by Lynn Kelling
Jimmy led them into the tiny living space, indicating for them to sit on the couch. He turned off the radio and pulled up a chair for himself across from them. “Thanks for stopping by, I’ve been wondering how you’re doing. You look good. Healthy. Tired, maybe, but healthy.”
“Yeah,” Evan said, trying to sit still and not obsess over the amount of space between himself and Luka on the cushions. “You know, I have my good days and my bad days. Still eating soft foods for my damn teeth and being careful not to re-break anything.”
“You look good, like you’ve been working out or something. That must mean you’re feeling a little better. And are you still not taking the pain pills they prescribed?”
“Nah. I don’t need ‘em. Luka… he’s kind of been my physical therapist lately. He’s a personal trainer, so he’s been helping me work out safely and get back in shape.”
“Oh, good,” Jimmy replied, watching the pair of them. “I was wondering why you were with Evan instead of your brother, but that explains it. So, you’ve been bonding?”
“You could say that,” Luka answered, choosing his words carefully but playing it cool.
“Sometimes it’s easier to hang out with Luka and talk to him about stuff. You know, like whatever’s bothering me. He doesn’t worry as much as Brennan does, and Alek… he’s very protective of me. Which is good, but I don’t want to worry him by complaining a lot, so then I talk to Luka instead. And he’s a really good listener, too.”
Luka shot Evan a smile and Evan broke into a helpless grin to see it, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck in a nervous gesture he instantly realized Jimmy noticed.
“So you two are friends.”
“Yeah.”
“Just friends? Don’t get me wrong, I could be completely misreading the signals here, but you seem very close. I’m glad you’ve been able to open up to Luka, Evan, but I have to ask.”
Evan couldn’t look Jimmy in the eye. He’d never directly lied to the man, his best friend in the world for so long, the only reason he wasn’t six feet under and nothing but worm food. There was also the sticking point that Jimmy had always been able to read Evan like a book, so much better than his own father, just because he’d been around Evan more often than Charlie had, though that was also the reason why Charlie so frequently used Jimmy as a source to gauge Evan’s mental health.
The words lodged in Evan’s throat. He couldn’t get them out.
“I don’t want to freak you out or anything, you just seem a little stressed and you know you can always talk to me, no matter what it is.”
“No, we’re not just friends,” Evan muttered, half-swallowing the admission. Turning slightly toward Luka, he frowned and put a hand on Luka’s knee to ease his own racing heartbeat and break the tension. Luka reacted without hesitation, wrapping an arm behind Evan’s back.
“You broke up with Alek?”
“Not really. But Alek knows. Brennan does, too. We had a big fight. We’re working it out.”
“Thank you for being honest with me,” Jimmy said softly. “It must be difficult if you’re all at odds with each other.”
“We’re handling it. It’s fine,” Evan replied shortly.
“Good.”
There was a long, awkward pause.
“Evan, you and Brennan… are you on speaking terms? If you need any help mediating things, or…. I’m just thinking of you two together in such a confined space, by yourselves, if there’ve been arguments.”
“Bren and I are fine. We talked it out. He said he wasn’t going to let it come between us, that family is more important. He knows how sorry I am,” Evan murmured, staring at his feet.
“Is Alek still living with you?”
The question hit Evan like a slap. He sat up straighter and looked right at Jimmy. “How did you….”
“Oh, come on. His truck is in your driveway every night, including last night. I pass by your house every time I have to leave mine, you know.”
Evan struggled with a response, knowing that a lack of response was answer enough. “Yeah. He is. He’s been covering some of the bills and helping to take care of the property.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Another tense, drawn out pause was broken only when Jimmy looked right at Luka and asked politely, “Do you mind if I have a word alone with Evan for a minute?”
“Anything you have to say to me you can say in front of Luka. I tell him everything,” Evan interjected defensively.
“Really? You tell Luka everything and you’re obviously intimately involved with each other but Alek is your live-in boyfriend? You know what? Never mind. You don’t want to use labels, I won’t either.” Jimmy sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, locking onto Evan with a piercing stare. “Look, I know you’ve been avoiding me, and that’s fine. You’ve been through a lot and you have more people surrounding you now than you’ve ever had before. I think it’s great you’ve got a bigger support system, but as your friend, I’m also concerned about the secrecy and some of the things I’ve noticed. In your father’s absence, and as the person who has known you longest, I feel it’s my duty to watch out for you and to speak up about things no one else can or will.”
