by Terry Towers
“Bottle or tap?” I asked, gabbing a glass assuming he wanted draft and moving to the dispenser.
“Draft.”
“Sure thing.” Filling the glass with the frothy liquid, I turned back to him and passed him the glass. “Enjoy.”
“How much?”
I shrugged. “First one’s free.”
“Thanks, man.” He graced me with a smile and took a hearty drink.
Considering the financial status of the bar, giving away beer wasn’t exactly a bright idea, but I did it anyhow. The guy looked incredibly depressed. I think he needed someone to talk to as much as or more than I did. “Anything on your mind?”
He chuckled, setting the glass on the bar. “Same old shit, different day.”
I blinked, narrowing my eyes at him. At first glance, I hadn’t recognized him, but now I knew exactly who he was. "Todd?" I hadn’t seen Todd McCarthy for well over ten years, not since our family had moved out of the neighbourhood when I was nine.
“Yeah. Yeah,” his eyes narrowed right back at me, and he nodded. “Eric Hughes? Or is it Sam?”
“Eric.”
He sat up a little straighter in his chair and looked around. “Oh shit, I hadn’t even thought about it! This is Kevin Fox’s place, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah. Used to be?”
“He sold it to you?”
“Not exactly.” Pouring myself a beer I took a big gulp. “The three of us took it over when Kevin died.”
His brow furrowed. “I don’t follow.”
“Our parents got divorced-”
“Sorry to hear that, man.”
I waved off his apology. “-and my mother married Andrea’s father. You remember Andrea, right?”
He laughed. “Shit, yeah, 'course I do. That girl always had the hate on for me. How’s she doing?”
I laughed with him. Same old, Todd, next to impossible to get a story out without being interrupted. “She’s still trying to deal with her father’s death. She took it so damned hard, but she’s fighting through.”
“I bet.” His smile faded. “Shame. Sorry for your loss.”
“Yeah. Thanks. Appreciate it.”
We finished our drinks in silence and started a new round.
“Hey, so you went from being Andrea’s husband to being her stepbrother, huh?”
“What?” My brow furrowed as I stared at him. “What are you talking about? We were never married.”
He chuckled. “Sure you were.”
I motioned to his empty glass. “I think I’m going to have to cut you off, buddy, ‘cause you’re either misinformed or delusional.”
“Nah man, I mean back when we were kids. Remember? We had that fake wedding for you guys. She married you and your brother. The summer before you guys moved out of town.”
I thought back a moment, and a grin spread across my lips. “Wow, you’re right.” Laughing, I nodded as the memories came rushing back to me—Andrea was all dressed up in a cute pink dress. How surprised and embarrassed she was when we kissed her. “I remember now. I sometimes forget I knew her before our folks got hitched.”
“So is she seeing someone now?”
“Who?”
“Andrea. Is she involved with someone? I just got un-involved with someone.” He motioned towards his empty glass. “Part of the reason I’m here right now.”
I didn’t have a chance to answer. The door opened, and in stepped Andrea. She took a couple steps into the bar and stopped, her eyes growing wide as she stared at me.
“Morning, Andrea,” I greeted her, trying to sound unperturbed by her arrival, despite the feeling of embarrassment over last night. I couldn’t let it bother me. I needed to vault that memory and forget it ever happened.
“What are you doing here?” She asked, closing the door behind her and making her way to the bar. I didn’t miss the fact that she was refusing to meet my gaze.
“I could ask you the same question.”
“Sam said he had a date tonight. We’re going to be short someone, I wanted to get a jump on the prep, that’s about it.”
“My thought exactly.” Her eyes focused on the back of Todd’s head, and then she looked back up at me questioningly.
“Do you remember Todd McCarthy?” As I said his name, Todd swivelled in his chair around to greet Andrea.
“Hey Andrea. Long time, no see.” He stood and met her as she approached the bar, extending his hand to her. Stopping before him, she took his hand and gave it a brief shake, taking in his face curiously.
“For sure. How have you been Todd?”
If I recalled correctly, she was never a big fan of Todd. He used to annoy the living shit out of her when we were kids. I chuckled to myself as I remembered the day that she told Sam and I that we were forbidden to be his friend anymore. In her mind, it was her right as our wife to have a say. We refused, and since it was two against one, we won, and Todd got to continue to be our friend—at least, that had been the case, until we moved.
So many memories of that time in my life came flooding back to me. Life was so damned easy back then. My only concern with life back then was having fun. The only problem was trying to decide who would be my best friend from week to week, but considering I had a twin brother, he got to play that role in my life by default—and still did.
The sound of a loud slap on the countertop pulled me from my thoughts. I looked up, and my gaze met Todd’s.
Knowing he had my attention, he smiled. “Hey, it was good seeing you again, Eric.”
