The Brothers Next Door (A Striker Brothers Romance #1)

by Terry Towers

  She stood suddenly and turned to rush from the room, but Ethan wasn’t letting her go. Not again. Last time she ran she was gone for well over a year. Leaping from the sofa he grabbed her upper arm, stopping her and spinning her back around to face him.

  “I’m not letting you go. Not again. We’re going to discuss this and make it right.” He stared into her eyes and he saw a shimmer of guilt. Just a smidge, but enough to consider that what Trey said may have been true. He wasn’t the only one being dishonest in this relationship.

  A voice in the back of his mind screamed at him to confront her about Trey’s allegations. But he wasn’t sure if he could – or should. If the answer was “yes” he didn’t know if he could handle the truth, he’d opened his heart to her and been willing to do anything to make her happy. But just because her original intentions may have been less than honest that didn’t mean they couldn’t have changed. And if they’d changed then that should amount for something, right?

  “Let me go, Ethan!” She attempted to pull her arm out of his ironclad grip, but he refused to release her even though he feared he may be leaving a bruise.

  “No, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you go again. Not like this.”

  “Please.” Tears were flowing freely now and she didn’t even try to wipe them away as she glared up at him. “I can’t get the image of you fucking Cassidy out of my mind! It sickens me.”

  A smirk turned up the corner of his lips and he shrugged. He didn’t know why he smiled, it was just a stupid reaction to a heated situation. “Funny, you had no problem letting me watch as Trey fucked you and ate your pussy. Double standard or all a part of the master plan?”

  The slap came so suddenly and so unexpectedly he immediately released his grip on her arm and touched the side of his face where the palm of her hand had once been. He was in complete and utter shock. Sure, it wasn’t the first time he’d been on the receiving end of a scorned woman’s palm, but he didn’t expect it from Ivy. And the woman had put some power behind that slap, it stung like a son of a bitch. Their eyes locked and he knew what Trey had heard was the truth.

  “Fuck you, Ethan!”

  She stormed off, rushing up the flight of stairs and moments later her bedroom door slammed shut and Ethan was hit with an uncanny sense of da-ja vu.

  Trey

  “What’s wrong with it?”

  Trey looked up from his partially disassembled motorcycle to see Ethan at the garage doorway that led to the foyer. He motioned to the bike with a look of disgust. “Fuck if I know.”

  Ethan laughed as he walked into the garage and crouched down beside Trey. “Then why is it in pieces on the garage floor?”

  “Needed something to do. You know, keep my mind busy while I sort out some shit.”

  “Want some help?”

  Trey laughed. “You certainly couldn’t make it any worse.”

  Despite his offer to help, Ethan didn’t even attempt to touch the bike. Instead, he stood and leaned back against Ivy’s car, crossing his arms over his chest and giving his head a shake. “You were right, you know.”

  “Oh.” Trey sighed. Normally he’d be happy to hear Ethan admit he was right about something, but this wasn’t one of those instances. “I didn’t want to be right. I was hoping there was an explanation. Or maybe I’d heard wrong or… something.” He stood and wiped his hands on his jeans. “What did she say?”

  “After she slapped me she took off upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom. I didn’t get an explanation.”

  Trey frowned. “And you let it go at that?”

  “She’s fucking locked herself in her room and refusing to come out. She won’t even yell at me to go fuck myself when I pound on the door for her.”

  “And you’re just going to let it go like that?” It wasn’t near good enough for Trey. Not even close.

  “I can’t force her to talk to me.”

  “Yeah, ya can. It’s what you should have done last year.”

  Trey turned, intent on going to see Ivy, if it meant taking the door off of the hinges then so be it, but Ethan’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Before we go storming up there intent on breaking shit down, don’t we have something we need to work out first?”

  “What?”

  “Whether we are really willing to do this.”

  He was, there was no longer a doubt in his mind. The fact Ethan was there discussing Ivy with him, as if she were their problem – not his, THEIRS – told him everything he needed to know. “Yeah. I am. And quite frankly I don’t think you can handle the new and improved Ivy on your own.” A grin formed on his lips. “I really think this needs to be a tag-team effort.”

