by Tess Oliver
My head had gone past the stage of thinking rationally. We avoided looking each other in the eyes, worried it would break the sexual trance we'd fallen into. For me, it was easier to focus on their massive arms, the hard muscles of their stomachs and their powerful legs. All I could think about was the heat pulsing between my thighs, and the long, rigid cocks pointing at me from both directions.
I yanked the faded throw blanket from the couch and pushed it out over the floor. Then I slipped down and knelt on it. Jesse was the first to move forward. For a brief second, it seemed Zach had fallen from the spell. It seemed for that slight moment in time, he had second thoughts. Then he dropped to his knees and took hold of my face. I still couldn't lift my eyes to his face.
"Joelle," his voice was ragged and low, "look at me."
It took some time, but I looked into his face. He said nothing, but I knew what he was asking. Jesse's tall shadow loomed over us. I peered up at him. His expression mirrored his brother's. This was up to me. It was in my hands. I wanted it. I wanted them.
I reached forward, curling my hands around Zach's neck. I kissed him, my tongue rubbing against his, ending it by taking his bottom lip in my teeth and biting him lightly. Then I turned around and took hold of Jesse's hand and pulled it, letting him know I wanted him sitting on the couch. He dropped down, and before I could kiss him, he slammed his mouth over mine. He held me against him and pushed his mouth against my ear. "Joelle," he whispered. His warm breath fluttered against my hair.
I backed up on my knees, jutting my ass toward Zach as I wedged my upper torso between Jesse's legs. Jesse groaned and leaned his head back as I wrapped my fingers around his cock. I rocked forward and my tongue flicked against his heavy sac.
As I lost myself in the feel of Jesse's balls and cock in my mouth, Zach's strong hands took hold of my hips. His beard scraped a tantalizing trail down my lower back and over my ass as he kissed my skin. Zach's growl rained down over me as he parted my thighs with his knees.
I lifted my mouth over the top of Jesse's cock. As I slid my lips down over it, I pushed my ass back toward Zach. My mouth filled with Jesse, my moan was muffled as Zach pushed his cock inside of me.
The intense feeling of making love with both my mouth and my pussy with two men who had become my world, two men who had given me a new chance at happiness, two men who I thought about day and night, made every inch of my body tingle.
The music blaring from the radio provided a rhythmic beat. As I ran my lips and tongue along Jesse's cock, I moved back and forth on my knees, bracing myself against Zach as he pumped his cock inside of me.
Zach's hand slid around my hip. He reached down between my legs, pushing his fingers between the folds to my clit. I had been so close to coming before I'd even been carried to the couch that my body shuddered as I tried to hold back, not wanting the build-up of tension to end.
My mouth suckled around the thick, fleshy tip of Jesse's cock as my hand stroked the base. Jesse's fingers tangled in my hair as he held me over him, pushing against my mouth, his cock reaching the deepest corner of my throat. As Zach's movements increased with frenzied urgency, his finger teased my clit to the point of no return. I lifted my mouth from Jesse's cock and pressed only my lips against it as I whimpered in release. My pussy clamped tight around Zach, holding him deep inside me. His hands gripped my hips tighter, and he pushed into me one last time before withdrawing. He grunted in satisfaction as his hot seed spilled over my ass.
Jesse was still heavy lidded and hungry for an ending. I climbed up on his lap, wrapped my arms around his head and held his face against my breasts as I impaled myself on his erection. His fingers gripped my ass hard, spreading me wider as I rose up and down over him. The friction between us once against heated my clit. The sensations from my first orgasm revived, and waves of pleasure overtook me again.
Jesse pushed his hips up to meet me, filling me again and again.
"Fuck," he growled as he lifted me off of him. His cum sprayed my belly as I collapsed against him.
