The other Brother

The morning after

I woke up to the sunshine peering in through a crack in the blackout curtains. I squinted at the blinding light. My head was pounding and I was slightly confused, aggressively hungover from the night before. But it didn’t take long for my hippocampus to get up and running again and my recollection of the night before to come together. Trent was gone on a half-week long getaway with some ‘bad b***h’. He was going to bring her home to show off to his little brother. Speaking of Tyler, I had been so rude to him before running off to bed. Some damage control was much needed. After all, he had been so nice to me the night before; sharing his liquor, offering me his company, even calling his brother on speaker phone while I was secretly in the room with him. Sure, we’d hardly spoken in the last three years but I felt I owed him at least an apology before I left his and Trent’s lives for good.

But first thing was first—-I needed to brush my teeth and get the taste of whiskey off my breath before it made me vomit.

I kicked off the blankets—-they reeked of Trent anyway—and rolled out of bed. Sliding into my slippers, I made my way down the hall and straight to the bathroom where I picked up my toothbrush, smothered it in Colgate and scrubbed my teeth and tongue as though they had been contaminated with something terrible. Afterwards, I gargled with mouthwash but the stain of whiskey still seemed to linger on my breath no matter what I did to get rid of it.

Catching a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror, I couldn’t help but to frown. My eyes were red and my cheeks were puffy from drinking. My hair was a mess from a good night's sleep and overall, I sort of looked disheveled. But I decided to give myself grace, I’d just gone through a brutal breakup and I was hungover and had only just woken up. I didn’t have to look picture perfect all the time. I was only a human being after all. But before I dared to make face to face contact with anyone today, I’d decided I needed a shower. It’d help me feel better and the warm water might even relax me a little.

I stepped out of my slippers, sweats and my underwear and pulled off my top before plucking a towel off of the towel rack and setting it down on the counter top. I was just about to turn to the shower to get the water running when I heard a sudden gasp, followed by a “s**t, sorry!”

I glanced at the door—that I just then realized I had neglected to shut all the way, let alone lock—and there was Tyler. His eyes quickly pulled away from me and within seconds, he was disappearing from view. My cheeks heated up as I blushed a violent shade of red. Quickly, I shut the door and locked it, though the damage was already done.

Turning on the shower water, I waited for it to get nice and hot before I got in and stood beneath the shower head. The water was steaming and yet the slight burnt as it hit my skin felt so nice. My entire body seemed to relax and for the duration of that shower, my mind was finally quiet and the rest of the world disappeared. I’d wait until I got out to worry about the chaos that had suddenly become my life.

Finally getting out of the shower, I wrapped the towel around my body securely and headed out of the bathroom, back into what used to be mine and Trent’s room. But now it was just Trent’s room. Knowing that very fact made me feel somehow displaced, like an outsider looking in. I no longer had a home or a bed or a partner to walk through life with. I’d have to call Serafina today, see if she would let me crash for a little while, before Trent came home with his new trophy f**k-toy.

I slid on a pair of jeans that hugged my hips and thighs tightly but flared down the lower part of my legs. My eyes scanned over my half of the closet, deciding on a shirt. I had work later, may as well just get dressed for the day and not have to worry about deciding on an outfit later on. I settled on something simple, just a plain black tank top, and pulled it on. It had a round neckline and fit my body like a glove, ending prematurely, just above my navel to show off the dangling belly ring I was wearing. I worked at a bar and quite frankly, the hotter I looked, the more tip money I seemed to bring home each night. Ironic considering I worked at a strip club bar. You’d think the men would be more focused on the actual dancers who lacked any clothing at all. But that never seemed to be the case. I think they liked the fact that they didn’t have to pay me for my attention and we could hold normal conversations. A lot of those men just seemed to be lonely.

