by Hazel Parker
Chapter Three
Evan
I liked my job. It wasn’t always easy, but I liked it. I liked doing a good job even if was just counting numbers and checking the right boxes. I did it well, and the fact remained that no one else could do it.
Jerry and I sat back taking in the music and drinking brews. There was something equally therapeutic and refreshing about a glass of ice cold beer. Finally relieved from bookkeeping duty and allowed to breathe without the doom of audit looming over my head, I dug my phone from my pocket. It was like life suddenly began because that was finished. Everything floated to the surface and I realized that Kaylen had never texted me back. I guessed she wasn’t ready. It was never like me to question what was, and I figured that if she didn’t want to reschedule or accept my apology, she wasn’t worth it. But I couldn’t say I that wasn’t upset.
The club had a tendency to turn into a small party after hours. By default, it usually brimmed with men, who in turn would bring their significant others or current lays, who would bring their friends. Add in music and drinks and you had something like a party. The club was holy ground, and not just anybody could come in. Those who could intended to relax in the familiarity of safe space.
“So what time d’you think they’re going to come?” Jerry said sliding onto the stool beside me.
“You know how they are. They’ll come anytime they think will be the most inconvenient,” I said matter-of-factly.
He shook his head. “You’re right. Too bad it won’t matter. No matter what time they come, the paperwork will still be the same.”
I chuckled. “Yup. That paperwork’s cleaner than the board of health.”
He laughed loudly as the door opened behind me.
Just a typical day. That’s what today was, or at least what I thought it was. That's what I got for thinking that, because seeing the woman I kissed in the arms of my twin brother was enough to pop that stupid, little bubble in my head. Typical day my ass.
I saw it all in slow motion. His hand possessively gripping her hip. Her thick body aching to burst out of the tight dress, like she just came from the club. I can't help wonder if she dressed like that for me. Her eyes wide, I couldn’t tell if she looked confused, scared, guilty, or a little of all three. The smug look on his face—my face—made me wonder whether he knew she was mine, or if he just always looked like that when he thought he was about to score. I couldn’t remember.
We shared every, damn thing—a name, family, friends… hell, this club even. But not women. Women were supposed to be out of bounds. They always were, since Irene in the 7th grade dated Ethan first, broke his heart, and sent me a note with hearts on it. I wonder briefly if he somehow thought I’d changed my mind towards this after all this time, but I couldn’t think straight because I couldn't see anything else but his hand on her hip. I could feel the blood boiling under my skin and my hands curling into fists.
FUCK!
Today was supposed to be a typical day.
I stared at my brother in silence, searching his face for something to explain what was going on. There was nothing, so I addressed her.
“You never texted me back.”
My voice sounded strange to my own ears.
“Back?”
“Yeah, when I said, 'Can’t make it tonight. Don't be mad. I'll make it up to you.’”
I watched her face with scrutiny. You could tell a lot about a person if you just watched. Kaylen blinked rapidly before her brows furrowed and she looked up.
“I never got that text.”
She pulled her phone from a small clutch attached to her wrist and scrolled through the phone.
“See?” she said, holding the phone out even though we were too far from each other for me to read it. “Nothing.”
I never liked being made a fool of and what’s more, I never liked being called a liar. I’ve never been easy to provoke and yet, her sitting there with someone other than me felt a lot like something to be mad about. It was probably childish, but in a lot of ways it felt like she was with him to replace me. I understood the gesture, women had been trying to do that my entire life. If they somehow couldn’t get my attention, they went after Ethan’s. As if we were actually interchangeable. Women like that grinded my gears, and looking at her face and seeing how she sincerely believed she did nothing wrong, I pulled out my phone.
“Well that’s interesting, because I’m pretty sure my phone says–”
Do you know that moment you realize you’re an idiot, but don’t want to believe it? It’s not just because you don’t want to have not done dumb things, but because you realize that your idiocy probably ruined something for you. Yeah. Well, that moment was staring me in the face while I stared at the text message in my message bar waiting, but completely unsent.
