The sun beat down on him, making his muscles heavy and tight. Skylar rolled his shoulders, the pads he was wearing feeling unusually heavy today. He didn’t want to be here. He hadn’t wanted to get out of bed. Honestly, if Tyler hadn’t been wrapped around him like a snake, he probably wouldn’t have. But this had been the perfect opportunity to escape.
And Tyler had just let him go. No fuss, no whining, no trying to stop him. Just a smile and a quick I’ll see you later. Honestly, Skylar hadn’t been sure if he was happy or mad about it. On the one hand, his brother wasn’t freaking out, which was great! However, knowing what he’d had to give up to get Tyler there was nearly crippling.
Shaking those thoughts from his mind, Skylar stepped in position behind the center and settled into his stance. His eyes tracked the defensive line, taking it all in. “Gold 80!” he barked out, preparing himself for the snap. However, when his eyes landed on Jessie in the bleachers, Skylar lost focus for a second.
He’d been ignoring her over the last couple of days. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to face her now that he’d allowed Tyler to give him a blow job. He felt dirty. He’d betrayed her trust. And he couldn’t even be man enough to tell her about it. Not because he wanted to keep things from her, but because he didn’t want to see the look of disgust on her face that he was sure would be there. He couldn’t handle that.
“Gold 80!” he called out again, trying to ignore everything outside of the field. He needed to focus. Coach had been on their ass recently about next season and Skylar didn’t want to let him down. “Set…hut!”
The ball snapped backward into his hands, Skylar taking a few jogged steps back before he found his man on the field. He released the ball and let it fly, smiling slightly when it hit its mark. Football had always been something he loved. When he was mad or stressed, he would always just take a ball and go toss it around and immediately, he’d feel better.
And it was working today, too. For the fourty-five minutes that he was out on the field, he could almost pretend that everything in his life was normal. He could forget that his cock had been in his brother’s mouth less than seventy two hours ago, and his girlfriend was none the wiser. He could foget that Jessie probably thought he was losing his mind. And he could just focus on the game — the strategies and the plays — it made him feel like himself.
But like all good things, it had to come to an end. His teammates were all laughing and ribbing each other as they walked to the locker room. For a split second, Skylar thought he might be able to dodge and get lost in the crowd. But Jessie’s eyes were on him, and she’d moved to the edge of the field so he couldn’t bypass her.
It was impossible to miss the murmurs from his buddies as Jessie stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, waiting for him. He rolled his eyes at them, but ultimately gave a few of them a high five when prompted before he leaned against the railing, waiting for Jessie to dish out whatever she was going to give him.
“You’ve been ignoring my texts,” Jessie stated matter of factly. She wasn’t mad. She didn’t yell at him. She just stated the facts. She worried her bottom lip, chocloate eyes searching Skylar’s face. “Is everything okay? I’ve been worried about you.”
Immediately, Skylar felt like thhe lowest human being around. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I’ve just been really busy.” It wasn’t a lie. Tyler was a full time job. And he really hated having to explain his cell phone habits to his brother. Especially when Jessie was involved. “But I’m fine. Really, I am.”
A small frown came to Jessie’s lips when Skylar didn’t elaborate. So they were back to that, she supposed. “You don’t look fine,” she countered. She wasn’t trying to be rude, or argumentative, but she needed Skylar to understand where she was coming from. “You look…exhausted. And you look pale.” She reached for him, attempting to touch his forehead in a motherly gesture, but she stopped cold when he flinched away from her. “What’s wrong? Talk to me. Please, Sky? I just want to help.”
While he knew she just wanted to help, there was nothing she could do. There was nothing anyone could do. A better man would have ended the relationship right now. But Skylar wasn’t a good man. “I’m fine,” he assured her once again. “I’m just tired. I’ve had a lot on my mind recently.”
She didn’t believe him for one second. “Does this have anything to do with…what we talked about at the cemetery?” she asked, making sure to keep her voice low so no passersby could hear them.
Panic slammed into him at the mention of Tyler. He couldn’t do this right now. Jessie couldn’t know what had happened. “He’s getting better,” Skylar whispered, his voice nearly inaudible. “He’s just…really fragile right now. He needs me.”
A deep frown came to Jessie’s lips when Skylar started talking about Tyler. “Sky…I know that you want to take care of him,” she assured her boyfriend. Because while she didn’t necessarily believe that Tyler was here, she knew Skylar. He’d only ever wanted to take care of the people he loved. “But who is taking care of you? Where are you even staying? Because I never see you around campus. And I know you told your parents that you’re living in the dorms, which is a lie.”
When she reached for Skylar’s hand, she ignored the flinch this time, instead holding tightly. “You can talk to me, Skylar,” she assured him. “If you’re spending all of your time with Tyler, maybe that’s the problem. Why don’t you come to my dorm tonight? We don’t have to do anything. We can just sit on the couch and relax. You can get some sleep.”
