Page 40 of The Boys Next Door

“Diana!” her mother scolded.

“Sorry, Mom.” Diana hung her head. Nerves were humming through her body, and her pussy was sticky under her nightgown, Her ass tingled, still feeling Ian’s finger inside it from the night before.

“Nothing happened, Mrs. Cooper.” Ian’s voice couldn’t have been more reassuring. “She just wanted me to be here for her. And, you know—“ he shrugged his shoulders self-deprecatingly. “I don’t see Diana that way. She’ll always be a little sister to me. Sorry, Di,” he added quickly. She rolled her eyes, doing her best to play along.

“Well…I understand, Brendan,” her mother said. “But Diana, we need to discuss the rules of having boys over, especially in your room. We’ve never had to talk about this,” she added to Ian, conversationally, as if he were her peer instead of a college student two years older than her daughter. “You know how it is. It just hasn’t been a problem.”

“And I’m sure it won’t be,” Ian agreed. “She told me she’s putting all her energy into studying. Now if Ian had been here…it would have been another story.” He shook his head. Diana bit down hard on her lip, widening her eyes at him as she tried to keep a straight face.

“Let’s not think about that,” she managed to say. Good thing it was her mom who’d walked in on them, and not her dad.

“Do you want to stay for breakfast, Brendan?” Mrs. Cooper smiled at Ian.

Diana tried not to goggle in shock. Sure, Ian had been charming, and he’d relied on Brendan’s reputation, but she couldn’t believe her mother was actually inviting him to sit in their kitchen and eat cornflakes after she’d discovered him in her daughter’s bed. She’d been wondering for a while what Ian got out of the good twin-bad twin arrangement. Now she was starting to see.

“Thanks, Mrs. Cooper. I'd better get back home. Ian needs a lot of help waking up in the morning.” The wink he gave her was all Brendan. He waved as he headed out — through the door this time. “See you, Di.”

Chapter Five

Bright hot lights dazzled Diana as she slowly walked across the stage, her toes clenched inside her red peep-toe pumps. The only sound in the stadium was the click of her high heels. From below the stage, her graduating class watched her silently, rows upon rows of blue gowns and decorated caps. Behind them, barely visible in the yawning blackness, parents and family and friends packed the seats.

It was the kind of vision that had woken her before in a cold sweat, her heart racing and her mind catching up to the fact that it had just been a dream. But this was very real. And as she stepped to the podium, adjusted the mic with a creak, and cleared her throat, she felt a flutter of anticipation along with the nervousness.

“Good evening, parents, faculty, and graduates.”

After Ian had left her room that morning, while her mother called a cheery goodbye to “Brendan,” Diana had skimmed her original speech, her heart still pounding from the close call. The whole thing was based on literary quotes about the great beyond. It sounded the way a valedictory speech should sound. It was safe.

And after she’d read it twice, she’d ripped it to bits, flushed them in a rush down the toilet, and written a new one in fifteen minutes flat. She didn’t need to hide behind someone else’s words. She had a few things of her own to say.

“Sometimes, things find you that you don’t expect. That you never could have planned. That you’re tempted to turn your back on and say, ‘That’s just not me.’ But those are the things that can change your life.”

She could hear Ian’s voice whispering in her ear that she was a dirty girl, feel Brendan’s sure hands on her breasts underneath her graduation gown, smell both the twins’ male sweat and musk. Right there on stage, she tasted their salty skin and their warm cream on her tongue, saw their hazel eyes devouring her soft curves.

Her body remembered waking up in Ian’s arms less than twelve hours ago. Her pussy remembered the way he’d fucked her.

She was so distracted by the images and sensations of the twins, and the rush of knowing that out of two thousand people in the stadium, no one else would guess the secret behind her words, that she only slowly became aware, as she continued talking about taking risks and challenging yourself, that she was speaking naturally.

Her voice sounded poised and confident. She had a broad smile on her face. In a stadium packed with people, all eyes on her, she was enjoying every second of it.

“Some of us have planned every step of our lives for the past four years. Others couldn’t have cared less. And many of us are somewhere in between. But I would guess that we all have our ideas about who we are. They’ve come from what other people expect of us, and they’ve come from what we expect of ourselves — or don’t. We have our ideas about other people, too: the roles they play, the roles we think they’re supposed to play. And those roles can lock us in. So as we leave high school and go out into the world, I just want to say: surprise yourself. Let yourself surprise others. Embrace the unexpected. Try something that’s ‘just not you.’ Unlock yourself and go play. If there’s any time to do it, the time is now. Thank you.”

The sudden crack of applause that split the silent stadium air almost knocked her over. For the first time, she felt the sweat trickling down her back. She smiled into the blinding lights, turned, and made it back to her seat with a steady pace. Each tap of her heels sounded triumphant now.

The rest of graduation was a blur. Music, cheering, diplomas handed out, one last speech, caps thrown in the air. Before she knew it, the processional had taken everyone outside and she was standing in front of the stadium, surrounded by her friends, hugging and taking pictures and scanning the masses of people for her parents.

Diana had never been especially huggy in high school — shyness had always gotten in the way, even with her friends. But if there was any time to grab people by the shoulders and jostle together for photos, now was the time. So when a strong pair of arms folded her in a big hug, pulling her close, she didn’t immediately react.

But the chest she was pressed against felt — and smelled — decidedly masculine. A shirt collar brushed her forehead. A broad shoulder bumped her graduation cap.

What? Guys didn’t just come up and hug her. She wasn’t that kind of girl.

When the hugger pulled back, his arms still wrapped around her, she blinked up into a pair of bright hazel eyes that sent a shockwave down her body.

“Uh -- Brendan?”

“You were great.” He actually leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek, and her whole body tightened. Even if it was just her cheek, his lips were soft and warm, his firm hug felt anything but brotherly,and of course he had to smell good on top of it — like he’d just stepped out of the shower. “We heard you were giving a speech, so we had to come see you.”

The wink he gave her looked so much like Ian’s imitation of it that morning, she found herself checking the cleft in his chin.

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