Fuck!
Kaylen
I watched his face change from anger to some sort of confusion to completely blank. I didn’t know what to do and I had completely forgotten about the man beside me until he spoke up.
“Anybody want to tell me what’s going on here?” He turned to me. “Do you know my brother?”
“Yeah. We met a week ago actually,” Evan talked over me. “How do you know Kaylen?”
The way he said my name made my heart flutter.
“I don’t,” the man said plainly, “but I was about to,” he chuckled, his voice dripping with lust.
“Why are you with him?” Evan said, and I could’ve sworn I heard a bit of pain in his tone.
“I’m not,” I said, still in the man’s hold. I liked his warmth, but felt the need to defend myself.
“Really?” Evan said, with a tone of disbelief. His eyes rolled down my body and lingered on my hips where the man’s palm burned against my dress. He might as well have added: “Sure seems like it.”
“I don’t even know his name,” I said as a last ditch effort to appear blameless.
“Ethan,” the man said as he leaned down to whisper into my ear. His deep voice tickled over my ear and down my neck. “Nice to meet you, Kaylen.”
The way he said my name sent dark shivers down my spine.
“Nice to meet you too,” I said, just barely keeping myself from stuttering. My mind tried to process how this could be in fragments. How did this happen? Were there really two men that looked like this? How could that be, and why was that happening to me? “I don’t understand,” I whispered.
“What don’t you understand?” Ethan asked, leaning away to look into my eyes. I glanced at Evan and saw that his jaw had clenched.
“Why did you say you didn’t think you were coming?”
Ethan’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What?”
“When I saw you in the club. I said, ‘I thought you weren’t coming.’ And you said, ‘I didn’t think I was either.’”
“Oh. That,” he said, as he finally left my side to sit down. “Well, I wasn’t coming,” he said shrugging. “I’d debated between Oasis and Kandy Bar, but I decided on Oasis.”
I stood stunned. “What? How did you figure I was talking about that?” I all but yelled at him. How was this my life right now?
“I’ve had women say stranger things to me before.”
Everything in me wanted to be mad but it had all seemed like some big joke that I missed the punchline to.
For the first time, I looked around. The music was just loud enough to prevent me from realizing we had an audience – until now. Apparently, we were the Saturday Night Live show. There were a little over twenty people looking back and forth between me and the two men like we were a tennis match, and as horrifying as the idea of being someone’s entertainment seemed, the idea of me being between Ethan and Evan was deliciously appealing.
“So you’re twins,” I said, feeling a need to fill the silence.
Evan’s lips twitched like he was about to say something just before Ethan said, “Just now figuring that out, are you?”
If there was one thing I hated more than being put in an awkward situation, i
t was someone catching an attitude with me. I didn’t stand for it at the hospital, and I wouldn’t have tolerated it there.
“Excuse me?” I said, placing my hands on my hips. “I didn’t even know about you until tonight!”
“Don’t feel bad, honey. He’s always been after my sloppy seconds. He can’t help himself,” he stage-whispered, as if we were in on some joke together. It was like he wasn’t aware he’d just called me a two dollar hoe.
I didn’t even have time to speak.
“You shut your goddamn mouth.”
I froze in awe, not fear. Evan rose from the chair quickly, all his muscles tightened and bunched together. He was like a quiet storm I was waiting for to erupt after a dry season.
Ethan practically rolled to his feet lazily, like he had no worries in the world. “You know it’s true,” he taunted. “Look, it was only two minutes, you think I chose to be the older brother? Survival of the fittest and all that,” he looked at his long, elegant fingers before he cracked them. “I didn’t ask to be the greatest,” he said, looking at me with a wicked gleam in his eyes before holding the gaze of his obviously furious brother. “I was born this way.”
