Twin Ties 2: Twin Affairs (31 page)

“I don’t want you damn kids locking this!” Charlie was complaining. The knob had turned, the door opened up. “It’s almost lunchtime and neither of you have showed your faces and it’s damn time you wake….”

“Shit. Evan!
Evan!
” Brennan shook his brother with one hand and made a useless attempt at grabbing for the sheet. But, there was no hiding. Charlie had stepped into the room. Staring at his sons, his eyes had grown frighteningly wide. His teeth were bared in a ferocious, wild expression.

“NO!” Charlie bellowed, lunging forward, grabbing at the bed’s sheet, and at Evan. “NO! NO!”

Yanking roughly at Evan’s arm, Charlie pulled him half out of the bed, away from Brennan, before Evan was even really awake.

The violent tug freed Brennan’s arm, which had been stuck under Evan’s head. Evan woke, panting and whimpering in fright. His free arm came up to protect his head and ward off blows he seemed to anticipate. The instinct came from the nightmares about the attack, Brennan realized. But it wasn’t just a dream this time. It was real. Evan just barely managed to prevent himself from taking a hard fall on his bad side as Charlie continued to try to manhandle him. Ripping his arm from Charlie’s grip, Evan scrambled to his feet and backed up a few steps as he tried to understand.

“
You!
You did this! You did this to him! My…
My god!”
Charlie screamed, sounding crazed. “Get your sick, goddamned hands off of my son!”

Brennan had rolled off the far side of the bed and grabbed the first pair of pants he saw. He got them on as fast as he could.

“GET OUT!” Brennan yelled back. “Leave him alone! Get the hell out of our room!”

Evan was looking everywhere, at Brennan pulling on a pair of Evan’s pants; his horrified father; himself, covered with dried come, scratches, and love bites; the bottle of lube on the nightstand; the roll of tape Brennan had used to cover his mouth; the length of cord draped over the mattress which had bound Evan’s wrists; and the stained, soiled sheets. It was all there. There was no disguising anything.

“
God no
,” Charlie moaned, hands going to his head, clawing at it. “Not this, please…. YOU! You’ve been touching my boy?!”

“I AM YOUR SON, YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH!” Brennan roared right back, even angrier than Charlie. Shock was slowing Charlie down, but Brennan had the benefit of a clear conscience to keep him somewhat level-headed.

“Evan, my god!” Charlie sobbed, covering his mouth with his hand, looking like he might be sick.

Evan had grown pale—too pale—and fast, which worried Brennan more than Charlie at that point. Brennan scrambled over the bed as quickly as he could.

When Charlie began to advance upon Evan again, Brennan put himself between them, arm outstretched at chest height to keep Charlie away. He could hear Evan’s labored breathing. It sent a chill down Brennan’s spine, because he could
feel
how scared his twin was, and there was no one else to help them. It was all on Brennan.

“Get
away
from him!” Charlie snarled. He knocked Brennan’s arm away and hit Brennan across the face with the back of an opened hand. Pain flared in Brennan’s lip and jaw as the knuckles connected.

“You’re brothers! He’s your twin! How could you?!” Charlie ranted, looking between them. Behind Brennan, Evan was finally moving, grabbing things. Brennan figured he was getting pants on as well, but didn’t know for sure, he couldn’t take his eyes off of Charlie. “It wasn’t bad enough you two were letting grown men swap you around between themselves, but
this
?!”

“Shut up! Shut up and get out!” Brennan yelled in Charlie’s face. “Just leave us alone!
Leave!
That’s what you’re good at, so GO!”

While Brennan was shouting, Evan slipped past him, a pair of unfastened jeans pulled up around his hips, holding shoes and a shirt.

“Evan?” Brennan called fearfully, his voice wavering. “Ev?!”

But Evan dashed from the room, bolting down the hall. The farther he got, the faster he ran. The front screen door slapped shut. Brennan took off after him, but Evan was already climbing into his car when Brennan got outside. The engine started and the Chevy reversed at dangerous speed out of the driveway, spinning slightly once it hit asphalt. Then, it sped down the road.

