Page 39 of Silver Sweet

He literally could’ve let him rot away and die.

I intake a sharp breath.Don’t think about it, Tom Carraway.

Charlie is a cynic, but he’s not disagreeing right now, so that’s basically a full-fledged agreement from my vantage.

True luck befalls Charlie since my phone vibrates and claims my attention. He returns to his novel, and I check a new message from an unknown number.

MAYBE LEO VALAVANIS

This is Leo Valavanis from the ballet. Free tomorrow night? Friday? Let’s grab drinks.

9

TOM COBALT

Istiffen likedeathis setting in. Charlie, thankfully, is still staring at his book and is not witnessing my figurative passing.

Leo Valavanis is a twenty-four-year-old ballet dancer who should not be texting me. There wasonevery drunken moment at a nightclub where I might’ve told Leo my number. He never called or texted, so I started thinking that I hallucinated the treasonous fucking act where I gave him my personal contact info.

Clearly not. That legit happened.

This wouldn’t be a problem if Beckett wasn’t also a principal dancer with the New York Ballet Company and didn’t act as if Leo moonlights as a serial killer. Beckett despises Leo’s mere existence since NYBC pits them as rivals.

I respond fast before the temptation to accept the invitation becomes unbearable.

TOM CARRAWAY

Probably busy.

There. I denied him.

I’m not a shit brother. Loyalty intact. Eliot would be proud. My frown deepens. I like the feeling of being wanted, but it’s unusual for me to give out my number. So I’m rarely asked out for drinks.

The door blows open.

Beckett is home.

I overturn my phone on the couch cushion. Only to realize Charlie is staring at me like I’m translucent again. This time, it’s actually unsettling.

I try to focus on Beckett, Charlie’s fraternal twin.

His yellow-green eyes dash in heavy concern toward my bedroom down the hall, but he doesn’t check on Ben. Dropping his gym bag, he takes a seat in the identical chair beside Charlie.

His dark brown hair is damp. Probably from showering at the ballet studio. He’s currently in rehearsals forRomeo and Juliet, which’ll be showing in a few weeks. I try to keep up with his hectic schedule. Every month, there’s a new rehearsal and a new ballet production. Then there are the galas, mixed-rep programs, and one-acts packed into a year of full-length shows.

Most people think of ballet asThe Nutcrackerin December andRomeo and Julietin February, but it’s so much more than that.

Beckett works nonstop doing what he supremelyloves. He’s honestly my idol.

Which is why I’m notchecking my phone. Not even when it buzzes with a response from Leo.

“How’s Ben?” Beckett asks me.

“He’s good.” I pick myself out of a slouch.

Beckett frowns, studying my stiff posture. “Are you sure?” He twists to Charlie. “Il s’est passé quelque chose?”Did something happen?

“I don’t know, did something happen, Tom?” Charlie asks in a tone that says I’m not clever enough to get away unscathed.