Page 119 of A Cold Hard Truth

Remington sighed, thinking back through all the books he’d read, the words he’d defined, the lessons he’d learned so he could put words to the extremely complicated way Sebastian felt about his oldest brother.

“Apotheosize,” Sebastian said from behind him.

Rhys looked past Remington, and Remington turned around, finding a sleep tousled Sebastian in the entrance to the kitchen, wearing a pair of basketball shorts with a prep school logo on the leg and nothing else.

“Well, that’s wholly undeserved, brother,” Rhys said.

“Agreed,” Remington added.

“I dislike you, Rhys, because I’ll never be you.” Sebastian joined Remington at the counter, taking a seat on the stool to his left. Remington pushed his mug of coffee in Sebastian’s direction.

“Every time I look at you, I see everything that I’ll never be.”

“Alone?” Rhys scoffed.

“Driven,” Sebastian corrected. “Talented. Brilliant.”

Rhys pursed his lips.

“Lonely,” Remington added, and Rhys rolled his eyes, but didn’t disagree.

“This isn’t a life I want for you,” Rhys said, leveling a sharp look at his brother. “Do you really want to have this conversation in front of someone else?”

Rhys gestured toward Remington, and he stood to leave, but Sebastian stopped him. “I love him.”

Remington choked on his spit.

“I love him,” Sebastian said again, “and I’ll tell him about it later if he’s not here, so he might as well be.”

“I can go,” Remington said.

Heshouldgo. Hearing about the brothers baring their hearts to each other in retrospect would be enough.

“I don’t want you to.” Sebastian’s fingers flexed around his arm, holding him in place. “Rhys and I are not the hug it out type. This will not be a thing.”

“That’s for sure,” Rhys muttered from the other side of the kitchen.

“I’m able to have this moment because of you,” Sebastian said, his tired eyes shining bright and sure. “And I like being with you. I feel better with you.”

That was something they would need to work on. Remington had no issue giving Sebastian guidance and support, but he wanted Sebastian to be comfortable standing on his own, too. That would probably be a long-term goal, though, he thought. Remington settled back against the barstool and took Sebastian’s hand with a silent nod.

“Alright.” Rhys shrugged, checking something on his phone before speaking again. “I think it needs to be said that if anything I say leaves this room…”

“It won’t,” Remington promised.

“It won’t.”

Rhys pursed his lips, expression weary. “Callahan McMillian is the biggest regret of my life.”

“Fucking rude, Rhys,” Sebastian snapped. “He’s my best friend.”

“Not like that.” Rhys sighed. “I’ve never cared for anyone the way I cared for him, Sebastian, and I did not do right by him.”

“You dumped him because he got old.”

“I dumped him to get it over with,” Rhys corrected. “Father…he told me…he said I could never.”

“Never what?” Remington asked.