Twin Ties 2: Twin Affairs (17 page)

“I can’t sleep without you next to me,” Evan mouthed back to him, barely speaking the words, pulling Alek close, his eyes trained on Alek’s expression. Planting a hand on the wall behind Evan’s head, Alek nuzzled the slightly scruffy skin on the side of Evan’s jaw and sighed.

Luka walked over. Alek turned away. Evan glimpsed anguish in Alek’s expression as Luka kissed Evan goodnight, promising, “I’ll give you a ride to work in the morning. ‘Night, baby. Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Evan murmured softly, holding Alek. Then Luka went to Brennan’s bedroom.

Brennan stood back as Luka walked past and into his room, watching the entangled pair left behind. When Alek didn’t move and Evan didn’t either, Brennan did for them. He stalked up to them, beckoning to Alek with a sharp, “Hey.”

He didn’t turn from Evan instantly. First, Alek held his gaze with remorse exuding from every pore, pleading for forgiveness with unvoiced desperation.

“It’s okay,” Evan told him, releasing him. It was clear, though, Alek didn’t believe him.

That didn’t stop him from taking Brennan into his arms, kissing the top of his head. Staring at the two of them together, Evan saw them look into each other’s eyes in a way they never had before. There was devotion and intimacy in the way Brennan looked up at Alek, who briefly caressed the side of his cheek. Alek seemed on the verge of tears, fighting fervently through some inner battle. Brennan easily drew Alek down for a quick kiss.

Straightening, stepping back, Brennan turned from Alek to Evan. He gave Evan a complicated sort of look. It was dangerous, passionate, devoted, and not brotherly at all. It told Evan a lot of things at once—cementing his suspicion that Brennan, like Evan, held no fault for their indiscretions. It said Brennan viewed Evan as something that was
his
, his blood, his soul mate, his eager, willing lover.

It foreboded a difficult reunion with their father.

“See you tomorrow,” Brennan said with love, and with conviction. “Get some sleep.”

Then he was gone too, gone to Luka, and it was just Evan and Alek left, with Alek unable to look at him.

“Gimme a few minutes to shower. I kind of rushed through mine earlier and—”

“No,” Evan said definitively. “Come on. I’ll come with you.”

Taking Alek by the hand, Evan led him to the bathroom and shut the door behind them. He turned on the water, waiting for it to run hot. He watched Alek lift off his shirt and strip out of his pants.

“You don’t have to,” Alek said quietly. “Everything I do just makes things harder for you.”

“Get in the shower, Alek. You take care of me constantly. I can take care of you, too.”

Evan slowly pulled his own shirt over his head, hissing sharply as a pang cut into him. His hand went to his left side and when he looked up, saw Alek’s eyes fixed to the spot and tears sliding down his cheeks.

“Hey.”

Alek finally looked up, sniffed, then looked away, rubbing the back of his hand over his eyes.

“I love you, too,” Evan said tenderly. “I loved you first.” Flattening a hand over his scar, he added, “And this is
not
your fault.”

Alek’s face crumpled for a heart-wrenching moment and he sucked in a rough breath before composing himself and gazing longingly, urgently at Evan.

They stepped into the shower. Water ran in rivers down Alek’s back, washing him clean. Alek caught Evan’s mouth in an unhurried, exploratory, sweet and soft kiss that went on and on until the water turned cold, vitality pulsing strongly under Evan’s skin to the beat of his heart.

Brennan and Luka sat on the bed, legs folded, postures slumped, a few feet of space keeping them apart. On any other night, they would have already slipped under the covers and pressed close, in search of comfort and sleep. Everything that happened lingered in the air between them, making it impossible to cross the gap. Luka having sex with Evan, Brennan having sex with Alek, the violence between the Popovic brothers—they were heavy, inescapable truths.

Eventually, Brennan said, “It just happened. It wasn’t intentional to, like, hurt you.”

Luka raised an eyebrow at him, picking restlessly at a spot on the fresh bed sheets.

“I know,” Brennan admitted, holding both hands up, palm out. “I’m a hypocrite. On the plus side, I believe you now.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You love Evan.”

“Bren, don’t,” Luka started, getting upset.

“No, I’m just stating the facts. I’d be more concerned if you didn’t love him. I accept it now. You love him. You want him. And I want Alek, too. Those are things that aren’t going to go away.”

“Do you love him?” Luka asked quietly, daring Brennan to say it.

“Luka,” Brennan fretted, drawing his knees up, looking uncomfortable.

“I just want to know. I have a right to know.”

“I agree,” Brennan sighed. “But it’s not the same with us as it is with you and Ev. I haven’t been secretly obsessing over Alek or anything.” He held up a hand to stop Luka when he opened his mouth to argue. “Let me finish, please. We’ve been screwing around since the beginning, right? Me and Alek? You’ve watched it happen. You allowed it. You’ve even suggested I fuck both of you at once. It was a continuation of that. Of course I care about him. I’m not ready to call it love.”

After taking a few breaths, he added, “It’s probably going in that direction, though. What you have with Ev—that’s not going away. Me and Alek aren’t going away either. I want him. I want you. I want Evan. I want all of you. I’m greedy like that.”

Luka nodded, stared down at his fingers picking at a flaw in the sheet. Without anger, but with plenty of defensive sadness, he asked, “Do you love
me
? I mean, honestly.”

Brennan became perfectly still. He didn’t even breathe. Then he grabbed a pillow and threw it, angrily, at Luka’s head.

“Hey,” Luka frowned, deflecting the blow.

Brennan was up on his knees, pushing at Luka’s shoulders and chest. “
Fuck you!
How dare you ask me that?! Fuck you!
God
, Luka.”