  “Are you sure? We can’t be flippant about this. If there’s more to this than just her little scheme to get even with us and she does in fact have feelings for us both, we need to be sure we’re fine with that.”

  “For the last time. We’re cool. We’ve shared everything else since we were kids anyhow…” He jerked his head toward the direction of the house. “Now can we go get our woman back or do you want to continue with this circle jerk?” Trey started toward the door and stopped suddenly, nearly being knocked over and onto his ass as Ethan collided into him.

  “Shit. Sorry.”

  “Fuck man. A little space please.” Trey took a couple of steps backwards and motioned to the space between them. He proceeded to move past Ethan and to Ivy’s car. Popping open the hood, he removed the sparkplugs and stored them in the pocket of his motorcycle jacket, which was hanging over the handlebars of his bike.

  “What are you doing?”

  Trey grinned. “She’s a runner isn’t she? She’s not getting back to Boston anytime soon without spark plugs.”

  Ethan looked like he was about to protest and then stopped, confirming Trey’s decision with a curt nod. “Good call. But when she flips out, I had nothing to do with it. You’re riding that out on your own.”

  Suddenly, something popped into Trey’s head that he felt needed to be said, and now seemed to be as good as a time as any. “And FYI, ya need to lay off of the red meat and maybe start eating more kiwi.”

  The look of confusion that came upon Ethan’s face was priceless. “Why in the fuck would I do that?”

  “Because your jizz tastes horrible and I honestly have no idea how Ivy can swallow that shit without gagging.”

  All colour drained from Ethan’s previously bemused face. “How in the fuck do you know that, asshole?”

  Trey chuckled, but didn’t bother responding. Having to taste Ethan’s “storm troopers” on Ivy’s lips was almost, almost, worth seeing the expression in his friend’s face as he processed that comment. Almost.

  “Hey, seriously. Did Ivy say something to you?” Ethan called after him. “You just can’t say fucked-up shit like that to someone and walk away!”

  ~*~*~*~*~

  Ivy

  “Go away, Trey!” Ivy shouted through the door.

  “Look, Ethan isn’t with me.”

  She wasn’t sure if she was more upset or relieved that Ethan hadn’t persisted with his pounding on her door. But then again, why would he? He hadn’t last time, aside from a few half-hearted knocks on her door, and he hadn’t this time. A few half-assed knocks and that was it. His actions spoke louder than any words he could have said. She wasn’t worth fighting for.

  But Trey was there. Trey… Sweet, fun, wildly unpredictable Trey was there. Didn’t she at least owe him an explanation?

  “Fine.” Sliding from the bed, she slowly made her way toward the bedroom door and paused with her hand on the handle. “Are you sure Ethan isn’t with you?”

  “Would I lie?”

  Yes, he would and he did. But she supposed he hadn’t lied technically, he just didn’t tell her Ethan and Cassidy’s secret. Unlocking the door she pulled it open and came face to face with Trey.

  “Thanks. I think we all need to just sit down and discuss this.” He walked past her and into her room, followed my Ethan.<
br />
  Planting her hands on her hips she glared at Ethan. “I thought you said the Judas wasn’t with you, Trey!”

  Ethan spun around and met her glare with one of his own. “Did you seriously just call me a Judas? I think that’s a little harsh.”

  She cocked a brow at him but didn’t respond. Admittedly, she overstepped a little with that comment, but her pride refused to allow her to take it back.

  Trey grabbed Ivy’s hand and pulled her further into the bedroom and steered her over to the bed, forcing her to sit down next to him. “All right. We’re all adults here. And we need to just sit down and get this sorted out.” He looked from Ivy to Ethan, who was reclined against a wall, his arms crossed over his chest, and back again to Ivy.

  “He lied to me,” Ivy spat, her glare remaining on Ethan.

  “You lied to us both,” Ethan retorted.

  “I did not.”

  “So you didn’t have this planned with Cassidy?”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Really? ’Cause this plan has Cassidy written all over it.”