Our ragged breaths slowed as the music thrummed through the room. Jesse lowered me down to Zach, who placed me gently on the blanket I'd placed on the floor. Zach stretched out next to me, and I pressed my face against his chest. Jesse climbed down and unfurled his long legs out behind me. And there, exhausted, physically and emotionally, sandwiched safely between their hard bodies, I felt fast asleep.
24
Joelle
I sat up and immediately pressed my fingers against my temples to thwart the throbbing pain. The lacy curtains in the bedroom had never been a great barrier for the morning sun. Most of the time I didn't mind waking to billowy shadows in the room, but today, they only served to make my head hurt more.
The half empty tequila bottle sat on the nightstand. A light whiff of the liquor floated out of the open top. I pressed my hand against my lips, swallowed back the bitter taste in my throat and quickly screwed the top back on.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed. I was naked but someone had taken the time to carry my discarded clothes out of the living room. They were piled on the end of the bed. The night had been as clear as it had been a blur. Parts of it still swirled around my head, the tangle of naked legs and arms, and kisses . . . and sex. At one point, it felt as if our bodies had melted together in perfect sensual synergy. That part was hazy. But the part that came in clear, other than the extreme sensation of having a double orgasm, one with each brother, the part that stood out to me was that I had been with both of them, but they had each been alone with me. Each brother had made love to me, completely independent of the other. In my mind, that was the key. That was the hope I held deep in my heart that our unplanned, drunken night hadn't damaged what we had together.
I vaguely remembered being picked up by strong arms and carried into my bed. By then the alcohol had begun to wear off, and the cold night air had permeated the old house. I was happy to crawl alone into my warm bed and be alone with my thoughts. In the dark, in the middle of the night, things could sometimes seem bigger or worse or even grander than they actually were. As I'd ducked down under my covers, alone and no longer curled in strong arms, I thought about how lonely I'd been before I jumped on that boxcar. And during the ride in that chilly boxcar, I’d felt enough despair to make me question what I'd done to have so many things in life go wrong. But then fate or destiny or just the freezing temperatures had brought me to Zach's and Jesse's doorstep. It seemed that, for a change, things were going right.
I got up and pulled on my clothes. The clang of a hammer hitting hard against steel reverberated across the yard. I closed my eyes against the pain. I walked to the window. The uneven glow of the forge fire flickered through the open doorway of the shop. It was early, earlier than usual for them to start.
The back door snapped shut. Bear trotted ahead of Jesse as he stepped out into the yard, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders up around his ears as if the sound was causing him the same pain. It meant that Zach had gotten out to the shop early and started the fire in the forge. His early evening date with a whiskey bottle had obviously not affected him. Or, at least I hoped that was the case.
A dark feeling crept over me now that the sun was up and the shadows and silence of night were no longer creeping about to warp my view and assure me that what had happened was no big deal. It was a new day and everything seemed different in the sunlight. Especially with the cloud of alcohol gone from my head.
I took a deep breath and headed out to the kitchen. I grabbed for the coffee pot like it was the magic elixir of life and poured myself a cup. It helped relieve the pain in my head, and it even lightened some of the worry that had settled heavy on my chest. I could hide inside, avoiding both brothers, until Sherry picked me up for work. But that wouldn't do anything except put off that inevitable awkward moment when I had to face them. While it had helped, I couldn't put all the blame on the tequila.
I needed to go out to the shop. I would smile and tell them
good morning and then everything would be back to normal. Our version of normal anyhow.
I was thankful for Bear halting my progress in the yard. It gave me a moment to gather my courage. I stooped down and hugged him. He returned the greeting with a lick. I patted him on the head, stood up and willed my feet forward.
Almost from the second I walked inside the shop, something didn't feel right. Zach didn't look up. He continued to pound the hammer. Jesse was on the opposite side of the shop sanding the wood handle he'd been working on for the collector's bowie knife. It was exactly what I could expect to see them each doing on any morning in the shop. Only it wasn't what they were doing but how they were doing it. While Zach always pounded hot steel with the force of a machine, this morning, he was hitting it with enough power that it seemed to reverberate back through his arm, through his body, shaking loose the incredibly tense set of his shoulders. His jaw twitched as if his teeth were clenched as tightly as his shoulders.
