Tyler quickly draws away almost as abruptly as he kissed me in the first place, and he flashes his eyes back to Snake. “Give me your opinion,” he orders. “Right now.”
I look at Snake. He’s staring back at us from the kitchen, his posture frozen, and he does nothing but blink at us. He’s a little stunned, but that’s okay. I expect people to be shocked at first. Slowly, he swallows and exchanges a rather concerned glance with Emily. “What the fuck?” he says. Pulling a face, he breathes an uncomfortable laugh, unsure of what to think and what to say.
“I’m in love with her,” Tyler tells him, and his voice is so soft and so honest that I can’t help but smile sideways at him. I think I could listen to Tyler say those words over and over again, forever on repeat. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of hearing him say it out loud.
“But . . .” Snake tapers off and glances to Emily again, as though he’s looking for backup. He must wonder why she’s not as shocked as he is and why she’s smiling as she watches the scene unfold before her. Snake shakes his head and exhales. “Aren’t you guys, like, stepsiblings?”
“Yeah,” I say, brave enough to speak up and defend our case. I’m done feeling as though I’m doing something wrong just because I fell for my stepbrother. I know it’s okay. “So we’re not related by blood,” I explain. “We didn’t grow up together so we don’t view each other as siblings. Get it?” I widen my eyes at him as innocently as I can, praying that he’ll understand and that he’ll hopefully come to terms with it. Right now, he still looks a little taken aback.
“Uhh . . . So are you guys dating or what?” he asks. He grips the edge of the kitchen worktop with one hand and then scratches his head with the other. “Is this even real right now or are you guys just messing with me?”
“We’re not dating,” Tyler answers in reply to his first question, his voice firm. “It’s complicated. Just tell me what’s going through your mind right now.”
Snake shrugs. “I mean, it’s a little weird,” he admits. “My parents are totally religious. I’m pretty sure they’d expect me to report you guys to Jesus.” He eases up a little, rolling his eyes, then turning to pull open a cupboard door and searching around inside it. He pulls out a bag of Doritos and opens it up. As he leans back against the farthest worktop, he tosses a couple chips into his mouth and chews loudly while studying Emily. “What do you think about all of this?” he asks her after a minute.
“I already knew,” Emily says with a shrug. She shuffles the scraps of paper in her hands. “It doesn’t bother me.”
Snake munches on several more chips as he thinks, tilting his head a degree to the side. “It’s a little weird,” he says again, “but I don’t have a problem with it.” He starts to smile but it quickly transforms into a smirk instead as he raises an eyebrow at Tyler. “So do you guys have kinky family traditions?”
Both Tyler and I let out a laugh at the exact same time, but our moment of relief doesn’t last long. There’s a knock at the door that draws all of our attention. Not just any old knock, either, but a pounding rap that echoes around the apartment. It’s relentless and so forceful that it’s blatantly obvious it’s fueled by anger. I glance to Tyler as panic sweeps through me. It’s late at night. We’re all here. There’s only one other person who’d turn up at this time and there’s only one person who could possibly be livid enough to bang on the door like that. Tyler realizes this too, because his eyes pool with dread as he swallows. We both know it’s Dean. Tiffani must have finally told him the truth.
“Don’t open the door,” Snake blurts out quickly in a low voice, squeezing the bag of Doritos tight in his hand. “Sounds like a cop.”
“It’s not a cop,” I say quietly, but my eyes never leave the door. Dean’s still knocking. After a second he yells my name, and the moment I hear the strain in his voice, my heart breaks. He definitely knows. He knows the truth and he found out in the worst way possible. I know I have to open the door. I’ve got to face him, however much I really don’t want to.
Tyler, Snake and Emily watch me in silence as I force my body across the apartment. My legs feel stiff and my stomach feels unsettled, and when I reach the door I slowly unlock it. I pull it open.