In the Life (21 page)

When Adrian had asked if he wanted to stay overnight, Braylon could barely hide his excitement. As he followed Adrian back to the bedroom, a flurry of freaky thoughts danced around. He watched with lustful gaze as Adrian undressed. First to go was the socks and shoes followed by shirt and pants. Braylon was pleasantly surprised to see Adrian's bubble butt covered by some sexy navy colored briefs.

Adrian's back had been turned to his guest. This opportunity gave Braylon a wonderful view of the ass he soon hoped to conquer. Braylon was sliding off his boxers by the time Adrian turned around.

"What you think you doing," Adrian asked as Braylon's beautiful chocolate dick was being sprung from its confines. Adrian couldn't help but get stiff as well.

"I sleep naked," Braylon said with a seductive smile. "I hope you don't mind."

"And what if I do?"

Braylon walked to Adrian's side of the bed. His dick swayed with every step. Adrian tried not to focus on it, but it looked so delicious. His trance was finally broken upon Braylon's kiss. It was full of hunger and passion. Adrian's dick was at full attention and poking into Braylon's leg. He could also feel Braylon's naked heat on his thigh. Hands slid under his briefs to palm and squeeze his ass. Adrian quivered at the touch.

His back naturally arched in response. He wanted to resist Braylon, but he wanted to feel skin rubbing against skin as well.

"Braylon... I... uh." Words were barely escaping his mouth. Braylon had found Adrian's weak spot below his ear. Adrian's hands betrayed his wants to stop as they searched for the chocolate that his eyes had locked on earlier.

"Yeah, baby. Go ahead."

Adrian couldn't continue. He had to find the will power to stop.

"I can't," he finally managed to say with an assertive push. "I want to, but I can't."

"I got protection. Don't worry." Braylon tried to kiss Adrian again, but Adrian had gained some of his composure and resolve.

"Braylon, I like you. I do. I just am not ready to do this."

"Why not?" Braylon was so lost. Had he done something wrong?

"Sex can mess things up sometimes and I don't want to rush into it."

"Okay..." Braylon still didn't know what to say. Sensing the sexual portion of the evening was over, he took a seat on the bed. Adrian pulled his underwear back over his hump and sat down next to him.

"You know, the first time I ever had sex was a couple years ago. I was in college before I lost my virginity."

"Come on. Really?" Braylon was surprised. "As sexy as you are, I know you had to be fighting them off. Did you date in high school?"

"Yeah. I had a girlfriend, Farrah. We started dating sophomore year , did the whole prom king and queen thing." Both men got more comfortable. They laid down and continued on.

"So, Farrah was a good girl. She wanted to save it for marriage. I respected that. After graduation, I went to Hampton like my parents wanted me to and she did the same with Spelman. We thought that we could make the long distance thing work."

"So what happened? Y'all just grew apart?"

"Kinda. What happened was my freshman roommate, Tim. I had thought about guys before, but not really. Anyway, one day, he had just got out of the shower and was wearing only a towel. I didn't realize I was staring, but he caught me. He dropped the towel and... well... you can figure out the rest."

"Bye bye virginity, huh?"

"Yep. We messed around a lot before he transferred schools after winter break. After that, I got a little wild. I did my thing, you know. But I have calmed my happy ass down now. I am looking for more."

"So what happened with Farrah?"

"We broke up that summer and some dude got her pregnant that fall." Adrian started to laugh. "I guess we both gave in to dick."

"And you didn't know you liked dudes till then?"

Adrian shook his head as he got under the covers. Braylon followed. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You know. When did you start messing around? When did you start noticing guys?"

"I don't know." Braylon knew he couldn't be as honest as Adrian had just been. He wouldn't even know how to answer.

Would he say that he started messing with girls and guys by the age of fifteen or that his father had taken away his innocence long before then? Would he even be bisexual if his father had not crossed that line? Maybe it could have been hereditary. Brandon and Braylon genetically inherited some kind of trait from their father, if you would classify him as being gay.

Braylon wished that he knew the answers to his questions. He wished that he could be forthcoming with Adrian about his past. Besides the recent conversation he had with Brandon, he had never told a soul. Even when Brandon tried to talk about it later, Braylon blocked the conversation. He wasn't ready to have it. His father's behavior during the brief trip home had opened back up some old wounds.

Adrian was the first to fall asleep which left Braylon to his thoughts. Still naked under the covers, he cuddled up to Adrian. He held him close as his dick rested on Adrian's firm backside. He felt Adrian begin to stir under him.

"Oh, by the way," Adrian said as he arched his butt into Braylon. "Don't think I'm not going to want some ass too."

Chapter 17

Brandon had enough of shying away from the apartment. Why was he doing it in the first place? This thing with his brother was not going to go away that easily. Some kind of confrontation was bound to happen eventually. Besides, the apartment belonged to the both of them. Why should Brandon feel like the outcast when they both had done dirt? In his opinion, Braylon was the one that started the whole mess by going after Adrian and then later Jerrell. Couldn’t Braylon let him explore and be happy?

When Brandon got home, he half expected the place to be a mess. Although neither twin liked to clean, Braylon was the sloppier of the two. After a few days of not being at the house, Brandon was sure that clothes, dishes, and half smoked blunts would be laying around. However, the place was still rather put together.

