Page 50 of Strictly Curious
My ears rang and I could feel my pulse in my fingertips as I climbed the stairs to our rooms. Was it normal to feel like I was going to pass out approaching a situation like this?
I stood outside Tyler’s door, shifting back and forth. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath before tentatively raising my hand to knock. He didn’t answer, so I tried the door handle and relaxed when I realized that he’d left it unblocked.
He was buried underneath the blankets, a mound in the middle of his bed, as I entered his room. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to hide from everything. So, as carefully as I could, I lifted the blankets and crawled in behind him, wrapping myself around him. God, he was still shaking.
“Ty,” I whispered, pulling him tightly into my chest. He finally let loose the first real sob since he’d seen the posts.
“Ty, you have every right to be upset right now. That shouldn’t happen to anyone and part of me wants to fucking kill Toby for that. He should have fucking known better, and I still can’t wrap my head around why he keeps bothering us.”
His cries broke with little hiccups. His whole body trembled, but I let him ride this out. There was no point in telling him to shake this off. He was allowed to feel every last bit of pain he was feeling right now and I would be here to comfort him through it.
“And I feel responsible for Maisy. I honestly thought we could trust her, but I’m learning more and more that maybe I’m not the greatest judge of character. Hell, I thought Toby was a great guy too.”
“Don’t…” he demanded. His arm shifted, grabbing my hand. His voice shook so bad while he tried to talk, it broke with random sobs as his body continued to shiver and shake. “Don’t you dare blame yourself. None of this would have happened had I not pushed you.”
Shit, was he trying to take the blame? Because he’d been curious? There was nothing wrong with him wanting to explore that part of him and I was a safe option.
I kissed his shoulder as he continued to quiver against me. He held on to my hand and I kept providing comfort in the best way that I could. We were running out of time and I needed to talk to him about how we were going to handle things when Mom and Dad came through that front door.
Hopefully Ava and Lucy had gone home with Aunt Joyce and Uncle Albert. I hadn’t checked to see if any of those notifications were from them, but that wasn’t my priority. Tyler was. Tyler would always be my top priority.
Tyler
Itfeltlikeittook forever for the tears to finally stop. I hated that I had become an emotional sobbing mess over this, but this was a fucking disaster. Something had felt off the second Maisy had left yesterday, and it hadn’t just been because of the alcohol.
Because she and I had been friends still, though very distant since the split, I hadn’t expected such a drastic betrayal. For her to outright say that I had told her what was going on so publicly was humiliating. More than humiliating. She stabbed me in the back and outed me to everyone. It was unforgivable. I was still sorting myself out and trying to figure out what exactly Garrett and I were.
Were we boyfriends or just stepbrothers who fucked? God, I wanted so much more with him, and I felt like the opportunity to talk to him about that was slipping away. That Dad and Mom were on their way here, they had to know. It had to be the only reason they’d called my phone so many times and the reason Garrett had said he didn’t want to discuss things over the phone.
Were they mad? Disappointed?
I took several deep breaths to help will my body to relax. My eyes burned from the tears and my muscles ached from the shaking my body had done while I’d sobbed like a child.
Garrett’s warm presence at my back had been more than comforting. He didn’t push for me to hurry up and calm down. He let me cry it out. That had spoken volumes to me. He was always so patient and calm. There was never a rush for anything and it was always at my speed. He showed he cared without having to say anything.
“When will they be here?” I asked, my voice cracking from the exertion of my meltdown. I squeezed his hand to let him know I was ready to talk about this.
The blanket over us shifted, assuming he was checking the clock. He pulled it back over us and I was thankful that we still had this safe little cocoon to hide in for now.
“Honestly? We probably only have about twenty minutes before they get here.”
I pinched my eyes closed because I knew I had taken most of our time, grieving over the loss of my friend, my sexuality, and everyone knowing that I was involved with my stepbrother. But Garrett hadn’t rushed me to get over it. I was so thankful for that, because I needed every second to get through the feelings of betrayal and anger. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, rolling in his embrace so we could face each other.
Garrett’s brow creased with concern and he gently ran the back of his hand along my tear stained cheek. “Don’t be sorry. You had every right to be that upset. We still have some time to talk about things before they get here.”
I nodded, biting my lip as I gathered my thoughts. I didn’t know how he wanted to approach this with them. Should we try to deny it? The evidence was right there in picture form on social media for all to see, so denying would be pretty damn hard.
“Ty, I don’t want to hide you. I don’t want to hide us. But I’d do whatever you are comfortable doing.”
My heart cracked in my chest, and I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. He said the sweetest things sometimes. He wasn’t the typical bad boy jock, and he’d always taken care of me. I loved that he wasn’t ashamed of me, or of us.
I was in love with him.
Shit. I was in love with him.
I pressed against his lips harder, wanting to convey the realization, but there was no time to take things further. There was no guarantee he was even picking up on what I was trying to say. The words were stuck in my throat and I wanted them to burst free, but damn, this was such shitty timing and I hated this was the circumstance when my heart and mind woke up to how I felt about him.
Garrett’s warm hands framed my face and pushed the hair that had fallen out of the way. I probably looked like a complete mess, but his expression was filled with so much affection. Maybe he understood me without having to say it. I could see it reflected right back at me.
