“Where’re we going?” Jessie asked, her heels clicking on the hard tiled floor.
“Not far,” he said by way of an answer, not really knowing where he was going, but figuring he would recognize it when he found it. As they passed room after room, most of them storage spaces for the hotel, he tried a couple of knobs only to find them locked.
After trying the knob on several more doors and finally finding one that turned, Brendon made a cursory check of the room to ensure it was unoccupied before stepping aside and waiting for Braydon and Jessie to precede him inside.
Someone had been kind enough to install a lock on that door, they obviously just weren’t used to using it, which worked out in his favor tonight. Might as well take advantage of it now to ensure they didn’t have any uninvited guests.
Brendon made his way to Jessie, not wanting to waste a minute. People would start looking for them soon, and his goal was to release some of the pent-up stress, make Jessie come a few times, and then get back to the party. At that point, he’d grab a few beers and ignore the fact that the woman who occupied every one of his waking thoughts was within reach, but untouchable.
But right now . . . he had Jessie. And she was the most important thing.
“Jessie,” Brendon whispered as he pulled her closer, sliding his hands beneath her long hair and pressing his lips to hers. She smelled sweet and so familiar. “I want you naked.”
“Here?” she asked uncertainly.
Brendon glanced around the room. From what he could tell, it was some sort of supply room. There were reams of paper stacked in one corner, the far wall contained metal shelves from floor to ceiling, all bowing from the tremendous weight of what looked to be a stockpile of cleaners. There was a row of cabinets on one wall, but not much else. And no windows, which was a huge plus as far as he was concerned.
“Yeah, here,” he assured her, reaching his hands beneath the short hem of her skirt.
She didn’t try to push him away when he began to lift her dress. Her arms came up and around his neck, sliding into his hair as she leaned into him, their mouths aligning once again. As she nibbled at his lips, Brendon peered over her shoulder to where Braydon stood motionless on the other side of the room. His twin looked as though he was having an internal debate with himself, but the moment their eyes met, Braydon seemed to shake himself out of his revelry.
Regardless of the tension between them, they needed this. It might be the very last time, but right then and there, it was necessary.
In a few short steps, Braydon joined them just as Brendon was lifting Jessie’s dress up, forcing her to break the kiss so he could rid her of the confining fabric.
“Much better,” he groaned as he admired her semi-naked form. She always wore the sexiest undergarments. Today she had on a bloodred bra and matching panties. As much as he liked them, he still wanted to see her in nothing but those fuck-me heels. “These need to go, too.”
Jessie nodded, but she didn’t reach to assist. Instead, she pressed her lips to his briefly and then trailed her mouth down his jaw, his neck. All the while she was working the buckle of his belt and fumbling with the button and zipper on his pants.
Thankfully, Braydon got with the program and managed to rid Jessie of her remaining clothing.
The next thing Brendon knew, his cock was buried in the sweet depths of Jessie’s perfect mouth while he leaned back against the counter, his fingers twined in her hair.
“Aww, that’s pretty,” Brendon told her. “My dick sliding into your mouth. Ahh, fuck, it feels good.”
Brendon could hardly breathe for the sheer pleasure of her mouth on him. He didn’t budge from where he stood as she sucked him, laving his shaft with wet heat while Braydon teased her from behind with his fingers. It wasn’t long before Brendon’s eyes had closed and he was envisioning an entirely different mouth wrapped around his dick. He knew it was a shithead move, but he couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t like Jessie wasn’t getting her pleasure from Braydon. Brendon’s twin was the man she wanted in the first place, even Brendon knew that, but he hadn’t bothered to let on that he knew.
“Suck me, Jessie,” he whispered, guiding her head so that she was taking his dick deep in her mouth. Even as he saw Cheyenne’s beautiful face in his mind’s eye, Brendon reminded himself that this was Jessie. She was the one pleasuring him with such exquisite skill, he wasn’t going to last forever.
The warmth of her mouth disappeared briefly and her soft moan had Brendon opening his eyes. He glanced down to see Braydon lined up behind her, his dick in his hand as he began sliding it home. Jessie was pushing back against him, mumbling his name over and over. Finally, she returned her attention to Brendon, wrapping her soft lips around his cock, one hand fondling his balls.
The three of them remained like that for a few minutes, Jessie sucking Brendon, sending chills racing down his spine as she pushed him closer and closer to release while Braydon fucked her from behind. When he did bother to open his eyes, which wasn’t often, Brendon noticed the look on his twin’s face, the longing that seemed to be reflected there, all directed toward Jessie.
God, what the hell had the three of them gotten themselves into?
“Fuck,” Brendon groaned when Jessie began bobbing furiously on his cock, one hand still gently kneading his balls, the other wrapped around the base of his shaft as she stroked him in time to her sucking. “That’s good, baby. So fucking good. Make me come, Jessie. I want to come in your mouth, watch you swallow. And then I’ll watch you get fucked. Do you want that?”
Jessie didn’t speak, but he felt the vibration from her moan as it raced up his cock. “Oh, yeah! Jessie! Damn, baby! Fuck yes!” Brendon couldn’t hold back any longer. With his eyes closed yet again, he thought about Cheyenne, what her pretty pink lips would look like wrapped around him, and he came with a rush.
