by A. J. Downey
“Not something I’ve ever really had to do, but I could take a crack at it.”
“No time like the present to learn.” I had him help me bring in some wood from the port side of the wrap-around lower deck and opened up the wood stove. I showed him the basics and let him get it going while I washed my hands at the kitchen sink.
“Kind of a unique bathroom,” he remarked.
“Yeah, we had the blinds closed the last time you were here.”
“Mind if I close them again? It’s a little creepy staring at your bathtub from the kitchen and living room.”
“Go ahead,” I said. “Angel is probably going to want to get a shower when he gets home, speaking of. I should text him and give him the heads up that you’re here.” I dusted off my hands from the basil I’d just torn up and put into the food processor to grab my phone and swore when I saw the time.
“What?”
“He’s already on the bike by now and on his way home.”
“Oh. Well, with any luck, he won’t punch me in the face or anything on sight.”
“Wrong twin,” I reminded him, and he kind of blinked at me, startled, and said, “You’re really not joking about that, are you?”
“Mm, nope. Although I’m pretty sure Golden wouldn’t actually hit you. He is a cop, after all.”
“Right, wouldn’t want to lose his job, I guess.”
“Pretty much the only thing that would make him think twice about it. Angel will be nice because he’s Angel and lives up to the name. I wouldn’t expect the same out of Golden, though.”
“Where do these guys get their names?” he asked.
It was a safe topic, so I told him the stories behind Golden and Angel’s names.
“And how did you meet these guys, again?”
I stirred the pasta in its water and sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter. I told my brother the truth. The full truth this time. Not the watered-down version that Angel had given him. Carter sat at the dining room table, speechless.
“Oh, my God… Claire,” he said finally.
“I know, I know! I shouldn’t have left him like that.”
“Okay, setting aside for now that my sister is even capable of a one-night stand – which I thought mom and I raised you better than that –” I cut him off by barking, “Hey!” at him but he ignored it and just pushed on, “Yeah. Wow. Whoa. Not sure how to process this one. Just give me a minute.”
“Well,” I said after a moment of silence. “I guess one thing is apparent from this little nugget of wisdom.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“I’m definitely your sister, because before this little repentance-thing you have going on right now, it’s pretty much exactly the kind of thing you would have done, leaving like that.”
He winced and didn’t say anything at first, then finally said, “You’re right.”
“Guess we can both be assholes,” I said softly, a tentative peace offering.
“Yeah,” he said, just as softly. “I guess we can.”
31
Angel…
I don’t know exactly what I had expected when I got home, but what I hadn’t was finding Carter sitting at our dining room table. I slowly shut the door and eyed him as I walked past to get to my fiancé. I leaned down and kissed her and she sighed in contentment against my lips. I set my lid aside on the counter, out of her way, and turned to face Carter.
“Carter,” I intoned, shrugging out of my jacket and cut, taking it over to the coat-tree by the wood stove and front door.
“Ah, hi, Angel.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Um, Claire invited me to dinner.”
“Did she, now?” I glanced at Claire to make sure he wasn’t feeding me a line of bullshit and she gave a barely-perceptible nod.
“He showed up at the gym,” she said.
“Ah-huh. Why?”
“I wanted to apologize to my sister,” he said sincerely.
I went over and dropped into a seat near his and eyed him. “I see.” I was being carefully neutral. My curiosity burning, I gave in and asked, “How’s your wife?”
“Packed up and left me last week, took our daughter with her.”
“I see. I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.
He blinked and his brow furrowed slightly; he opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and finally settled on a really confused-sounding, “You really mean that.”
“I do.”
“Told you he was the good twin,” Claire said with a wry smile. I had to smile, too. We’d had dinner with my brother and Lys just the other night and had gotten into the whole ‘Who was the evil twin’ debate. Once again, Golden had won the title of evil twin, even though both of us were as far from the true meaning of the moniker as we could get.
Carter cleared his throat, and said, “Yeah, well, I guess I should be glad you got this one.”
“I know I am,” she said, and I didn’t need to turn around to confirm that she was smiling. I could hear it in her voice. I felt my own lips twitch.
“You guys good, then?” I asked.
“No,” Claire answered readily and Carter’s face fell. “But we’ll get there eventually,” she said grudgingly and I watched hope spring in the other man’s eyes.
“Good deal,” I said and got up to help set the table, kissing her one more time on the way by and murmuring, “It smells good.”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“You want a beer, Carter?”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, that would be great,” he said.
The tension in the house dissipated some and I nodded and got two beers out of the fridge.
I kept an eye on Claire the entire meal, the conversation turning mostly to a walk down memory lane. By the end of the meal, there was more laughter than sadness and I figured I could feel a little more confident that this was on the up-and-up, that there was some real hope of them working their shit out. Well, really, that Carter was working his shit out.
“I’ll clean up,” Claire murmured finally, at a natural lull in the conversation.
“I should get going,” Carter said before looking at his sister and saying, “Thank you.”
