Dante’s eyes narrow and he moves his head from left to right, cracking his neck. I’m breathing heavily and staring right back. I feel fingers wrap around my upper arms from behind. The static charge I get lifts the hair on my arms, and the baby hairs around my face fan out like I’m touching a plasma ball.
“Let’s just take this down a notch,” Milo mutters behind me. I twist my neck, surprised to find he’s the one holding me. I jerk my shoulders and step to the side, pulling free from his grasp. A gleam under the table catches my eye. I stoop and grab my keys from the floor, shoving them in my front pocket. My breathing is still choppy, but I don’t feel like I grabbed an electric fence anymore. Ollie skirts the couch, stepping closer to me. I scan the three of them. Why did I come here? Desperation… loneliness?
“I think maybe I should go.” I wrap my hands over my stomach looking at the ground. Milo’s grunt of annoyance proceeds him throwing his arms in the air.
“Can we drop all the drama for like five minutes and have a conversation?” He stares directly at me. My back goes rigid, and I drop my arms to my sides. He’s blaming me for all this?
“Say whatever you need to say.” I narrow my eyes on him. “Then leave me the hell alone.” I separate myself from them by walking over to the wall and leaning against it.
“Not fucking possible,” Milo utters under his breath.
“Oh, I assure you, it is,” I snap back. Dante shakes his head and drops onto the sofa in a messy sprawl.
“Can we just rewind a few days?” Dante lifts his head off the back of the sofa, looking around. Milo drops down next to him and offers his knuckles for a fist bump. “Okay, so I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you don’t know anything about our connection?”
I thin my lips and shake my head in denial. Dante nods his head in agreement. “Did you want to sit down, or… maybe your drink?” More avoidance. When I huff and roll my eyes, Dante continues, “I never expected we’d have to explain this to our Synergist. This isn’t exactly easy for any of us either.”
I rub my forehead, searching for patience. It would be easier if we could rewind a few days. Two days ago Dante was broody and quiet, but I didn’t think he was the dick Ollie accused him of being. Milo’s always been more standoffish, but not the way he’s being now. What changed yesterday?
Deciding I want the answers they’re promising, I walk over to the low table in front of the couch where I found my keys and sit, my legs folded in front of me with my hands in my lap. Ollie takes a seat next to Dante on the couch, while Milo chooses to move away from our group and lean against the small kitchen counter. I don’t take it as a good sign.
“Is it bad that I wish Ares was here to do this?” Dante winces and looks over to Ollie. Who shakes his head no, and grimaces.
“It’s only going to get harder to control, we have to do this,” Milo states flatly.
Ollie places his hand on Dante’s shoulder in a show of support. “Start with our story,” he offers softly.
Dante drops his elbows to his knees and grabs his head in his hands. “That’s not any easier to explain.” He looks up and meets my eyes briefly. “You know she’s going to think we’re crazy, right?”
“Not after see sees it, feels it for real.” Ollie scoots forward on the seat. “So, you know Dante has a brother, Ares.” He looks at me waiting for a response. I nod. Their wariness is wearing off on me. “Our parents were close friends, so all four of us grew up more like brothers than friends. I can’t remember a time I wasn’t at one of their houses or they were at mine.” Ollie gets a small smile on his face while looking across the room. “Me and Milo are only children, it’s uncommon for a grouping to have more than one child, that’s part of the reason we form groups instead of pairs, there are way more males than females.” He shakes his head. “I’m getting ahead of myself. Where was I? Oh yeah, so we’ve known we were different than norms since pretty