Double Heat [Twin Ties: 3] (36 page)

“Okay,” Brennan murmured. He glanced toward Jimmy, breaking free of the hug. “Thanks,” Brennan told him. “Guess I don’t have any more excuses.”

“Thank you,” Evan whispered to Luka with a smile. To Jimmy, Evan said, “Thank you for doing this. Not a lot of people would have done something like this. It really means a lot.”

“I’m happy to help,” Jimmy told him, sounding like he wished he could do more for Evan, too.

Evan went to Brennan. Falling to his knees at Brennan’s feet, Evan pulled his brother into an embrace and let out a relieved sigh that came from way down deep. “Thank you,” Evan said softly by Brennan’s ear as Brennan kissed his cheek.

It was Monday morning. Alek and Luka had both gone to work, leaving Evan and Brennan at home together. Later on, Carter was going to tag along for the drive to get Brennan to school. After his Microbiology class, they were invited to come to band practice and hang out there with everyone. Brennan knew he should review his assignments to make sure he’d gotten everything done and was ready for class, but he had just finished yoga and was lying comfortably on his mat on the area rug in a shaft of radiant sunlight from one of the front windows. All he was wearing were his glasses. The sun warmed his skin and he closed his eyes to savor the feeling. He’d always been fairly social, but with the day he knew he had ahead of him, not to mention the impending trip back to Monroe, all he wanted was to lie in the sunbeam and doze off.

Evan had other ideas, though. Humming, he approached and eased down atop Brennan, hands sliding over Brennan’s perspiration-slick skin. Cracking open his eyes, Brennan watched his twin smile contentedly down at him. Wrapping a leg behind Evan, laying a hand on his waist, Brennan invited him in. It only felt okay because it was Evan. Cuddling with him brought a sort of comfort Brennan rarely found in other places. They belonged together in ways that went beyond only a familial or lover’s bond. He was still not sure he’d let anyone else get him in such a position, especially with how guarded he still felt about intimacy.

But Evan’s eyes were on him, and the warmth of his rapt, loving attention was just another delicious layer to the sensory stimulation. The sun heated him up and Evan’s scrutiny made Brennan’s skin pebble.

The backs of Evan’s fingers caressed along Brennan’s jaw, around to the back of his head.

“Sometimes I miss your hair,” Evan confessed. “But other times....”

When he didn’t finish, Brennan brushed a spot where he knew Evan was ticklish, on the inside of Evan’s left hip, beneath the waistband of his jeans and underwear. He bit his lip in concentration and determination while Evan gasped. Gently grabbing Brennan’s hand, Evan brought it up beside his head, holding it to the floor there.

“Spill, bitch,” Brennan said. “Don’t leave me hangin’. Other times... you want to drag your lips all over my head? Because actually that’s been tempting for me with you. Your hair’s so soft.” He caressed with his free hand over Evan’s scalp, covered in dark blond velvet.

“Well, that’s not what I was gonna say, but sure,” Evan smiled. He really was so cute, how bashful and unassuming he was. There was something about how he had no idea how sexy he was that just made him even more so. Brennan pulled Evan down for a light kiss. It got heated quickly, and Brennan glimpsed the urgency in Evan’s expression. Each time Brennan paused or hesitated, Evan would give him a soft, playful nudge with the tip of his nose or a brush of the edge of his lips, making it impossible not to respond in exactly the ways he suspected Evan wanted. Evan pulled Brennan’s leg a little higher and thrust lightly against his bare ass. The friction of his jeans against naked skin was tantalizing even if it did make him instinctively want to tense up.

“I was just gonna say, sometimes this makes you feel more like mine,” Evan confessed.

“I am yours.”

“Good,” Evan grinned. He grew more serious, breaking eye contact. “If you don’t want me to, I’ll stop.”

“No, it’s not that. It just reminds me....”

“I know,” Evan replied regretfully, frowning a little and kissing Brennan’s cheek. “Do you think you’re ever gonna be okay with this again? You love bottoming. I don’t want him to be able to take that away from you.”

“I just need time,” Brennan explained. “I would let you, you know. I’d let you do me right here, right now. I’m afraid it might make me sad, though.”