“For what?” she asked and the tension and nervousness was back as we all felt close to sideswiping topics we didn’t want to get into.
“For this. For, um, giving me another chance.”
“I haven’t fully committed that far yet,” she said.
“Okay, then for giving me half a chance, tonight.” He nodded.
Claire nodded too, and said, “Sure, but you go back to being that asshole, we are so done. I meant it, Carter. I won’t even let you close enough to hurt me like that again.”
“I understand,” he said, standing up. “I don’t want to. I mean it. I’m sorry, and being sorry, really sorry –”
“Means never doing what you’re sorry for ever again, otherwise it’s an empty apology,” they said in unison.
Both of them cracked a smile, and I think their mom was in the room. She had to be.
“Right, well.”
“I’ll walk you out,” I said.
“Can I have a hug?” he asked Claire, and she set down the plate she had in her hands on the edge of the sink and came around. They hugged, bodies tight and tense and I think her brother choked up a little. Looked like he’d gotten the wake-up call he’d needed. Good, that was good.
“Good night,” Claire said. Her voice was strained with her own threatening tears.
I swung my jacket and cut on and asked, “Where’s your coat?”
“Ah-ha,” he let out an embarrassed laugh. “Accidentally left it in the back of the rideshare I took to the gym.”
“That sucks, hang on. Let me grab you one of mine. You can give it back the next time you see us.”
He nodded and I ran upstairs, grabbing down my thick, warm, canvas construction jacket out of the armoire. I jogged back down the steps and held it out.
He nodded, “Yeah, we live in the city. I don’t keep that stuff in my jacket. Pants, always.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “Be right back, babe.”
“Okay,” Claire said, and she was a little subdued. I couldn’t tell if it was that she was sad her brother was leaving or not. I had even money that she was all over the place emotionally at the moment. I would pick up any pieces when I got back to the house.
Carter had his phone in his hand, using the app to call up his ride. I opened the door and he stepped out ahead of me. We walked down the dock in silence and I opened up the gate at the end. He stepped through and I followed him out to the parking lot.
“Hey, listen, thanks for not being a jerk. I know, I totally deserve it and,” he gave a nervous laugh, “to be honest, I’m kind of afraid of what you’re going to say right now. I’d almost rather you just punched me in the face and got it over with.”
I gave a shrug, hauled off and belted him right in the jaw. I hit him and he hit the ground. I bent down, grabbed him by my jacket and hauled him to his feet as he sputtered and spit out crimson. I dusted him off while he moved his jaw back and forth with his hand.
“Better?” I asked.
“Hell, no!” he cried.
I shrugged, “Need me to do it again?”
“No! No, I’m good.”
“Good, now that I have your attention, I’d like to make it clear that you’ve abdicated making any decisions for your sister. No telling her what to do, none of that shit. You talk shit, you make her feel anything less-than, I’m going to do a whole lot worse, you feel me?”
“I thought you were supposed to be the good twin,” he said, and I loomed, on purpose.
“I am.”
“Point taken,” he said quickly.
“Good.”
“You really love my sister,” he said, and it wasn’t a question, but I answered it anyway.
“With everything that I am and then some.”
He nodded and said, “Good. I feel like we kind of got this backwards. Like I should be the one threatening you with bodily harm should you screw things up?”
“That’s traditionally how this goes, but you kind of fucked up first, so here we are.”
“That’s fair enough,” he said, and sucked in a breath muttering, “you hit like a truck.”
“Want me to check you out?” I asked.
“What?”
“I’m a medic. I broke you, now I feel like I should put you back together.”
He kind of laughed and shook his head. I switched on my penlight and checked him out.
“Eh, you’ll be fine. Just put some ice on it when you get home. Fifteen on, fifteen off.”
“You’re confusing.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard it, probably won’t be the last. Your ride’s coming.”
He nodded, “Well, thanks for dinner – not so much for punching me in the face though. That I could have gone without.”
I shook my head, mouth tight. He laughed and nodded.
“Once again, fair point, well made, sir. Fair point, well made.”
“Right. If she’s receptive, see you in a few weeks. Go fix the rest of your family, if you can,” I said.
He nodded.
“I’m trying to. Really, I am.”
“I believe you. Otherwise I would have pitched your ass off my boat.”
He laughed, “I like you, Angel. God knows why, but I do.”
“Exactly. God knows why. Take care of yourself,” I said. “I mean it. I hope you come to the best resolution with your wife and that you find peace with each other.”
“Yeah,” he said, opening up the door to the Prius that rolled to a stop. “Me, too.”
“Night, Carter.”
“Night, Angel.” He got in and shut the door and I watched him pull away, my hands buried in my pockets.
I heaved a sigh and went to see how much damage had been caused to my woman who was waiting inside. I figured it would be pretty bad. There were points she’d looked fragile. She’d come so far the last few weeks and I was worried about a setback, that she would get discouraged.
I expected tears, and I found them when I got back inside. She was sitting in one of the living room wingback chairs, the dishwasher running, humming along in its wash cycle. I went to her and picked up her hands in mine.