“Ya, you too man.”
Todd turned back to Andrea and gave her a hug. My eyes narrowed and a wave of jealousy surged up within me.
“So I’ll call you and see you this weekend?”
What? Why in the fuck would Todd McCarthy be seeing her this weekend? I zoned out for a moment, and she’s got a date. What the fuck! My jaw clenched as I watched them finish their exchange, and Todd left.
“What’s going on with you and Todd?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play that game with me. When did you agree to a date with him?” I could hear the annoyance in my tone but couldn’t do a damned thing to hold it back.
“A moment ago.” She gave her head a shake. “I have stuff to do.” She turned and started walking toward the entrance, to the back room.
There was no way in hell I was going to let her go that easily. It was easier to focus on my annoyance with her than my embarrassment of her rejection. “Wait, we need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.” She called over her shoulder, making it to the door of the back room and pushing it open.
I was hot on her heels. “Why would you go out with him?”
“'Cause he asked.” She disappeared into the back room. “And I haven’t gone out on a date in what feels like forever.”
Entering the back room behind her, I caught up to her just inside the door and trapped her upper arm in my hand, spinning her back around to face me. However, when she faced me and lifted her face so that her gaze met mine, I completely forgot why I was chasing her down.
I wanted this woman. I needed her. How dare another man even attempt to be with her? But to make it worse, she'd accepted. I showed my hand last night, and she turned it down—for Todd McCarthy. Of all people, Todd McCarthy! She used to hate that guy! I needed to know why.
“Why are you going to go out with him?”
She frowned. “Because he asked, and I figured, what the hell, why not? I haven’t been on a date for a while, it might be fun.”
“Are you serious? Is he really someone you’d want to be with?”
Looking into her eyes, I knew she knew the answer I was looking for. Her lips formed a straight line, and she shook her head, trying to pull her arm from my grip, but I refused to let her go.
Screw it, I needed to tell her how I felt or I might lose her. “We need to discuss last night. It’s had my mind in a frenzy, and all I can think about is you.” Her mouth dropped open, but she
didn’t say anything, so I continued. “I know it’s strange.”
“Strange,” she parroted.
“Okay, fucked up. And unexpected. After what happened last night…” God, why couldn’t the words come out right? I was never like this with women—never. But this wasn’t just some woman.
She gave me a sympathetic smile. “It’s best we just forget about last night. You were drunk…”
“No. No, I wasn’t. Well, okay, I was, but I knew what I was doing, and it’s what I wanted, even though I wasn’t ready to admit it until now. For a moment, it felt like you wanted it too.”
She sighed. “Eric...”
I pulled her to me, and to my surprise she didn’t resist, allowing herself to be gathered into my arms.
Chapter 11
Andrea
What in the hell was going on these past few days? My emotions were up and down, and everyone in my life seemed to be acting differently from how I’d always known them to be. I didn’t know what was going on, but I was way too exhausted from life in general to fight it any longer. Or maybe I just needed the comfort.
Or maybe, just maybe, I really did want the twins as much as they wanted me. Maybe I had spent too much time denying what I had been wanting deep down for too long. Maybe the stress of the situations we’d been experiencing was the catalyst that we needed to bring us together in the way we were meant to be.
Either way, as he pulled me into his arms, I couldn’t do anything but fall into him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pressed my body flush against his, burying my face into the crook between his neck and shoulder.
“This is wrong,” I murmured against his neck, deep down not really believing my own words but feeling I needed to say them anyhow.
“Why?” he whispered back, his lips skirting the top of my head.
“It just is.”
“Who says?” he countered.
“Our parents. Society. Like, everybody!”
He chuckled softly. “We’re stepsiblings. That’s all, it’s not like we’re blood related or grew up together. It’s no more weird than good friends finally admitting feelings for each other. And that’s what we are… what we have been, right? Since we were six years old.”
I laughed softly. “We weren’t always friends. I wasn’t too happy with you guys through high school, when our parents first got together.”
He laughed with me. “No one really gets along in high school.”
I wanted to pull back and look into his eyes, but the warmth and strength of his arms around me felt too good for me to do anything but stay secure in his embrace. I needed his strength and the security he made me feel. “I’m scared that it’s just stress. That we’re behaving in ways we wouldn’t normally, because everything else in our lives is falling apart.”
“That’s hardly the case.” He pulled back from me, just slightly, and captured my chin in his hand. “If anything, the issues we’re having is just showing us what really matters and what we really want.”
“I don’t think you’ve thought this through.” This was one of my biggest fears verbalized—that when things began to smooth out in our lives, he’d realize this was all one big anxiety-driven mistake. I wasn’t so fully invested yet that I couldn’t still guard my heart, but if I were to give myself to one of the brothers now, or even both, I would be setting myself up for a soul-crushing pain in the future. They weren’t just any men, they were Sam and Eric.
