Tyler glared at the headstone, his name staring back at him almost mockingly. After his little encounter with Skylar, he’d needed to leave the house. He felt confident that it was late enough that no one was going to see him. And that’s exactly what he was going to tell his brother if Skylar got on his ass about leaving the house again. Skylar didn’t understand what it was like to be isolated. To be trapped inside the same four walls every day with no way of getting any time to breathe. He got to go out whenever he wanted.
When he heard footsteps coming from the treeline, Tyler immediately darted his eyes to the sound. His gaze locked on a woman with long, flowing red hair and rips in her clothes. Venus – she was back. He could see the soft upturn of her lips as she locked eyes with him, inviting him to come further into the darkness with her. His feet moved on their own accord, moving him toward her like he was being pulled.
“You came back,” Venus greeted when Tyler came to her. She wasn’t sure that she was surprised. They always came back. But that wasn’t the stuff you read about in her research. That was more personal – she didn’t like to give away those secrets.
He came back. Honestly, Tyler didn’t know why he had. But there was something about the grave that just made him feel…calm. “And so did you,” he responded, eyes searching the woman for answers. She seemed so knowledgeable about all of this. She’d lived it, after all. Maybe she was the missing piece. The thing that could help Tyler get through to Skylar and make him understand that they were better off without outside influences.
A small smile came to her lips when Tyler spoke. “Of course I did,” Venus countered. “I had a feeling you’d be here. And our conversation from the other night was cut short, so I was hoping you’d come back again.”
Honestly, Tyler hadn’t felt like he’d had a choice. After hearing his brother on the phone with Jessie, his body just pulled him here. He didn’t understand it. Usually, he wanted to be around Skylar when he was upset, but right now, he didn’t trust himself. He’d wanted to go to Skylar while he was talking on the phone. He’d wanted to rip that phone out of his hands and smash it in his palm. That way Jessie couldn’t get to his brother anymore. She was really starting to piss him off.
Almost as if she could read his thoughts, Venus broke the silence between the two of them. “Something is troubling you,” she stated the obvious. Her head tilted to the side much like it had the night before – like she was studying him. “Did your discussion with your brother about the cabin not go well?”
Shaking his head, Tyler answered, “It’s not that. Well, I mean, no it didn’t go as well as I would have liked, but that’s not what I’m upset about.” His eyes ticked to Venus, locking with bright, glowing green. It was uncanny how much her eyes reminded him of his own when he looked in the mirror. “It’s his girlfriend. She is…being needy. And I just don’t understand why he is entertaining her anymore.”
Unable to help himself, Tyler continued. For some reason, he trusted Venus. She was easy to talk to. And she was like him – she knew what he was going through, obviously. She must have felt the same things after she was brought back. “He wants me,” Tyler assured Venus, nodding to himself as he stared at his grave. “You don’t rip someone out of the grave unless losing them destroys you. He can’t live without me. Just like I can’t live without him.”
It was interesting to watch Tyler try to make sense of his feelings. He supposed it was harder for him since he’d been brought back by his brother – his twin, nonetheless. It wasn’t like the two of them could ever have the life Tyler wanted now. And for that, Venus felt a strange sense of loss for him. “The girlfriend sounds to me like she is just afraid of losing access,” she explained. “From what I know about Skylar, he wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings. That doesn’t mean she’s who he turns to when it matters. Hang in there.”
She had a point. Skylar did choose him. Every time. Even if he had to push him a little bit toward the right choice. Eventually, he made it. “I know that,” he assured Venus. “He chooses me. Because I’m his. All he has to do is ask.” Anger trickled up his spine, causing his lips to twitch. “But he won’t ask. He hasn’t done anything! He’s just acting like everything is normal and I’m not waiting for him to make a move!”
“Why are you waiting?” Venus asked. “The saddest tragedies are when both people are waiting for the other to make the move. And then the move is never made. And the connection is never explored.” Smirking, she let him in on a little secret. “If I had waited for Amara to make the move, she wouldn’t have been my wife.”
Tyler didn’t have an answer for her. He didn’t really know why he was waiting. “I…guess I just assumed that Skylar wanted to be the one to make the move,” he answered honestly. “He’s done everything else. He brought me back. Maybe he just doesn’t want to scare me. I don’t know.” What if he rejected him? No, he wasn’t going to say that. He couldn’t even think like that. Skylar wanted him, too. He knew he did. He wouldn’t have allowed him to give him a massage otherwise. He would have just left him in the ground if he didn’t want him.
Smiling widely, Venus encouraged, “Show him how hard it is to scare you.” Her eyes darted to the dirt that Tyler had dug up last night. The groundskeeper hadn’t fixed it yet. Honestly, he wasn’t here much – too busy cheating on his wife with the grieving widows who came here to pay much attention to the plots. “Just get your brother to the cabin. The two of you need some time away from everyone. And everything. The service at the cabin isn’t all that reliable. That girlfriend of his won’t be able to bother you there.”