“You didn’t get into a fight, did you?” she demanded, looking at my red and swollen knuckles. I shook my head.
“No. Let’s just say your brother and I came to a man-on-man sort of understanding. It’s done and over with. No hard feelings, no grudge.”
“Seriously?” she asked, and I could tell she didn’t believe me.
I laughed a little and murmured, “Let’s just say I gave him the talk every brother is supposed to give the boyfriend.”
She sniffed and sighed, “You didn’t hurt him too bad, did you?”
“Not even close, babe.”
She looked like she was at war with herself and finally let out a pent-up breath and said, “I really don’t know whether to be mad at you or disappointed that you let him off so easy.”
“I wouldn’t say he got off easy,” I said. “But I didn’t fuck him up as hard as I wanted to either.”
“Oh God,” she groaned and covered her face with her hands. She tipped forward slightly and I put my arms around her and cuddled her.
“It’s okay, mi alma,” I whispered. “Over and done with. Just like that.”
“I don’t understand how guys can do that,” she said. “Just punch each other out and be fine after that. Go out for beers and be best friends.”
“Technically, the beer came first, and I don’t know about best friends,” I said laughing.
She put her arms around me and laid her head on my shoulder.
“Can we just take a bath, have a drink, and forget about it for now? Talk about something happy?”
“That sounds perfect.” I smiled and she leaned back.
“Good.”
“Go on up and get naked,” I told her. “I’ll draw the bath and get the beer.”
“Two beer night for you?”
“Yeah.”
She laughed, “At least things are better.”
“Yeah?” I asked, checking in with her, making sure.
She nodded gently, “By no means healed, that’s going to take a lot more time, but I think they could be on the mend.”
I smiled. “I’ll take it.”
“I thought that was supposed to be me,” she said with a wink, standing. I swear this woman could turn anything into a sexual innuendo and I loved her sass.
“Oh, you will be,” I told her, giving her a slap on the ass as she headed for the stairs.
“In that case, sparkly bath-bombs ahoy.”
I mock-groaned.
“You’re going to make me look and smell like I got dipped in unicorn jizz?”
“Shut up!” she cried, but she was laughing.
I chuckled and got the bath going. I opened up the fresh bottle of champagne I had in the fridge. Not because of any special occasion, but because I knew it would make her happier than a beer. She called from over the railing, “What are you doing?” after the cork popped.
“You’ll see,” I called back.
I filled the tub and dropped in two of the bath bombs she kept in a basket on the corner of the tile surround and she came back down in her robe. I opened up the blinds, went up and got out of my clothes, dropping them in the hamper and shrugged into my own robe.
Claire was already in the tub by the time I got back downstairs. The blinds up, our view unimpeded, she huddled at the foot of the tub waiting for me to get in behind her. I did and she slid back into my arms, leaning against me. I handed her one of the champagne flutes and she smiled.
“We haven’t done this in a while,” she murmured.
“That’s why I did it.” We clicked glasse
s and sipped.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, baby.” I kissed her shoulder and she sighed out, her body relaxing. I worked my mouth from the outside swell of her shoulder, along the leading curve to the side of her neck. She hummed out in pleasure and I slid my hands over her body.
“Keep that up, you’re going to get laid,” she said.
“That is the whole point,” I whispered in her ear, my fingertips finding her clit beneath the water. She jerked slightly in my grasp and I teased her body. She shivered against me and put a hand over each of mine, encouraging the one at the apex of her thighs to touch her just like so, dragging the other to her breast and encouraging me to give it a squeeze.
I grew hard behind her, my cock stirring against her back.
“You are so getting whatever you want,” she said.
“I already have what I want,” I told her. “Right here, in my arms.”
Epilogue
Claire…
I laughed hysterically as Angel kicked open the hotel room door and carried me across the threshold. I loved how he carried me as if I weighed nothing, and to him, I probably did. He was used to lifting people of all shapes and sizes onto stretchers, after all. He set me down and I wound my arms around his neck. He bowed his head and kissed me and I melted, molding myself to the front of his body.
We’d been together a year and a half and still, kissing him was like brand new, every time, and we tended to kiss a lot. We’d just been married, today was the first day of the rest of our lives and it felt amazing, exhilarating, and I suddenly couldn’t get me out of this dress, him out of that tux, and into bed with him fast enough.
“God, I love you, mi alma,” he murmured against my mouth.
“Not as much as I love you,” I whispered back, my lips curving into a smile.
The wedding had been perfect, held at Angel’s church. My brother had walked me down the aisle. Mallory and Carter were moved back in together and working things out. Gracie had been our flower girl, Manolo bearing the rings. Every single club brother had been a groomsman, their women bridesmaids. Giada and Aleksi had even come, as well as several others in my circus family from far and wide overseas.
The gym was successful, and I had been repaid and then some. They had made me a full partner, and I was even performing again. Life was good. Better than good, and I was sharing it with a man so good, so pure, I couldn’t have even dreamed him. It was still so surreal.