by Lynn Kelling
Brennan didn’t respond initially as he picked his way over fallen branches and hollow dips in the forest floor. He mulled over what Charlie said and why he thought he might have said it.
It had been nice to not have to be responsible for a change, to laze around and screw around and not have important life-or-death tasks waiting, other than to watch out for his brother. It had been like reclaiming some of his adolescence, being a stupid kid for a little longer before diving headfirst into the process of becoming a man.
Charlie added, “You’d be a great nurse. If you need any help with tuition, I’ll take care of that. You don’t need to use your savings. I want to contribute.”
Nodding, Brennan tried on a smile and warmed to the idea that his father was finally interested in participating in a concrete way in his life.
“It’s hard for me to talk about when you and Evan were youngsters, growing up, and all the fighting with your mom. That’s part of why I never was able to tell Evan about it. But I don’t want you to think I didn’t care. She offered, you know, to visit or even just to send me pictures and letters about you. She did send some, once in a while, even when I specifically asked her not to. But….”
Charlie shook his head, his expression clouding over. “God damn, it was hard seeing those. It just reminded me of what I was missing out on. And she would never have come back for good. She flat-out refused. If we tried to do shared custody, we’d have been fighting every time we came near one another and we wanted to spare you boys that. I do have a few pictures of you, though. In one of ‘em you’re five and at the beach with your shiny blond hair, wearin’ these baggy red trunks and a big goofy smile on your face. It’s the cutest thing in the world, but it tears me apart inside to see it. You’re my son, Brennan. I’ve loved you since before you were even born, and I need you to know you were always in my heart, even if I wasn’t able to be in your life.”
Charlie sniffed and dragged the back of a hand over his eye when a tear slipped out. Brennan made a small hurt sound and stopped dead in his tracks. After a beat he turned to Charlie and threw his arms around him in a loose hug, the fishing pole clattering to the ground at their feet.
Charlie sighed and held his long lost child tightly, like it would make the wasted years fall away. “I love you,” Charlie said again. “And I’m damn proud of you.”
Brennan sucked in a rough breath and replied, “I love you, too.”
A few feet away, standing up on a hill in a clearing, Evan looked on and smiled.
Chapter 22
Forced and Bound
Typically, it was Luka who would drowsily make his way over to Alek’s bed in the dead of night, looking for company. That night, however, with Evan and Brennan busy trying to forge new familial bonds with Charlie, Alek slipped into Luka’s room.
“You asleep?” Alek asked softly, lifting the sheets just far enough to slide under them and into bed. Pressing up snugly to Luka’s back, he hummed and grinned as Luka drew Alek’s arm around his chest.
“Nah,” Luka sighed despairingly. “I wish I was. Too much on my mind, I guess. You’d think I was tired enough to manage it.”
“Mmm,” Alek grunted. Knowing Alek was thinking of Evan and impossible things, quaking with need to purge his pain somehow, Luka felt his twin gently knead his chest, then rub downward over his side, communicating rapidly the reason why he was in bed with his brother. “Maybe I can help.”
Luka frowned but stayed quiet. His boxers were pushed down in the back and out of the way, tucked under the curve of his ass as Alek shifted, fumbling quickly free of his pajama pants. It was so familiar, it was all too easy for Luka to fall into the routine of it rather than protest. Surrendering himself to Alek as he had always done and always would do, he curled his legs up slightly and braced himself. Alek spat into a hand. The head of Alek’s cock pressed against Luka, unyielding, demanding entry.
This was part of their routine, too. When Alek wanted, he took, just as Luka had been known to take for himself of Alek. But it was the way Alek took that always fucked with Luka’s head a little.
Bracing an opened hand against Luka’s pelvis, Alek drove into him, making Luka spread around him a little at a time. There was no prep and there was rarely any lube besides spit. Alek just entered him like he belonged there, like he was coming home. It took a while to accomplish without doing any damage, but it was the struggle of it that Luka knew Alek got off on. Luka tried not to whimper and grunt, but he did. Impaled and aching, Luka was restless, chest heaving with each breath, toes curling, hands grasping.
