it echoes through

thirteen; loyalty

Sam woke up with a pair of unexpected hands wrapped around him, your firm grip keeping him in place as he tried moving.

He remembered saying no to you over and over again, even though it broke his heart to do so, and then he remembered you asking him just to stay, just so you wouldn't have to be alone tonight. Sam agreed, and he didn't even tell Skyla he wouldn't be coming up to bed--but he knew from the way her brown eyes frowned when she saw you walking in last night, that Skyla would be understanding.

Sam let out a small chuckle as you groaned when he moved again, your lips moving silently around a word he couldn't quite catch.

"I'm just going to clean up, I'll be back in a bit," he said quietly, and you nodded before rolling around in a huff--causing Sam to roll his eyes.

He started brushing his teeth, thinking over last night. Sam knew what he did was questionable, that he even let himself get to that place with you--considering how vulnerable you were. Whatever Tom did to you, it broke you, and Sam would be lying to himself if he said he didn't sometimes dream about that exact scenario playing out.

Tom leaving. You all alone and hurting. Sam the only one there who could possibly comfort you. Sam knew it was wrong to have any kind of feelings towards his sister-in-bond, but he couldn't help it that the two of you were practically perfect for each other. Even Tom thought so, Tom was even bold enough to tell his soulmate he thought she belonged with his younger brother.

Sam wasn't surprised Tom didn't tell him that, considering how insecure Tom often got.

Not a lot of people saw through his insecurities, but Sam was his brother--he knew everything about him, he hoped. Sam also hoped he did the right thing last night.

Sam was often impulsive, and was usually the last person to say no to a shag--but you were worlds away from being just a shag. Sam knew it wouldn't be worth it to have you for a moment, for just a night--if that meant he'd lose his best friend forever. And not in the way romantic movies make it seem, like after the best friends fuck they can't go back to being friends again. No. Sam knew full well if he touched you in that way--even without a bond telling Tom that he did--Tom would find out, and Tom wouldn't let either one of them be near each other ever, ever, again. And then Sam would truly lose you, he'd never be able to see you again.

Having you in his life was worth so much more than just a shag--even waking up next to you, even just once, was worth it if it meant he wouldn't lose you. That he still had you in his life.

Sam was now determined to make sure you'd go after Tom. He wasn't sure how he'd convince you of that after what happened between him and Clarissa--the famous line "soulmates are stronger together" might not apply to this specific, fucked up, scenario his brother was in.

Sam wasn't even sure if the pair of you were even considered soulmates anymore--soulmates are forever, but your stupid book had seemed to debunk that.

The book.

Sam didn't want to think about the book, about that horrible sense of hope he felt when you read it. He wanted to be mad at the universe for even giving him a sliver of a chance to have another soulmate--he wanted to be mad at Tom for thinking someone that wasn't his brother could possibly be the closest person to him, but Sam knew it was futile to be mad at anything.

He had his soulmate, he told you that last night, he had her--and that sort of thing isn't something one usually gets to do over. Sure, Sam could play boyfriend with Skyla, let her call him freckles and call her dimples back and have sex and cuddle in the morning. He would do it happily, and he had already started accepting the butterflies he got whenever she'd smile at him a certain way.