Jesse was hunched over his work table. He never looked up, even though he knew I was standing there. He too held his shoulders rigid with anger. A cold knot tightened in my stomach. I took a step back, wanting to run as fast and far as I could. I knew I was unraveling this and yet I didn't stop myself. I took another step back and tripped over a pail of coal. My bottom hit the hard floor of the shop. The clamor caught both of their attentions.
Zach leaned his hammer next to the anvil. Jesse put down his sandpaper. They both reached me at the same moment. Jesse's hand shot out first, and I grabbed it. At least I'd wiped out the awkwardness of facing them with an embarrassingly clumsy fall on my ass.
"You all right?" Zach asked as he grabbed a broom to sweep up the coal I’d spilled.
I brushed the black dust off my jeans. "I'm fine." I reached for the broom. "Here I'll clean that up. You guys are busy."
Zach shook his head and continued sweeping. "No, it'll just take a second." He fell silent as he finished his task. I looked up at Jesse. He smiled at me, not his usual wide smile, the one that made his eyes sparkle with life, but a gentle sort of sad smile. It made my heart sink to my stomach.
Without a word, Jesse turned and went back to his sandpaper. Zach swept up the coal, seemingly lost in thought. I spun around and walked quickly out of the shop, holding my arms around myself to keep from falling apart. They'd both been polite to me, but it was their body language between each other that had changed. There was a tension between them that was as strong as it was invisible. What the hell had I done? Apparently, I still had a penchant for really bad decisions.
I'd pulled that string just a little too far.
25
Zach
Jesse walked over to the sander where I was smoothing out the guard for my knife. He didn't say a word but handed me the bowie blade he'd been working on. I knew he was asking me to check it. I rubbed my thumbnail along the edge. Experience had allowed me to feel nearly microscopic imperfections, and his knife still had plenty.
I shook my head. "Nope."
"Fuck," Jesse muttered angrily and went back to his work table.
"It's all in the finish," I added, unnecessarily. Jesse was a master, a sloppy master, but he was one of the best, and the last thing he needed was a preachy lesson from me. But I couldn't stop myself.
I got back to work, knowing full well that my last statement had stopped him. I could feel his angry gaze on me, but I kept working.
"How about you keep your teacher lessons for an apprentice?" Jesse snarled.
"My name goes on that knife too. I just want to make sure it's Coltrane quality."
"Fuck off." Jesse went back to his stool and started sanding.
Jesse and I hadn't said more than five words to each other in four days, since that night. My brother and I had had our differences, shit, a lot of differences, but in the end we were still brothers. That night the three of us were drunk. But it wasn't just the alcohol. We were ready to let the ropes that had held us back from acting on our impulses fall away. And it seemed once that self-control was gone, nothing was going to stop us. Any of us. Through it all, I thought this would just end up a blip, a snag, a night we would eventually just pass off as that night when we were all drunk off our asses. But by the time morning had come and the whiskey was out of my bloodstream, reality hit me hard. What had happened wasn't just going to get pushed into our funny and slightly raunchy stories from the past. Jesse and I had been in situations where we dated the same girl or where we were both at a party, in the same room, making out with our perspective partners. We were not fucking saints, that was for damn sure. But those instances had never meant anything. Those had all become stories to laugh over at a poker game or bar. This had been different. In fact, different was like using drizzle to describe a torrential downpour. After years of being each other's only family, years of being so close we always knew what the other was thinking, Jesse and I were walking wide berths around each other. We were both grappling with what had happened. The lines in our relationship with Joelle had tangled and things were much more complicated. The only thing that was still clear as glass was that we were both crazy about Joelle. We didn't need words between us to know that we each felt strongly about her.
