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It broke my heart when his eyes fluttered shut and a flush of embarrassment deepened the stains on his cheeks. He nodded and with a grace I lacked at the best of times; he stood with the comforter wrapped around him.

“I’m going to get ready for the day. Thank you for waking me.”

His words were stilted and shaky, but before I could respond and find the words to reassure him he had done nothing wrong, he was behind the door of his bathroom. The click of the lock, along with the devastation on Ollie’s face, was more than enough to propel me back to my room for a shower.

When I stumbled downstairs, a band of tightness wrapped around my heart when Ollie, who sat next to Omi, giving her his full attention while ignoring my presence, made me stride past them into the kitchen, seeking coffee.

“Fuck!” I whispered under my breath.

I reiterated the sentiment when I left with a full plate of food and a mug of black coffee, ready to salvage the hurt I’d caused. But instead of the beautiful Ollie sitting with the rest of my family, he’d disappeared and five pairs of eyes glared at me.

“What did you do?”

I sat and took a bite, holding off the conversation for as long as possible.

Mama walked in from the kitchen with her arms crossed and her brows pinched as she stared at me. Shit! She hadn’t chastised me like this since I made the tabloids when they found out about the foursome I had with porn stars during a weekend of debauchery in Las Vegas several years before.

“Nothing. He was embarrassed because I woke him up from a realistic dream and I reassured him it was fine.”

Sam wandered in and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Our dumbass brother here hurt Ollie and we’re trying to figure out what he did,” Emilia said.

“Good, maybe he’ll leave now.”

The entire room froze, and I growled at my older brother. I loved the man, and knew underneath the gruff, untrusting exterior, the man had a heart of gold, but this was pushing it too far. Before I could speak, Linus beat me to it.

“For fuck’s sake, Sam, stop being such a monumental fucking dickhead! Ollie’s done nothing to you,” Linus shouted.

Sam dropped into a chair and opened his mouth a few times, shocked at being chastised by a teenager. Instead of apologizing or waiting to be yelled at for cursing, Linus, followed by Lyric and Landon, left the dining room, each shooting both Sam and me dirty looks.

“Well, shit,” Sam breathed out.

“They have a point,” Omi said.

“What?”

She exchanged an exasperated look with Emilia, who shook her head and rolled her eyes before she turned back to us.

“It’s been three days since his parents kicked him out of his house with no phone and no idea if he’s capable of taking care of himself. On top of that, he’s flown across the country to start a new life. He’s worked hard for years to survive because he’s known of the possibility his parents would reject him, and they proved him right in the most atrocious way when they confirmed he was gay. And the friend he was supposed to stay with left because of circumstances out of her control. On top of all that, you, Connor, who have only acquaintances you fuck and wouldn’t know a committed relationship if it slapped you in the face, have done nothing but flirt with the kid and get his hopes up while you, Sam, have treated him like absolute shit for being invited here. Why do you think he wouldn’t be comfortable around us?” Omi asked.

There was nothing I could say to refute her observations. Abandoning my food, I headed upstairs to find Ollie sitting behind his desk, typing away, and the triplets nowhere to be found.

I knocked, unsure if I would be welcome, but the typing continued.

For the life of me, I never thought of myself as more important than anyone else. If I didn’t have my family to keep me grounded, the many rejections I received about staying in my lane as an action star and not branching out into more serious roles would have done the job.

And yet there I was, drawn to Ollie in a way I’ve never been with any other person before, yet dismissing him and his feelings as if I were a god to be worshipped, and then smiting him for doing what I wanted him to do. His gaze felt like a caress, and while it strummed my body in ways I’ve never felt before, I freaked out and took out my confusion out on the one man who wouldn’t have it in him to hurt anyone.

“Ollie?”

His head tilted to the side. “Hmm.”

Although his typing continued, I knew he was listening.

“I wanted to apologize for earlier.”

At my words, he turned around in his chair after I noticed he backed up his work and looked me in the eye.