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“Yeah? Hasn’t felt like it lately.”
I blinked. I should leave. Eavesdropping like this was wrong… and yet the chance to get some real answers was too tempting. So I tried not to breathe, my hand still frozen on the door knob.
“Who’s fault is that?” Leander asked, clearly angry. “I told you from the beginning Geena was a mistake.”
“Oh, fuck you. I didn’t hear you complaining while everything was good.”
Another punch hit the heavy bag. “Things were never good.” Another punch.
“Weren’t they?” Janus pressed.
“Fuck you. Look where it got us.”
“It got us here. With a perfect opportunity.”
I squinted into the darkness at the top of the landing. What opportunity?
Leander didn’t say anything, but I heard the noise of tape ripping, like he was pulling it off his knuckles. Crap, if they were done, they might be coming upstairs. They couldn’t catch me eavesdropping like this.
I was just about to pull away when Janus said, “Nope, not gonna let you ignore me on this one, brother. Especially when I’ve seen the way you look at her.”
“Lena?” Leander laughed out loud. “Then you clearly haven’t been paying attention.”
“You know I’m not talking about fucking Lena.”
I’d taken a step back but I froze again at that. Not Lena? Then who were they talking about…?
Leander’s laughter cut off abruptly. “No.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because I fucking said so.”
Janus scoffed. “Not fucking good enough. She’s perfect. And she likes you. She likes us both. Well, she will. If we give her time. And actually fucking talk to her instead of pulling this hermit asshole thing you’ve been doing.”
“Shut up!” Leander said. “She’s a good girl. Just look at her. She was in fucking pigtails when we met her. She doesn’t do our kind of—”
“We don’t know unless we ask.”
“I said no. Because we aren’t crossing that line again. Now fuck off.”
Oh my God, they couldn’t be— I mean, was it even possible they were talking about… me?
“I’m not letting this go.”
But then Leander just roared, “I fucking said no,” and then I heard a collision of bodies. Like they were wrestling, and not just the friendly brotherly kind.
“You son of a bitch! I’ll take you any day of the week,” Janus said, and I heard another smack. Bodies hitting the ground. My mouth dropped open and I was paralyzed. I wanted to run down and get between them, to stop them. At the same time, another part of me wanted to run back to the kitchen because going down there seemed insane. Almost as ludicrous as the thought that they could possibly be fighting about me!
“You and Milo think you can run my life but you fucking can’t. I’m saying no.”
“Stop being such a sanctimonious prick! Oh boo hoo. You’re a privileged asshole. Milo and I keep your schedule straight so you can live exactly the kind of life you want. But I get some goddamned say in this life we lead too. And this is what’s right for us.”
“You self-righteous son of a bitch,” Leander said. “You think you understand everything because we share DNA. But everything comes so easily to you. You have no fucking idea.”
“Poor little rich and famous boy,” Janus mocked.
“Wannabe,” Leander taunted him back. “Couldn’t get your own acting career so you have to take the crumbs you can by pretending to be me whenever you can.”
Enough. I didn’t care if it was me they were fighting about or not. I didn’t know if this was something they’d needed to let out for awhile or what, but I needed to stop them before they said words they couldn’t take back.
I flew down the stairs just in time to see the twins circling each other, feet moving in an identical pattern. One had a shirt on, the other, Leander, I assumed, was drenched in sweat, glistening body on display with only a pair of joggers on.
Janus charged his brother with a roar of fury, and I screamed, “Stop! What are you two doing!”
Janus’s momentum was already carrying him forward though, so he and Leander collided in a less-than-graceful pile in the center of the weight room floor.
Janus was already trying to pop up and throw Leander off, smiling towards me like I hadn’t walked in on him about to eviscerate his own brother. Leander wasn’t so distracted, though, and got in a good punch before giving in.
Janus curled over in pain, clutching his jaw as Leander looked up and swore under his breath. “Shit. Sorry, Hope.”
“Jesus,” came Milo’s voice distantly. Janus worked his jaw, eyes watering. “Don’t we have enough going on without the two of you beating the shit outta each other?”
Janus held up a hand, “I’m fine.” Which might have been more meaningful if his words hadn’t come out without any consonants, “I fiii—”
“Are you really okay?” I ran over to Janus and flashed angry, confused eyes at Leander. I was so confused about everything I’d just witnessed. In fact, I was already second-guessing what I thought I’d heard. The issues between them were obviously about more than some argument over a girl, anyway. “Janus?” I asked, putting a hand to his cheek where I could already see a red mark blooming.