It never occurred to Luka to say no. Even if the word was right there, sitting formless on his tongue, it was never uttered. One of Luka’s hands shot up and grabbed white-knuckle-tight to the headboard. A guttural, strangled noise sounded in the back of his throat when the burn of the stretch and the force of Alek’s grip on his hipbone became too sharp to bear quietly. Alek’s mouth latched onto Luka’s throat, sucking a mark to it, tasting his cry through the vibrating skin.
Once Alek passed through the first barrier, breaching Luka, Alek’s inward thrust got immediately sharper, needier. Luka hissed through gritted teeth, spreading his legs, doing everything he could to ease the discomfort.
“Easy. Easy,” Alek whispered.
Luka released a shuddered, sharp exhale into the darkness as the last, pointed drive of his brother’s steely flesh saw him fully nestled in Luka’s body.
“Easy.”
It’s your turn, Luka wanted to say.
I just gave you this last night, he would argue. It should be you made weak and vulnerable, swallowing back pitiful-sounding shouts and marveling at your own innate submissiveness.
That it wasn’t Alek giving of himself spoke quite clearly. The dynamics at play might have been the result of a combination of things—one of them being continued vengeance for Luka’s display of power in front of Evan and Brennan, strangling him, laughing at him, hinting at the lust provoked in Alek because of the rough treatment. Alek still hadn’t really forgiven Luka that, for displaying what his brother was really like when the walls all fell down. Or rather, what they were both like.
They were losing again. They felt it. And this time they were losing so much. They were losing too much, so Alek took. He kept Luka close to prevent him from getting lost, too.
They were lying on their sides. Alek pulled Luka’s top leg up, farther off the bed, opening him with a hand wrapping under his knee. Alek spread him wide and withdrew, feeling Luka shudder at the friction.
“Shh,” Alek hushed.
His head caught on Luka’s rim and, with a snarl, Alek drove, hard, right back inside, making Luka’s mouth fall open wide with a thick grunt that tried to mask his initial, fragile whimper.
Luka didn’t say stop since they did this to each other to hurt themselves. What better way was there? Hurt he who was most like you, most precious to you. Because it was easy. Because they allowed it to happen. Alek, for whatever reason, needed this from Luka, so Luka permitted it. The next night, or maybe the next week, it might have been Alek giving so utterly of himself.
It wasn’t about sex or borne out of maliciousness. It came from love, fear, and feelings of being lost, lonely, and confused. Things made more sense after they let this happen.
Luka felt a few hot tears roll down his cheeks, down his neck, collecting in the hollow of his shoulder. Alek took his brother’s free hand and weaved their fingers together in a sweetly tender gesture even as he rutted and fucked him.
There was no need to explain, or talk. Luka knew. He understood. It made Alek feel weak and frustrated to have to please such a man as Charlie who would torment his children because of his own inability to maintain a civil relationship with his wife. Alek was angry to see Luka able to do what he couldn’t—push past his pride and attempt to reason with Charlie without a single drop of contempt in his voice. Alek was scared because it was all so close to falling apart, everything they’d been trying to build with Evan
and Brennan. The tighter they held on, the more it crumbled.
There were other reasons, too. Alek hated Luka as much as he loved him, simply because Luka was his own reflection, constantly present in his life as a reminder of exactly who Alek was and would always be. Or, maybe Alek’s actions were due to his failings. If he could have talked about why he needed to hurt Luka, it was possible he wouldn’t have had to hurt Luka in the first place. And the anger that was stirred made the cycle turn and turn again.
Finally, beneath it all, Luka knew part of Alek’s motivations came from further back in their shared past. Because Alek knew Luka felt like he had somehow brought that initial rape on himself, due to something he did or said or allowed to happen. In recognizing this, furious at Luka for feeling that way, even a little bit, Alek reenacted the crime over and over again, determined to continue until Luka was able to say stop, needing him to say stop so Alek could prove, once and for all, he could stop.
But Luka never said stop. He loved Alek too much to push him away like that.
Whimpering softly, Luka hid his face against his arm as Alek climaxed and marked Luka with the proof of their deed. Alek rocked gently into him, coming down, tingling, and slowly relaxing. Then he went still, his breaths evening out, his right hand still laced in Luka’s, his flesh still violating his beloved brother.