  “Really,” she confirmed with a nod of her head. “Thought of it all by my little old self. Not too bad for a girl flunking out of college, huh?”

  Ethan’s mouth dropped open. “You’re flunking college, Ivy? Flunking! You said you weren’t doing so good. Flunking isn’t doing not so good. Flunking is doing awful. What in the hell, Ivy!”

  “Oh, don’t get so melodramatic, Ethan. Like you really care.”

  “Fuck Ivy, of course I care. How many times do I have to tell you I love you for you to get it through your thick skull?”

  Chapter 12

  Trey

  Trey placed his face into the palms of his clasped hands and groaned inwardly. The two of them were going to cost him his sanity, he was sure of it. They had to be one of the most dysfunctional trios of all time. After allowing them to bicker like an old married couple for over ten minutes he stood, placing himself between them, attempting to defuse the situation.

  “Let’s try this again.”

  Ivy cocked a crow at him and shrugged. “Fine.”

  He directed his attention to Ethan, who nodded his compliance.

  “All right.” He focused his attention back to Ivy. “Look, love, we’ve done some stupid shit. I’ll admit it.” He jerked his thumb toward Ethan. “And I think somewhere between the two of you throwing insults and accusations at each other he admitted it.”

  “Funny, that’s not what I heard. I heard a lot of nagging. A lot of scolding. That’s what I heard.”

  Ethan threw his hands up in the air and glared at Trey. “See. I told you. There’s no reasoning with her when she’s like this.”

  She huffed, jumped to her feet and stormed out of the room. “I’m done.”

  ~*~*~*~

  Ivy

  Ivy banged on the steering wheel with the palms of her hands. Why in the hell wouldn’t it work? Of all the luck, she was stranded there.

  She sat in the car for close to twenty minutes attempting to sort out the mess her head was in. As her temper began to calm she began to see things a little more clearly. They’d all fucked up. And yeah, she may have deserved the lecture. It was Ethan’s way. He cared about her future and sometimes he came off a little abrasive – more abrasive than he intended no doubt.

  But I’m not totally innocent here either, she mused.

  The three of them had been so fixated on arguing about what Ethan had done and her lack of dedication to her scholarship that they hadn’t even really touched on her little deception – okay, big deception.

  She looked at the garage door and then back at her steering wheel. Running away wasn’t the answer, it was a cowardly thing to do.

  But what if they hurt me? The question came to the forefront of her mind. Being hurt by Ethan was one thing, but both of them? It would be devastating. It was easier to run.

  But she didn’t want to leave them. And it appeared she wasn’t going anywhere anyhow. She opened the car door and as she was sliding out from under the steering wheel she noticed Trey’s bike in some stage of being fixed. He’d been tinkering in the garage all afternoon.

  Closing the car door she clucked her tongue off of the roof of her mouth. The car had been working fine until this afternoon.

  Dirty buggers!

  Now she knew why they hadn’t run after her. They knew she couldn’t get anywhere. Instead of being angry she smiled, giving her head a shake in disbelief. Heading back into the house she didn’t have to go far to find them. They were both sitting in the living room watching some action movie.

  She stood in the entryway of the living room, her hands planted on her hips, looking from one guy to the other and back again. “Who messed with my car?”

  Trey was the first to turn and greet her with a smile. “Something wrong with your car?” He was a lousy liar. Absolutely horrible.

  “Yeah. Doesn’t work.”

  “Maybe you ran out of gas?” Ethan offered, turning as well and also giving her a smile.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Humm. That’s weird.” Trey’s grin widened as he looked over at Ethan and they shared a look. “Guess you’ll have to come on in and keep talking to us until this is worked out.”

  She cocked a brow up at him and fought to keep a smile from her lips. “I can get to Boston other ways you know.”

  “Yeah, you can totally hitch. I wouldn’t recommend it.” Trey pasted a look of disgust on his face and shook his head.

  “Or a bus,” Ethan chimed in.

  “Oh hey,” Trey reached across the sofa and swatted Ethan on the shoulder. “I saw a bicycle in the garage. That could work too.” They began chattering among themselves, discussing the possibilities as if she weren’t there glowering at them both.

