In the Life (15 page)

"Oh for real? I didn't know your stepson was in town. How long did Sasha send him down for?"

Well, she is letting Travis have him for like three weeks. She is pretty good about letting Travis spend time with his son."

"Speaking of which, where is Travis?"

"He went to the store and a few other errands he had to run." Brandon could hear Evan in the background asking Don'ya for something. "No popsicle. You just had one."

"Aww, let the boy have a popsicle, Don'ya."

"Hell naw! Do you know what happened to the last one that I gave him? It ended up melting on our bedspread. He took like three licks and left it." Don'ya sounded frustrated.

Brandon began to find this whole situation semi-humorous.

Don'ya had taken Brandon under his wing three years ago just before Don'ya met Travis. In the beginning, that relationship was something that you see on one of those sleazy talk daytime talk shows. Travis, who had been with his girlfriend of two years, met Don’ya at a restaurant. The two hit it off and Travis was able to play both sides of the field in secret. Shit really hit the fan when he found out that they knew each other.

"Guess who I am tutoring now?"

"Who?"

"Adrian McKinney. You remember him?"

"How could I forget him," Don'ya responded. "He was over to the apartment a few times with my old roommate, Justin. They definitely had a good time together."

"Hold up! You saying he’s gay?" Brandon's gaydar had not picked up that signal.

"I know I shouldn't be putting ol' boy's business out there, but yeah. And I hear he is a hoe too."

"Damn," Brandon said blown away by the gossip. "He and my brother would probably get along."

Brandon heard a commotion in the background. It sounded like pans dropping or something of that nature. A curse word almost escaped Don'ya's mouth.

"Brandon, let me call you back." Don'ya hung up without waiting for a return reply.

By now, Brandon was at his car. He got in and thought exciting thoughts. What if Adrian could give someone like him a chance? Could he ever get that lucky? Brandon looked down at his stomach and quickly dismissed those ideas. He would have to drop forty pounds and then do some major toning. And that was only for starters.

Brandon drove out of the student parking lot. The thought to go to the gym flashed through his head. The idea didn't sit there for long though. His car was headed for McDonald's. He would exercise later. Much later.

Chapter 4

The soothing rain had lulled Brandon into a much needed nap. He had finally got off of his ass and went to a gym earlier. After working out on several of the machines, he hit up the nearest GNC store to pick up some vitamins and weight loss supplements. He was determined to make a change.

Braylon's loud entrance into the apartment woke Brandon out of his slumber. Brandon could hear a voice besides Braylon's. It was another guy. Brandon could only guess that in a few moments he would hear moaning and screams of ecstasy. Trying to go back to sleep was not going to happen.

Brandon reached for his television remote. VH1 was showing reruns of the third cycle of America's Next Top Model. The cycle that introduced the world to Eva, Yaya, Amanda, Anne, and Tocarra was showing for perhaps the hundredth time. Brandon had seen it one too many times than he wanted to admit, but for some reason he could not turn the channel.

There was a loud thump outside of Brandon's door. Then there was another one. Shuffling of footsteps. Braylon's door slammed shut.

Brandon turned up the volume on his television to drown out the sounds from the other room. It had been ages since he had last had some and he didn't need the sounds of passion to infiltrate his boudoir.

In the other room, Braylon was getting his dick sucked by his on again and off again cut buddy, Jerrell. Their clothes had been discarded with the quickness and their bodies were intertwined on the bed.

Jerrell looked up at Braylon. He seemed to be really enjoying the head that was being given. Jerrell put his efforts into overdrive and Braylon began to almost lose his mind.

Braylon's arms flailed around. He didn't know if he wanted to grab the sheets or Jerrell's head. His hands settled on Jerrell's head.

Braylon growled. He was about to come. He was about to flood Jerrell's mouth with his seed. He screamed out profanities as he came. His climax filled the room and the apartment which made Brandon turn up his television up even louder.

Tyra critiqued the hopeful top models as Braylon's headboard began to bang against the wall. Brandon couldn't take it anymore. Horniness had taken over. Some internet porn was needed ASAP.

Brandon scurried over to his computer and went into his secret archives. He had just downloaded some new videos that he had not watched yet. The first scene was of his favorite pornstar asleep on a sofa when two guys come over and make him get up. Before you could say ‘bad acting', the sexy top had two new bust it babies.

Brandon rubbed on himself with one hand and stroked his dick with the other. He imagined being a part of the ménage that he was watching. He thought dirty thoughts. The dirtier the fantasy, the better his orgasm would be.

No longer paying attention to his computer screen, Brandon closed his eyes and thought about the rhythm that the three of them could make. He wondered who would come first. Who would make him come first? Would it be the bottom's tight ass or the top's hard dick? Before the decision could be made, Brandon felt his hot juice spilling over the knuckles of his hand.

It was a good release for Brandon, but the tingling feelings lasted no time at all. He may have came, but the experience was still very anticlimactic. After it was all said and done, he was still alone in his room with no man, no prospects, and no tissue to clean up his mess.

