Double Heat [Twin Ties: 3] (25 page)

Evan couldn’t focus on anything. He just felt cold. Shaky. Humiliated. His vision blurred.

Someone was pulling him up, out of his chair, into a bruising, complete hug. The scent of Alek’s cologne filled Evan’s head, his hands clasped behind Evan’s head and behind his lower back as he murmured, “Evan, I’m so sorry. Oh god, baby. I’m so sorry.”

Evan felt boneless, weak. He couldn’t return the hug, or make sense of anything.

For a long moment, no one said anything. Then, Alek seemed to realize Luka and Brennan were being unusually quiet. Without letting go of Evan, who only wanted to burrow further into the embrace rather than talk about this any longer, Alek looked at the other two, and demanded, “What? What’s that look for?”

Still, there was nothing, and it drew out so long, Evan finally couldn’t help but satisfy his own curiosity. Luka was staring right at Brennan, who was blushing and hiding his mouth behind folded hands.

“What?” Evan asked.

Luka dropped his gaze, not saying a word.

“What is this? What?! Bren?”

“It’s gonna sound worse than it is,” Brennan started. Whatever it was Brennan wasn’t saying, Luka already knew. Picking up his beer, Luka took a sip and refused to meet anyone else’s eyes. “I was twelve, okay?” he said with a sigh, scratching at his fingernail.

“Twelve for what?” Evan asked softly, disbelieving.

“When I lost my virginity.”

“What?!” Alek exclaimed. To Luka, he said, “And you knew?!”

“How old was the other guy?” Evan asked.

Brennan sighed. Luka took another sip of beer.

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Alek deadpanned.

“Eighteen,” Brennan said quickly, “But it was fine! It was consensual! I was totally hot for him!”

“You can’t consent to sex when you’re twelve years old!”

“Well, I know that now!” Brennan yelled back.

“Did you have sex with these guys?” Luka asked Evan.

“What? No,” Evan scoffed. “I told you, I was a virgin until Alek. It wasn’t sex. It was... you know. Touching. Blow jobs.”

Luka wiped a hand over his face, and Evan could tell he was floundering, caught between anger and shock.

Alek let go of Evan just enough to be able to look into his eyes, his hands holding Evan’s shoulders. “Is this part of what you’ve been worried about? You were afraid to tell us?”

“I don’t know. I guess. Yeah. I mean, I know it sounds bad. I didn’t want you guys to think I’m disgusting or hate me.”

It pushed Luka over some edge, and he started to get upset. He began to stand, to walk toward Evan, but Brennan was faster, furiously hugging Evan before Luka could get close.

He didn’t say anything, but the hug said plenty.

The older, bigger twins stood beside them, and Luka asked Alek, “What the hell do we do about this?”

“What do we do?” Alek echoed. “What can we do? It’s done.”

Brennan finally let go and held up his hands, drawing all eyes right to him. “Okay. It’s not like the two of you have never regretted your sexual activity either. I’m officially declaring that we all have made bad decisions. We are collectively guilty of that. But we can’t change what we did. Right?”

“Right,” Evan agreed.

“Right,” Luka added.

“Yeah, okay,” Alek reluctantly admitted. “That doesn’t change the problem, here. Tommy is still out there. He got away with hurting you. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that both of you are still hurting.”

“Bren, Tommy needs to be held accountable for what he did,” Luka said.

“You can’t press charges in Pennsylvania for something that happened in Louisiana,” Brennan argued. “And over my dead body will I go back to that fucking place.”

“We’re dropping it for now,” Evan said, looking at the other twins. “Aren’t we? Because Brennan needs to be the one to make this call.”

“Thank you,” Brennan replied.

“Fine. For now,” Alek conceded. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t feel comfortable leaving either one of you alone, or letting you go out there by yourself. You’re identical. If Tommy came after you again...”

“We’re adults, Alek,” Brennan reminded him. “We’ve been going out there by ourselves for a while.”

“Maybe we can get them mace? Or tasers?” Luka suggested.

