"Why the hell didn’t my brother tell me that he was gay? We told each other everything," I said, my voice thick with frustration, confusion, and a deep ache that I couldn’t quite place. The idea that Ryker had kept something so big from me felt like a betrayal, not because he was gay—that didn’t matter to me—but because he hadn’t trusted me enough to share it.

Dallas looked at me, his eyes soft with sympathy, but his face was troubled. “I don’t know,” he replied ...