“It’s okay to be sad,” Evan told him, looking quite sad, too. “It’s weird; I used to be so desperate for attention, because most days I felt like a ghost. No one to talk to, no one looking me in the eye, no one who cared at all. Now, there’s too much attention, from everybody. And I don’t know
why
they’re looking or what they’re thinking. Except for when it comes to you and the twins. I know you love me. It’s one of the few things I don’t question.”

That made Brennan smile. He began to open Evan’s pants. Evan asked a few silent questions with only a look, not moving a muscle, and Brennan just kept going. When he had Evan’s cock freed, Brennan stroked it and Evan moaned. He looked like he wanted to pull back, but Brennan kept him there.

“Stay with me. Stay here. Don’t think about the bad stuff,” Brennan coaxed as Evan frowned, seeming to fight the pleasure and instinct to take from Brennan.

“Can’t help it sometimes,” Evan admitted. “It wasn’t
all
bad, you know? That’s the scariest part.”

“Yeah. I know exactly what you mean,” Brennan agreed. “Tommy used to promise he’d give me a home if Mom died. When I’d start to freak out about what I would do without her, once I was all alone, he’d talk for hours about how nice it could be if I just looked at it another way. We’d go to school together, get our own place, and he’d promise to make things easier in whatever ways he could. It helped me feel like the future was worth looking forward to when it seemed like I was losing everything.”

“You do get it, don’t you?” Evan sighed, reading Brennan’s face. “So much of what I did was to avoid being all alone. The reason you stayed with Tommy was the same fear—being without Maggie, being on your own. If only we’d known about each other. We were going through the same things without any clue at all.”

“But we’re not alone anymore,” Brennan said, picking up the thread and taking a cue from Alek and Luka’s interactions, filling in some of Evan’s blanks. “So we don’t have to react out of fear of that anymore. We can count on each other. Always.”

“Always,” Evan agreed. “I’m here for you, Bren. I promise. Just keep talking to me, okay? Tell me what you need.” Then they were kissing again as Brennan pushed past the heartache.

“I don’t want to miss Tommy or think about the way things used to be. What we have is so much better than that.”

“Hell, yeah, it is,” Evan said passionately, his breathing getting heavier. He tugged Brennan’s cock while Brennan kept working him, too.

“Get the lube,” Brennan told him, a slip of words by Evan’s ear.

Evan didn’t need to be told twice. He got up to get the bottle. When he came back, it was with even more heat in his expression than Brennan could find in the sun which made their bodies glow like they were shining from within. Evan was all soft, firm, golden warmth as he settled back atop Brennan. “This okay?” Evan asked in a whisper, caressing over Brennan’s hole.

“Just touch me. I love to have you touching me.”

While Evan, crouching above him, worked two wet fingers into Brennan, Brennan scratched lightly over the back of Evan’s head and down his neck. He felt Evan shiver and chuckled. Turning his head, Evan kissed the inside of Brennan’s arm and sighed. The muscles of his arm worked, snapping, pumping and he looked so good, so strong.

“Love you like this,” Brennan told him. “You’re so sweet and you’re braver than you know. Don’t ever lose that, okay? Don’t doubt yourself for stupid reasons.”

“As long as you promise to tell me stuff, even if you think it’s embarrassing.”

“Okay.”

When Evan moved so that his cock was against Brennan’s hole, Brennan was hit with the instinct to tense up.

Evan leaned down, whispering by Brennan’s ear, his lips brushing so softly there, “I’d never hurt you, Bren. Never.”

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Brennan wrapped his legs around his brother, opening himself up to be entered. Evan didn’t move at first, though. For a few minutes, they just kissed.

“You’re safe. I love you so much,” Evan told him so tenderly. “Scared?”

“Yeah. Go ahead. Please? I’m as ready as I’m going to be.”

“Okay. We’ll go slowly.”

Brennan didn’t fight the small pain, or the despair as Evan breached him. He knew as long as he was with Evan, he’d be okay. Evan would understand.

A couple of silent tears slipped from Brennan’s eyes. Evan brushed them away, touching his forehead to Brennan’s with a frown of concern.

