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Gabriel leaned close, and his voice was very quiet. “Please.
Please, talk to me.”
Nick had to swallow. He felt his brother’s pain in those words, how much this imposed distance had hurt him. If Nick was being strictly honest with himself, it had hurt him, too. He missed his brother.
He kept his voice very low. “What did Adam say?”
Gabriel grimaced. “He said I needed to ask you.”
“I knew you already thought of me as . . . as something lesser. I didn’t—”
“Nick, you are not—”
“Don’t. Gabriel, don’t.”
“I have never thought you were lesser, Nick. Never. Do you understand me? Sometimes—sometimes I envy you. Your control—you’re stronger than the rest of us.”
Nick looked at him. “I am not.”
Gabriel nodded. “You are. Look at what happened in the woods.”
Nick didn’t say anything to that. His eyes fixed on the seat in front of him again.
“Nicky—” Gabriel made a frustrated noise. “Nick. If you think you’re lesser because of the whole g*y thing, that’s just insane—”
“Is it?” Nick snapped his head around, suddenly furious again. “You made it so easy to tell you all about it.”
Gabriel flinched. He swallowed. “You’re right.” He paused.
“I was wrong. So wrong.”
They sat there in silence for the longest time, the air full of music and unspoken thoughts.
Finally Nick cut a glance sideways. “I didn’t—I didn’t trust you not to let me down. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
“And when you took a chance, I blew it.” He paused. “You needed me. For the first time, you really needed me.”
Nick looked at him. “Yeah, Gabriel. I did.”
Gabriel didn’t look away. “I’m sorry.” He paused. “Will you give me a chance to make it up to you?”
Nick nodded. “Okay.”
He expected Gabriel to hug him, but his brother whipped out his phone and started texting.
Nick watched his fingers fly across the screen. “What are you doing?”
“Telling Hunter to get everyone down here. Aren’t Adam and Quinn up soon?”
“Yes—but they’ll never get here in time—”
“Sure they will. They’re waiting in the back of the auditorium.”
“Waiting—what?”
Gabriel finished his message and looked up. “Oh, you didn’t think I was coming alone to support your new boyfriend, did you?”
Quinn stood beside Adam and peeked around the corner of the curtain, looking for Nick.
