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Repocketing the key, I took a deep breath, and for the first time ever, I rang the bell.
“Kai?” Silas’s voice was confused as it came through the ring camera. We all had various security setups in our homes. You never knew when a fan might gettookeen. “Have you forgotten your keys?”
I scratched the back of my neck, suddenly feeling awkward. Perhaps this was a mistake. “Ah—no. Just figured I’d ring the bell.”
There was a long silence. For a moment, I thought Silas wasn’t on the other end of the line.
But he spoke again, the crackle of the speaker doing nothing to hide the challenge in his tone. “What, afraid your boyfriend won’t like it if he knows you’ve used akeyrather than me letting you in? The end result is the same, you know.”
His words sank like stones in my stomach. It was just like I’d told Tristan—Silas was jealous he was being replaced. “Just…let me in, Si. Or would you rather I left?”
The door swung open so suddenly that I jumped back a step. “Jesus! Were you there the whole time?”
Silas lifted his chin, folding his arms over his chest. “Had to make sure you weren’t a weirdo. You can’t trust anyone these days.”
The blow hit solidly in the centre of my chest. Si didn’t give me a chance to respond, just twisted on his heel and stalked towards his kitchen.
When I joined him, he was slamming mugs in front of the boiling kettle. I stayed silent as he made us both a cuppa, not knowing what to say.
You might think him making me tea without asking was a good sign, but it literally meant nothing. Even if your mortal enemy turned up on your doorstep, you’d still be expected to offer them the beverage. Okay, you might make a piss-poor version where the tea bag barely meets the milk, but you’d stillmakeit.
Silas silently passed me my cup. I couldn’t help but notice it was in my mug, a cracked white one we had picked up in Tenby. It hadMuch Ado about Puffinsemblazoned over it. The pun had drawn a rare cackle from me, prompting Silas to buy it to keep for me at his house.
I pushed our past out of my mind as I carried it over to the table and slipped into my usual seat.
But Silas didn’t follow.
Instead, he perched on the kitchen counter, his expression unreadable. “No Tristan this morning?”
“No, he decided to grab some more sleep.”
I didn’t know why, but my words had Silas flinching. “Lucky Tristan.”
“If I’m keeping you up, I can go.” I was already pushing back my chair. “You can go back to bed if you like.”
Silas’s cheeks were flushed as he waved for me to sit back down. “No, that’s not what I—never mind. Why are you here?”
“Do I need a reason?”
Silas hummed as he sipped his tea before putting it behind him. “I never used to think so, but after last night, apparently we do.”
I winced. “Listen, about last night…I didn’t mean for you to leave like that.”
“What, you wanted me to stay and play the third wheel when you’d both made it clear I wasn’t welcome?”
“We didn’t say you weren’t welcome.”
“Right…” He drew the word out in the most sarcastic fashion possible. “That’s why you asked me to leave. And why you said no to dancing with me.”
“I was with myboyfriend,”I said, my frustration making my temper rise. “I’m not going to dance with you in front of him.”
“No, you just do it in front of thousands of fans.”
I didn’t mean to say the words, but they slipped out. “Because you make me.”
Silas reeled back like I’d hit him. “What?”
“Nothing.” I scraped my chair back in alarm, crossing over so I could stand between his legs. “I didn’t mean…”
