Page 59 of The Story of You

He smiled. I wiped off his hands. I smiled back.

* * *

Silas August 1986

It bothered me that Darius hadn’t called. Father told me the police said the trail had gone cold and that we should accept that he wasn’t coming back. I wouldn’t accept it. I carried the letter around in my wallet and read it over at odd times.

Oliver’s hair was longer. Straight on top with curls at the bottom like me when I was his age—he could have been my biological son—unlike Darius whose hair was always bone straight. If I was going to apply to any colleges or write any MCATs for the upcoming school year, I would have had to do that long before now. With Father’s connections, I held a thread of hope it might still be possible and his talk of me going to school wasn’t just talk.

As August waned on, I accepted it wasn’t happening.

ChapterTwenty

Oliver ~ May 22nd 2009

After putting myself through a rigorous ballet workout in our home gym, I should be in the bath soaking, but I’ve been moving between pacing and flopped on our bed reading. I have to talk to Julius about this morning with no idea of how to do it. There’s no proof of anything. I don’t even know what to ask. I’m going to sound like a jealous boyfriend. I can be at times—c’mon, my boyfriend is Julius Vincenzo, and everyone wants a piece of his pert ballerina ass—but overall, not really. I know how much he fucking loves me.

Just get in the bath, Oliver.

I’ve finally convinced myself to get off the bed when Julius strides in. Have three hours passed? Checking the time, they have. Damn.

“Oliver, what are you doing? You’re still in your dance clothes.”

“I might have overdone it. I can’t move.”

“Get in the bath, amore. I’ll join you. I have to make a call.”

“Oh? Who?” The words fall out. I don’t mean them to because that’s mega jealous boyfriend territory and I’m not jealous. I’m suspicious.

He chews his lip and that’s all I need to go full Randall on him. I snap.

“I don’t know what you and Silas have going on, but you’d better tell me, Julius.”

There’s a lot of swearing in Italian. Tugging his hair at the roots. False starts and stops.

I’m feeling all kinds of guilt. I’ve accused him of something without cause. On a look and a feeling. He hasn’t said anything, and it could still go either way—hurt or confession.

“I should have been honest with you, amore.”

My gut knots.

“I would be angry if it were the other way around,” he continues.

“Julius, you’d better start explaining.”

“Lorenzo. He threatened me. If I didn’t go to Italy to dance in his father’s new Company for opening night, he was gonna call his mafia contact.”

“Holy fuck, Juli, the mafia? How’s Silas involved?” Because I know he’s involved. Julius wouldn’t have kept this from me otherwise. I only thought I knew how protective my brother-dad is. I’m getting a better idea as his journaled words tell me that he’s been programmed since my birth to protect me at all costs. Even if that cost is having my boyfriend keep things from me.

God dammit, Silas.

“He negotiated a deal with Lorenzo and Lorenzo’s father. Everything’s fine. Silas has invested in the company and has managed to talk Lorenzo out of his need for me.”

In other words, he paid him off.

“Talk?”

Julius lifts his brows. “He said he’d make sure his feet were unrecognizable as feet.”