Page 3 of Kennedy

“You’ll be fine,” Seymour promised. “My brother-in-law is one of the trainers. You don’t have to worry.”

Thatwas still weird. For all their lives, it had always been the two of them. They were twins, and they’d always been closer than most people were to their siblings. Now, though, Seymour had Jimmy. Through Jimmy, he had more people, like Jimmy’s brother and his mate. Seymour wasn’t only Lewis’s anymore.

Lewis swallowed again. This time, he felt like he might puke for an entirely different reason.

“Come on,” Seymour coaxed gently. “It’s just hanging around with my friends. No one is going to hurt you. Hell, they’ll probably be amused at the way we have to sneak you into the facility.”

“Until one of them decides I don’t belong and cuts my throat.”

Seymour laughed. “No one is going to cut your throat. I’ll protect you if they try.”

“It’s not that I don’t have faith in your abilities, but I’d rather not get to that point.”

Seymour gently squeezed Lewis’s shoulder and pushed him forward. “Just stick around for half an hour, all right? That’s all I ask for.”

Lewis had never been good at saying no to his brother. He was about to try and do just that anyway when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He slid it out in case it was a customer, but at the sight of his mother’s name on the screen, he quickly pushed the phone back into his pocket.

Seymour arched a brow. “Who was that?”

“No one important, and definitely no one I want to deal with now,” Lewis told him.

He didn’t tell him that their mother had been hounding him about giving up the flower shop. He didn’t tell Seymour that even though their parents had accepted Seymour’s relationship with Jimmy and the fact that Seymour wouldn’t dump his entire life to focus completely on his mate, it didn’t mean they’d do the same for Lewis.

He didn’t think he’d lose his parents even if he did meet his mate and decided not to sell the shop, but things had been tense. Lewis was an adult, and as such, he had full control of his life. He already knew he could never give up the shop, not even if his mate asked.

He really hoped his mate wouldn’t. It was hard enough for him to deal with his parents’ demands that he give up his job to find his mate. They knew it might be impossible for him to. For all he knew, his mate lived on the other side of the planet, and he’d never meet them.

He really hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but he also hoped his mate wouldn’t be as traditional as his parents. Lewis had worked hard to set up the flower shop, and he loved it. He had to have faith that his mate would accept that.

Seymour didn’t seem to notice there was anything weird going on, and he continued chatting as they walked down the path. He’d never been happier, and a big part of that was Jimmy. Seymour had met his mate, and he and Jimmy would be together for the rest of their lives.

Lewis wanted the same.

He did want to meet his mate, but at the same time, the thought scared him. If he met his mate, his parents would expect him to follow their traditions and sell the shop. He wasn’t as strong as Seymour, but that wasn’t something he was planning on doing anyway, which meant he might lose his parents over it. They’d accepted that Seymour wouldn’t quit his job because he’d always been an oddity in their family. After all, he’d decided to apply to become a council assassin.

Not that their parents knew that. They’d freak out if they did, which Lewis thought explained the rule that the trainees couldn’t tell anyone what they were doing here. Seymour had broken that rule, but it had always been him and Lewis against the world before, and in a way, it still was.

They’d always be close because they were twins, but Seymour had put some distance between them lately, and it hurt a bit. It was completely understandable, and Lewis wasn’t angry at his brother, but they had to find a new way to be together.

He suspected that pushing to have him here today was part of that.

“You’re going to like almost everyone,” Seymour said. “Most of the trainees are friendly. There are a few dickheads like everywhere, and some of them are so focused on the job that they don’t have time for anything else, let alone friends, but most are great. You might even get to meet Wallace and Hawthorne.”

“I doubt Hawthorne will be happy to see me here.”

Seymour rolled his eyes. “I told him you’d be visiting today.”

Lewis glanced around, half expecting Hawthorne to jump out from one of the doors they walked past. “And he’s fine with it?”

“You’re my brother and family. Of course he’s fine with it. He trusts you as much as I do.”

“He doesn’t know me.”

“But he will soon. You’re the most important person in my life after Jimmy. I want you to get along with him and his brother and Hawthorne and become friends.”

Lewis wanted the same, but if he was honest, Hawthorne scared him a little.

He realized he’d run out of time when Seymour opened a door and ushered Lewis inside. Several people were gathered in what looked like a living room, and Lewis swallowed, hoping they weren’t about to kick him out.

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