  Entering the living room, she plunked herself down onto the coffee table in front of them. “Okay, I get it! I don’t really have to be here if I didn’t want to be.”

  Ethan’s expression turned serious as his eyes locked to hers. “Then what are you saying, Ivy? Everything considered. No more games. So what do you honestly want from us?”

  “We want the truth. Is it real or some game you’re playing with us?” Trey added for clarity.

  “When I came back here, it’s true, I wanted to teach you both a lesson. I was still angry at Ethan and hurt and had this stupid, vindictive plan. And I’ll admit, it was a very immature one.” She looked from one man to the other. “I just wanted you two to feel how I felt. How the girls who you broke the hearts of felt.”

  She paused, not sure how to continue with what she had to say. In retrospect, she felt silly and childish for even coming up with such a plan.

  “But…” Trey prompted. “What now?”

  “Look, maybe I don’t deserve it and maybe it’s very selfish of me, but I want you both. I love you both.” She looked down at her hands folded in her lap. “I guess I feel we’re good together. Even if it’s a little unorthodox, and selfish and all those other things.” She graced them both with a hesitant smile. “Sometimes a girl wants the romance novel ending.”

  “So what do you think, Ethan?”

  Ethan sighed and fell back into the sofa, rubbing his chin, which was harbouring a couple days’ growth of stubble. “I don’t know, I think she’s going to have to make it up to us.”

  Ivy crinkled her nose up at Ethan. “Make it up to you?”

  “Yeah,” Trey agreed. “Definitely needs to do something to show us she’s really sincere.” He grabbed the remote and turned the movie off. A soft, sultry melody began to play as he switched to one of the music stations.

  Her brow furrowed as she looked from one handsome face to the other. “I don’t understand.”

  The guys exchanged a look and grinned. “We want a striptease,” Ethan supplied.

  “And not one of those half-assed ones either. I mean strip club quality.”

  “Are you two serious?” She felt her face begin to warm at the though
t of being sexy for them. Teasing was one thing, but actually putting on some sort of stripper show? “That’s what you guys want?”

  “Yeah, we’re guys.” Ethan jerked his chin in the direction of the staircase. “Now be a good girl, get yourself all ready and then come down here and show us how sorry you really are.”

  Taking a deep breath in, she slowly released it and nodded. “All right.”

  Trey

  It felt like an eternity had passed before Trey heard the soft click-clack of her heels on the wooden staircase coming back downstairs. He’d already pulled the coffee table out of the way and replaced it with a kitchen chair – he was nice like that.

  They could have spent the evening and well into the next few days arguing back and forth, trying to make reason out of the what’s and whys, but as Ethan and Trey waited for her to return to them they’d agreed the best thing to do was put it all behind them and start over. They’d all made mistakes, it was best to move on.

  “So, is this acceptable?”

  Trey turned to see her dressed in a cute little schoolgirl type of outfit – right down to a ponytail tied high on her head, red and black plaid mini-skirt, to the white blouse that hugged her breasts and cute little plaid tie that matched her skirt. His cock immediately went on the alert and he shifted on the sofa to relieve the tightening in his pants.

  He whistled. “You’re making me think you had this planned all along.”

  She laughed. “Does it matter?”

  He shook his head. “No, not really.”

  “Little sister has really grown up.” She scowled at Ethan for his comment, which only caused a bark of laughter to come from both men. “Sorry, forget I wasn’t allowed to use the sister term.”

  “That is kinda hot in a fucked-up sort of way, man. Really is.”

  Her eyes shifted to the chair, sitting in the middle of the living room waiting for her. “Thought of everything, huh?”

  “We’re firefighters, we’re always prepared.” Ethan offered.

  The buttons of her blouse strained against her chest as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath in and slowly released it, reopening her stunning green eyes and fixating her stare on Trey, then slowly shifting it to Ethan. He could see the fear and apprehension was fading and her confidence building. She walked into the living room, her hips swaying seductively with each step until she got to the chair.