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"Sooooo... tell me again why you haven't told him?"

I glanced up from pouring out my carefully measured flour and stared at Thorton watching as he bit into his apple. His brow rose, pulling the apple back a bit to chew. 

Frowning, I went back to the large yellow bowl on the counter that I was pouring flour into. I was eyeing it to make sure there were no more clumps---large or small---that I was sure I sifted out earlier. It was a precautionary measure. 

I shook my head a little, not breaking concentration from the flour. Okay, maybe I just didn't want to make eye contact with Thorton because I knew he'd see right through me with his philosophical crap and give me this use spiel about why it was wrong to keep things to myself. 

Like I didn't know...

"I already told you," I grumbled, tapping the side of the glass measuring cup to get the flour sticking to its walls to crumble. 

When I glanced up at Thorton, he was in the middle of chewing another bite of the apple and nodded with a hum. 

"Yeah," he agreed then met my gaze. "But I'd like to hear it one more time. Just so you can hear how stupid it sounds too." 

Narrowing my eyes at him, I let out a short huffed breath. I shook my head, frowning back at the bowl that I was now mixing the flour around with a stirring spoon. I told Thorton that he was now just being a pain in the ass and that my reason for not telling Easton about my... feelings... was not stupid. 

Thorton bit into his apple after muttering, "Yes it is."

I stopped, sulking as I straightened to shoot him a look. The guy grinned, shrugging as he straightened up from leaning on the counter and sighed, "You want my thought on the matter?"

"No."

"I think---"

"Why ask if you are just going to give your input anyway?"

"---That you," Thorton pointed at me with the hand holding the apple, "Are ashamed of your distrust for Easton."

Scrunching my nose, I scoffed, "What?"

Thorton nodded, brows raised a bit. "Yeah... I honestly feel like you are so focused on making sure that Easton is working on trusting you that you completely took your effort out of the equation. You want for Easton to trust you and, yet, you don't trust him. You don't trust him enough to believe that he's a good guy. A caring and loving Werewolf underneath that rock hard attitude he's got going on."

Thorton raised a brow and added, "You're afraid of him."

"How do you figure?" I snapped, dropping the stirring spoon into the bowl and rested my hands on the edge of the counter. That kind of irked me that he was insinuating that I was afraid of Easton. I was not!

The brunet shrugged a shoulder and grinned while tilting his head, "Does Easey Peasey know you're in my house, Kale?"

I stared, feeling my frown deepen and remained quiet as his grin only got bigger. Rolling my eyes, I went back to the bowl in front of me. I barely began stirring again when Thorton leaned on the counter again with his arms crossed in front of him for support. 

"Kale... Tell me right now that the reason you didn't tell Easton about you coming over here is that you know how pissed he'd be and might go off on you or something."

I didn't answer, just kept stirring. But that didn't stop Thorton from trying to make his point.

"You have been the one person, Kale, who Easton hasn't gone batshit on." Thorton nodded to the side, shrugging a shoulder, "He's gone batshit about you---" I shot him a deadpanned look that he raised his brows at and muttered for me to correct him if he was wrong. 

I didn't correct him...

"Like I said, Kale," the guy sighed. "You're afraid of Easton as much as everyone else is, but it bothers you so much because you don't want him to know that. You don't want for Easton to feel betrayed by the one person he is getting closer to, the one person who he makes feel like they are everything... to him."   

Thorton fell quiet, staring back at me and waited. He didn't even move to eat his apple again. 

At this point, I'd realized that some point during him talking I had stopped moving too. I'd just been staring back at him and there was this painful squeeze in the middle of my chest with every word I was hearing. There was no doubt that Thorton was hitting a sore spot. A spot that I'd pushed to the back of my mind for some time now.

Thorton pursed his mouth to the side, shrugging a shoulder and telling me that it was nothing to be ashamed of. That he understood why I would feel that way when all Easton does is give shit to people. 

"It's not a bad thing for you to believe that you could mean more to Easton than he's leading on. Because I think you do mean more, but I don't think---" he raised his brows, his tone becoming sterner, "---that you should keep how you feel about him to yourself."

Thorton looked upward, shrugging a should again and added, "Or between us, actually, since I'm literally the only other person who knows that you are in love with him."

I shot him a look, snapping, "I think I'm falling in love with him. That's what I said!" 

Rolling his eyes, Thorton sighed, "C'mon, Kaaaaaaale." and I narrowed my eyes at him, wincing at how stupid what I said sounded. 

"You are only fooling your damn self of that. You're in love with the guy. You fell a looooong time ago and just didn't let yourself see it til now."