His wrists trapped in Luka’s powerful grasp, Brennan’s fight drained quickly out of him. With his expression blazing with accusation and injury, Brennan’s surge of assault quickly turned to defense as Luka pressed him back to the bed and lay atop him.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Luka apologized, brushing Brennan’s cheeks dry. “I guess I just needed to hear you say it. It’s been a rough day.”

The pads of his fingers skimmed over freckled skin. He fell into the blue of Brennan’s wet, shining eyes.

“I love you, Cupcake. I’ll love you forever,” Luka told him, still soothing away the hurt, stress and recrimination.

“Prove it,” Brennan muttered, spreading his legs wider for Luka to settle between them, brushing his fingers through Luka’s long hair as some tendrils fell over his eyes, smoothing them back. “Show me.”

“Happily,” Luka agreed, adding, “I still need you to say it.”

“Love you, Luka. You know I’ll always love you.”

Luka smiled and kissed the last tears away.

Evan slept all night in Alek’s arms, first with his head pillowed on Alek’s chest, then, when bad dreams woke him, shifted to his good side with Alek spooned up behind him. After that, Evan’s rest was peaceful and dreamless. Alek rose at six to get ready for work. Kissing Evan goodbye, he whispered, “Call my office if you need anything, or text me. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“’Kay,” Evan murmured sleepily. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Alek said, kissing Evan’s lips and the center of his forehead.

Brennan was busy meditating once Evan was up and dressed around eight. Luka left Brennan with a kiss to his temple, trying not to disturb him. He slipped on some shorts and a shirt and grabbed his keys, murmuring to Brennan a quick, “Be right back.”

Evan met him on the front stoop, his hands in his pockets, drowsily waiting for the cup of coffee he’d had to kick in. With a glance back to the house, Evan said quietly, “You don’t have to do this. I can walk. I have a car if I wanted to drive.”

“You’re not walking. Come on.” Luka crossed quickly to the truck parked in front of the house, unlocking the doors with a push of a button. He opened Evan’s door for him, getting an eye roll for his trouble.

Once Luka was settled behind the wheel, Evan rubbed a hand over his face and leaned an elbow against the door. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you doing this? You don’t have to turn everything into a big deal like Alek does, or chauffeur me to prove your stake of ownership.”

“Evan,” Luka said shortly. “I’m taking you to work. Get over it.”

“Yeah, but why? And what’s with you and Alek? We already told you, you don’t have to fight over Bren and me. You have us. Both of us. You won. So I don’t get—”

“Evan!” Luka blurted, interrupting him. He ended the conversation with a pointed, stubborn look, gunned the engine and shifted into drive, rolling down the street.

Realizing Luka was not in a talkative, explanatory mood, Evan sulked in his seat. He tried to let it go, though was quite resentful of Luka’s brusque tone.

One block from the garage, Evan’s phone rang.

“Shit,” Evan groaned, seeing the caller ID. He answered saying, “Hey, Dad.”

“Evan, I realize you’re probably headed to work—”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Okay. I just wanted to tell you myself that I’ll be flying in tomorrow night. I’ll be able to stay for about a week and a half. I’m sorry it took me so long to be able to come home. There was nothing I could do with the scheduling. I had to finish the job instead of just taking off, but I hope I can make it up to you.”

“Dad, you really don’t have to.”

“But when I get home, you, Brennan and I will be having a little talk.”

Evan cringed. Luka had pulled into a parking spot around the side of Mike’s Garage and was watching Evan. He saw the reaction. Evan cursed silently, stomping his foot, and frowning heavily with concern. They were attempts to vent some of his building panic while trying to maintain a calm tone of voice.

“What do you mean? What’s up?” Evan asked his father.

“I don’t want to get into it over the phone. We’ll deal with it once I’m there.”

“Dad—”

“Take it easy at work. You hear me, boy? I really don’t like the fact that you’re already back at the garage when you were in the hospital in critical condition just a few weeks ago. If you need money that badly you should have told me.”

“It’s not about the money!”

“Are you talking back to me?”

“No, sir,” Evan sighed. “I’m sorry. I’ll take it easy.”

“Damn right you will. I’ll call you later when I know when my flight is due to arrive.”

“Yes, sir.”

He hung up and groaned, looking out the side window and away from Luka’s pointed stare, but made no move to leave the vehicle.

“What the fuck?” Luka said quietly, anger detectable in his voice.

Fear, huge and fanged, crawled up Evan’s stomach, brought by the threat implied by his father’s words. Some of the guys he worked with were milling around not too far away. Keeping an eye on them in the truck’s mirrors, Evan bit down on his tongue to distract himself with the small pain, fighting panicked dread.

“What the fuck?” Luka repeated, even angrier now that Evan was visibly upset.

“I don’t know!” Evan blurted, his voice wavering.

Luka glanced once out the back window and took Evan’s hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb. “Baby, talk to me.”

“Yeah,
now
you wanna talk,” Evan choked out, battling down his emotions.

“What did he say to you?”

“Nothing. He wants to talk to Bren and me. He sounded pissed. Can we not get into it right now?”

“Yeah. No problem,” Luka replied softly. “Look, I’m sorry about my mood earlier. There’s just a lot going on. You want to go home? Get out of here?”

“No, I’m going to work,” Evan said stubbornly, cringing inwardly at how very young he sounded.

“Okay. Is there anything I can do?”

Evan shook his head, tucking the phone away.

“I’ve got an early shift but Bren will be at home with the car all day if you need anything or a ride.”

Evan nodded, one hand on the door handle now.