The apartment was quiet. No one seemed to be home. Although Brandon was no longer trying to tip toe around his brother, he was grateful for not having an immediate incident with him.

Brandon went into his room and laid down on his bed. He missed the comforts of being in his own dwellings. Don’ya and Travis had been great hosts and he even had a cool time playing around with Evan, but there is nothing like being back in your own element. Never before had his bed felt so comfortable.

The lull of the ceiling fan above had just about put Brandon to sleep. The sound of Braylon getting home caused any ideas of rest to leave his body. Was this about to be the showdown?

Brandon heard the steps down the hall. The footsteps were becoming slower as they got closer to his closed door. First there was a knock and then Braylon’s head peeping through.

“Hey,” Braylon said. He did not know what else to say. Brandon responded back with the same.

It had been a while since he had seen his brother. He knew the wrong that he had done, but Brandon had been no saint either. Braylon did not know if he was feeling mad, guilty, vengeful, or what.

“Look, bruh. Can we talk please?” Braylon’s request was met with a motion for him to come inside the room. He took a seat on the bed. “I think I need to explain some things to you.”

“You think?” Brandon chuckled at Braylon’s opening statement. He sat up in the bed. He debated if he should stand for this.

“What you thought you saw at the restaurant is not what you thought you saw. We were just talking and having a good time.” Brandon scoffed at Braylon. He was not buying the apologetic bit. His attitude angered Braylon and brought him to his senses a little. “But even if it was a date, that was my dude to do it with.”

“You ain’t even want him until I had him,” Brandon shot back. “You wasn’t even checking for Jerrell like that!”

“So that gives you the right to fuck him?” Braylon was the first to stand to his feet. Brandon followed. “My own brother couldn’t even wait until things to cool down before he tried to take what was mine!”

“I didn’t have to try hard. He came to me since you are such an asshole!”

“You benefited from my sloppy seconds! Let’s call a duck a duck here. I didn’t want his ass so he tried to make himself feel better by trying to get you. You ain’t do shit, bro! The only reason why he wanted your fucking ass is because we share the same fucking genes. If you were just some random ass nigga, you would have never have gotten him!”

Braylon had just voiced all of Brandon’s insecurities about Jerrell in one angry nut shell. In that moment, he hated his brother for that. For speaking the truth that Brandon had tried to deny. It was probably right.

“Fuck you!” Brandon spat. His fists began to ball up. The fact wasn’t lost on Braylon. He didn’t want to come to blows with his brother, but he was no punk. Neither of them was.

Braylon’s cell phone rang while the two men were engaged in a stare down. Braylon did not make a move to answer or silence the call.

“Ain’t you gonna get that? It’s probably Jerrell’s hoe ass wanting some more. Maybe he wants a threesome.” Braylon had to laugh. The tragedy of the situation was almost comical.

“He actually liked your ass, you know that? What I was trying to tell you before you started popping off was that at the restaurant I gave him my blessing to see you. I ain’t know you was going to be there and shit. The nigga really wanted to be with you. At first I was mad. I ain’t gonna lie, but you are my fucking brother. I want you happy.”

Now it was Brandon’s phone that started to ring. He took it out of his pocket and silenced it without looking at the caller.

“If you want me happy so bad, why you go after Adrian? Hell, why do you go after any dude that you know that I like?” As Brandon’s intensity started to rise, Braylon started to calm down a bit.

“Bro, half the time, I don’t even be knowing that shit! With Adrian, okay I knew. But you got to be a man and go for yours too. I am not going to stifle myself so that you can shine, especially when you already have the capability to shine just as much. Just be yourself and exit out all that insecure shit. You can get any dude you want.”

Braylon’s phone started ringing again just as Brandon’s stopped. Both boys found it odd. Braylon decided to answer this call. It was their mother.

“Mama?” Braylon put the call on speaker phone. The sounds of their mother sobbing were loud and painful to hear.

“Baby, it’s your Aunt Sharon. She was in an accident and…” The tears choked Shirley up.

“Is she okay, Mama?” Brandon asked inching forward to where his brother stood with the phone. Shirley didn’t answer. She only cried harder. The brothers looked at each other. Tears began to form in their eyes.

“We will be there in a few hours, Mama. We love you.”

Chapter 18

As soon as the boys got home, they were already delegated tasks. She sent Braylon and Frank off to the grocery store to pick up a few things while she and Brandon went to Shirley’s house to pick up a nice suit for her to be buried in right after they finished writing an obituary for the newspaper. While there, they picked up a few family pictures for the program.

Two days later, Shirley, Frank, and the twins had opened their house for all the mourners to come before the funeral the next day. It seemed that Shirley was working off of nervous energy. She couldn’t sit down. She was afraid to. She had been cooking and cleaning since five o’clock that morning. She had barely got any sleep in between crying and making funeral arrangements.

The men of the family did all that they could do to help, but the loss of her only sister was causing Shirley to run herself ragged. Nothing could be too clean. No amount of food was enough. Every detail of the services was run through ten times or more. The viewing had been earlier that day which was followed by the repast now in progress.