“It’s all I’ve thought about for the past twelve hours Andrea. Since last night, my God. I can’t deny what I’ve been feeling for you any longer. I won’t. Not now when I know it’s real.”
“Last night messed with you, making you think you want this.” I started to pull away, but he only let me get just far enough away that he could lower his head and kiss me.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it,” he whispered as he lowered his lips to mine.
I shuddered as his lips came down onto mine with passion and purpose. Unlike last night, his kiss was sure and demanding.
God, oh god! The words went spinning through my mind. But despite my apprehension and fear, I couldn’t help but let myself go with him. It felt so good to give up all control to him.
My lips parted, inviting him in. He look the invitation, his tongue slipping between my lips, searching out mine. As our tongues touched, a bolt of desire rushed down my spine and ignited a fire between my legs. Slipping my arms around his neck, I pressed myself flush against his hard frame.
All thought slipped away from me, and my mind went blank, and all concerns drained from my consciousness. All that mattered at that moment was the feel of him and the adrenaline rushing through my being with him.
My hands grasped his cotton shirt at the shoulders as our tongues danced. As I pressed against him, my pelvis beginning to rock against him, the feel of his hardening shaft sent another rush through me, and my hands tightened on his shirt.
His lips left mine and began to work their way along my jawline. Lifting my chin, I closed my eyes and let my head fall back, giving him access to my neck as his lips reached my earlobe. I giggled, the warmth of his breath tickling my ear, but I didn’t pull away. The feeling changed from a slight tickle to pleasure as he used his teeth and tongue to tease his way down the side of my neck.
“Oh, Eric,” I gasped.
“Andrea.” As he said my name, he spun me around and backed me against the bar, pinning me between the bar and his hard body. My hands slid from his shoulder, downwards over his chest. Damn, all that time in the gym had paid off. Even through a layer of cotton, I could feel the hard lines of muscle. My hands reached the bottom of his shirt, and they snaked their way underneath.
Eric inhaled sharply, his lips now at the crook of my neck and shoulder, his body tensing under my fingertips.
“Dammit Andrea, I’ve wanted you for so long,” he groaned, his lips coming back up to mine again.
“I-” I didn’t have a chance to finish what I was about to say. His lips came crashing down on mine again, forceful and demanding. I gave in to him, my hands slipping to his back and fingernails digging into his flesh.
He growled against my lips, his left hand coming up my back and slipping into my hair. He fisted my hair, the strands tightening against my scalp. My fingernails dug deeper into his solid flesh. Eric’s hands lowered to my hips, and grabbing onto my waist, he lifted me up and onto the bar.
I whimpered softly from the loss of his lips and feel of his body. What in the hell was he doing? Things were just getting hot. I looked down at him, the questions I was thinking in my eyes, silent. His gaze locked with mine, and there was a hunger so intense in his eyes it made my entire body tremble.
He stepped forward, closing the distance between us, and he kissed the front of my neck, just under my chin. My head fell back, and I exposed my neck to him. As his lips worked their way down my neck, his fingers went to work with the buttons on my blouse. I froze a moment as the reality of the situation we were in hit me. But I didn’t have long to ponder it, because within the matter of seconds, my form-fitting white blouse was unbuttoned, and his lips were working their way across my collarbone.
Gripping the edge of the bar, I shuddered as his fingers made short work of the front clasp on my bra. My bra sprang open, exposing my breasts to him. That’s when I began to panic, despite the need that was so strong within me that I could barely think.
“Eric, maybe,” I muttered, looking down at him as he dipped his head and his mouth caught my left nipple. His teeth gently nipped at my nipple and I groaned. “My god!”
“What was that?” he teased, his tongue swirling around the hardening nub as his hand cupped the other breast, his thumb brushing against the nipple.
My panties were getting moist and uncomfortable, so I spread my legs a little wider, trying to relieve some of the pressure building between them. Arching my back, I thrust my nipple deeper into his mouth, my hands slipping down his body to his lower back.
Fuck! I
wanted him, I wanted him so badly that every inch of my body ached for him. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I pulled him tighter to me. If I didn’t stop this soon, I wouldn’t be able to stop it. It would become a runaway train that wouldn’t stop until it reached its destination. And my god, I wanted to take that trip with him.
Eric tugged at my hair, pulling me backwards laying me across the bar. As I lay back, his lips left my breast and started moving south, down my body. My pulse accelerated as his lips moved down the valley of my breasts and slowly down my torso. As he kissed his way down body, the warmth of his breath on the newly moist skin sent shivers down my spine. I lifted my head and watched his progression, the sight of him moving closer and closer to the ache between my legs almost as arousing as the feel of him— almost.