Heart racing, panting, and confused, Brennan spun on a heel. Charlie was still there, glaring and seething. Brennan was alone, and he was in danger. Barefoot, shirtless and with the taste of blood on his lips, Brennan started to run.

Feet flying, arms pumping, he took off in the only direction he could, drawing from instinct and knowledge of how Evan survived on his own for so long. The air was cold and he shivered, his teeth clacking together. Too slowly, the trailer came into view and grew steadily nearer. The pain in his feet from stones hidden in the grass, cutting into his soles, the ache in his heart, and the chill in his skin was all he knew. The echoes of Charlie’s screams reverberated in Brennan’s mind, and he knew he’d never be able to forget those words, and the way Charlie so quickly discarded Brennan as
other
while Evan was “my son,” “my boy.”

When Brennan reached the patch of earth where Evan had died, he felt like dying as well. Collapsing against the trailer’s door, knocking weakly, he struggled to catch his breath and calm down. Shaking, wheezing, vision blurred with tears, he saw the door open. He prayed, hard, it would open to something better, that he wouldn’t be turned away.

Jimmy stood there and looked almost as shocked as Charlie had, which made Brennan whine in fear. For a second or two, Jimmy was too busy staring at the sight of Brennan, barely dressed, bleeding and crying, to speak.

“Please,” Brennan begged, his voice giving out just as his body threatened to as well. “Charlie saw us. He hit me. I have nowhere else to go.”

“Evan?” Jimmy asked.

“Took off. Got in his car.”

“Shit. Come in. You’re freezing… Here, I’ll get you a blanket,” Jimmy said, bypassing his initial shock and taking action. He opened the door wider and helped Brennan up the stairs, guiding him to a chair and dashing off to get the blanket, which he returned with immediately. Wrapping it around Brennan’s shoulders, Jimmy took Brennan’s chin in hand and examined his bleeding lip.

“Are you okay?”

“No,” Brennan sobbed, shaking his head.

“God, I never figured him for the type to strike his child,” Jimmy said sourly. He went to the sink in the tiny kitchenette and wet a paper towel, then came back to carefully clean the wound.

“What if he follows me?” Brennan cried, staring at the closed door. “What if—”

“You’re safe here, Brennan. I promise. I won’t let him near you. Not if it’s come to this.”

“Thank you,” Brennan sighed. Relief flooded him, carrying away most of the adrenaline that had kept him buoyed. “I wasn’t sure you would help me, after what I’d done.”

Their eyes met, and Jimmy bowed his head after a moment, looking pained. “I will always be here for you, Brennan. Know that. It’s not my place to judge another’s sin. We all sin, in our ways.” After a heavy exhale, he added, “I already knew about you and Evan. But I never thought.... We need to find Evan. When Charlie found you, you were….”

“Sleeping,” Brennan murmured, drawing the blanket more closely around him. “He was yelling things, like it was my fault, like I
forced
Evan to do it. I didn’t.
I swear
.” Some of the defiant anger came out beneath the words as tears coursed down his cheeks. Jimmy, looking deflated by Brennan’s words, handed him an ice cube wrapped in another paper towel for his lip.

“Here. This should help with the swelling. Did he hit you anywhere else? Are you hurt?”

“No. No, it was just…. He was
so angry
.”

A heavy, rapid knock fell on the trailer’s door.

Brennan shrank back into the chair, terrified, grasping the blanket tightly.

Jimmy laid a hand on Brennan’s shoulder and swore with a steady, calm gaze, “I’ll handle it. Stay here. He doesn’t get to hurt you anymore, okay?”

“Thank you.”

“Jimmy!” Charlie yelled from outside.

“Yeah!” Jimmy called back, going to the door.

He opened it a few inches as Charlie started saying, “You’re never going to believe—”

“You shouldn’t have hit him, Charlie,” Jimmy interrupted. “He’s a
child
—
your
child. I know this is a shock, but all you’re doing right now is making it worse.”

“He’s here,” Charlie said, dumbstruck. “Is Evan?”

“No. But you better pray he doesn’t wrap his car around a tree, or worse,” Jimmy said sharply, his own anger coming to the surface. It helped Brennan feel steadier, to hear it, especially since it was directed at Charlie. He couldn’t see Charlie from where he was sitting, and didn’t want to. Drawing the blanket higher, burrowing down into it, Brennan felt trapped.

