Tempestuous Relations (2 page)

With those final words, Dom strode out of the restroom.

Chapter Two

Dom aimlessly drove around town for hours. The scenery whizzed by, ignored and unseen, as he fought with his inclination to drive home and put his fist through his brother’s face. Violence was better than giving in to his desire to reenact what had happened earlier.

Although he’d been furious at first, something had subtly shifted within Dom. The rage he’d felt dimmed, leaving behind the nauseating realization that he’d brought the encounter on himself. It was Mason he’d overheard mentioning the glory hole to one of their friends. Dom had simply believed Mason was going there to take care of the same urges Dom himself yearned to sate. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought Mason would be the mouth on the other side of the hole.

However, now that the line had been crossed between brother and lover, Dom’s mind was having trouble differentiating between the two. Memories of the way they’d fooled around as kids came back to him in full clarity. He’d always believed boys experimented together, that what they’d done under the cover of darkness was perfectly natural. Now he wasn’t so sure. Maybe there had been more than curiosity behind those first youthful touches.

To his disgust, thoughts of his twin’s mouth kept him half hard all evening. The harder he fought to block the vivid recollections the stronger the images and feelings grew. Mason was his twin—the other half of his soul—not some nameless, faceless hookup to be used for Dom’s gluttonous needs. He couldn’t understand why he was suddenly so fixated on Mason in an entirely unbrotherly manner. Was it narcissism because of the mirror image aspect or had some small part of him always been attracted to Mason?

It seemed like everything he’d ever known was smashed to pieces and cast into the wind while he was left scrambling to pick up all the bits before they blew away. Trying to figure out the situation on his own was proving fruitless. What he needed to do was talk to Mason. There was no avoiding it.

By the time Dom felt remotely ready to face his brother, night had fallen and cast the countryside in shadows. He turned into the driveway, parked behind his brother’s truck, and stared at the small house which was lit up from within like a light bulb. Whereas he normally found the Cape Cod style home inviting, its quaint white siding and navy blue shutters now seemed menacing. No matter how things went once he walked through the front door—the very same ornate oak and oval glass inlay design he and Mason had saved to buy—his life would be forever altered.

Mason was more than a brother, or even an identical twin; he was Dom’s best friend. They’d been through thick and thin together, weathering their father’s abuse and their mother’s abandonment. For as long as he could remember, it had been the two of them against the world. Mason was the only person who meant anything to Dom. If it came right down to it, he wasn’t sure he’d survive losing him.

With that morose thought in mind, Dom exited the vehicle. Upon entering the house, he called out for Mason and received silence in reply. A flash of fear stabbed his heart until he remembered he’d parked behind his brother’s truck outside. Mason was home; he simply wasn’t answering. After the way Dom had behaved at the rest area, he couldn’t blame his brother for avoiding him.

Dom walked through the living room and entered the short hallway leading to the bedrooms. Mason’s room was on the right, while Dom’s sat to the left. The only other door belonged to the bathroom at the end of the hall.

Although he’d normally walk right in, Dom chose to knock on his brother’s door. “Mason? You in there?”

Through the door, Mason said, “Go away, Dom. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

Dom persisted. “I’m not going anywhere. You might as well let me in.”

“
Fine.” The door flew open and banged against the wall with a loud rattle. Mason stood in the doorway, his eyes rimmed in red and puffy. The upbeat mien he normally presented was nowhere to be seen. “You want to punch me, lambaste me for doing something you’d never possibly understand? Just get it over with. Nothing you could do will make this day any worse.”

“
Calm down. I just want to talk to you.” Dom crossed his arms over his chest and stared at his brother, taking in the other man’s appearance while he mulled over what needed to be said.

While it was true that they were identical twins, there were notable differences in their appearances. Dom kept his hair ruthlessly short, whereas Mason’s ebony locks were long enough to curl over his ears. There was a tiny, white scar bisecting Mason’s right eyebrow from where he’d fallen out of a tree when he was eight. The skin above Dom’s neck was smooth and unblemished, though his nose hooked a little to the left from stepping in front of one too many jabs from their old man after he’d had a few drinks too many. The flesh below Dom’s throat didn’t bear thinking on since it was essentially what had gotten them both into this mess in the first place.

If only he’d kept his dick in his pants…

Dom leaned against the doorframe. “I’ve been driving around, trying to get my head on straight.”

Mason snorted and backed up, sitting on the edge of his bed.

Dom rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

Mason shrugged and looked at his shoes.

Empathy welled up inside Dom. He strode over to the bed and sat beside Mason, careful to keep plenty of space between them. Although he wanted to pull his brother into his arms and comfort him, promise nothing had changed between them, he couldn’t do it. He’d never lied to Mason and he wasn’t about to start now, no matter how much he’d like to. “Why were you there, Mason? You’re better than that place. You don’t need to do
those
things to get your rocks off.”

Mason stiffened. He lifted his head and looked up at Dom, his nostrils flaring. “Don’t pass judgment on me. You were there, too—trying to get your dick sucked by some stranger.”