For a minute or two they lay there, and Luka could have almost convinced himself Alek had fallen asleep, if he hadn’t known better, that Alek was wide awake and staring at him, waiting, staving off sleep until Luka finished what Alek started.
Untangling his hand from the headboard, stretching the sore fingers to work out the kinks in them, Luka let his hand fall to his lap, pushing it under the covers. Alek was able to judge exactly how much he had affected Luka by timing how long it took him to jerk off. That night, it took Luka a pretty long time, catching the mess in a dirty shirt.
“Better?” Alek asked him, nuzzling against the soft curls of his brother’s hair.
“Mmm. Yeah,” Luka hummed, sleepy already. It was better, that was the funny thing. After hours of insomnia, a minute later, he was snoring softly.
And Alek whispered to him, “Love you, Luka. Sweet dreams.”
Evan, wearing only a pair of gray boxer briefs, was already in bed and lying down when Brennan wandered in, focused entirely on his phone, typing away on the tiny buttons. Once he was over the threshold, he closed the door to the bedroom, turning the lock into place. Then he drifted over to the stereo, switching it on and letting music from the local classic rock station play at a fairly low volume. Setting his phone on Evan’s bureau, Brennan paused, looked up at Evan and smiled.
Clad in one of his trademark pair of thin, clinging yoga pants, Brennan suddenly dashed to the bed, startling Evan. He rolled from his side onto his back just in time as Brennan landed astride his legs, perched over him with hands planted above Evan’s shoulders.
Leaning down close to Evan, Brennan closed his lips around Evan’s earlobe, biting it gently. Brennan’s fingers skittered over Evan’s bare chest to his left nipple, pinching the silky flesh between his thumb and the side of his index finger.
“Ahh,” Evan gasped, pressing bodily up into Brennan’s fingers, turning his head to the side to give Brennan more access to his ear even as he groaned quietly, “Knock it off.”
“That was Alek,” Brennan rasped with amusement, tweaking Evan’s nipple harder. “He and Luka just gave me permission to have you. Isn’t that great?”
“Yeah, that’s fantastic,” Evan said with dripping sarcasm. “Dad’s in the next room, ya psycho. He’s one insanely thin wall away.”
“Asleep. Asleep in the next room,” Brennan clarified. “I just checked. He’s got ESPN on and snoring away in the armchair. No worries.” He licked with the tip of his tongue up the side of Evan’s neck and nipped sharply at Evan’s earlobe. It made him moan softly before Evan abruptly choked off the sound.
Pushing Brennan away with force, holding him at arm’s length, Evan said sternly, “Hi. Have we met? Have you not lived here since August? He will hear everything! No. No way. Stop it. Bren. Fuck. Brennan. Bren.”
Brennan stopped grinding rhythmically against Evan’s crotch, rolling his hips forward and around, and instead reached quickly under the bed after lunging to one side. He came up with a thick roll of tape, ripped off a small piece and slapped it down over Evan’s mouth. Then he guided Evan’s arms up above his head. What Evan didn’t know was when he was out of the room, Brennan had tied a length of cord to one of the bars of the headboard and tucked it down near the mattress, out of sight. Now he used this cord to bind Evan’s wrists tightly in place.
Evan’s eyes shot open wide. He was bucking in an as-yet-unsuccessful attempt to throw Brennan off of where he was perched on Evan’s narrow hips.
“Not gonna work, baby,” Brennan drawled. “You’ll never be able to throw a Louisiana boy. I’ve been riding since I was in diapers. I’m pretty fuckin’ good at tying a knot, too, so there ain’t no gettin’ away from me now. But we’ve gotta be nice and quiet so Daddy doesn’t hear, so shhh.” Brennan smirked, pressing a single finger to his lips.
Evan groaned and shivered when Brennan slowly slid Evan’s briefs down and off. His dick was already starting to get hard. Brennan stared at it, mouth watering, thinking distantly of all of the ways Evan had tried to hurt himself in small or large ways, and Alek’s whispered suggestion earlier that maybe all Evan needed to be able to stop was to have someone else put in charge now and then. Out of everyone, Brennan wanted Evan to trust him most of all, so his plan was to show Evan he could trust his twin absolutely, in even the most dangerous circumstances.
