Triple Crossed

Chapter Eight

      Corren stretches his arms and yawns as he gets out of bed, making his way to the kitchen to start his morning routine. He starts a pot of coffee and hums to himself, feeling energized after his successful show the previous night.

As the coffee brews, Corren checks his phone and sees a few messages from his bandmates congratulating him on the show. He smiles and types out a quick thank you before setting his phone down and turning back to the coffee.

Just then, he hears footsteps coming from the hallway and turns around to see Roan shuffling into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Corren nods in greeting and offers him a cup of coffee, but Roan just shakes his head and mumbles something unintelligible.

Corren notices that Roan looks like he could use a shower, and offers to let him use the spare bathroom. Corren would never tell him, but Roan had an almost unbearable stench to him. His clothes were torn and unbelievably dirty. 

He lead him to the spare bathroom and offered him clothes from his closet. "This should fit you, if not just let me know. I'll see what I can find," he stated. Roan nods and disappears down the hallway without a word, and Corren hears the sound of the shower turning on a few moments later.

As he waits for Roan to finish, Corren spends some time going through his emails and making plans for the day. He has a few meetings with his manager and bandmates, but otherwise, his schedule is clear.

Eventually, Roan emerges from the bathroom looking much more refreshed, with his damp hair clinging to his scalp. Corren offers him some breakfast, but Roan just shakes his head and heads back to the spare bedroom.

Corren can't help but feel a little worried about Roan's behavior, but he decides not to press the issue. He is often worrying lately. He finishes his breakfast and gets dressed for the day, eager to get started on his plans.

As the morning progresses, Corren is busy with various meetings and phone calls, and he almost forgets about Roan until he hears a knock at his bedroom door. When he opens it, he sees Roan standing there with a hesitant expression on his face.

"Hey," Roan says softly. "Can we talk?"

Corren sat across from Roan, who was standing in the doorway, eagerly awaiting an explanation for Roan's sudden appearance in his life after so many years of absence. He had been trying to get Roan to open up to him ever since they reunited, but Roan had been mostly unresponsive, lost in his own thoughts.

"What did you want to talk about?" Corren finally asked.

Roan sighed, staring down at his hands. "I guess...I owe you an explanation for my disappearance all those years ago."

Corren leaned forward in his seat, his curiosity piqued. His tail swayed a bit, the fluke at the end flicking side to side. "Go on."

"After my mother's death, my siblings and I were taken in by an assassin's organization," Roan explained, his voice quiet. Moments later he continued. "We were forced to undergo intensive training to become skilled killers. They made us lose all of our previous identities, including our names. I was forced to never use my name again."

Corren's eyes widened in shock. "What? That's...that's insane. I had no idea."

Roan nodded. "Yeah. It was tough. I missed you so much during that time, Corren. I would think about you all the time, wondering if you were okay, if you were still playing music. Obviously, you were."

Corren reached out and placed a hand on Roan's shoulder, a gesture of comfort. "I can't even imagine how hard that must have been for you. But why are you telling me this now?"

Roan hastily pushed Corren's hand off with a nudge of his shoulder, gathering his thoughts. "Because...I don't know. It just feels like I need to tell you. I owe it to you. Besides, I would rather die knowing you knew than we both die and you never know."

Corren raised an eyebrow and leaned his head forward. "Death? Why are you bringing up death."

Roan smiled faintly. "If I'm caught here, you're dead. Hell, maybe even me too."