Page 3 of Devil May Hunt
“All the time.” He hiccupped and laughed. “There are different levels, different stages, but I’m always drowning in one way or another. Right now?” He slammed a fist against the center of his chest, the burst of pain welcomed. “It’s the sad kind. The kind where I’m sinking and I can’t do anything to stop it.”
More accurately, the kind where he didn’t want to do anything to stop it. Where he gave in to the sadness and the forlorn feeling, and his dark thoughts got the best of him. Where he believed all those negatives spoken about him, by others, and by himself.
Where he admitted he was secretly lonely.
No one would believe that either. On paper, he had the perfect life. Rich, mildly attractive, had friends…
The money was his parent’s, mildly attractive wouldn’t get him noticed, and as for the friends…Daylen and Calder had made their distaste clear. They didn’t agree with what he’d done to Rin either. Stuck around for the same reasons Rin did.
Out of convenience.
Great. Now he sounded entitled and ungrateful.
“I didn’t know you felt this way,” Rin said. “You’ve always seemed…dull.”
He chuckled. “Do you think it’s boring to drown? It takes a lot of energy.”
The room spun around him, and he closed his eyes against it for a minute. It helped with the dizziness, but not the weight crushing him. That inescapable weight that made him feel he didn’t matter and had no control.
Hell, he was one of the richest guys on the whole planet, but he couldn’t find one thing to truly call his own. Couldn’t find a single thing to help breathe fresh air back into his lungs.
He’d thought, maybe, with how close they were, that thing could be Rin, but he’d been wrong.
“Maybe I never even liked you at all,” he murmured. “Maybe I just thought you could stop me from drowning.”
“Would you like help?” Rin asked, and Brennon frowned.
“What?”
“I don’t know enough about drowning yet. But the other thing. That I can grasp. Your misplaced crush. Getting over it?” he reiterated. “Would you like help?”
Getting over it wasn’t the issue, but he couldn’t say that, even as drunk as he was. Besides, what a weird thing to say, but… “Yeah. Hell. Why not? How?”
Rin took one last sip of the fancy drink he’d been milking for…however long this conversation had lasted, and then stood, motioning toward the left with his chin. “Follow me.”
“Sure.” Brennon snatched his beer and then stumbled after Rin as his friend weaved through the crowd. He bumped into dancers as he went, bowing his head now and again in silent apology. The room wasn’t spinning or anything like that, but he could tell he’d passed his limits. It took all his willpower, but he set the beer down on a cluttered table by the stairs in the far back before following Rin up them.
“Where are we going?” he called, needing to yell to be heard over the rapid beats of the music this close to the dance floor.
Either Rin didn’t hear him or he ignored him, continuing up to the second level of the club without so much as a backward glance. He was that certain Brennon would be there, following him.
He scowled at himself, but didn’t stop or turn back.
Truthfully, he just wanted things to return to the way they’d once been. He was happy for Rin, glad he’d found someone he loved, and had come to terms with the fact he’d never be able to get between him and Kelevra. But it still hurt that there was tension between them, that he couldn’t be trusted alone with him—
“Why’d you come back?” Brennon picked up at the pace on the landing, reaching out to grab Rin’s shoulder to slow himdown when he headed toward one of the halls branching off to the private rooms. “Hey. Where’s the prince?”
“At home, I imagine.” Rin shook him off and kept going, leading him down the corridor toward a shut door at the very end.
“…You’re not Rin, are you?” Brennon came to a stop with him in front of the door, eyes narrowing before he swore. “Damn it, Sila. What gives?!”
He should have realized sooner that he was with Rin’s twin brother instead. His friend had already left and looked about ready to jump Kelevra. There was no way he’d come back to the club, especially not alone.
“Don’t blame me for your intoxication,” Sila chuckled. “You should be more careful, Bren. There are a lot of wolves here tonight.”
“What the hell does that mean?” He pointed at the door. “What’s in there?”
The two of them didn’t hang out. Sila was a student at Vail University, whereas his brother Rin attended the Academy with Brennon and the others. Though the twins were extremely close, their social lives didn’t have much overlap. They’d started mixing their friend groups a bit more recently, but this was probably the first time he’d ever been alone with Sila.