“Tasers are manlier than mace,” Brennan replied.

“Guns are even better,” Evan added.

“No guns!” Alek growled.

“Okay, so we’ll get you two some means of self-defense. Bren, we’ll drive you to school as often as possible, but I don’t want you going anywhere alone. Stay with classmates. Ask security to walk you to your car.”

“You have to be shitting me,” Brennan said levelly.

“I’m serious.”

“Tommy doesn’t even know where I live! He doesn’t know what school I go to either!”

“But he could find out, if he tried hard enough. Are you saying he isn’t capable of going that far, now that you’ve pissed him off?”

Brennan didn’t respond, he dropped his gaze and folded his arms.

“Christ,” Evan swore.

“And Evan, same goes for you. I want you to cut back on your hours at the garage. No going off alone. Maybe ask Jimmy for rides now and then, since he knows about Tommy already. You and Brennan are too important for us to take any chances, here,” Alek said sternly. “We can’t guard you two forever. Luka and I have to go to work, but I won’t leave you alone, either.”

“You don’t think I can kick Tommy’s ass?” Evan asked, defensively. “You don’t think I want to after he attacked my brother? I’m not a child, and protecting Bren is more important to me than anything.”

“Maybe you could kick his ass. Maybe not. That’s not what this is about. You’ve been doing a great job helping Bren feel better as he gets his strength back, but we’re in this with you guys too. This isn’t about who’s tougher, or more badass. I think Tommy’s crazier than you, and I’m not taking any chances. Are you saying if Tommy came after Bren with a weapon, you wouldn’t stand between them to keep Bren safe? I won’t have you sacrifice yourself to a psycho when we have other, better options.”

“We’re not doubting you, Ev,” Luka added.

“Well, it feels like you are.”

“Sometimes things happen that are too big for us to figure out on our own. That’s when it’s time to ask for help. We need help. We need to trust the people we can to help us keep you two safe. Yeah, it’s your job to help take care of Bren, but it’s our job to take care of both of you. You’d do the same for us, if the tables were turned. You wouldn’t want us out there, in harm’s way, would you?”

Evan tried to compose himself. He let out a sigh of frustration and stopped arguing.

“Time to call in backup,” Alek said. “We need to tell Jimmy, Carter, and Presley. They need to know what’s going on.”

Chapter 20
Best Laid Plans

They got everyone together that evening. The whole time, Evan couldn’t stop thinking about the photo messaged over by Drew. Evan was tempted to say something, because it profoundly unsettled him to be reminded of everything still hidden from Alek, Luka and Brennan. They had no idea about his connection to Drew, or how Drew still thought about him. But even after everything that had come out during their talk, there was still so much left unsaid and Evan’s nerves were already shot. Besides, if they were going the extra distance to keep them safe from Tommy, that could serve two purposes. It would solve Evan’s Drew problem, too.

Alek and Luka handled the explaining to the others, sparing Brennan and Evan from having to do so. Jimmy already knew most of it, so his reaction was the least dramatic. He looked worried for Evan and Brennan, but that was nothing new. He seemed glad, actually, that they were openly including him and asking for help.

Carter and Presley were a different story.

“Look at his face! See? This is what I knew was gonna happen,” Evan said with plenty of aggravation, gesturing to Carter’s barely contained livid yearning for violence. He just stood there, not moving, hands in fists, flushed pink in the face.

“I need a picture of this asshole, now,” Carter demanded.

“This isn’t a criminal mastermind we’re dealing with here, you know,” Brennan interjected. “He’s kind of an idiot. He’s just really stubborn.”

“And really a rapist,” Alek retorted.

Presley just kept sputtering, covering his mouth, saying, “Oh my god. Oh my
god
, dude.”

“Look,” Luka explained, trying to be calm and logical. “We’re just asking for you guys to all keep an eye out for trouble and for this evil shit in particular. Help us get Evan and Brennan around without us having to worry about them.”