Trent had always pushed me to do more. ‘Why not be a dancer, come on baby, get on a pole. We’d be loaded’ he’d once said. But it was a conversation we’d had before and I’d told him time and time again that I wasn’t comfortable with that, that I was making just enough money doing what it was I did. I didn’t need to sell my body to wandering eyes for a paycheck when I could pour drinks and chitchat instead. Part of me had always been offended that he was so willing to offer me up like that, that he wouldn’t have been jealous of the private dances and the fact that other men would get a full view of my body. My body that was meant to be his, but it all made sense now. He hadn’t wanted me anyway.

I grabbed my towel and used it to mostly-dry my hair. The sweet smell of strawberries and cream filled my nostrils, it was the scent of my shampoo and conditioner. Once my hair was dry enough, I plopped my towel into the dirty clothes hamper and headed back down the hall. But this time instead of going back into the bathroom, I went straight to Tyler’s shut door.

Raising my hand to knock on the door, I hesitated. What if he was upset with me? Shaking off the thought, my knuckles drummed rhythmically against the wood and then I played the waiting game.

He didn’t take long to come to the door and when he did, I couldn’t help but to notice that he was avoiding eye contact. In fact it seemed like he was avoiding looking at any part of me at all. “What’s up?” He asked, managing to sound nonchalant despite the fact that he was looking down at the floor.

I furrowed my brows, had I done something I’d forgotten about? Had I really been so terrible that now he couldn’t even bear to look at me? And here I was thinking we were beginning to build some sort of friendship for the first time in literal years. Perhaps I’d managed to ruin that too. “Tyler,” I could feel the frown tugging at my mouth. “I’m sorry,” I was doing my best to look at his facial expression but it was borderline impossible. “About last night,” I continued. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I was drunk and tired and hurt—-and I know that’s no excuse and I’m sorry.”

“That it?” He asked, his gaze flickering to the wall across from me.

“Can you just look at me?” I pleaded softly. “Am I really so horrible that you can’t even stand to look at me anymore?”

Tyler wet his lips with the tip of his tongue and finally, his gaze landed on mine. His stare was heavy and intense and once it found me, it didn’t waver. Somehow, his stare made me feel small. It reminded me of the fact that he towered over me. “I’d prefer not to,” he admitted in an almost hushed sort of tone.

“Why not?” I demanded to know.

A small chuckle left his lips and he took a step closer to me, invading my personal space and threatening to fill in the gap that separated our bodies from touching.

“Because.” Leaning down, he brushed a strand of my hair away from my face and brought his lips near my ear. “All I can think about after walking in on you, is seeing your perfect little body naked,” it was a shameless admission and his breath was hot against my skin. I had to bite down on my lower lip to keep from whimpering. Pulling back, he looked down at me, “that’s why.”

He reached forward and hooked his index fingers into the two front belt loops of my jeans and used that grip as leverage to pull my hips into his. The closeness made my breath hitch in my throat. The warmth of his bare torso pressed against me and my own body temperature seemed to be rising by the second. “Ava,” he breathed out my name and managed to rotate us so that he had my back pinned against his doorframe, his body pressed into mine. His head dipped down so that his lips were just a mere inch away from my own. “Are you happy now?” One of his hands grabbed my hip and the other rested against the doorframe above my head. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to look at you,” his lips brushed just softly against mine, a feather-light, lingering sort of touch.

Moving on to the tips of my toes, I crushed my lips against his. I held onto his sides, my eyes falling shut as he returned the gesture. His kiss was hungry, his lips moving in sync with mine, his tongue finding its way into my mouth to battle my own tongue for dominance.

He gripped onto the back of my thighs and picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist and using his body to keep me pinned. I couldn’t help the little moan that left my lips. Trent had never been so passionate, so hungry for me. This….this was hot.

His mouth pulled away from mine and he left harsh kisses along my jaw and down my throat before his soft, warm lips kissed at my chest. “Tell me to stop and I will,” he promised, his hot breath landing against my cleavage.

“No,” I whimpered. “Don’t stop.” I wanted this.