Reverse Rivalry

Enemies to Lovers III

As lonely as Skylar Lain was from birth, it would be ridiculous to ever tell anyone that he wasn't an only child. He considered himself an entity that had no siblings even though that was far from the truth.

He had two brothers, two younger brothers that were born five years after him but it didn't matter if he was aware of the other DNA-sharing humans that walked this earth. They didn't need to and will never know of his existence.

That would bring about chaos so large, it would destroy his life that he finally started to feel peace in.

So seeing Jale Kierson and his sister interacting from a young age had been unfamiliar to him, and had always been a middle ground he had actively ignored. He would be a fool not to admit he had been jealous, badly, of their easygoing relationship, of their friendship that no matter what happened between them, it would be forgiven.

He had been painfully envious of the everlasting fact that Jale had a person who was in his life forever, even if he liked it or not. An existence he would never replace.

Skylar didn't understand Jale's marginal obsession with his sister's mental well-being.

It didn't take a genius to see the guilt that was blazing through the boy's veins on his face. The rigid tension in his shoulders and the way he was avoiding her eyes was indication enough that he was tearing himself apart inside.

Skylar felt annoyance rage inside him at the boy even feeling guilt for something he couldn't control but he had come to accept that the one being he loved was a coward when it came to his family.

He had accepted it but it didn't irk him any less.

Skylar wouldn't pretend he wasn't at fault here, far from the opposite. One thing he appreciated about himself was he knew when to acknowledge his fuck ups, and that fuck up was using Jale's little sister to get under his skin.

He had used the fact that she liked him for a long time and he had known. He has known all too well with Jale threatening more than a million times to stay away from her, to never mess with her even if she begged for it.

He should have listened.

Skylar stared down at the short girl who could be a living walking clone of Jale if she hadn't dyed her hair. He was aware of how cold his gaze was as he stared down at her like she was a rudimentary object.

Vale looked up at him and shock overcame her expression. Her lipstick-stained lips opened a little in an oh then closed. She suddenly seemed speechless even though she had just been berating her brother a second go.

Vale Kierson had always been just a means to an end to him. Always a card he had pocketed and used but that was when he thought he hated Jale Kierson.

Now it was strikingly and bitterly different. He couldn't just act like she wasn't important to Jale and he knew better than anybody else how important she fucking was.

Unpleasant.

Skylar's eyebrows ticked at his thoughts. The lump in his throat wasn't going down smoothly when he swallowed back the harsh words. Skylar wasn't a rational person when it came to Jale so he wasn't surprised he even had the gale to be jealous of a sister.

Perfectly priceless that he had finally fallen down this hole. He loved it truly.

"He was with me Vale, I took him to my -,"

A hand on his biceps stopped his words and he turned to look into deep blue eyes that were panicking. Skylar resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"So he wasn't in some girl's bed," Vale said blinking at him in bewilderment.