“I’ll see you later.” She cast him a bright smile that did nothing to fool him.
He knew women, and he knew she was pissed.
Damn. He pushed the car into gear and pulled around the house to a covered parking area and came face-to-face with his brother.
Chase was leaning against the side of his own car, watching with a smile as Cam exited the Jaguar.
“What’s that smug-assed smile for?” Cam grunted. It was a familiar smile, one that assured him that somewhere, somehow, Cam had managed to amuse him.
Chase shook his head. “I wonder about you sometimes, bro. How can you manage to completely f**k up the deal of a lifetime?”
Cam stopped at the hood of his own car and stared back at his brother.
“What did I f**k up this time?” He almost smiled. As far as Chase was concerned, he was invariably f**king up. That big-brother complex was always in effect.
“Ian just called. He says Courtney is laughing her ass off, after an early morning call from Jaci. Seems someone slipped out five minutes after an orgasm that evidently registered on the Richter scale.” Chase was obviously having trouble controlling his amusement. “Ian’s rolling, too, by the way. He could barely tell me what he heard for all his laughter. What the hell did you do? Leave right after I did?”
“I’m glad you’re so f**king amused,” Cam snapped, moving from the car and heading to the house. He and Jaci were going to have to have a talk about what she discussed with Courtney. Everything Courtney knew, Ian managed to find out. Of course, it worked in reverse, and that part sucked, too.
“Cam, man, you don’t run off after registering on the Richter scale. Don’t you know better than that? I thought you’d at least stay when I left.”
Cam clenched his teeth and tried to shake off the anger he could feel building inside him. There was silence behind him as he moved toward the back entrance.
“When are you going to tell me what happened, Cam?”
Chase’s question drew him to a stop. It wasn’t the first time his brother had asked him that question. It wouldn’t be the last time.
“Nothing happened.” It was his standard answer.
He didn’t get the standard response. Before he could anticipate Chase’s move, his brother had swung him around to face him, his anger clear on his face now.
There was no amusement, no laughter lurking in his brother’s eyes. For the first time since they were boys, Cam could feel his brother’s rage directed toward him.
“How stupid do you think I am?” Chase bit out. “Do you think I haven’t always known that something happened? Even when we were boys, I knew it. Tell me what the hell it was.”
“Nothing happened, Chase.” He was lying through his teeth, just as he always had.
Chase was the oldest twin; he had always felt responsible for Cam, always tried to look out for him.
His brother would never forgive himself if he knew. Even then, all those years ago, it would have destroyed Chase even worse than it had Cam.
Chase’s eyes glared into his, his expression furious, his dark face twisted into lines of pain.
“I hate it when you lie to me. I hate it even worse to see you screwing up your f**king life with the only woman that ever meant a damned thing to you. Is it worth losing her, Cam?”
“I won’t lose her.” No matter what, he would hold onto Jaci. No matter what it took. She didn’t have to know the truth.
Chase pushed away from him, dragging the fingers of one hand through his hair as he all but snarled. “Damn you, Cam. What the hell are you doing to yourself?”
Cam could feel the threads of that twin psychic bond tugging between them. He could feel his brother’s frustration, his worry, just as he knew Chase couldn’t feel those darker emotions that Cam made certain stayed carefully buried.
He had learned over the years, when the darkness was like a bitter acid eating into his soul, he could share a lover with Chase, his or his brother’s, and he could release that darkness and still stay grounded. It was the reason he had left Jaci so quickly. He could feel that darkness rising inside him, that need eating at his guts, and he knew he had to get away from her. From the need to give her everything. To explain. To belong.
“Stop worrying, Chase.” He shrugged his shoulders, knowing that wasn’t enough, knowing it did nothing to ease his brother’s concern.
“Yeah, that’s what you said when you joined the f**king military,” Chase snapped. “Eighteen years old. You couldn’t even wait two years, could you Cam? You had to go. What the hell did you get for it? A medical discharge and a thanks, but sorry, we can’t pay you for your sacrifice?”
“The military didn’t do this to me, Chase,” Cam bit out.
“No, it just made it worse,” Chase retorted. “Cam, listen to me man, you’re f**king up with Jaci. Just like you did in Oklahoma. If you can’t tell me what happened, then you damned well better tell her. Because I’m telling you, she’s going to walk away again.”
“She’s not walking away.” He would stop her. He didn’t have to tell her the truth. He could hold her without it. He would make certain of it.
“If she walks away, that’s it,” Chase informed him, his voice tight and hard. “Do you understand that, Cam? If you push her away like you’ve pushed me away, and anyone else that could have cared for you, then I’ve had enough. If you can’t trust me enough with the truth, then f**k it. What the hell are we even brothers for?”
“Blackmail, Chase?” Cam crossed his arms over his chest and glowered back at Chase.
“Fuck you, Cam.” Chase’s expression was tight, frustrated. Cam could see the conflict raging inside him—hell, he could feel it, and there was no way to help it.
“Chase, bro, you’re blowing this all out of proportion,” he told him lightly. “Jaci’s going to be fine.”
“You left her within minutes of taking her last night. Hell, I had barely left,” he snapped. “Trust me, she’s not fine. And, by God, neither am I. I’m sick of this. You can’t even trust her enough to sleep with her. You don’t trust me enough to tell me what the f**king problem is, but you expect both of us to just accept it.”
“To accept me.” The words tore from him.
Cam didn’t know who was surprised the most. Chase by the demand, or himself because of the vehemence of it.