With that, Venus slipped into the woods, vanishing just as quickly as she had appeared. She had a good point, though. Skylar just needed to be away from everything other than him to realize that he wanted this, too. He wasn’t afraid of Skylar’s feelings. He reciprocated them! And the sooner they both got that out of the way, the better everything was going to be.
**~~**
By the time Tyler made it home, it was nearly four in the morning. He slipped into the house silently, making sure to lock the door behind him. The house was dark. It was quiet. He slowly made his way to the stairs, peering up toward his brother’s room. It was dark, but he couldn’t hear the soft snores that usually came from Skylar while he was sleeping.
Slowly, he walked up the steps, trying to make as little noise as possible. As he got closer to Skylar’s room, he could hear the slow, heavy breathing, indicating that his brother was, in fact sleeping.
Although his whole body was screaming at him to go to Skylar, Tyler made a right turn and headed toward the bathroom. He turned the hot water on as he stripped out of his clothes, catching his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were glowing brightly back at him, reminding him of the way Venus looked at him.
Show him how hard it is to scare you. Tyler wanted to. He wanted to walk into Skylar’s room right now and kiss him awake. But he refrained. Tomorrow when he was giving Skylar his massage, Tyler would make his move. It was the perfect time. Skylar would be pliant and willing under his fingers, and Tyler couldn’t wait.
When the mirror fogged up from the steam coming out of the hot shower, Tyler finally tore his gaze away from his reflection. Still, he felt no pain as he stepped under the spray. He knew he should have. His skin should have been burning because the water was scalding hot, but Tyler didn’t feel a thing. Slowly, he turned the cold water on just a touch so that he didn’t blister. After all, it would have been hard as hell to explain that away if Skylar saw it.
He stayed in the shower for almost twenty minutes, making sure all of the dirt was off his body. Being at the grave site always left him grimey, even when he wasn’t playing in the dirt. He hadn’t touched the dirt today, but he still felt filthy somehow. Maybe it had been the walk through the woods and all of the time he’d spent in the cabin. After all, it looked like no one had been there in months. And Tyler wanted to make it more them before they moved in. He had some work ahead of him, but he got a decent amount of stuff done this evening, so he was confident he could get the rest finished before his parents came back from their cruise.
Once he was out of the shower, Tyler moved to his own room, pulling on a pair of gray sweatpants and a black tank top. Suddenly, he heard movement behind him, causing him to whip around. Skylar. He was standing in his doorway, leaning against it. His arms were crossed over his bare chest, his black sweatpants hanging low on his slender hips. Tyler had to fight the urge to go over there and run his hands all over his brother’s exposed flesh.
“Where were you?” Skylar asked, eyes boring holes into Tyler. After he’d caught Tyler in his room, Skylar had heard the other man leaving the house. And while he understood that Tyler needed to get out and not feel like he was trapped here, he didn’t think it was a smart idea. And he sure as hell didn’t want his brother sneaking off to meet with Venus so she could put more crazy ideas into his head.
The fact that his brother was asking about his whereabouts sent heat straight to his cock. “I think you already know the answer to that question,” he answered, keeping his eyes locked on his brother.
Anger bubbled up inside him when Tyler confirmed his suspicions about where he’d been. “Ty, I told you to stay away from her,” he reminded. “You don’t know anything about this woman other than the fact that she swooped in and offered you a solution to what you consider a problem right now.”
Now, it was Tyler’s turn to get upset. “Isn’t that exactly what she did with you?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at his brother. “And you believed her. You listened to her. And you did exactly what she told you to do!” Shaking his head, Tyler chuckled humorlessly. “But now, all of a sudden, she’s not trustworthy. Why is that, Skylar? What are you so afraid she’s gonna do to me?”
Skylar had never been able to control his emotions well. That’s why he was so good at football. Out on the field, he could take his frustrations out by tackling people – physical contact was good for letting go of all of that anger. But with Tyler, he didn’t have that. He had never been physical with his brother, and he wasn’t about to start now.
But that didn’t stop him from allowing his anger to show as he pushed away from the doorway and moved into his brother’s personal space. “That’s not the point, Tyler!” he argued. “I don’t want you getting hurt!”
Scoffing, Tyler rolled his eyes. It was hard to think when his brother was this close to him. He could practically smell the other man’s sweat. It was intoxicating. And if he wasn’t so upset, he probably would have just backed down and tried to hug Skylar again. He’d have done anything to get closer. But right now, he had his own point to prove.