The forge had died down as we both worked hard on our projects, working even harder to avoid each other. Bear came in with a whimper and his tail between his legs as thunder rattled the windows.
"Wolves are not afraid of thunder, you big coward." I patted Bear's head. It was wet. In spring, thunderstorms could move in and out before you had a chance to notice. Especially when you were working in a brick building with small dusty windows and a forge bursting with glowing light and roaring loud enough to mute thunder. But we were nearing the end of the day, and the fire in the forge had sputtered out.
I walked to the doorway. Not only had heavy black clouds moved in, but a brutal wind shook the trees around the property. Rain fell in heavy drops as lightning split the sky. I looked toward the house. It was dark.
I turned back to Jesse. "Hey, were you supposed to pick up Joelle from work? She never asked me."
Jesse spun around on his stool. "She didn't ask me. I just assumed you were picking her up." He hopped off his perch. "She's not home?"
"Shit." I raced to the shed where we kept the bicycles. I slid open the door and looked inside. Jesse was already behind me. "She took her bike." I pulled out my phone and called her. After five rings, it went to voicemail. "Hey, Joelle, give me a call if you get this."
We both raced to the truck. Jesse pulled out his phone. "The store closed an hour ago. She should have been home by now," he added, unhelpfully. My heart was already racing a mile a minute, and I didn't need a dozen scary scenarios running through my head.
We climbed into my truck, and I threw it into gear. The tires spun for a second in the mud pooling beneath them. I jammed my foot harder on the gas, and we shot out of the driveway and onto the road.
"She usually takes Briar Street because the grade isn't as steep." Jesse leaned forward to see through the condensation taking over my windshield.
I cranked up the defrost, but my truck was old and it responded slowly to requests for basics like heat and defrost. "Give Sherry a call. Maybe they went somewhere together."
"Good idea."
We hadn't spoken much in days, but it seemed we'd found that common interest that could bring us back together, as two brothers who had tackled any shit life threw at us as a team. The ironic thing about it was that the common interest was also the thing that had us avoiding each other all week.
"Hey, Sherry, is Joelle with you?" Jesse's brows pinched together as he listened. Not a good sign.
"Shit. Yeah, we're out looking for her right now. Yeah, I'll let you know when we find her." Jesse hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket.
I slowed the truck down. We both sat forward, searching the side of the road. Wind sprayed rain hard against the windshield, making visibility even worse.
I swerved to avoid a fall
en branch in the road. "This is a bad storm. Why the hell didn't she ask one of us to give her a ride?"
"The storm came in fast. She didn't know it was coming." Jesse's hand shot forward. "There!"
I yanked the truck to the side of the road. Joelle was walking the bike, looking about as cold and wet as one girl could look. It tugged at my heart. Seeing her like that brought me back to the first night when we’d caught her stealing off with Jesse's coat. She had looked so lost and so sad that night. She was wearing that same expression now. Only I don't think it had to do with the fact that she'd gotten stranded in a thunderstorm.
Jesse and I jumped out of the truck and reached her at the same time.
Her shoulders shook with a sob, and she dropped the bike.
She jumped into Jesse's arms.
She was wet and crying and shivering from cold and it could have been that she just headed for arms, any arms for comfort. It could have been that.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was a conscious choice.
26
Jesse
I hung out with Junior as he plunked his big fingers on the adding machine tallying up his take for the night. Joelle was near the makeshift stage talking to a few patrons and the band as they put away their instruments. It was her first night on stage. She had been nervous as hell as I drove her to Petty Thief. At one point, I was sure she'd beg me to turn around. But she didn't. And since she had the crowd, me included, mesmerized the whole night, I was sure she wouldn't be nearly as nervous next time.
Sundance came out of the bathroom and headed over. "She did great. People really liked the live music. Guess this place is going to be crowded as hell all the time on the weekend. Not sure how I feel about that."
I nodded. "Yeah, I hadn't thought about that."
