Page 216 of Alessio

He was done.

Said what he said.

Cree never offered more than what he gave, Corrado found, but it was usually important things when he did speak. A man of few words because he watched more than he talked, Cree noticed far more than people gave him credit for, and he considered everything because of it.

Corrado cranked the latch to stop the water, wanting to get the hell out of the gym and back to the other thing that was currently on his mind. He barely bothered to use one of the towels waiting on hooks to dry off, instead haphazardly running it through his hair before throwing on his shirt and shorts.

“Hey,” Chris said.

He didn’t look back at his twin. “I’ll catch you later, okay?”

“Corrado.”

“What, Chris?”

Chris’s shower was turned off then, too. Corrado turned to face his brother—who was still naked, and didn’t seem to give a damn, much like he hadn’t earlier—without a shred of emotion on his face. He didn’t want people to know that it bothered him that his interest in Alessio was clear, or vice versa. Those were things he always kept to himself, and he wasn’t interested in sharing them now.

“It’s okay,” Chris said, lifting one shoulder like it didn’t matter, “you know that, right? It’s fine, Corrado.”

He was so fucking grateful that there was another person in this world who not only shared his face, but also his mind. Because apparently Chris could just tell what his twin was thinking without needing to be told.

Yeah, just great.

Perfect.

Except it wasn’t.

“Leave it alone,” he told his brother.

Chris sighed. “It’s not a big deal that other people notice there’s something going on. He didn’t say something to make it a thing. He said it because he’s looking out for both of you—he had a point, too. Don’t get in your fucking feelings about it.”

“Leave it alone, Chris.”

Corrado got it.

He understood why his twin thought he was making a big deal out of nothing, but Chris didn’t understand. It wasn’t just about his sexuality for Corrado—it went beyond that, too. And it seemed just like with everything else in his life lately, the issue started and ended with Alessio. This problem was no different.

It wasn’t only about his sexuality.

It was more than that.

Like the fact Corrado walked into The League, and people—Alessio, for one, but he suspected there were more—looked at him with an opinion already formed. About who he was, what he came from, and the things he was capable of. It wasn’t just Alessio, although he had been the first to verbally make his opinion known to Corrado. It didn’t matter; he’d heard other members make the same kind of comments when they thought his back was turned.

He was spoiled.

He’d been pampered.

He didn’t know how to work.

As it was, Corrado already had that shit he was dealing with here. It showed him he would need to work twice as hard to prove himself here, and make a spot that was his which said he, too, was worthy.

Now, there was this, too.

This.

If the members of The League who milled about, or those who were actively taking part in training the twins, didn’t already believe something was happening between Corrado and Alessio—they wouldn’t be wrong—they probably had a good idea now. For one, because of Alessio’s show earlier in the gym, and now because of Cree, too.

It was yet another thing.