Skylar was close enough that when Tyler took a step closer to him, he forced his brother back against his desk. All of the research he’d stolen from Skylar’s room was sitting there, including the Mortis Codex. His fingers curled around the book, snatching it up and holding it in front of his brother’s face so he could see it clearly. “You didn’t seem to care that this book could hurt you when you used it,” he sneered. “I’m not a child. I can take care of myself. Venus isn’t a problem.”
It was hard to deny it when Tyler was showing him the very thing that he was referring to. “I know better than anyone that she can make people do things when they’re desperate!” Skylar argued. “The last thing I want is for her to talk you into doing something stupid when you’re vulnerable!”
Hurt flashed in Tyler’s eyes as soon as Skylar spoke. “Oh, so that’s what the resurrection spell was then, huh?” he asked, his whole mood souring. “It was something stupid? Something you did out of desperation?!” Biting into his bottom lip, Tyler spat, “A mistake?!” He tossed the book back onto the desk, eyes flashing with emotion as he waited for Skylar to explain himself.
He hated seeing Tyler so upset. But he needed the other man to understand where he was coming from. “Of course I was desperate!” he admitted. “You were dead! I was staring down a lifetime without you in it! I had no control over my emotions, my thoughts – no control, period! All I could think about was the fact that I was here and you weren’t! And it was my fault! I was the one driving!”
Purposely, he didn’t look at Tyler as he continued. “So yes, I was desperate. I would have believed anything that woman told me after learning that there was a way to bring you back. And I did! And now she’s poking her nose around you, and I don’t understand why! There has to be a reason for it, Tyler! And I don’t want to find out what that reason is!”
“Would you do it again?” Tyler asked, biting into his bottom lip as he took a step back, putting some distance between them finally. “Knowing what you know now, would you do the ritual and bring me back again?”
Without hesitation, Skylar answered, “Absolutely.” He could see the sadness in Tyler’s eyes and he wanted to make it go away. “You’re not a mistake. The only mistake in this situation was me getting behind the wheel after drinking that night. And you paid the price. So I had to do it. Whatever needed to be done to bring you back, I had to do it. Because there isn’t a world where I can live without you.”
Tyler felt the same way. It was like his brother was in his head and he was saying everything that Tyler was feeling. “It wasn’t your fault,” he assured his brother. “I don’t blame you for that night.” He didn’t remember that night honestly, but he knew from Skylar’s explanation that they’d been hit head on by another vehicle. One that their friend Henry had been driving. And he’d had more to drink than Skylar. And he had been the one to run the stop sign. “You shouldn’t blame yourself either. It’s over. I’m back. And I’m not going anywhere again, okay?”
While Skylar wanted to believe him, he just wasn’t sure if that was possible. He would probably always blame himself since he’d been the one behind the wheel. He’d been the one distracted by his girlfriend’s tight clothes and her pouty lips. And Tyler had paid the price for it. “Just…stop meeting Venus late at night in the woods, okay?” he practically begged, not wanting to have this conversation again.
Soon, there would be no need for him to meet Venus in the woods alone. “I don’t think it will be a problem much longer,” Tyler assured his brother. “I was just going to the woods to get the cabin ready for us to move in. I only have a couple more things to get ready before we can pack up and stay there. Just in time, too. Mom and Dad should be home by the end of next week if they don’t extend their trip.”
Damn, Skylar hadn’t realized that it was so close. He hadn’t found another option that Tyler would agree to yet, and he was running out of time. “Ty, I told you that we could go there if it was our only option,” he tried to explain. “I didn’t say we were definitely going there.”
Shaking his head, Tyler argued, “We don’t have another option. We already agreed that you’re not shipping me off to some motel and leaving me every day except the weekends. And going to campus for a few months is out of the question. Someone will recognize me. We can’t stay here. The cabin is our only option.” Smiling widely, Tyler explained, “Plus, it has a huge finished basement and I’m setting up a gym down there so we can train like we used to.”
The fact that Tyler had already started nesting, for lack of a better word, was a bit unsettling. “You’ve already spent enough time there to start preparing things like a gym?” he asked, unable to understand where his brother found the time. Unless he’d been skipping his classes, which didn’t sound like Tyler at all. Still, he had to know for sure. “Have you been skipping your classes?”
“No,” Tyler answered, obviously offended. “I go there after dark to get things set up. I stay there for a few hours, and then I come back here.” He wasn’t about to tell Skylar that he didn’t sleep anymore. That was a conversation for another day.
This was too much. He was too tired for this. It was Saturday – they were supposed to be sleeping in. Not having an argument about living arrangements at five o’clock in the morning. “Okay,” he muttered, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Look, let’s just talk about the cabin thing later, okay? You need to get some sleep. I want to go back to sleep. We’ll talk about it while I help you with your homework, alright?”
Instead of arguing, Tyler merely nodded. He couldn’t help the smile that came to his lips when Skylar reminded him that he would be helping him with his homework later that day. He was really looking forward to that.