Quickly, Skylar shook his head. He wasn’t about to reveal the location of the cabin to Jessie. That was the one thing Tyler had been adament about. “I can’t,” he answered, his tone apologetic. “I can’t leave him. He can’t sleep if I’m gone.” Not that Tyler slept when he was there either, but she didn’t need to know that.
Again, Jessie frowned when Skylar shot her down. “Sky, do you hear yourself?” she asked, trying to make him understand where she was coming from. But she was too scared to push further. Skylar was vulnerable right now. And she didn’t want to make it worse. “Okay,” she answered instead. “Well, if you change your mind, text me okay? And please stop ignoring me. I really am worried about you. And…I keep wondering if you just don’t want to see me anymore.”
He did hear himself. And he knew he sounded crazy. “I know,” Skylar assured Jessie. “And I’m sorry. I just don’t have my phone on me a lot. You know it has nothing to do with not wanting to see you. Things are just…complicated right now.” He didn’t delve into the details. Jessie didn’t need to know every little thing.
Instead, he smiled at her, the gesture not really reaching his eyes. “I gotta get back. But I’ll try to call you later, okay?” Leaning in, he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek, ignoring the pang of guilt that shot through his heart.
Jessie watched as Skylar headed into the locker room. She still didn’t believe that he was okay. He had been pulling away from her for a while now, and today was even worse. Today, she couldn’t even touch him without him flinching. She’d been to Tyler’s grave on her own once during the last few days. There had been nothing out of the ordinary. And Skylar hadn’t been there. So, she had no idea where he was staying. But she knew he wasn’t sleeping. And that was dangerous.
What she didn’t know was how she was going to get through to him. And that hurt her more than words could say. With one final glance at the football field, Jessie headed off in the direction of her car, feeling even worse than she had before she’d been able to talk to Skylar.
**~~**
As Skylar walked through the door, he sighed, both physically and emotionally exhausted. Immediately, Tyler was there, invading his personal space.
“You’re home,” Tyler smiled, taking Skylar’s duffel before he could put it down. He could see there was something wrong with his brother, and he wanted to help. “You look miserable. It was too hot outside for practice today. Your coach should have canceled.” Without thinking, Tyler reached for Skylar, brushing a stray strand of sweaty hair off of his forehead.
When he got close enough to touch, Tyler couldn’t help but realize that there was a familiar scent lingering on his brother. “You saw Jessie,” Tyler stated. He wasn’t asking — he was telling.
At the mention of Jessie, Skylar flinched. “What?” he asked, taken back by the statement. Was Tyler following him now? How hadn’t he seen him. What if he’d been caught?! Dammit, there was no way his brother was that reckless!
Again, Tyler leaned in. He breathed subtly, his head turning to the side. “I can smell her perfume on you.” And the fact that she was close enough for her scent to linger pissed Tyler off. A lot.
Licking his lips, Skylar tried to take a step backwards. However, instead of creating distance like he’d planned, his back hit the wall, trapping him. “She came to practice,” he explained. “She was worried about me. I haven’t been responding to her texts.” The look on Tyler’s face had Skylar swallowing hard once more. He wasn’t mad. He looked like he was threatened. “I didn’t know she was coming.”
Without thinking, Tyler closed the gap between himself and Skylar. His hand pressed against Skylar’s chest, smoothing the wrinkles in his white tank top. “I don’t like her smell on you,” Tyler muttered absently, his attention solely on where his hands were touching Skylar. He leaned in, pressing his face against Skylar’s neck and brushing his lips against the fading bruise there.
Slowly, Tyler’s hands slid along Skylar’s sides, fingers catching the fabric of his tank top and pulling it up to reveal more of his skin. “You’re body is so hot,” he whispered. Not giving Skylar any time to react, Tyler dropped to his knees, catching the soft skin of Skylar’s abdomen between his teeth.
Skylar gripped Tyler’s shoulders instinctively. “Oh my God, Tyler, get up!” he hissed. He managed to wiggle away from the wall and sidestep Tyler so he could finally breathe. “You can’t…do shit like that. I’m not some toy you can play with whenever you want to.” Swallowing, Skylar headed into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water, downing half of it in one go.
The reaction he’d gotten from Skylar hadn’t been what he was expecting. “I thought you liked it,” Tyler explained. “You didn’t complain the other night.” When he moved, he looked almost predatory, his hands pressing against the counter on either side of Skylar so that he was locked in place. “You let her touch you.” He couldn’t help but get angry when Skylar got a tone with him. “She put her hands on you.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” Skylar snapped, brows knit in confusion as he tried to assess where the hell Tyler was going with this.
Another frown came to his lips when Skylar referred to Jessie as his girlfriend. As if he needed a damn reminder. “I know,” he assured the other man. One hand moved to touch Skylar’s waist again, fingers brushing just above the waistband of his shorts. “But you’re mine.” He bit into his bottom lip as his fingers dipped under the waistband of Skylar’s shorts and underwear. “I thought you understood after the other night.”