Evan was tempted to drop his gaze, to look anywhere other than at Jimmy, but felt he’d only be implicating himself if he did.
Jimmy’s tone was gentle enough, not accusatory, as he asked, “Is there anything going on between you and Brennan?”
“What do you mean?” The reply was instantaneous, instinctual. Evan willed himself not to flush with defensive anger or guilt, not to give in to Jimmy’s leading inquiry and give anything away.
“Anything to be concerned about,” Jimmy clarified.
“No.”
“No?”
“No,” Evan repeated, more firmly.
“Well. Guess that settles it.”
“Good. I need to get back if there isn’t anything else. It’s kind of been a rough day.”
Evan stood, pulling Luka up by the hand with him.
“You just got here,” Jimmy griped, following as his guests headed quickly for the exit.
“Yeah, well.” Evan took the steps quickly. Pausing in the dirt, he glanced back at Jimmy and added, “See you around. I appreciate the concern, but I’m cool. Really. Catch ya later.”
With that he turned his back and walked away in the direction of home. Luka slipped a hand around Evan’s back and, when they were out of Jimmy’s earshot, groaned.
“Tell me about it,” Evan commiserated. “At least Dad isn’t around. That’d suck even more.”
Chapter 12
Screwed
Back at the house, in Brennan’s bedroom, Alek was splayed across the bed, his pants down around mid thigh. Brennan was straddling Alek’s face. Alek’s right hand was circled loosely around Brennan’s shaft, stroking lightly while the index finger of his left hand was buried to the second knuckle in Brennan’s hole, and pulling him open. Lips sealed around the spot and his tongue thrust inside as far as he could reach, Alek nuzzled into him, trying to somehow get deeper, growling and moaning. A never-ending stream of humming, gasping whimpers escaped from Brennan, trapped between Alek’s mouth and fist, working him toward delirium. Bent sharply over, Brennan suckled the head of Alek’s cock, his hand wrapped around the rest, pumping what he couldn’t fit in his mouth. Every sound he made traveled up Alek’s shaft, tickling his balls and sending him into a frenzy of need.
Brennan pulled off with a slurp. “Fucking harder, Alek! Come on!”
Alek chuckled and scraped his teeth over Brennan’s slightly swollen rim.
Brennan gasped.
Extending his tongue and pointing it, Alek slipped it through Brennan’s pucker and bobbed his head, moving it in and out until Brennan got more frustrated and just started rocking back rhythmically onto the tapered muscle.
“Yeah,” he groaned. “Faster. Faster, damn it.”
Alek grunted and directed a hard slap to the side of Brennan’s as
s. After a few more pumps of Brennan’s hips, Alek pulled off of him and said, “You are a demanding little bitch. Where are my goddamned handcuffs when I need ‘em? Should I tie your ass down and teach you a lesson in obedience?”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“I’d like to see you use your pretty mouth for sucking my cock instead of giving me orders.”
“You son of a….” Brennan grabbed Alek by the root and swallowed him down, humming as he relaxed his throat and fed Alek all the way back. At the same time, he rubbed over Alek’s balls, back through the crease of his ass. With two saliva-coated fingers, Brennan pressed them through the clenched ring of Alek’s asshole.
“Ahh! Fuck!” Alek’s head fell back against the bed for a moment. He shuddered and the fingers pumped in and out of him while Brennan deep-throated him, the muscles of his throat hugging Alek’s dick. Alek moaned his name, eyes rolling back. He tilted his hips, pushing into Brennan’s mouth before Brennan began to pull back off, cheeks hollowed, and tongue wrapping him. Struggling to not get lost in how amazingly spectacular it felt, Alek fit the base of Brennan’s sac in the junction of his thumb and index finger and opened his mouth wide. First, he just licked repeatedly over Brennan’s balls, feeling Brennan moan thickly, but then he opened wide to fit them both in his mouth, cradling them on his tongue, and sucked.