In that frozen second between a standoff and the fighting, I saw Evan’s eyes flicker from me to Ethan before his fists swung. Someone pulled me back by the neckline and the wild flying of fists missed me by an inch. It was not cold, calculating men circling each other, fighting with clarity and a battle of wits as much as it was a battle of strength. This was brutal, feral. A battle of egos. Arms swung, and as fast as it started, it ended moments later immediately after a loud voice yelled out.
“Boys!”
They both froze, as if they were marionettes held by the man with blue eyes and salt and pepper hair, though there was more salt than pepper.
“Have you no manners?!” he roared before turning to me. “Young lady, I am so sorry about this. Jer, take this woman home. You two, in the office.” He glared at them like an angry father.
Both of them hesitated and Evan looked to me with questions in his eyes. Maybe he was debating saying something. Ethan looked to his brother tentatively, as if watching out for another punch.
“Now!”
Ethan wiped the corner of his mouth, smudging the blood on his lip, while Evan pressed his palm to the crown of his head, checking for his own leakage. They both walked side by side to the back without so much as a backward glance to me.
“Hello, miss.” After just hearing the other man bark orders for someone to take me home, I jumped at the voice beside me. “I’m so sorry about all that. If you follow me, I’ll take you home,” he said with a kind smile.
He didn’t wait for me to respond. With soft prodding at my elbow, I followed him out the door. “I suspect you’ve ridden before?” he asked politely handing me a helmet. I could only nod. “My name is Jerry. You can just point me in the right direction or yell your address into my ear.”
So I climbed onto the back of motorcycle with a complete stranger for the second time that night. Jerry drove nothing like Ethan. I couldn’t be sure if he was driving slowly and carefully for my benefit, or just because he didn’t know me well enough to be himself. Either way, the ride was so peaceful I almost forget to tell him where to go. My mind kept going back to the two men I left behind. What would happen? I’ve never been between two men like that before. I know every girl dreams of men fighting over her, but not me, and especially not brothers. I would have never have gone with Ethan if I knew he wasn’t Evan. At least I think I wouldn’t. I mean, they’re almost the same person. Almost. They had the same face but that was about it. Between Ethan’s hot head and even hotter sexuality, and Evan’s mysterious brooding and intense compassion, I was at a crossroads. I liked them both. Truthfully, together, they were a sexy Pandora box of sin I shouldn’t touch. But I wanted to. Badly.
That night, I didn’t know whether either one would want to talk to me again. I sighed heavily as Jerry pulled up to my small apartment building. He held the bike steady as I swung my leg over.
“Thank you,” I said, unbuckling the helmet and smoothing down my hair. Between the fierce wind with Ethan and the hat hair of this helmet, my hair looked nothing like what I’d curled it into before I left the house.
“It’s no problem,” he said smiling widely.
I looked at Jerry, really looked at him. In the light of the streetlamp, he looked like a perfect golden boy. He could have easily passed for a more rugged Ken doll from his the shiny brown hair on his head, though cropped short, to his wide unexpecting smile and gentleman-like ways. He was just as attractive as Ethan and Evan and more suited for someone like me—broken and in need of someone I knew wouldn’t hurt me. Yet, my body did nothing in response to him. He could have stripped right now and, while I would have appreciated the peep show, nothing would have happened in my pants.
I must have stood there like an idiot for a moment, zoned out and thinking about the unfairness of fatal attraction, because Jerry was off his bike and leaning down to look into my eyes.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” he said, looking every bit concerned.
Man, do I really know how to pick ‘em.
I sighed, “Yes. Thank you. Goodnight, Jerry.”
I turned, walking towards my door when I noticed a shadow behind me. I turned and Jerry smiled sheepishly, “I’d feel more comfortable if I saw you to your door.”
Like I said. A real gentleman.
I smiled back to let him know I wouldn’t fly off the handles or go crazy on him. “I appreciate that.”
The walk was short but the air grew tense.
“Um. If you don’t mind me asking,” he said rubbing his neck nervously.