I hated how spot on Thorton was. It was creepy. Helpful... but creepy.

I started getting defensive and scoffed that I barely even realized that I wasn't attracted to the opposite gender only a few weeks ago. That there was no way anyone could fall in love so quickly with someone.

Thorton stared a me, a grim smile on his face and I felt myself go numb. My eyes widened when I remembered Thorton and Easton's childhood story and the reason why Easton was humiliated as he was. It was because of Thorton's brother finding out that Thorton was in love with Easton that Trent ruined any chance of something blossoming between them. 

I looked away, frowning as I started feeling guilty of what I said. 

"I'm sorry..." I whispered, not able to look at him. 

All I heard was Thorton chuckle with a sigh and I peeked at him to see him rubbing the back of his neck while shaking his head. The corners of his mouth tugged downward as he took a moment to just stare at nothing. 

"It just wasn't meant to be, Kale. That's all." His green eyes met mine and I could see the lingering hurt in them. "I'm actually happy that Easton has someone like you. That he can start being himself again around someone like you---despite his sister's death."

Frowning, I shook my head. "But... But you loved him, Thorton. What you felt for Easton was genuine. It wasn't forced. How... how can you stand there and be happy seeing him with someone else?"

He didn't answer right away. His bottom lip puckered out a bit as he frowned at the counter, thinking over what he was going to say, I guess. He tapped one of his fingers on the counter in a slow tempo then finally met my gaze. 

"Because this time around... he loves that someone else back." 

I think he could see the look on my face since he grinned, sighing, "I did love Easton, Kale. I did. I really did. But he was my best friend at the time and... I think deep down inside I was looking for a safety net. Someone who I could hold close because they cared about me."

Thorton shook his head that it wasn't so much that he wanted a romantic love, but more just someone to love him period. He didn't feel that with his parents and definitely not with his older brother. 

"Trent kind of ruined that for me, Kale. With what he was doing to me..." He winced, shaking his head from the memories. "Easton cared about me... just in a different way than I did for him. While I was romantically loving towards him, Easton was barely entering my world. He didn't know that he could feel things for the same gender."

The guy grinned, raising a brow, "Sound familiar?"

I blinked, frowning at him and Thorton nodded, "He was once you, Kale. The only difference now is that Easton isn't going to give up until you love him back." 

"Easton... Easton doesn't---"

"Love you?" Thorton finished, raising his brows mockingly. He grinned, shaking his head. "It's more than like, I can tell you that, if not love. But he's getting there. Easton has never gotten more defensive... more possessive... more determined over someone like you, Kale Ray."

I swallowed hard as he continued. Whether he could see my surprise, he didn't say. 

"And you not telling him how you feel is going to bite you in the ass. The guy might seem like a commitment-phobe, but I have a good feeling that if you tell him how you feel, Kale, that Easton will surprise you. Maybe you need to think that he's afraid of telling you---the Advanced Hunter who believed he was heterosexual his whole life---something so personal and intimate because he thinks you'll hurt him too."

"But I wouldn't---"

"Then tell him," Thorton pushed. 

Swallowing, I stepped back a bit from the counter and tried to ease my breathing. I felt my heart beating faster than normal and I bit my lip, shaking my head as I was trying to process everything Thorton was telling me. 

It was damn confusing was what it was. There were so many components involved with telling Easton about how I felt for him that I wasn't sure if telling him would actually be a good thing. 

What if Thorton was wrong? What if Easton didn't really care about me that way? 

I raised my hands, raking my fingers through my hair to grip tightly. Letting out a long breath, it didn't seem to help the tension in my body. I opened my eyes, staring at what little bit of space I could between my arms. 

"I'm scared."

Lowering my hands, I looked up at Thorton who had a soft look on his face. He slowly nodded that it was okay for me to be scared. That telling someone that you are in love with them was a big deal, especially when you weren't sure those feelings would be reciprocated. 

"I don't know if I can tell him, Thorton..." I glanced away to the backyard through the kitchen window. I concentrated on the fire pit in the middle of it. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea..."

"Kale... Look at me." I did and Thorton's green eyes hardened along with his expression. "Let me ask you just one thing. One that will tell you whether you should tell Easton about being in love with him and letting whatever happens... happen."

With his hands on the counter to balance him as he leaned forward, Thorton asked, "Is Easton worth it?"

And there it was. 

Just from how Thorton was grinning, he obviously could see something in my face that gave him an answer---probably the one he was looking for. He straightened, nodding happily that he expected at our next hangout to tell me how much Leo was moping around or going on a rampage because the word in town is that Easton Quinn is completely off the market."