“Yeah, ‘cause guess what?” Carter said, “Evan might not be able to carry his weapon anymore, but I sure as hell can.”

Evan searched for Tommy’s name on his phone. After showing the results to Brennan and getting a sullen nod of confirmation, Evan passed around the phone, the screen bright with Tommy’s social media profile picture.

“Just be careful, please,” Alek beseeched. “But you’re all fine with helping with rides and all?”

“No sweat, man. Of course,” Presley said. “Bren, I’m so damn sorry you’re dealing with this. Anything we can do, okay?”

“Absolutely,” Carter added.

“Thanks,” Brennan murmured.

“Yeah, my schedule is pretty free,” Jimmy said. “I’m out by Mike’s Garage anyway and I’ve been meaning to check out the campus where Brennan studies.”

“Awesome,” Luka sighed. “Thank you, guys. It means a lot.”

For the first few days, all of the worry, the planning and preparation seemed to work. They fell back into a routine. They all got back to work or, in Brennan’s case, school. A semblance of normalcy returned and they all were able to relax a little more.

Brennan slowly started to look better, and stronger. He stopped wearing the sling and engaged in conversation more often, sounding much more like himself. He seemed content to focus on his coursework in his downtime, which made the rest of them glad he was putting the trip, and his ordeal, behind him. He continued to sleep next to Evan at night, though. It was a small, but noticeable, strain on the group, but Luka couldn’t fault Brennan for choosing comfort over intimacy as he transitioned back into school. He was making such great progress; they didn’t want to cause him any reason to question himself.

For Evan, it was nice to go to work and pretend nothing was wrong for a little while, even if he did feel constantly alert. Jimmy would drive him to the garage on the way back from the shelter in the mornings when he had a shift, and either Carter or Jimmy would pick him up for the drive home.

Evan never let them talk about the past. He didn’t want to go there. He just wanted to get back to his life, already in progress.

After everything that had come out about how he’d behaved in his earlier teenage years, Evan was kind of nervous around Luka and Alek. Part of him expected to detect subtle changes in the way they responded to him, hinting at undisclosed disgust and contempt for Evan’s sexual behavior. But, if anything, the older twins seemed to keep going out of their way to ensure Evan and Brennan were both comfortable and had minimal stress to deal with. Evan kept himself from sneaking back into Alek and Luka’s bed, as much as he might have craved sexual relief. Instead he focused more on Brennan. It did warm his heart whenever Alek or Luka would sneak a kiss or an embrace that lingered as long as Evan would let it. It helped him hope that maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Brennan hadn’t told Charlie anything either, and Evan didn’t plan to do it for him. He knew it was Brennan’s call to make, regarding how much sensitive information to share with a parent who had never brought much comfort anyway. Charlie made one of his infrequent phone calls a few days after Brennan’s return. Neither of them told him anything of what was happening, and relegated the news to safe subjects like school, the weather, and whether any of them had come down with a strain of the flu that was going around. Never in a million years would it have occurred to Evan to mention Drew, or his desire to keep a low profile.

It was on the third day, mid-shift, when Evan realized his mistake.

Drew was an old buddy of Charlie’s. It would have been so easy for Drew to call Charlie up, and have a chat about what was new, maybe ask what Evan had been up to, now that he was a man in his own right.

And Charlie would have told him without a second thought.

This was what went through Evan’s mind on his lunch break, when he went outside for some air and a soda. It was an unseasonably mild day, with the temperatures nearing sixty degrees. A few of his co-workers were around. One was on his cell, chatting with his girlfriend. Another was checking out a car in the lot. No one knew what Evan had been dealing with. Hell, they didn’t even know Evan was
dating
, let alone that he was dating twins and had an unusual closeness with his brother.

So, when Drew showed up, smiling, moseying up to Evan where he stood by the side of the garage, Evan felt panic stir. It was formless but powerful enough to dull his ability to think or react. He liked Drew, and Drew had been there for him when he’d really needed someone, but their relationship felt shameful now. It was something Evan desperately needed to leave behind.