Chapter 42

After a while, Xavier spoke again. “I’ve never known what it feels like to be wanted,” he whispered into Billy’s hair. “I still don’t know what you see in me…Why you followed me on this crazy trip.”

Billy listened to Xavier’s heart against his ear. Outside their window, he could hear cars zooming down the highway. But he felt quiet inside. Almost serene. “When I was a little boy, back on our farm, I used to spend hours watching my mother’s tapes. She’d tape all of the soap operas that played when I was in school and I’d watch them at night, in bed.”

Xavier snorted. “That’s kind of cute.”

“And anyway, I had this idea, right—that I could find a love like that. Something intense and fiery and full of surprises. A love that would take me for a ride, you know?”

“But I’m not your long-lost brother or the man who put your sister in a coma or your real lover’s evil identical twin.”

Billy laughed, looking up at Xavier. “Bummer.”