This is the second chapter in the ongoing story of the Kane twins. It's probably a good idea to read "Indecent Proposal" first.
*****
Jonah is already in the kitchen making our morning smoothies when I pad into the room. He looks up at me and smiles. It is not his usual bright-eyed happy smile that lights up his face and makes his eyes twinkle. It has a sadness in it, with a hint of regret. I want to put my arms around him and assure him everything is going to be alright, but I cannot make that promise. I decide not to say anything at all. I return his smile and head for the refrigerator to grab the eggs and bacon. It is our usual morning routine. He is in charge of the protein shakes, I am in charge of the cooking.
We eat breakfast in front of our computers in a spare room we turned into an office. We sit in silence, which is not unusual. But this morning it is a tense quiet, and we both know we're avoiding speaking because we have to talk about what happened the night before and neither of us wants to deal with it.
"Do you want to amend the contract?" I break first. Jonah looks up at me, the sadness is still there. It confuses me. He had said before, that he wanted this. To know what it felt like. He said he enjoyed it, too. Maybe he was testing me to see if I did? "We're gonna have to talk about it at some point, Jo."
"I know."
I wait for him to say more, but he doesn't. I decide not to push it. I pick up my empty plate and ask him if he's done with his. He nods, and I grab his plate and empty smoothie jug and walk out of the room. In the kitchen I aggressively wash our dirty dishes, the pans I used to cook breakfast in, the blender. I am not sure what emotions I am feeling, exactly. All of them, it seems. A flash of Jonah's intense grey eyes staring into mine from the night before causes me to drop a glass. It shatters against the stainless steel sink. "Fuck." I say a little too loudly. I am cleaning up the remnants of the broken glass when Jonah appears next to me.
"Okay, let's talk, you don't have to break things," he touches the small of my shirtless back. The feeling sends waves of emotions through me.
I can barely look at him. Now I'm angry. I agreed to let things go further, for the money. He did it to satisfy a curiosity. I thought I would be the one having to reign him in, put a cap on just how far this new aspect of our work is going to go. I am not supposed to be feeling like this. Like all I want to do now is be with him. No matter how wrong it is.
Jonah takes my hand and guides me out of the kitchen. His fingers intertwined with mine ease my angry thoughts. But they do nothing to make me feel any less confused. He lets go of my hand when we reach the couch. We sit facing each other. It is like looking in a mirror. Another round of emotions surge through me. How narcissistic can I be? A psychologist would have a field day.
"Yes," Jonah says, taking me out of my inner thoughts.
"Yes what?"
"I want to change the contract."
I exhale a breath I did not know I was holding. "Good." It's all I can say.
"We have to be careful though," Jonah continues. "I did some research, and, um, what we did is illegal in pretty much every state in the U.S."
My heart jumps. Illegal. Of all the things that had gone through my mind in the aftermath, going to jail was the farthest from my thoughts. "We're consenting adults," I argue.
"That is in our favor. Let's just be smart about it. We can't advertise, that we're willing to do that. We'll remove the part of the contract that says we won't, and take it from there."
"OK," I am still at a loss for words. I pictured this conversation going in a far different direction.
"Anything else you want to talk about?" Jonah asks me after a brief silence.
I shake my head, despite the thoughts rattling around in it.
Jonah smiles, the warmth back in his eyes. "Let's go get sweaty."
I raise an eyebrow at him. "What?"
"Work out, Jake, it's time to hit the gym."
"Right," I say, embarrassed.
A vigorous work out is exactly what I needed to release some of the tension I had been holding on to. But the after work out shower brings a lot of it back. Watching the water cascade over Jonah's naked body sends unbidden feelings directly to my cock. I turn and face the wall, letting the water wash over me, trying to stamp down the memories of the night before, when his toned muscles were under my fingertips. Damn. I can feel Jonah's gaze on me as I try to stop my dick from pulsating. I sneak a glance in his direction and notice he is hard too. I want to touch him. Want him to touch me. But those would be some dangerous waters to tread in.
I turn the water control dial and let the shock of cold hit me all over. It does its job, for the most part. My desire to ravish my brother in the very public shower goes away, but my erection does not. I shut off the water completely and head for the nearest bathroom stall, grabbing my towel along the way. Alone in the stall I let myself feel everything. I wrap my fingers around the shaft of my dick and began to rub, pull, massage. It isn't long before my cum is gushing into the toilet. Once that is released I do the only thing I have left to do. I cry.
"You okay Jake?" Jonah's voice comes through the metal of the door.
"Yeah," my voice cracks, betraying me. "I'll be right out." I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, wipe the tears from my eyes, flush the toilet, and exit the stall. I quickly throw on my clean sweats and t-shirt and head out the door.
Jonah is waiting for me by my car. His face shows genuine concern. His eyes, guilt. "If I had known you were going to be a wreck I never would have never suggested we take on the client."
"I'm fine Jo," I lie. Which is really dumb. He knows me better than anyone else. And there is no reason to lie to him.