“I need to speak with Brennan.”

“No. You need to calm down.”

“I am calm!” Charlie yelled. “They were naked! Wrapped around each other! They’re
brothers
, for Christ’s sake!
Why would they do this?!
”

“I don’t know, but if Brennan’s crime is loving Evan the wrong way, yours is beating the son you abandoned, in a fit of rage.
You
did this, Charlie. You drove them both off! Where did you think they’d go, if not to each other?! Thank God I was here to help Brennan but Evan is still out there, thinking God knows what and he needs to be found, fast. Have you tried calling him?”

There was a pause, then Jimmy cursed, “Shit.”

“What? What happened?!” Brennan demanded, standing.

Jimmy turned back toward him and held up something in his hand.

It was a phone—Evan’s phone.

Jimmy called Luka while Brennan showered. After Brennan emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a sweatshirt borrowed from Jimmy, there was food and coffee set out on the table for him. Taking a seat, drawing the plate and mug closer, Brennan kept his head down but dug in, feeling starved. He knew he needed fuel to keep him going because he couldn’t stay. He needed to go again, and find Evan.

“They’re on their way. They’re going to stop at the house and get some of your things together. I don’t think anyone expects you to return to Charlie’s place. Not today, at least. You’re welcome to stay with me, of course, but Luka assumed you’d be going to stay with them.”

“Yeah. Thanks for the offer, though. Um, where do you think Evan is? Where would he have gone? He was….” In his mind’s eye, Brennan saw Evan bolting from the house, then flying down the road like his worst nightmare was right at his heels. “He wasn’t thinking. He was just
running
. One night, when Luka and Alek were fighting, I ran, too, but I just, like, picked a direction and took off just to get clear of all of the yelling and drama. If Evan’s doing the same thing….”

Jimmy sat down across from Brennan and sagged a little, rubbing his forehead with a hand. “There’s no way to tell. It’s worse that he got in the car. He could have gone anywhere, really. Just the fact that Luka and Alek haven’t heard from him either worries me. They’re his support system now, but if Evan feels he can’t turn to them, either, it’s not a good sign. He doesn’t have a phone, probably doesn’t have money. If Evan is panicking and closing down.... He has no other close friends, no family. Usually he’d go for a walk in the woods, but if he’s driving…. We’ll have to just drive around, check coffee shops, places he’s gone before. He could have just pulled over somewhere to think, regroup. Charlie is already out there looking, but I think if Evan saw Charlie coming, he’d just take off the other way as fast as he could, or hide. I told Charlie to give it up, let us handle it, but he’s stubborn. Evan is… precious to him.”

“Yeah, I’ve figured that out,” Brennan murmured.

Before long, Alek and Luka arrived in Alek’s truck. A bag was slung over Luka’s shoulder.

Jimmy and Brennan came outside to meet them. Alek and Luka both gave Brennan a hug, looking furious once they saw his split lip, the bruise on his jaw and how shaken he was. Brennan knew they’d already gotten the whole story from Jimmy.

“This is your stuff,” Luka said. “Toothbrush, phone, wallet, clothes, shoes—anything you’ll need.”

“Thanks,” Brennan said, not leaving the safety of Luka’s encircling arms. “We have to go. We have to look for him. Maybe we should split up, go in different directions, and cover more ground. He must be so scared.”

“We’ll find him, okay?” Alek told him, looking determined and ready for a fight, which made Brennan hope they didn’t run into Charlie again. The last thing they needed was to make things worse.

Alek’s truck was parked beside the trailer. They opened the door so Brennan could climb in. After helping him up, Luka followed, sliding in as Alek jogged around to the driver’s side. They waved to Jimmy, saying, “We’ll call if we see or hear anything! Let us know if you hear from him!”

“Will do,” Jimmy said solemnly. “Good luck.”

They turned the truck around and headed back down the long driveway. Sitting tensely between the Popovics, Brennan said, “We’ve gotta keep our phones on and the lines open, in case he calls. He’s gotta call one of us sooner or later, right? He’ll find a pay phone or something.”