Thorton smiled when I laughed. I couldn't help it. I rolled my eyes, sighing, "God, he's such an asshole."

"I agree," the Were nodded, lifting a finger to point at me. "But that little shit is always going to be an asshole... as long as it is by himself." 

Nodding, I smiled with the relief inside. 

I felt a lot better about how I felt for Easton. Yes, the guy was still a Moody Asshat and will always be a Moody Asshat. But... but the idea of getting to say that he was my Moody Asshat made me bubble with excitement. I'd never felt like this before, even back at the Society with Ahn. Never was I able to get so mad at someone that I wanted to smack the crap out of them but then kiss them so hard at the same time. 

Yeah... Easton was definitely worth that. Especially if he'd let me have those kisses that made me forget everything but him. 

Crap... I sound like fucking Thea when she used to tell me how she first fell in love with Dennison. 

Sighing, I looked at the bowl in front of me with the few ingredients that I put in to make the cake that Thorton suggested I practice making. 

With my newfound intrigue for baking, I had told Thorton that I wanted to be able to make an apple pie without burning it. That I wanted to be able to feel confident in the kitchen while others trusted me enough to not send Eli and Maddox in every so often to "grab a glass of juice". 

I had complained to Thea that her kids could only drink so much orange juice before they started shitting it out. Thea got upset with me for saying that but she got the point and reminded me that I was always burning food.

"And trees," Dennison grumbled from behind his coffee cup. 

He was never going to let it go the one time I tripped with one of the candles and the Christmas tree being the unfortunate target of the flying flame. 

 So Thorton suggested that he could come over to my house to help with my baking skills and that we'd work our way up to apple pie. I had agreed with him helping me, but I asked if it was okay that we went to his house instead. 

"Why?" he asked on the phone when I was going through cupboards and pulling out ingredients I needed and piling them on top of my arm. 

"Because I don't need my dad interrogating you about whether you were also violating his son. Something he likes to tease Easton about every time my dad sees him."

I paused, frowning when I heard nothing on the other end. 

"Thorton?"

"How exactly does Easey Peasey violate you? I thought you two haven't slept with each other yet?" 

My face felt hot and I gripped tighter to the phone, frowning, "We haven't! And don't worry about it! That came out wrong."

"Did it?"

"Yes. It did."

"Mmmm, I dunno, Kale." I looked upward, shoulders sulking. "That sounded like you took my advice and you're letting yourself enjoy some intimacy." 

I grimaced, shaking my head as I snagged the small bag of flour off the lower shelf of the cupboard I stood in front of. Thorton, on the other hand, felt it was necessary to tease me a little more.

"I'm guessing your dad walked in on you and Easey Peasey, and since he was the one 'violating' you I'll just go ahead and ask how you much you liked Easton touching you. Oooooor was it because he was s---"

"I'm not talking about this anymore," I interrupted, my face feeling hotter than ever, and huffed, "Are you going to help me or not?"

"You liked it that much, huh?"

"Thorton!"  

He laughed, trying to say between his laughing that he'd stop and that for me to go over to his house with whatever ingredients I had and that he'd pull from his cupboards what he had.

"Thank you," I sighed, relieved that he dropped the Easton and my behind-closed-doors endeavors. 

"Where's your favorite spot for Easton to kiss you?"

I warned Thorton through a growl, "I'm hanging up." that he laughed at and said he'd see me in a few. Shaking my head, I grumbled out, "Fine... See you in a few." and then glanced to the side before muttering into the phone then hanging up quickly, "My neck, I guess."

So by the time I got to Thorton's, I had managed to avoid telling my dad where I was going because I just knew----knew---that if Easton stopped by like he knew how and bumped into my dad, he'd ask where I was. 

I didn't want Easton knowing I was hanging out with Thorton only because I knew how Easton felt about the guy. But Thorton was not the bad guy here. His brother was and it was hard to tell Easton that because he most likely wouldn't believe a word of the story. He'd just get pissed like he knew how. 

Besides, I actually enjoyed hanging out with Thorton. He was a really good friend that I made on my own. And I think Thorton liked being friends with me too since I was the only one who knew about what his brother had done to him. 

So it was not hard to say that I was grateful for this conversation that Thorton and I had about my feelings for Easton. And also because I had a helpful teacher for this baking exploration I was trying out. 

"Did you bring any milk?" Thorton asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I frowned, blinking at him. "No... I assumed you had some here."

