Star-Crossed by Amber D. Lewis

Author:Amber D. Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781737054191
Publisher: Amber D. Lewis

Five

I’m up and out of the room the next morning before Noah wakes. My stomach is too twisted in anxious knots to bother with breakfast, so I head straight to a training field and run solitary sword drills. Sparring always relaxes me, helps me work through my thoughts, and gods know I have a lot of thoughts to sift through today. I’m starting to feel better when Noah approaches the field, undoing everything.

“That’s some sharp sword work there,” he says, nodding to my blade. “Care for a partner?”

I lower my sword and look Noah dead in the eye. “Not if that partner’s you.”

Noah’s shoulders drop. “Look, Cal, I’m sorry I was partially the reason Blake found out, but—”

“Partially the reason?” I snap, my voice cold. “It sounds like you’re the whole reason.”

“I was talking with a few other soldiers and he was eavesdropping. I never meant for him to overhear.”

“Why were you talking about me in the first place?”

“I wasn’t talking about you exactly,” he backtracks, avoiding my eyes. “The topic of men loving men came up, and I’d been drinking a bit. Your name slipped out. Entirely an accident. And I didn’t say it was for sure true. I just mentioned that I suspected that you might . . .”

I storm past him, shaking my head. He catches my arm and I jerk around to face him. My expression must tell him I’m not to be messed with this morning because he shrinks away.

“You know what hurts the most about this, Noah?”

He shakes his head.

“It’s that I thought you were my friend.” I hate how my voice trembles as I say the words. I hate that it breaks on the word “friend.”

Noah looks like I slapped him. “I—I am your friend, Cal.”

“No,” I spit. “Friends don’t make assumptions and gossip behind each others’ backs. If you wanted to know if I like men, then you should have asked.”

“Would you have told me the truth?” he asks quietly, averting his eyes. “Because in all the years we’ve known each other, you’ve never mentioned it.” He raises his gaze to mine. “We live together and you’ve never once hinted that you might be attracted to men. I think, if it’s true, it’s something you should have told me. It’s not right that you hid it, sleeping feet away from me and all.”

Now I feel like I’m the one who’s been struck. I stumble back, shaking my head.

“Why? Do you think I would force myself on you in the middle of the night?”

“No! No! That’s not what I—”

“Because, Noah, I hate to break it to you, but you are not my type. Even if you were, you have nothing to worry about because I’m better than that.”

“Cal!”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I say, turning and walking away.

“Please, Cal, don’t do this,” Noah calls after me.

“I’ll move out of our room so you won’t have to worry anymore,” I say without bothering to turn around. “Gods forbid you lose any sleep.

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