He did just as he said he would. When he was spent, Brendon stepped away, his eyes glued to Jessie’s gorgeous curves, watching her full breasts as they rocked with Braydon’s punishing thrusts from behind. Her eyes were closed, her fingertips latched onto the counter in front of her. She was doing her best to remain quiet, he knew she was. Jessie was quite responsive and she didn’t have an issue voicing her enjoyment. But this certainly wasn’t the place for them to get caught going at it in a storeroom.
“Jess,” Braydon groaned. “I’m close, baby. Come for me, Jess. Come all over my cock.”
Jessie cried out, her body stilling as Braydon continued to plow her from behind. Brendon remained standing, watching her intently, wondering why the hell she couldn’t be the woman that he wanted more than his next breath.
She was certainly everything he should want, but for whatever reason, Cupid was being a cruel and brutal bitch where Brendon’s love life was concerned. It wasn’t enough that he hated himself for using Jessie, knowing what his twin felt for her. If he’d been a better man, he would’ve walked away, would’ve tried to push the two of them together because it was so goddamn evident that they wanted each other. But he wasn’t that man. He wasn’t.
The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Jessie or Braydon. He would never purposely sabotage what they might have, but he just didn’t know how to let go, how to move forward. He was selfish, he knew that. But he wasn’t being that way out of spite. His need to keep his twin from abandoning him was making it impossible for him to do the right thing.
“Oh, fuck yes,” Braydon roared, his body stilling behind Jessie as he came.
It wasn’t long before Braydon was pulling out and when he went to dispose of the condom, Brendon helped Jessie to stand, wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss to her temple. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about Jessie. Or that he wasn’t attracted to her. He was. A great deal, in fact.
He just didn’t have the same overwhelming physical response to her as he did to Cheyenne.
And since Cheye
nne wasn’t willing to give in to him and Braydon, Brendon knew he had to hold out, bide some time until she came around. Hopefully just a little while longer.
The idea that he could’ve possibly stooped low enough to use Jessie, a woman he considered a friend, made his stomach churn. He’d turned into a world-class asshole somewhere along the way. And as much as he wanted to solely blame Cheyenne for waltzing into his world and turning it upside down, he knew that wasn’t the only reason for his less-than-desirable attitude, yet he couldn’t shake it.
Meeting Braydon’s gaze, Brendon swallowed hard. He had to make this right. He had to take a step back, give them a chance.
The fucked-up part about it all was that he just didn’t know how to do that.
FROM THE MOMENT Braydon stepped out of the storeroom, following close behind Brendon and Jessie, to the time they came face-to-face with Cheyenne just outside the door, things went to shit fast.
Not that he was all that surprised.
Brendon and Jessie stopped abruptly and Braydon had no choice but to do the same. He watched as Cheyenne studied Brendon, casting a murderous glare at him. There was no question as to how she felt about finding the three of them stepping out of a storage room. Together.
The look she pinned Brendon with would’ve had most men cowering, and Braydon instantly knew why. It was the same reason Braydon was ready to beat the shit out of his own twin. Brendon was playing everyone, including himself. He was pretending that things weren’t changing, all while knowing they were.
Braydon felt the tension between them and watched as Brendon’s face fell the moment Cheyenne turned and walked away without a single word spoken. Despite Brendon being absolutely clueless, it was blatantly obvious to Braydon that Cheyenne liked his twin. Even if she didn’t want to.
And what woman would want a man who continued to dig himself deeper rather than trying to find his way out.
Braydon glanced at Jessie, then turned back to his brother. His temper had reached a boiling point and for the first time, he couldn’t contain the rage.
“What the fuck are you thinking?” Braydon yelled, getting up in Brendon’s face.
Brendon, clearly just as frustrated as Braydon, fired back. “What the hell are you talking about? I thought . . .”
“You thought what?” Braydon implored. “You thought that you’d get in one more night, that you’d string Jessie along until the timing was right for you and Cheyenne? Is that what you thought?”
Brendon’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talkin’ about.”
“Sure you do, Bren. You’re so far gone that you don’t even know your ass from a hole in the ground. And I’m tired of you using Jessie to sate that urge.”
“Fuck you, man. I never used Jessie.” The expression on Brendon’s face exposed his lie for what it was.
“Well, you sure as shit aren’t putting her first now, are you?” Braydon countered.
“And you are? If I recall correctly, you were right there with us. You didn’t balk at fucking her in a storage room.”
“Will you two just shut up?!” Jessie screamed, causing Braydon to spin around and face her. He’d been so lost in his own anger that he hadn’t even considered her standing there.
“Jess, I’m so—”
“Save it, Braydon,” Jessie said through clenched teeth. “I’m not playing this game with either of you anymore.”
Before Braydon had a chance to stop her, Jessie stalked off down the hall. He would’ve gone after her if it hadn’t been for the fact that Travis came walking up, a furious glare on his face.
“This is bullshit,” Travis growled. “The three of you need to figure this shit out, and you need to do it soon. This is not the time or place for you to hash out your issues.”