The brunet raised a brow, grinning, "Nah. I used that up this morning with my three bowls of cereal."

Lowering a brow and scrunching my nose, I shook my head slowly, "Three bowls? And you used up a whole gallon?"

"I did. With that bowl," he nodded at a large plastic blue bowl turned upside down on the dishrack where it was drying. 

I blinked at the bowl, eyeing it before asking exactly how Thorton managed to have three bowls of the same cereal with the size of the bowl that could take up the entire box the first time. Thorton grinned, moving away from the counter to walk over to a tall cupboard and opened it. My mouth dropped at the number of cereal boxes I was staring at. 

There were so many wedged together I wasn't exactly sure the number he had in there. There was even space in the back of the front row where more cereal boxes stood. 

"Holy shit, Thorton!" I cried, walking over to examine the cereals closer. "That's a shit ton of cereal. You bought all these at one time?"

"Some," Thorton shrugged a shoulder, admiring his cupboard. "Most of these were on sale. Luckily I enjoy all these so it was worth the buy."

"So you do have a flaw," I teased, grinning at him.

Thorton rolled his eyes, closing the cupboard and suggested that he could run out and grab a gallon of milk while I waited here. I bit my lip, pondering his suggestion and remembered that I wanted for Easton to trust me and if I wanted that then I was going to have to prove that I wasn't afraid of him. 

Even if that meant being friends with who Easton considered the worst person in the world. 

"Nah..." I shook my head. "I think I'll tag along."

Thorton looked surprised, raising his brows at me as he asked, "Are you sure?" 

I nodded and Thorton shrugged, "Okay then. Let's vamos."

As we were leaving his house, Thorton asked, "Where's Easton anyway?" and shut the door behind me. I looked at his back when he turned to lock his door and I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my sweater. 

"Dennison wanted for him and the Six to have a meeting for most of the day. He mentioned that they needed to work out escape routes and all this other stuff that will help with the town perimeter."

Thorton raised a brow as we were walking down the road. 

"This has to do with what you were telling me, right? About your nephews being in danger?"

I nodded. 

I had told Thorton about the situation with Eli and Maddox but not everything. I left some details out such as the empty coffins. It made me feel a little better to know that I was able to trust Thorton with this information since I couldn't tell Easton everything. That would be risking me accidentally telling Easton about Langley missing. 

"Well... Let's not think about that right now," Thorton patted my shoulder. He shook his head saying that it wasn't worth putting a downer on our day. "What matters is that your nephews are safe with you and your family. Nothing's going to happen today."

I grinned, agreeing with changing the subject when asking what kind of frosting I should buy along with the milk. While we argued back and forth about thinking cream cheese was better than chocolate, Thorton pointed out that I was going to have to learn to make that from scratch anyway. So that I should start small. 

"I have to make that too!?" I whined, seeing that amused look on his face.

He nodded, "Yes, Kale. You do. That's the whole point of learning how to bake. Everything is usually done from scratch unless you buy everything in a box." 

Thorton turned to look at me sternly when I barely opened my mouth to say something. He interrupted me before I could speak. 

"And no. We are not buying a cake mix. No cheating."

I groaned, grumbling to myself halfway to the store while Thorton explained that with my laziness in wanting to make frosting that it was probably safe to just buy extra ingredients to make the chocolate frosting. 

There was a small grunt of agreement on my part.

  ❦ღ❦   

Thorton was peering into the grocery bag, holding it up higher than necessary where his face almost disappeared into it. 

"I can't believe we ended up buying more than what we said we were going to."

I chuckled, shrugging that he started it by showing me the sprinkles section where there was an assortment of them. 

"But this is just too much, Kale! Look at this!" he cried, pulling out a sprinkle container with what looked more like glitter. God, I hope that wasn't actual glitter.

Thorton scoffed as he was reading the label. "This one isn't even edible."

God dammit.

With my hand gripping the handle of the milk, I leaned over to swat at Thorton's hand from trying to taste the non-edible glitter. 

"Stop it!" I snapped, pointing at the bag with an order to put the container back. "As a matter of fact, where's the receipt? I'm sure we can go back inside to return it."

Thorton's eyelids lowered half-mast as he drolled, "And get our whole ninety-eight cents back? Gee, Kale. What a great idea."

Giving him a look, I asked if he was even going to use the glitter. That if he wasn't what was the point of keeping it. Thorton lifted his chin and childishly argued that he liked arts and crafts. 

I grinned, shaking my head and sighed, "Fine. Whatever. Keep the glitter. Let's just get back to finish that cake." 

