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At first, it scared the shit out of me. But the longer he sat here and listened to me and understood exactly what I was trying to get across, it was becoming clearer to me that Hunter was worth destroying every one of my rules for.

Just as much as I needed someone like him to walk into my life, I think he needed the same, and I could only hope that I would be worth it for him.

“I think what hurt me the most wasn’t that he continued to put a wrench in my plans, but the way he never believed in me from the very beginning.”

“What do you mean?”

“My third strike was everything he said to me when I confronted him about stealing the money. He was in a really bad headspace at the time, and for as long as I tried to convince myself that he didn’t mean what he said, I couldn’t shake it. Sometimes you can’t erase what people say to you, whether they say they meant it or not.”

“What did he say to you?” Hunter sounded about as defeated as I felt.

The memory was one I often replayed in my lowest moments. It was the driving force that kept me from visiting him. Even though Logan was my twin brother, it became easier to resent him the longer I went without seeing or talking to him. He was confined in prison, and it gave me the perfect excuse to ignore my past for as long as he was away.

That was until he sent me a letter and I couldn’t stop thinking of all the things I wanted to say to him. The anger I wanted to get off my chest.

“You’ll never amount to anything, Andi. We came from nothing, so what makes you think that you’re better than the rest of us? Huh? You’ve never had a day of professional training in your life. Just because you dance every day doesn’t mean you’re any good at it. LA will eat you up and spit you out. You’d be better off sticking around here and running that damn ice cream shop one day. Stop trying to force something that’s never going to happen.”

His dark stare that matched my father’s burned with hate in a way that I’d never seen. The more I danced, and the more Logan used alcohol and recreational drugs as a distraction from real life, it was inevitable that we grew apart. He should have been medicating himself for his mental health. Not for fun and destruction. That much was obvious. But I never thought we’d grown apart so much that he could say anything so hateful toward me.

We were twins. We were supposed to know what the other was thinking. I never thought he’d take it that far.

The person I loved most in this life took my dream right out of my hands without a single ounce of regret. Logan made me feel the lowest I’d ever felt in my life.

Not worthy.

Not good enough.

Stuck in that godforsaken town.

To this day, I wasn’t sure if losing him or giving him the power to allow me to give up hurt the most.

“Long story short, he pulled the most hateful words out of his chest that I never thought he’d be capable of speaking. He took advantage of my young, weak mind, and convinced me I’d never make it. So, I gave him exactly what he wanted. I gave up.”

While Hunter worked on forming his words, he looked deep into my eyes with the type of gaze that would have been far too intimate for me just a few days ago.

“Can I let you in on a little secret?”

“Will it make me feel better?”

“I hope so.” Hunter let out a nervous chuckle.

“Give me all your secrets then.”

“I plan to … someday. But for today, I want to let you in on the time when I first met you in Denver. Before we even spoke, I’d been watching you across the club. You were dancing with Avery and Peyton, but I couldn’t stop looking at you. You were so wild and carefree. Without even knowing you, it wasn’t hard to see that it wasn’t the alcohol you were sipping, or the time out with your friends, it was being able to dance in the middle of a club without a worry in the world who was watching that made you the happiest.”

My eyes threatened to betray me as the vision of Hunter became blurry. Somehow, this man had truly seen me before I even knew who he was. He was observant in a way that made it awfully hard not to fall for him right here and now.

“So, I started to visit you at work before I’d actually ever made contact with you there. I craved that image of you in my head from the nightclub for weeks after I met you, and I wanted to watch you dance in any way possible. I wanted to witness that look in your eyes that told me you enjoyed doing what you loved—no matter the form it came in. I always knew there was more to you, Andi, I was just waiting for the moment when you’d finally trust me enough to give me that part of you.”

Hunter’s lips met my forehead, and his thumbs brushed along my cheekbones, wiping away the tears that fell all on their own.

“You shine, Andi. Even if you don’t know it.”

Hunter didn’t know it, but he gave me every bit of courage I needed to visit my brother tomorrow. Because at the end of the day, if Logan wasn’t able to see what he missed all those years ago, at least I knew that Hunter could see me, and that’s all that truly mattered to me in this moment.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go in there with you?” Hunter’s hand cupped my cheek, and as badly as I wanted him by my side, I knew this was something I needed to do on my own.

“I’m good. But thank you, Hunter, for all of it. Driving me here, opening up to me and allowing me to do the same, not calling me a pussy when I backed out.”