A Lover's Decision

Chapter 21

Since the night Rhys had found them, Rhyn had been pretty quiet. He had kept his head down and stayed home at night. He didn't want to stress Rhys out any more than he already was.

He knew he shouldn't be thinking about his brother when it was his relationship, but he didn't like being on the outs with his brother. He could count on one hand how many times they'd fought. They'd been petty and very stupid, but in the end, it had showed them the value of working things out.

This felt different. Rhys had never blatantly told one of Rhyn's partners that he would run them off. He usually told Rhyn the sugar-coated version of why they'd broken up with him. Sometime after the relationship ended, Rhys always was the voice of reason. He had a reasonable explanation for everything. Rhyn never had a reason to doubt him.

Now he wondered why he put so much stock in Rhys's opinion. He had always said Rhyn shouldn't care what others thought, but he was the one who pushed his thoughts on Rhyn. Because he had decided to pursue a relationship with Myles, he was upset and trying to tell his younger brother what to do.

Rhyn rubbed his hair as he stepped back in his room. He was freshly showered after having helped his dad re-pot some flowers. Rhyd had accidentally knocked them over when they'd been changing out the lawn furniture. Rhyd had cleaned up the mess as Rhyn had saved the plants.

He picked his phone up and looked at the screen. Myles had been MIA for the last couple of days. Thyn would text him, and there would be either a one word answer or none at all. A part of him wondered if this was pay back from a few weeks ago, but Myles wasn't fickle like that. He wouldn't ghost someone without a reason.

Unlocking his phone, Rhyn looked at the last message he'd sent to Myles. It was four hours ago. He knew Myles had class at three then practice at six, but it was almost nine-thirty. Rhys had gotten home half an hour ago. Myles should have answered him.

Hitting the phone icon by Myles's name, he tried to call him. His call wne straight to voicemail. Either Myles's phone was tured off, or he'd silenced the call. He had never done that before and it hurt Rhyn's feelings. No one had actually refused to talk to him before.

He changed into his comfortable clothes. After hanging up his damp towel, he left his room. Rhyd's door was closed. It had been since the night he'd come clean about his own sexual endeavers. Rhyn wasn't sure why he ws hiding, but that bothered him more than his yammering.

He knocked on Rhys's door and waited for the welcome. His older brother's room was a lot messier than Rhyn's. There were clothes strewn everywhere; books he read for pleasure were stacked haphazardly; and there were plenty of other random items everywhere.

Rhys was working on something at his desl. No one knew Rhys wore glasses, but he was far-sighted so he needed reading glasses to do his work. He didn't always wear them. Sometimes he forgot them, and then he suffered headaches. It was a battle no one was going to win with him, so they left him alone for the most part.

Rhyn sat on the bed and watched him work. They hadn't talked since that night, and it was btoehring Rhyn. He didn't like the long hours of silence. He wanted to talk to his brother like he used to and not have this huge chasm between them.

Rhys stretched and set his stylus down. He looked at Rhyn after rubbing his eyes. He looked tired. Rhyn gifured he must have been working since he'd come home from practice.

"What is it?" Rhys asked. Rhyn flicked his eyes up to meet his brother's gaze. "You look distressed."

"You've been ignoring me," Rhyn said.