Brennan whined and shivered. Alek kept stroking Brennan’s dick too lightly, too slowly, but Brennan was like hot iron in his hand, very close to unloading. Keeping his hand loose, Alek rubbed over Brennan’s crown, over the pulsing vein on the underside of his shaft. There was one jagged, wrenching whimper and Brennan shuddered violently, pushing helplessly against Alek’s hand as hot semen spurted from his cock, splattering Alek’s stomach and Brennan’s chest and neck, all the way up to his chin. Alek stroked him gently through it, milking every drop, still sucking hard and humming around Brennan’s testicles.
As soon as he was past the peak of his climax, Brennan resumed his attack. He sealed his lips just under the ridge of Alek’s dick. The fingers lodged in Alek’s hole twisted and bent. The knuckles pushed into Alek’s passage to open him up. Pulling the fingers apart, he extracted them only to jab back inside. His other hand worked Alek’s shaft. Alek writhed and cried out, unloading into Brennan’s mouth. Brennan sucked him down to the root one more time then pulled off.
“Fi… fingers…” Alek panted.
“What, these fingers?” Brennan smirked, grinding them against the delicate walls of Alek’s anus.
“Motherfucking….” Grabbing Brennan by the balls, Alek tugged on them hard and squeezed.
Brennan gasped violently. “Aahh! Okay! Truce! Truce! Stop.” He withdrew his fingers and planted his hands on the bed instead. “Let go of my balls!”
Alek rolled them in his palm and bit down on the thick muscle of Brennan’s left butt cheek.
“Alek! Goddammit,” he shouted.
Finally, Alek released him. Swinging a leg over him and off, Brennan rubbed the bite mark and the indents left behind by Alek’s teeth, pouting something fierce. Alek watched him, neither of them moving for a long moment, but then Alek just couldn’t take it anymore. He lunged up, tackling Brennan backward onto the bed again. Taking hold of his wrists and pinning them together over his chest, Alek wiped off the come smeared over Brennan’s chin.
Brennan fought only for a second before going still and lying there, eyes locked to Alek as he diligently cleaned away the fluid.
“You are completely adorable,” Alek smiled. Brennan just narrowed his eyes warily as Alek dragged a thumb over his bottom lip.
Both of them were flushed, breathing heavily, and the whole room reeked of sex.
“We should fuck more often. You’re quite the little bunny in the sack. I like it.”
“I should fuck you more often,” Brennan countered. “Let’s do that next.”
“Yeah, right,” Alek laughed, using his knees to keep Brennan’s lower body in place even as Brennan tried to wriggle free.
The back screen door slammed and two sets of footsteps approached from down the hall.
“Oh shit,” Brennan hissed.
Panicked, Alek jumped off of him, off of the bed too, struggling to get his genitals tucked away inside his pants, semen dribbling down his torso. Completely naked, Brennan was scanning the room for clothing. He picked up a pair of pants just as there was a knock on the door.
“Bren? Is Alek here? His car’s—” It was Evan. He pushed open the door without waiting for a reply. Luka was right behind him and they both stood agape at the sight before them. “What?” He took a step backward, and collided with Luka, who was red-faced with fury in seconds. “Oh.”
“Stay here,” Luka growled, moving Evan aside and launching himself toward Alek. As Alek had no chance to brace himself, he was tackled down to the come-splattered sheets. Luka grabbed him by the throat and started to squeeze.
“Stop it!” Brennan cried while Alek made a horrible, strangled gurgle, trying to breathe and push Luka off. “Stop!”
“You son of a bitch.” Luka let Alek’s throat go but threw a sharp right hook that connected with Alek’s jaw. “How dare you touch him?!” He drew back his arm for another punch. Brennan stopped him by grabbing it, yanking Luka off of Alek.
“I said STOP!”
Groaning and coughing, throat aching, Alek flexed his jaw, rubbing it as Luka seethed.
“What’s wrong with you?!” Brennan yelled at Luka.
“What’s wrong with you? What, you’re fucking Alek now?”
“Yeah, and you’re fucking Evan. Big deal! Who fucking cares? Stop hurting each other, for Christ’s sake!”
“What is this?” Luka shouted at Alek. “Revenge? Or did you just want a taste?”