“
Maybe so, but it wasn’t a stranger who sucked my cock. Was it, Mason? How do you think I felt when I figured out it was you, my baby brother, on the other side of that stall?”

“
Fuck you, Dom. I’m only six minutes younger than you.”

“
Out of everything I just said, that’s what you want to focus on right now? Really?”

“
I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“
Why were you there?”

“
Why do you think?” Mason compulsively rubbed his hands on his thighs.

“
I get that.” Dom winced, wishing he could drag steel wool over the image of Mason blowing strange men. “Why there though? Why people you don’t even know? You can’t be that desperate.”

“
It’s not like that.”

“
Explain it to me then.”

“
I’m sure I could find a man, if that’s what I wanted. It isn’t.”

“
Why?”

Mason was silent, as if thinking over his answer. Finally, he said, “I can’t have what I want.”

“
What is it you want?” Dom asked, half afraid of the answer.

“
Not what.” Mason glanced up, his wary gaze connecting with Dom’s. “Who.”

Chapter Three

“
You, um…” Dom stared, sure he was reading more into Mason’s words than was there to be found. “You want someone you can’t have, huh? Is he straight, married, or what?”

Mason rested his elbows on his denim-covered knees and then propped his head up in his hands. His palms covered the upper half of his face. “Don’t be obtuse, Dom.”

“
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“
Obtuse means slow, dim-witted, simple-minded.”

As if he didn’t know what obtuse meant.
The little shit…
“Mason.”

“
What?” Mason scrubbed his hands over his face.

“
Could you just level with me and tell me what the hell is going on in your head right now?” Frankly, he hoped he was misunderstanding. They’d already made one irrevocable mistake. He didn’t want to compound that by making another. At the very least, he wasn’t going to assume anything that might fuck their relationship up beyond repair. He could forget what happened between them, lock it away in the deepest recesses of his mind and never go there again. However, he wasn’t the only person involved.

“
Are you sure that’s what you want? You might not like what you hear.”

“
Jesus, Mason. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to hear you out. Just spill it, all right?”

“
Okay. Here goes nothing.” Mason took a deep breath and then slowly let it out. He looked Dom square in the eyes and said, “I knew it was you.”

Dom stared at his mirror image, while his pulse thundered in his ears. “Say that again?”

Mason shook his head. “You heard me the first time.”

“
I don’t think I heard you right.” He couldn’t possibly have understood correctly, because that would mean… Christ, his fucking brain wouldn’t even wrap around the concept.

“
You did.” Mason stood and walked around the side of the bed. He opened the closet door and pulled out a navy duffel bag. “I’m sorry, Dominic. I knew it was you and I liked it.”

“
What? Mason…” Stuffed full, the canvas bag taunted Dom with the knowledge of what was going to happen if he didn’t do something right that instant. Unfortunately, he was at a loss for words. “I don’t know what the hell to say to that.”

“
You don’t have to say anything. I’m leaving.”

“
Mason, I don’t want you to leave. All we need to do is talk this out and put what happened behind us. We don’t have to let this come between us.”

“
I can’t forget, Dom. I don’t even want to try. I—” Mason lowered his head, his shoulders shaking.

Dom rose and went to his brother, unable to sit by and watch his brother cry without doing something to help. He laid a hand on his twin’s shoulder and squeezed. “Hey, we’ll work this out. Everything will be all right.”

Mason jerked away. “You’re not listening to me.”

“
Yes, I am.”

“
Really? So then you’re fine with what I did? Today wasn’t even the first time. It’s just the only instance where you caught me.”

Dom took a step back. “All the other times?”

“
Yes.”

“
But I heard you talking to Jimmy about some guy who sat in there on Fridays and blew people for shits and giggles.”

“
I knew you were listening. I made the whole thing up.”

“
Why the hell would you do that, Mason? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“
Sure it does. I knew you would jump on the offer to get your dick wet if there were no strings attached. All I had to do was show up and wait.” Tears pooled in Mason’s deep green eyes and caught on his eyelashes, making them catch the light and glisten like dew on the morning leaves. “You weren’t supposed to see me. I didn’t want you to know.”

“
Why didn’t you just talk to me? Haven’t we always shared everything?”

“
Not this. I didn’t want you to look at me like I was some freak. The way you’re looking at me now.”

“
I don’t think you’re a freak.” Dom rubbed his hands over his face. “This situation is a little unusual, yes. But it isn’t your fault. These thoughts you’ve been having…they’re just some kind of fucked up byproduct of our childhood. That’s all. They’ll go away.”

“
No. I’ve always felt this way. Ever since we were kids.” Tears streamed down Mason’s face, unabated and largely ignored. “I know I’m fucked up—
I know that
—but I can’t help the way I feel. I don’t want anyone else. You’re it for me, Dom.”

“
But you’ve dated other people, Mason. I’ve met some of your boyfriends.”

“
I pretended they were you.”

“
All of them?” There hadn’t been a ton of men coming in and out of Mason’s life, but he’d always dated more than Dom.

“
Every single one, Dom. Now do you see why I need to leave?”