Page 13 of Chasing After You
Hayes let out a genuine laugh, surprising me. He shook his head and explained, “The guy could have set up cameras, audio—that sort of thing. Your apartment looks very clean.” He winked, making me flush in embarrassment.
Oliver went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Josh,” he admonished. “There’s only yogurt in here!”
“Yogurt is protein,” I mumbled, wanting to rush over and shut the fridge door. “I typically order stuff in.”
While Oliver started packing clothes into a tote, I stood in the center of the room, not moving. It was surreal. Just a few hours ago, I was pacing in my bathroom, trying to hype myself up to ask for help. Now I was moving in with murderers to run from my little brother. I shuffled my feet, reminding myself to take deep breaths in and out.
“Hey,” Oliver said gently, stepping close. “We’re going to keep you safe.”
I nodded and offered him a wobbly smile.
But safe didn’t feel real anymore.
To be completely honest, I’d only just begun feelingalmostsafe after eight years of quiet.
3
Dorian
I couldn’t shake the bitter feeling in my chest as I watched and listened to the small group that had entered my brother’s apartment with him. My nails dug into my palms. I knew everyone in Josh’s world. The two tall blondes were the small, shy-looking one’s boyfriends. I knew more about the little guy, Oliver, than his partners. Mainly because I’d also spent the last two years growing increasingly jealous of him coveting my brother’s attention and affection.
As far as I knew, Josh hadn’t come out yet. But it wasn’t hard to guess that he at least hadsomeinterests outside of heterosexuality since he was always so buddy-buddy with his friend. Always bringing him free coffee, blushing that pretty pink color when Oliver got too close, even legitimately askingpoint-blank if Oliver was in an open relationship a few months back.
It shouldn’t bother me that he’s finally gotten close to someone after all this time.
But it does—a lot.
It’d been much harder finding any credible information about the Cohen twins. That hadn’t bothered me too much in the past since all they’d shown was disdain for Josh, but now they were in his apartment—the one no one but him ever goes into—and talking aboutmeand the possibility of bugs in his place.
I ground my teeth, trying to keep my breathing steady as I leaned back into the shadows of the stairwell across from Josh’s apartment. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I’d worked too hard, searched too long, followed every breadcrumb to get this close—and now they wereinsidethe place where he was supposed to feel safe. They werepoisoningit with their presence, turning my brother’s quiet little life into a hornet’s nest of suspicion and paranoia.
And yeah, his placewasbugged, but it needed to be.
My hands clenched around the phone I held, the mic long muted, the feed still open. I could hear the edge of panic in Josh’s voice as he tried to downplay me as if I were something shameful, something he had to explain away. I’d forgiven him for leaving. I understood why he did it. But what I couldn’t stomach—what twisted deep and raw in my gut—was the way he looked atthemlike they could protect him fromme.
Fuck them.
They hadn’t pretended to be scared of the dark just because they knew he was lonely and needed comfort at night. They hadn’t watched the way he’d always tried to roll his shoulders in to look smaller. They hadn’t heard him break down when he thought he was alone. They hadn’t seen the way his eyes lit up when he was needed. They hadn’t made him feel wanted. Thatwas me.Iwas the one who kept him whole for as long as I could. And if they thought they could take him from me now, they were sorely mistaken.
He was mine.
Mine.
Victoria and Danielgavehim to me.
But then that bitch had to get involved. Fucking lied to me. Told me that Josh had abandoned me, wanted nothing to do with me, when she was the one who took him from me.
I still didn’t have all of the details on what happened back then, but I knew the gist of it. Josh would fill me in on the rest once we were back together. I sighed longingly and continued watching the video feed, sneering at the screen as they talked about Josh moving in with them for “safety.”
I’d watched the twins for long enough that I knew they couldn’t care less about my brother’s well-being. This was definitely Oliver’s idea, and they were going along with it to please him.
I would need to stake out their house and hopefully plant some bugs inside. He’d never gone over there before today, so there hadn’t been a need until now. However, I was starting to worry about their home security since they’d been the ones to bring up bugs in the first place. I was crossing my fingers that they were just role-playing detectives or something and didn’t actually have much knowledge on the subject.
If they were smart, they’d be afraid of me. But they weren’t. They were cocky, comfortable in their slick black clothes and expensive boots, leaning into each other like they owned the world. I’d seen their type before—they thought their polished threats and idle violence made them invincible. But they didn’t know me. They didn’t know how patient I could be, how long I could wait in silence with a smile on my face, letting rot fester under my skin.
They’d regret getting involved soon enough.
I scrolled back through old footage—Josh alone in his apartment, curled up with a book or talking on the phone, humming to himself and shaking his hips to songs he probably would never admit listening to. It felt so special to see into the Josh he tried to hide from the world.