I knew what he was going to ask. Maybe not the exact words, but if it had anything to do with the twins, then I didn’t want to hear it. He could save those questions for never. Evan, Ethan, and I were none of his business. Gratefully, I stepped to my door and unlocked it. “I do mind. Goodnight, Jerry.”
“Goodnight.”
Evan
Mother. Fucker!
Ethan may have the same build as me, but I swear he’s got a harder face or something. I shook my fists out and looked at the damage done. They’d definitely bruise tomorrow. We sat side by side in the office I’d evacuated only hours before and, although it was more mine than Gus’, it felt like I was sitting in the principal’s office.
“Talk.” Gus said.
“I met Kaylen-”
“Not to me,” he huffed, “to each other.”
I turned with difficulty to stare at my brother’s face. He held a small bag of ice to his lip. I held one to my nose. It was hard to see myself. After 28 years, I’d come to learn my brother and know how to coexist. We weren’t as close as we could have been—as we once were. Our father’s death, in some ways, was the catalyst to us growing apart instead of growing closer, but no matter what, we were always there for each other.
“I didn’t know she was your girl.”
“I didn’t mean to hit you,” I said.
“So your fists just slipped?” Ethan asked, smirking.
“Yup. Sure did. Couldn’t be helped,” I shrugged.
Ethan barked out a laugh and held out his hand for a pound. I eagerly bumped my fists against before gingerly pulling back. That hurt.
“Look, man. Bros before hoes. Swear I thought she was just an MC groupie. I didn’t know she was actually looking for you.”
I tried not to flinch at the idea that Kaylen could be anyone’s groupie.
“It’s nothing, man. Blood is thicker than water. I met Kaylen a few days ago I wanted to say, and since we kissed I wanted to see if things could go further. But I didn’t; it was none of his business. I couldn’t remember the last time I spoke to my brother about a girl. “I shouldn’t have hit you.”
“But you did. I’m wondering if I can hold this over your head for later. A future favor.”
“You wish,” I said, leaning over to bump his
shoulder. “You owe me one. You’re the one flirting with women who have already chosen.”
“How do you know I’m not the chosen one? Just because she met you first?”
“Yes. Dammit.”
He shrugged and smirked. “Well, now we’ll never know, will we?”
I heard the challenge in his voice and considered it. Gus must have felt the shift in the air. He stepped in like a father and said, “You are adults. You better start acting like it. This Kaylen girl isn’t worth brawling on a Saturday night. I want you both to drop it.”
“Okay,” Ethan said with his hands up. “It’s dropped. I won’t so much as look her way. If I see her on fire in the street, I’ll walk the other way.”
Gus rolled his eyes. “There’s no need to be excessive. And you?” he said, looking at me.
I decided to take the quickest route out. I didn’t want any problems, but I did want Kaylen – and I planned to have her. “We only just met. I can drop her, no problem. It’s not like we were planning a wedding or anything. Brothers for life.”
“That’s right,” Gus said, nodding his head like he was satisfied with his work. “Now shake on it. Brothers for life.”
Neither one of us moved. “No need for all that,” Ethan pulled himself to his feet. “We’re brothers. Our word is good enough,” he said, walking out the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a beer waiting with my name on it.”
I didn’t miss the fact that he’d refused to shake my hand, but I didn’t mind. It made it easier for me to not feel guilty about keeping my word when I texted Kaylen.
I followed my brother out and sat beside him on the stool. Together we drank beer and ate barbeque wings, pretending we hadn’t come to blows less than an hour earlier. Shirley told inappropriate jokes and we laughed along despite the swelling of faces and fists. Everything was as it should be, and we mingled with the rest of our brothers until it was time to shut down. Tired and aching from the scuffle, I road home. Once showered and in my bed, I did the one thing I’d planned to do the moment I left the office.
“I owe you a date. Tomorrow. Is 9 AM too early for you?”