Brandon crept to the bathroom down the hall with his dick still poking out and hand covered in semen. He hoped that no one would come out of Braylon's room and catch him in that embarrassing moment. He listened out to hear what was going on in Braylon's room, but heard nothing. There was no moaning, no bedsprings, no nothing.

Brandon made it safely to the bathroom and cleaned up. By the time he exited the bathroom, he could hear some kind of commotion going on with his brother and his guest. It sounded like an argument.

He was making his way to the kitchen when Jerrell burst out of Brandon's room. He was familiar with Jerrell's face. After all, Jerrell had been there enough. He was no stranger to the apartment.

Jerrell was fuming. He slammed the bedroom door behind him and began to march towards the door. He stopped halfway and was about to go back into Braylon's room but stopped again. He took a seat on the couch and tried to cool down.

Brandon had grabbed a Sprite from the kitchen and walked back to where Jerrell was seated. He had his head cradled in his hands. At first, Brandon thought that Jerrell was crying, but he wasn't.

"Are you okay?" Brandon asked out of concern.

"Yeah," Jerrel said. Brandon was appeased by that answer and was about to retreat back into his room. "No, I am not. Your brother is a fucking jerk!"

"Hey, you learn to love him," Brandon said.

"Well, I am not hanging in that long to learn. You know, I have always been there for that bastard. I know that he sleeps around and that he isn't my man, but… I don't know, dude. I care about him and he knows it. I would do anything for him, but he doesn’t appreciate that. He doesn't think about that or how I feel about anything."

"So what exactly started this argument?"

"Him being him."

"Enough said," Brandon said as he took a seat across from Jerrell. "You really like him. I know you do. Only someone who does can put up with his bullshit and keep coming back."

"How do you do it, man?"

"I am his brother. His twin brother. Who knows him better than me?"

"Are you sure that you two are twins? I mean, you are always so nice. You are nothing like your brother. He can be so cold sometimes."

"I think that I have that cold side too, but we have too different ways of expressing it. While he can be mean and truly cold when problems come his way, I just avoid situations in my own way. I have been told that I develop a mask."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't explain it. I guess you just have to see it to know."

"Well, I hope that I never have to," Jerrell smiled. No longer was he burdened by the drama that he and Braylon had had. It had been only a few simple words from Brandon that did the trick. None of Jerrell's problems had been solved nor had any of his questions been answered. Why does Braylon act the way he does? The only thing that this conversation had shown was that niceness could dwell in that apartment.

Brandon went back into his room. Jerrell wanted to talk more, but he just let Brandon be. Maybe he would get the chance to go more in depth with the ‘nicer brother' if he ever decided to go back to Braylon and his games.

Chapter 5

Braylon put down his game controller. He could only play Madden for so long before it started to get old. Three hours was long enough.

He should have been studying. That is what any of his professors would have said if they had walked into his bedroom and saw his unopened books tossed under his bed. Braylon knew he would pass his tests. He didn't need to spend unnecessary time with his nose in some book.

The incident with Jerrell earlier had not left his mind yet. Braylon had been afraid that Jerrell would get that itch. He had thought that Jerrell would understand.

Jerrell wanted exclusivity. He wanted to be told that he was special and adored. He wanted to hear those three little words come out of Braylon's mouth.

Love was something that he couldn't deal with. Braylon loved his mom, brother, and sometimes on rare times, he loved his father too, but that is it.

Love leads to complications. Love leads to pain. Love leads to mushy and unpredictable emotions that Braylon did not have. Not for women and definitely not for other dudes.

If Jerrell couldn't handle the arrangement, there were always others. In the past few months, he had run through Jerrell, Ernest, Dell, Garrett, Emmanuel, and Antwone. Antwone had been a messy situation much like how Jerrell was turning out to be.

"Please just say it!" Braylon remembered Antwone's pleading. "What are you afraid of? I love you. Why can't you just love me back?" The whole ordeal had been sad, yet annoying. It was not going to happen again.

Why were dudes just as emotional as girls?

Braylon could hear talking coming from the living room. He hadn't known that Brandon had come home. Brandon had left out the house a little after Jerrell had. He knew that the two of them had some kind of talk. He didn't know what had been said, but Brandon hadn't been real friendly to him afterwards. Braylon knew Brandon was one of those emotional types too at times.

His bedroom began to feel a little cramped. He wanted to get out. He grabbed his car keys and decided to take a little ride.

On the sofa with Brandon was a very attractive man with curly hair. He was laughing. His smile was as beautiful as he was. It appeared that the two of them were studying together. Never had studying looked so enticing.

Brandon looked up and saw his brother coming out of the room. At that moment, he regretted not taking the study session into his room. He had almost not let Adrian come over at all. Brandon saw the look in Braylon's eyes. He knew what he was thinking.

Adrian caught a glimpse of Braylon standing in the doorway as well. Braylon felt it was time for introductions to be made.