Not even ten steps from leaving the store, we were peering into the grocery back again and I asked, "You don't think it's weird that we have all these types of sprinkles and we only really needed one?"

"Not really," Thorton shook his head, eyeing one of the containers with snowflake shapes in it. "We're kind of weird anyway... so it wouldn't really make a difference to people." 

"Well I wouldn't say that..." 

I noticed how Thorton's body tensed and we both had stopped walking. I looked up at Thorton who already was looking up and straight ahead with his green eyes wide and his bottom lip trembling slightly. 

Frowning, I turned and found a taller, wider, and more menacing-looking Thorton look-alike. 

From the way Thorton reacted to seeing this man with the same green eyes that weren't as kind, I immediately pieced together who we were standing in front of. And Thorton confirmed it when he stammered, "T--Trent? What are you doing---doing here?"

Trent sneered, his eyes narrowing at his younger brother. 

"You didn't think I'd come back for you, Theo? Did you really think I'd abandon you completely?"

I glanced at Thorton, reading his expression perfectly that he was pretty much hoping that his brother would have abandoned him alright. That way he would have been safe. 

"I... I just... thought that you would be staying in Europe," Thorton winced. 

Trent lowered a brow, eyeing his brother before his sneer curled more. "I'm all you have, Theo. I had to make sure to go and set up a good life for us before coming back for you."

The way he narrowed his eyes further made me try to think of a way for me to get Thorton away from his brother. I couldn't think of anything other than running but if we did that and Trent chased after us, I was going to have to go Hunter mode and doing that would probably bring out the wolf in Thorton's brother. 

And that wouldn't look good with all the humans around. 

The only good thing going for us was that there was a busy time going on right now and cars passing by so to others it just looked like we were having a conversation. 

I looked back to Trent when he suddenly asked, "Who's this, Theo?" and stared at me. 

I scowled, narrowing my eyes while Trent smirked. He looked back to his brother and nodded in my direction without looking at me. 

"This a friend... or a friend?" 

Thorton swallowed, his brows twitching into a furrow. He didn't look like he could speak and I was astounded with how bad his trauma was that Thorton made a complete one-eighty from being the happy-go-lucky guy earlier. 

"He's..." he finally managed. "He's not... not--- we're not like that." 

I worriedly watched Thorton try to keep himself together, but the trembles were giving away his fear. 

"I see." Trent raised a brow, "So he doesn't belong to you then, hm?" which made me raise a brow back with that underlying meaning. My nose scrunched at the thought of what he was trying to ask Thorton. 

And then something happened. Something that I don't think was looking good for me at all. Or Thorton. And all it took was one sentence. One God damn sentence that made me feel like I was in major shit. 

Thorton swallowed, frowning to mask his fear as much as he could. 

"You can't touch him, Trent... He's---He's not yours." 

It was like some hidden language between the two that other people wouldn't understand but because of how Trent treated Thorton, Thorton only knew how to talk a certain way about that traumatic topic. 

Trent raised his brows at his brother, pressing, "So then you're telling me that he does... belong to someone?"

As much as I understood why Thorton was talking that way, it was irritating me that Trent was making it out to be like I was property. Which was slowly pissing me off. 

Nodding, Thorton swallowed, "He does... And---and so you have to leave him alone. You can't have Kale."

My eyes widened when Trent's green eyes flicked over to mine. There was a spark in them that was spine-chilling and not the good kind. 

"Kale..." he said my name like he was trying it out on how it tasted or something. He nodded, grinning, "And so tell me, Kale... Who do you belong to?" 

I frowned, shaking my head that I didn't know what he meant. Though I did. 

"It---It doesn't matter!" Thorton tried, hesitating in trying to step in front of me but I didn't blame him for staying put because of his history with his brother. To prove that, Trent just had to give Thorton a piercing look and his younger brother fell silent. 

I didn't realize the amount of space that Trent closed between him and us and I glanced up at him eyeing him carefully with a deep inhale through his nose before looking at Thorton again. 

"He certainly smells familiar. It's a scent from a long time ago, Theo..." 

Trent's eyes flashed dangerously. 

"One that smells a lot stronger now than before." 

Thorton's brother smirked when he looked back at his brother, "And if the smell belongs to who I think it does... which I'm almost confident it is who I think it is... then it's a lingering territorial perfume on Kale here."

He chuckled, "I'm guessing that's because you belong to Easton Quinn."

I stiffened when Trent's green eyes locked with mine and that sneer of his turned into a half grin. 

"But not for long..."