Sure, there was an added benefit in getting back at Charlie for all of the ways he’d failed Brennan by fucking Charlie’s chosen son right under his nose. And maybe, though he shied away from the thought as soon as it formed in his brain, part of Brennan wanted to hurt Evan for his own sake, for making Brennan love someone else so much only to threaten to die and leave Brennan alone again.
Brennan’s reasons were complicated and tangled, but all that mattered, the thing driving him on most of all, was the stiffness of Evan’s cock.
Slinking back up Evan’s body, in a long, deliberate movement, Brennan thrust against that proof of Evan’s desire. Brennan’s erection dragged along Evan’s, squeezed between their bodies. The thick line of Evan’s dick twitched against his brother’s pelvis, begging for more, and Brennan loved it. He sucked a kiss to Evan’s throat and said darkly, “Have I mentioned I’m really determined to fuck you senseless now that I’ve got you all to myself? Gonna do such dirty things to you, Ev… all while Daddy’s only a few feet away. You just think about that a while—all the ways I’m gonna penetrate you tonight with Charlie so close by but so very unable to come to your rescue. Better be quiet and obedient for me, now.”
The pads of Brennan’s fingers tapped the tape down tightly over Evan’s lips. Evan’s nostrils flared as his breathing quickened and he tested the cord wound around his wrists, tugging on it a little. It was the only attempt at protest or struggle he made, and it only lasted a moment before he gave it up. Brennan’s teeth scraped over Evan’s throat and Evan’s only response was to throw his head back, exposing the full length of his neck for Brennan’s pleasure.
Evan couldn’t even try to pretend he didn’t think Brennan dominating him was sexy as fuck.
His head came up off the pillow as he peered apprehensively down his body when Brennan slid lower. The tip of Brennan’s tongue curled, flicking up over the stiff nub of Evan’s nipple, then began drawing little circles around the areola before Brennan simply sealed his lips around it and sucked. That was bad enough as it was—in a good way—but then Brennan pushed Evan’s thighs apart and proceeded to make a loose fist around Evan’s stiffened cock, not trying to give Evan any sort of relief, just to make him crazy with arousal.
It worked. Evan whined in feeble complaint and tried to shut up but then Brennan st
arted to rub in tiny swoops over the tip of Evan’s weeping cock, playing with his slit, tracing around the head. Evan was able to bear it silently for the first couple of minutes. Brennan nearly sucked his nipple raw before nipping at it with his teeth, tugging on it and increasing the delicious, small pain which rocketed down to Evan’s dick. It twitched against Brennan’s hand. Brennan chuckled almost soundlessly and shifted to Evan’s other, neglected nipple. Evan attempted a gentle but desperate little thrust against Brennan’s hand but it only caused Brennan to loosen his grip even more, pulling his palm away from Evan’s skin when he moved to rub and get some friction. He played only with the head, stimulating the nerves.
After a solid fifteen minutes of that, with Brennan alternating nipples, he left them bruised with marks from suckling and biting them for so long and so intensely. Evan’s cock was dripping wet with pre-come and swollen enough to hurt. Every gentle graze of Brennan’s fingertips was like fire licking his shaft, and his balls felt so heavy and full it was like they were about to explode.
That was why, initially, Evan was nothing but grateful when Brennan changed tactics, altering his method of attack. Brennan shifted down between Evan’s legs, getting comfortable on the bed.
He took one long, pointed lick from root to tip up Evan’s cock, licking away a trail of pre-come and humming quietly with pleasure at the taste only to pull away and sink lower, leaving Evan’s aching erection untended.
“Mmm!” Evan grunted sharply in complaint, surging up as far as his tightly bound arms would let him in his quest to rub his over-hard cock against something and get off. He scowled in frustration at Brennan who just smiled wider and palmed Evan’s butt cheeks. Brennan pulled them apart and tilted Evan’s hips slightly as his pink tongue slipped out, his darkened eyes closing. With evident pleasure, Brennan licked deliberately over Evan’s hole, circling around and around it before teasing the end of his tongue at the clenched knot in the center.