“Oh, believe me, I got a taste,” Alek grinned maliciously. Luka started to come at him again but Brennan stopped him for a second time with a hand to his chest.
Brennan pulled on a pair of dirty jeans from the floor and entreated them, “Quit it! Just stop. Both of you. Try to act like the older ones, for once.”
Evan was still hidden in shadows out in the hall with a hand covering his mouth and his head bowed. He said to them loudly and emotionlessly, without looking at any of them, “Can we talk about this? Like adults? Please? After, you know, some of us get cleaned up. And dressed. Luka, c’mon. Now.”
Evan figured maybe it was the novel fact that he was the one with the most level head and taking charge for once, but they listened to him. Luka stormed out of the bedroom and Evan followed behind.
“Are you okay? Are you upset? Maybe you should sit down,” Luka suggested distractedly, as if he suddenly remembered Evan’s condition.
“Maybe you should sit down, because clearly you’re more upset than me,” Evan countered.
They waited a few minutes in tense silence in the living room before Brennan and Alek came out to join them.
Luka was pacing at the far end of the room. Evan was perched on the edge of the couch. When Brennan walked in, Evan rose to his feet, locking eyes with him while Alek hung back. Somehow the weight of knowing Jimmy was aware, at least on some level, of what was going on between the four of them, and he was in regular contact with Charlie, was much more worrisome than finding Alek and Brennan post-coitus. Brennan looked nervous and whispered Evan’s name in question.
“I’m a terrible person,” Brennan said to his brother. “You’ve already got so much to deal with and I just made it worse.”
“We’ll fix this, okay?” Alek added from over Brennan’s shoulder. “You look pale. Maybe you should sit—”
“Enough,” Evan said loudly, cutting him off. “Like I’ve said many times before, I am not a child, nor am I going to break if scary things happen. Knock it the fuck off with the coddling. Bren? C’mere.”
Looking worried as ever, Brennan bit his lip, twisted his fingers and took two steps forward. Evan met him, opening his arms. They fell into a hug filled with relief. Evan needed the com
fort of Brennan’s love and Brennan just seemed glad Evan wasn’t trying to strangle him, too.
“Jimmy knows,” Evan murmured to him fearfully. “What the fuck do we do? What if he tells Dad?”
“Wait, what?” Brennan pulled away to look at Evan in the eye. “What do you mean, he knows?”
“I mean, he knows. About all of it. That I’ve been screwing both Alek and Luka. And he… he asked me about us. Us, Bren.”
With wide eyes, Evan searched Brennan’s face which clouded over fast.
“What?”
“Charlie’s coming home,” Brennan confessed quietly. “He asked me not to say anything to you. He was finally granted leave.”
An icy shiver raced down Evan’s back. Brennan stretched up to kiss Evan on the forehead. “Don’t freak out. We can handle it.”
“When?” Evan croaked.
“In a few days.”
Alek stepped forward, his gaze fixed on Evan who was growing more forlorn. Mentally, he drew away from them just as he’d done so many times before. It was easy, a reflex. Disconnecting was better than facing truth.
But, of Evan’s three lovers, it was only Alek to whom Evan was able to confess his darkest secrets, by torchlight and starlight in the back of an old truck. It was Alek who was there to keep him from getting lost in the terrible blackness of what could have been, and it was Alek who had shown passion, devotion, love, and selfless patience.
Evan looked up as Alek moved closer, approaching slowly while Brennan backed away. Fragile and strengthened all at once, a portrait in contradictions, Evan was as laid bare as he’d ever been; surrounded by the three men he loved so intensely.
“What can we do?” Alek asked gently. “How do we help with this? You want me to clear my stuff out? Would that be easier?”
Shaking his head back and forth in response, Evan closed his eyes. He pressed himself, suddenly, to Alek’s chest, embracing him without warning. Evan sensed Alek’s surprise in his stiffened posture and hesitation. If he’d expected another punch to the face or more yelling, he wasn’t going to get it from Evan. Hugging Evan back extremely cautiously, Alek wound one arm to clasp behind Evan’s head, and the other circled his lower back. Then, Alek exhaled a deep breath and finally seemed to relax.
