Chapter 3

POSEIDON POV

“I am full.” 

I announced dropping my cutlery onto the table and tearing out of the dining room. As soon as I was out of sight, I leaned against the wall, aggressively clutching my chest to calm my savagely beating heart. My thoughts wandered about the place, trying to figure out how the hell it all came to this.

It has been a year. A whole year with my mind in gutters, trying to decipher what had actually gone down that night. It has been a year since I have been questioning every single thing about my life, trying to find answers to millions of questions that kept me awake at night. A whole year of me convincing myself that I was normal, call me homophobic but I knew there was no way I could ever be… that way. I mean it couldn’t be true.

With a heavy inner struggle, I climbed the stairs hurriedly, taking two at a time until I arrived on my floor and ran straight into my bedroom. After slamming the door and ensuring that it was locked, I plopped myself onto the bed and thought. Hard. The first thing to pop into my mind was how HE happened to be my stepbrother, who was in case you didn’t know, going to sleep right across the hallway from me.

To say I was confused would be an utter understatement. 

How the hell did I end up here? I mean, how the hell did ‘the boy’ turn out to be my stepbrother living in the same house as me? Up to this day, I was still trying to figure out what the hell had happened, and why the hell my body behaved the way it did with him. 

And I tell you, I have not found even a single answer. It was as if he popped out of nowhere, flipped my world upside down leaving me with millions of questions, then disappeared into thin air. That particular feeling I felt when he was in my arms, I have been seeking it since. And to my rotten luck, nobody on this earth seemed to live up to all of it.

And when he showed up, everything seemed to have paused. As soon as he had stepped into the room, the first thing I caught was the whiff of his perfume, sandalwood. The scent that was magically printed on my brain. And right then, all of my senses stood on their toes, waiting to see who it was. Him! It could only be him. Sitting across from him at the dinner table made all the memories of that night flash across my eyes like a tape recorder.

For the rest of the night, I lay awake in my bed, thinking about how the hell this drama was going to play. As much as I wanted to hate it, a very small part of me was happy that he showed. 

A very small part.

~~~

 PIERRE POV

I woke up from a faint vibration of my phone, only to realize I have missed 2 calls and had more than 10 unread messages. Just like that, sleep decided to part ways with me until further notice and I embraced the birth of the new day. The screen flashed one more time signaling the incoming call, and on the screen was written Marc with a small burning heart. 

Not a typical thing for a 17-year-old boy but then who cares. 

After shifting into a comfortable position, I swiped across the screen and waited… The first thing I heard was the loud bangs and the sounds of the machines drilling, with a faint sound of music playing in the background. There was a little shuffling before the background noise quieted down, leaving room for hushed pants.

“Pierre?” Marc’s voice boomed into the speaker and I found myself thinking of all the good times we had. At that moment, I was down by the fencing border overlooking the vast Rhône with a boy whose skin was as pale as snow.

“Pierre, are you there?” He called out again and I almost jumped out of the bed.

“Hi,” I said softly causing his breathing to halt, then a soft chuckle to follow.

“Est-ce que je t’ai reveille?” 

“No. I was already awake.” I lied, for no reason at all. But I wasn’t going to have him blame himself for waking me up early in the morning. 

“What time is it?” it was only then I glanced at the bedside clock which signaled that it was a little after 6 in the morning.

“Un peu après 6 heures du matin.” I replied causing him to heave out a loud sigh.

“So you were sleeping.” He said, and it was my turn to chuckle. We didn’t say anything for the next few seconds, just listened to him as he continued working. Marc was my long-time friend whom I may have tried to date along the way. But the relationship wasn’t a very good idea since it failed right at the beginning. But one thing I was thankful for was that in him, I found a friend whom I trusted more than life itself. I know trust is farfetched but Marc got me like nobody else. 

And it was safe to say he held a very special position in my heart.

“So…” He started, and I knew by the long pause what was coming next.

“The boy huh?” He said simply, and it was my turn to sigh out defeatedly.

“Est-li beau?” His question had me rolling my eyes heavenward and stifling a peal of laughter. Of course, Marc Durand was only interested in that kind of thing. 

“Take two most handsome men in the world, combine them together and add to the mixture the impossibly smooth skin with the world’s bluest eyes. You get Poseidon.” I gave a brief explanation.

“Hmmm hmmm hmmm…” I could almost see him pursing his lips and nodding furiously.

“So he is a looker.” He added, and I nodded.

“Well, it is not a bad thing, is it? I mean the first guy you have ever been with lives with you under the same roof. You guys have plenty of time to sneak out.”

“Marc…” I barked out loud and even jumped to the sitting position.

“Whaaaaat?” He dared to laugh after saying a lewd monstrosity.

“That’s incest.” I pointed out the obvious knowing damn well he wasn’t going to have it.

“And?”

“The boy is my stepbrother.”

“Uh-huh. Stepbrother. Meaning you have all the right to hump him to your heart’s content.” He said and all I wanted at that moment was to give him a good smack. Before I could come up with words to answer him, a faint knock came from the door, and for some reason, I froze in my posture. One, it wasn’t my mom because the knock was rather too forceful than hers. 

“Come in…” I hated the tremor that was laced in my voice, and my heart went on a race when the door slowly creaked open and in came none… but my nemesis and the epitome of my sweet nightmares. 

His hair was still wet on his head, signaling he had just jumped out of the shower and my sensitive nose caught a whiff of his scent from where I was. The loose gray sweats he had on and the white muscle vest put everything I wanted to see out on display- an utter feast for my eyes. Marc and his rumblings were instantly forgotten since all I could think of was the man who had infested my bedroom.

“You’re up. That's good.” He said plainly and walked further into the room, stealing a gallon of air with every step he took. He stood an inch from my bed and glared down at me. On his forehead were deep furrows, his blue eyes insanely blue from the long hours of sleep. Gods really didn't play fair when it came to this one. No one was allowed to be this dashing at fuckin' six in the morning. 

HORREUR!

“My room is just across the hall.” He informed, and I just sat there, mute as fuck trying to engage my mind to work.

“You’re going to be enrolled in Rhodez.” It was a semi-question, at least from the way he said it. I gave him a small nod and he returned it with a firm one. He went in by stuffing his hands in his pockets, causing his muscles to buck and bulge insanely before turning around.

“Get ready. Breakfast is in 10.” He didn’t wait for me to respond as he started to walk out. I didn’t know that my eyes were still shamelessly glued on him until he cleared his throat, causing me to shake my mind out of the haze. 

“Sorry, what?” I asked with a squeaky voice,

“That guy on the phone is about to lose it!” And with that, he exited my room. After leaving, the air was all of a sudden, efficient for respiration and I searched for my phone that got lost during the… whatever that was.

“Marc?” I called out after finding my voice.

“That was him right?” the nosy bastard taunted, and defeatedly, I dropped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. 

“Let me call you back later.” We said our goodbyes before hanging up. The next thing the little voice in my head screamed was:

WHAT A WAY TO START A DAY.