Braydon turned his glare on Brendon, wanting nothing more than to continue the argument, to find a way to relieve some of the pent-up anger. Because he feared that if he didn’t, he was going to do something he’d regret.
“Go your separate ways,” Travis demanded. “Y’all can work this shit out later.”
Brendon’s eyes narrowed on Braydon, and he felt the heat of his twin’s wrath more then than he’d ever felt it.
But then Brendon walked away, disappearing in the same direction Jessie had. Thankfully, Travis hadn’t stuck around to give him his two cents, which left Braydon staring down the empty hallway, wondering just how he was going to fix this.
Or if he even should.
Braydon made his way back to the club, scanning the room in an attempt to find Jessie. He needed to talk to her. Needed to apologize. She didn’t deserve that. Not from Brendon, and certainly not from him.
But she wasn’t there. At least not that he could see.
Rather than looking like a lovesick fool and scouring the halls for her, Braydon opted to mingle with his brothers. Which was where he spent the next few hours, laughing and joking, pretending everything was fine, when in reality, it was anything but.
Needless to say, his night hadn’t gone quite as he had planned, but his brothers all seemed to be content.
Not that he wasn’t happy for his brothers. He certainly was. Kaleb, Zane, Travis, Ethan . . . They had all found exactly what they were looking for, and he wished them nothing but happiness. But as each minute passed, it was becoming more and more difficult to find happiness in his own relationship. If it could even be called that. It was safe to say that Braydon had royally fucked up.
Giving in to the threesome, knowing that it wasn’t what he wanted, had been the first mistake of the evening. He wanted Jessie, that would never change, but he didn’t want to share her anymore. And his feelings for her were only growing stronger.
And now more than ever, Braydon felt the need to get away from it all. He needed to take a breather, get his head on straight. And thanks to his cousin Tessa and her husband, Cooper, he knew exactly how he was going to go about doing that. It was just a matter of time.
A COUPLE OF hours later, Braydon was walking into his house —the place surprisingly quiet since Brendon had yet to arrive—making him feel more alone than ever.
For the first time in his life, there was a rift between him and Brendon that he feared they wouldn’t get past without some time apart. Not that he was looking forward to it, but after their argument, he wasn’t sure what else to do.
Now that he was home and some of his anger had subsided, Braydon was left facing something else. Losing Jessie entirely. He’d screwed up tonight. But there was also a deeper fear. One that he’d never considered before.
The three of them had gone into this with one thing on their minds. Sex. Sex for the sake of sex, pleasure for the sake of pleasure. Emotions didn’t have any place in their relationship, but Braydon had gone and done the unthinkable.
He had fallen in love with her.
And now more than ever, he knew he’d never be able to continue on this path.
There seemed to be only one logical conclusion for Braydon. Only one way to fix everything that was broken. Thanks to his conversation with Cooper earlier, he’d found an out that would work for them all.
Heading to his room, Braydon pulled an empty gym bag from the shelf in his closet. Rummaging through his drawers, he grabbed enough clothes to last him a couple of weeks. Then he started snatching up little things that he might need—cell phone charger, iPod, vitamins, headphones, and his laptop. Keys, wallet, phone . . . He was finally ready to go and he knew he had to hurry.
On his way through the living room, his attention was drawn to the mantel and the pictures that decorated it. A quick detour had him taking a closer look. There were several of him and Brendon together. Throughout their lives, they’d been in more pictures than he could count, each capturing a moment. Some of those most memorable moments were laid out before him. Unable to walk away without taking them, he grabbed ever
y last picture from the mantel, including the one of his parents and the one of the whole family standing in front of the Walker Demolition sign. God, they were younger then. Where had the time gone?
Not wanting to run into Brendon, he took one more fleeting look around before heading for the door.
He promised himself he was going to give himself the space he needed, at least for a little while. And in time, maybe everything would work itself out, because he knew that it wasn’t working otherwise.
chapter THREE
Three months later
“Have you heard from Braydon?” Kylie asked as Jessie obnoxiously spun her coffee spoon on her sister’s kitchen table.
“Nope,” Jessie offered without going into detail.
“Have you heard from Brendon?”
“Nope,” she answered, making a bored popping sound on the “p.”
Jessie didn’t have any more answers for her sister than she’d had for the last three months, although she knew Kylie was hoping Jessie would hear from Braydon. Or even Brendon. She hoped the same thing, but she didn’t make that fact known. Granted, Curtis had heard from Braydon, and according to the Walker patriarch, Braydon was doing fine. That didn’t make it any easier for the rest of them.
Shortly after Zane’s wedding, Braydon had hightailed it out of Dodge, so to speak. And by “shortly,” Jessie meant that sometime between when Braydon left the reception and when she and Brendon returned to their house, he had packed his bags and left town without so much as a note. No one other than Curtis and Lorrie had talked to him since. At least, not that she knew of. Not even Brendon.
Of course, that had been a point of contention between her and Brendon for the last few months. Neither of them would accept complete responsibility for Braydon’s disappearance, although Jessie knew they were all three to blame. So they’d resorted to ignoring one another, pretending nothing had ever happened between them, either.
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