More roughly than he had intended to, Skylar snatched Tyler’s wrist so he couldn’t try anything else. “Jesus Christ, Ty, stop,” he pleaded. “What the hell has gotten into you? You’re not acting like yourself.”
Tyler’s eyes ticked up to lock with Skylar’s. “Don’t do that,” he said, his voice nearly pleading. But when Skylar asked for clarification, Tyler got angry. His brother wasn’t stupid. He knew what he was talking about. “Don’t act like this isn’t real. You know it is. You stopped pushing me away! You let me be close to you!”
It was heartbreaking hearing Tyler’s version of the events. That was the hardest part for Skylar. He understood that Tyler was different now, but when he was actually met with the reality of just how different, it nearly broke him. “Ty, that doesn’t mean what you think it means,” he tried to explain.
Instead of comforting Tyler though, Skylar’s words only pissed him off more. “Then what did it mean?” he asked, eyes burning as he glared at Skylar. Only he didn’t have an answer for him. He gave his wrist a gentle shake, effectively breaking Skylar’s grip so that he could press his hand palm flat against his chest once more. “She doesn’t understand what you did for me. She can’t. No one can. That’s just ours.”
At this point, Skylar wasn’t sure if Tyler was referring to the ritual, or the blow job. And honestly, he was trying to forget the latter, so he didn’t even bring it up. “Ty, I brought you back because I love you,” Skylar explained. “That doesn’t mean you own me.”
Would that have been so bad? What Skylar didn’t seem to understand was that he already owned Tyler. He just wanted the same in return from Skylar. “I don’t understand why you’re acting like I’m hurting you,” Tyler whispered. “I’m just trying to protect you. Other people don’t understand what’s happening to you. Even Jessie — you told her about me, and she still doesn’t believe you.”
Leaning in once more, Tyler cocked his head to the side, studying his brother. “Instead, she thinks you’re crazy. She thinks you’re…grieving. That it’s making you believe things that aren’t real.” Roughly, he gripped Skylar’s wrist, forcing him to press his hand against his chest, too. “But I’m right here. I’m real. And I would never make you feel like you’re reality is wrong.”
He didn’t hesitate as he closed the gap between the two of them once more, his lips crushing against Skylar’s. When the opportunity presented itself, he shoved his tongue inside Skylar’s mouth, wrestling with his for dominance.
The kiss ended much sooner than Tyler would have liked. But he knew when Skylar pushed him away that he was coming dangerously close to making him leave. And that was the last thing he wanted. Even if Skylar would eventually come back. He’d been alone all morning. He didn’t want a repeat performance. “She didn’t lose you,” he breathed against his brother’s spit-slick lips. “I did. And I won’t let her take you away from me again. I’d sooner die all over again than lose you.”
With that, Tyler turned on his heels and headed out of the kitchen. Skylar felt like he could actually breathe now that he was alone. He hated that Tyler seemed to despise Jessie so much. Sure, when he’d been alive, he hadn’t been friends with her or anything, but he was at least friendly. Now, he treated her like she was an inconvenience.
Like he treated everyone these days, if Skylar thought about it. Really, Tyler acted like anyone other than him was just an obstacle. Something in his way. A nuissance. It was beginning to scare Skylar.
But why? He knew his brother. He knew Tyler would never hurt anyone. Well, the man he knew wouldn’t. Some days, it was hard to even recognize Tyler anymore. Like when he’d realized Jessie had seen Skylar today. The shift in his demeanor was almost scary. The way he’d been so happy to see Skylar now that he was home to the absolute predator who’d caged him against the counter.
Sometimes, Skylar felt like he was losing Tyler all over again. And that wasn’t something he could handle. So he would do whatever it took to keep his brother from falling over whatever cliff he was standing at the edge of.
Almost as if on que, Skylar’s phone started vibrating in his pocket. Reaching into his shorts, he pulled out the device, frowning deeply when he saw Jessie’s name light up the screen. With another sigh, Skylar silenced the call, tossing the phone face down onto the counter behind him.
Tyler gripped the bathroom sink so hard that he was surprised it didn’t crack under his grip. Jessie was continuing to be a thorn in his side. She was able to see Skylar while he wasn’t here at the cabin. They could be seen in public together and no one would think twice about it. Tyler didn’t have that luxury. And he was worried that Jessie was trying to show Skylar how nice it would be without him.
She was trying to win him back. Trying to undo everything over the last few months that Tyler had been working toward with Skylar. She wanted to take him away. She wanted to hoarde him for herself and leave Tyler in the dust. Trying to make Skylar believe that his reality was all some grief-induced lie. That wasn’t helpful! That was harmful! If she truly loved Skylar, she would accept him! She wouldn’t try to change him!
And he wouldn’t let that happen. Jessie was trying to take Skylar from him? There was no way he could allow her to get away with it. Jessie was a problem. And Tyler had never had trouble with being a problem solver.