of leaves and they fly up around us, some of them dancing away in the cold breeze.

“Let’s see,” she starts, speaking around a mouthful of muffin. “His dad has a new wife, his mother has a new boyfriend - again - and his twin is otherwise preoccupied. He is very much the odd one out. You have to see how that would suck, right?”

Sage - because she’s always been the wiser of the two of us - has a point. But in my defense, it’s not like I don’t try to include Caiden in our lives, I try as much as Duncan does. His ‘fuck off and die’ attitude gets a little tiresome though, and I find myself still actively trying to avoid any conflict with him.

Cooper, on the other hand, has all the time in the world for Caiden. And why wouldn’t he? They're brothers,twins,and they love each other.

“You have a point,” I say, pursing my lips while Sage nods emphatically.

“Well, we both know I am always right so…” She trails off with laughter as I shoulder check her. “Why not try to make more of an effort with him? Don’t take his surly attitude so personally and then maybe the two of you could be friends. I think the guy needs friends.”

I think over all the parties we’ve been to the past few months - at Caiden’s insistence - and how at every one he’s hooked up with someone new and how he gravitates to the same group of people he calls his friends but how even then he's more of an outlier. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen him with any of them outside of these parties.

“Fine. I’ll make more of an effort. He’s dragging Cooper and by extension, me, to some party this weekend. Cooper hates going but he hates letting his brother down even more. Want to tag along?”

Sage scrunches her nose then nods. “Yeah, okay. I could totally do with putting some cocky boy in his place.”

“And where is that? Under you?”

She smirks at me then stuffs her muffin wrapper into her pocket.

We’ve just reached the door to my first class when a familiar dark haired boy appears through a crowd of students heading into the hall. When our eyes meet, my heart somersaults, and I shove my latte at Sage then race forward to pull him into my arms.

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