“You’ve been through so much. I shouldn’t ask you to be there for me like this,” Brennan groaned, giving voice to the doubts.

“We help each other, no matter what. That’s the deal. You’re okay,” Evan whispered, pushing. “We’re together now. Love you, Bren.”

“Tommy never cared about me like this,” Brennan admitted. “It was all about the sex with him. With you, the sex isn’t about that at all. It just makes me feel more connected to you.”

“I keep you right here, you know. Always,” Evan said, laying his hand on his chest, over his heart. “We both have flaws, but they’re the same, even the ones we don’t want to admit to. I’m gonna try not to feel ashamed of that anymore. Because you’re perfect, Bren. If I love you this much, I have to love myself, too.”

Brennan pulled him down, kissed him hard, and Evan rocked into him.

“Do you want me?” Brennan asked by Evan’s ear, feeling him shiver in reply, his skin pebbling. Clenching up around Evan’s cock, Brennan drew him deeper, felt him sigh.

“Yes,” Evan breathed.

“Then show me. Don’t hide it away.” He caressed down Evan’s back, over his ass, rocking against his every thrust. “Don’t you know how amazing you are like this? Loving, devoted, honest and hurting. I can see the hurt, Ev. It’s right there. But you’re never going to heal if you don’t let us in. You don’t have anything to hide anymore.”

Gasping, pushing down against Evan’s thrusts, riding him and riding it out, Brennan passed through fear into someplace else, beyond it. With Evan, Brennan discovered other worlds where no one else but them could go, and where no one else could touch them. When Evan’s fingers wrapped his shaft, Brennan soon was coming, with Evan quick to follow. Evan climaxed with a moan, holding inside Brennan while he trembled and gasped.

They lay together for a few more minutes, entwined.

“I needed that,” Evan confessed, sounding a little breathless.

“Me too.”

Evan kissed him again, then said, “I’ll tell the twins.”

“Thanks.”

“He hasn’t tried to contact you, has he? I know you changed your number, but....”

“Well, there was an email,” Brennan said bashfully. “I found it this morning. Tommy’s not big into emailing, and neither am I, really, but there was one from him, from a few days ago. It just said, ‘You shouldn’t have done that.’”

“Fuck,” Evan sighed, looking tired. “Are you okay?”

Brennan shrugged. “He’s a dick. I’m aware of it. I haven’t really talked to Hailey at all. I don’t really know what to say about everything, but I sent her a message, asking if she’d heard from Tommy. She replied right away and said he hasn’t been around much. Seems he’s been keeping to himself and going to his classes at university. He’s probably still pissed at me, but it’s not like he can do anything. How about you? Anything from Drew?”

“No.”

“Hmm. Hopefully it’ll stay that way. I should shower, get my stuff ready,” Brennan said, letting Evan go.

“Yeah. I’ll join you, get rinsed off.”

Evan helped Brennan up. They picked up the bottle of lube and the yoga mat, then started to walk to the bedroom.

The doorbell buzzed. From below, they could hear a heavy knock on the door.

It was too early for Carter to be there.

The twins shared a slightly apprehensive look.

“Check the window,” Evan suggested quietly, nodding toward the front window from which they had the best view of the street below. It wasn’t ideal, though. There were blind spots due to overhangs and store signs. Then, Evan went to the intercom box on the wall. He pressed the button as Brennan hurried to the window, peering out, and said, “Yeah? Who is this?”

More heavy knocks, even louder. Another doorbell buzz.

There was no response to Evan’s question.

“Who is this?!” Evan demanded gruffly.

“I can’t see who it is!” Brennan hissed. He ran from the window to the front closet where they kept the metal baseball bat. Yanking it from the closet, Brennan turned back to Evan and got a good grip on the bat, hoping whoever it was downstairs wasn’t about to break the door down to get inside.

“We’re armed and prepared to defend ourselves!” Evan growled into the intercom.

“You think it’s Drew?” Brennan asked quietly, the bat held at the ready, though the knocking had stopped.

“I have no idea. It could be a friggin’ solicitor or a kid selling cookies for all we know.”