Page 12 of Double Dare

I’m a nice guy, so I pass him the bottle. He earned it for admitting that. He tips it to his lips, giving himself a breather moment.

Laken looks at me, smirking. I slide over, butted right up to my brother, and bring her knee between my legs, butted right up to my hardening cock. Sliding my hand up her thigh, I sink into the couch, the whiskey, the comfort and the discomfort of this conversation.

“I thought it’d be hot,” I admit. “That’s why I said it.”

Kade looks at me, his jaw tight and his eyes accusatory. “You thought it’d be hot?” he mocks. “Really? Was it?” he pushes.

“Yeah,” I admit. “Fuck off about it.”

“And now?” Laken asks me. “How you feeling about it?”

The whiskey is humbling me, Laken is grounding me, and reality is a bitch that won’t go away. “I love you, Laken.” I’m not typically one for love confessions, but it needs to be said. “And I trust you. I’m all cocky about our relationship because it’s solid, right?”

“Right. Always,” she assures me.

“So I know you’re mine and shit, right? I know you love me because…fuck, I just know it. I feel it.” I expect Kade to scoff, but he doesn’t. “And for whatever reason, it doesn’t bother me that he loves you, too.” Maybe I shouldn’t bring love into it yet. “I mean that he wants you, too. I don’t fucking know, okay? I just know that you’re mine, and I’m yours, and I know you two have shit going on, and I…I don’t feel threatened.” That’s about the gist of it. “If it were anyone else, even any of my other brothers, it’d be a hard no. Just him.”

Laken isn’t much of a crier, but her eyes are glossy. Even though seeing it turns me into an emotional twat, I hold her eyes and show her I’m not afraid, that I see her, see us, see this for what it is. I’ll be a bitch about it, freak out about it, fight it and probably hate it until I understand it more, but I see it. I pull her in for a kiss, desperate to taste her and the confessions on her lips.

“I love you,” I repeat.

“I love you,” she whispers against my lips. I push her back, not wanting to get heavy in front of Kade while he’s all confused. “Did you hear that, Kade?”

“I fucking heard it,” he says, sounding pissed.

“What?” I finally snap at him. “Got a problem with it?”

“I shouldn’t even be here,” he says, dropping his head back to the couch. “This isn’t my place. Do you know how fucking shitty I feel for even putting you in this position?” I don’t know if he’s talking to me, her, or both of us, but yeah, I get it.

Laken looks at me, wanting me to be the one to respond to that.

“Yeah, I fucking get it,” I tell him. “It’s all fucked up, right? But get over it. It happened, and now we’re living in it, and I’m sick of all of us feeling weird and guilty all the time.”

Some tether finally snaps in Kade. He sits up, knocking Laken back a bit, but his hand wraps around her lower back to steady her while he glares at me. “Jesus fuck, Jed. What does that even mean? We’re living in it?” he scoffs. “So, you’re saying I can fuck her?”

“Fuck you!”

“Wanna fuck, Lakes?” Kade goads her.

“I don’t fucking know, you prick!” I yell at him. “I don’t know, okay? Stop questioning me about everything because I don’t have the answers. She’s mine, and for whatever fucked up and entirely unexpected reason, it doesn’t bother me for you and her to…I’m fucked up enough to be okay with it. Like it, even.” I sink back. “Plus, she liked it, and I’m not going to deny her anything.”

“So, she can cheat?”

“No, she can’t fucking cheat!” I glare at the ceiling. “I have standards and boundaries, Kade. Stop being a dick. They just don’t apply to you. It’s not cheating when…fuck!” I’m at my word limit for the day. That mouth-to-brain block is coming back, reminding me I suck at verbalizing feelings. I just wanna fight someone now. Or fuck. “Laken, get naked.”

She grins at me but shakes her head, climbing off the couch to sit on the coffee table again. Her eyes tell me we have more shit-talking to do, and I’ve always been a pushover when it comes to her, so I let her dictate the hell out of this clusterfuck.

“We have a decision to make,” she says. “And there’s no wrong answer. Jed said how he felt, but you haven’t. It’s okay if you don’t want to, Kade. I know this has been hard for you for a long time.”

“I don’t want to admit this shit, Laken. Just because he’s okay with it doesn’t make it right.”

“Right by what standards?” she asks.

“All standards. It’s not fucking normal to want your brother’s girl. It’s not right to make out with her while his dick is buried inside her. It’s borderline incest, and it’s fucked up. Society would beat us down so hard that it’d die anyway, so there’s no point.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty fucked up. I’ll be labeled as a slut, society will hate us, and we’ll forever have to explain our situation. Even our parents will look at us differently. It’s wrong in the eyes of everyone,” she agrees. “So, you wanna end it?”

He grinds his teeth together because, no, he doesn’t want to end it.

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