CHAPTER SIX~ Get Off Me Or People Will Talk

Nick’s POV

Syndrome lounge was stupidly busy when we crowded in the front door.

It wasn’t yet eight o’clock, but that was what happened on Friday nights this close to the university.

Students drifted in to start drinking the minute they were done with classes.

Nate aimed for the bar without looking back. He’d been quiet on the drive over and wouldn’t look at me.

His grip on the steering wheel was knuckle-whitening tight, and he may have burned rubber on a few corners, driving too fast.

But the biggest indicator of his troubled mind was the silence. No music playing was a flashing neon sign of Nate’s mood. It was a rare day he didn’t have tunes on in the background.

He lived his life to a soundtrack, and it was never silent.

He ordered two mugs of Coors Light, since that was on tap, and when the sexy brunette bartender with the voluptuous tits slid them across the bar, Nate snapped them up and marched away without a second glance.

Wow.

He was supremely pissed. It was a rarer day yet he didn’t flirt with that particular bartender.

He’d been trying to get her in bed for over a year, and she was as locked up and as impenetrable as Fort Knox. Today, she didn’t exist in Nate’s world.

I joined him at a long, occupied table where he stood at the end, scanning the dark bar.

The music was loud enough to make everyone talk a bit louder but not at maximum volume.

That would come around ten when the drinks were flowing and the dance floor started to fill.

I stood close to Nate and accepted the beer when he shoved it into my hand.

I glanced around.

There were people clustered nearby, close enough it would make any discussions about this topic difficult.

It was a good two songs and ten minutes later when Nate met my eyes for the first time.

I knew the look. It was his are you serious? face, which matched his I can’t believe we’re related look perfectly.

I’d seen it plenty. It was possible I’d spent twenty-one years annoying the fuck out of my step brother and making him wish his mother never married my after and he was an only child.

“Twenty-four thousand dollars,” I said again. It was like the needle on my record player was broken. It was my only argument, the sole reason I’d brought up this insane plan in the first place.

“Are you that bad off that this is what you’re considering to pay for school?”

“This or sell my ass on the street, which is starting to feel like the wiser choice because I really don’t want you to punch me.”

He scanned the room and leaned closer, hissing in my ear. “We’d have to be naked and doing … erotic stuff to each other like kissing and groping. They’re going to take pictures and post them where anyone can see them.This is your best idea for making money?”

“It could be worse.” I bit my tongue, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut when he looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“How could it possibly be worse?” His familiar hazel eyes searched my face. They flickered with anger in the low-lit room.

I shrugged. “It could be p**n. I’m not asking you to fuck me, just be … I don’t know … sexy with me?”

Nate growled and told me to shut up as he glared around the room.

Well fuck, it wasn’t my idea to come somewhere public to talk about this.

I’d insisted on privacy, but no, Nate needed a beer as he processed.

“You’re insane if you think I’m doing this. Not only are you my step brother and it’s a hundred kinds of gross, but how many thousands of people will see those pictures and videos? Talk about rumors, Nick. Fuck. It will get back to Mom and Dad, and being gay will be the least of your problems.”

I hadn’t entirely thought about the ramifications of having our pictures splattered all over erotic book covers, especially when they implied incestuous things.

“You’d never even heard of this author until today. I hadn’t heard about her either. I bet not one person in this room knows who she is. It’s a niche genre. Apparently, a rather large one but specific to taste. I can’t imagine people we know finding out, and if by some chance they read her stuff, it’s because they like it, and I doubt they’re about to shake shame fingers at us.”

“You’re not thinking this through. All you see are dollar signs.”

“Of course I do! You aren’t the one eating canned pasta and living at the Miller’s house with spiders while your education hangs in the balance just because you’re gay.”

“Exactly! I’m not gay,” he hissed. “You’re asking me to do gay shit, which is bad enough, but I’m not getting kinky with my stepbrother. The fucking end.”

We both stilled. He’d kinda said that super loud, and my skin grew as cold as I knew his was at the moment. Our eyes darted around, taking in our surroundings. No one seemed to have heard—thank God.

He whipped his head back around and poked my chest. “Find. Another. Way.”

“Nate, please. It’s not a big deal. It’s acting. It’s fake. It’s…”

“I heard you before.”

“So think about it. For me. I need the money. I’m desperate.” Then I made The Face: jutting out my lower lip just the right amount, widening my eyes and making them all sad and needy, knowing their swirling mixture of blue was taking away all his anger and transforming it into pity.

He couldn’t resist The Face.

“Don’t.”

“I need you. I can’t be on the book covers without you.”

“You’re sick.”

“If you need therapy after, when I’m a big computer software designer, I’ll pay for you to see the best shrink out there.”

“I’m not the one who needs help. You are for even considering this.” He chugged his beer and slammed his empty on the table beside us. “I’m getting more beer.”

“Can you get me one too?”

He sneered.

“What? I’m broke! We’ve been through this.”

He stormed off. I hoped he would cover my tab because I got the sense we’d be racking up a bill tonight.

Once my beer was gone, I followed him to the bar where he’d decided to remain.

His gaze followed the breasty brunette as he sipped from his new mug.

I leaned beside him, and he slid me a fresh beer. “Thanks.”

“You know, this conversation is a waste of time. Even if I said yes, I highly doubt we’re what this chick would want for her covers. We aren’t exactly models. We are two plain, ordinary guys. Nothing special to look at.

I can’t even get this chick to notice me.” He gestured at the bartender. “We aren’t special, Nick.”

I tugged my phone from my pocket, pulled up the email I’d received the day before, and placed it in front of him.

He read, scrubbed a hand over his face, and closed his eyes. “Fuck me. You already applied?”

“I didn’t think she’d pick us either. It was a joke.”

Nate sighed and drank deeply from his beer. “It’s weird,” he said when he set his mug down.

“I know.”

“I don’t know if I can do it. Let’s say I wanted to help you out.

Hypothetically. I honestly don’t know if I could … model with you like that. Like on that book cover you showed me. And videos? What does she expect? Kissing? Groping? Fondling? Nakedness? Jesus!” He blew out a shaky breath.

“I don’t know. It’s not like it would mean anything. It’s not like we don’t know everything about each other already. Your nakedness doesn’t bother me.”

“My nakedness against your nakedness bothers me.”

I cringed, imagining it. Yeah, it made me squirmy too.

“But it doesn’t mean anything. It’s a job.”

“I know. Acting. Right.”

“Exactly. Acting. My next best option is being a sugar baby.”

“What the hell is that?”

“A fancy prostitute.”

Nate sagged against the bar, dropping his forehead into the condensation puddle his mug had left behind.

“Nate, I’d rather do uncomfortable stuff with my brother for money, knowing it means nothing, than sell myself to some random guy online who I don’t know or trust. I’m gonna have to drop out of school. I fucked up. I should have never…”

Nate grabbed my arm and swung me around to face him, anger simmering in his hazel eyes. “You didn’t fuck up. Being gay isn’t wrong. Mom and Dad fucked up, okay?” He studied my face, pity and hurt on the surface.

He’d been thrown in the middle of all this mess, and it wasn’t fair.

“Will you help me out? Please?”

He wet his lips and scanned the bar once more before nodding. There was a note of hesitancy in the action, but it was definitely a nod. “Yeah. Okay, fine. Email them back and set something up.”

My heart skipped at his acceptance, and I dove into his arms, hugging the stuffing out of him.

He chuckled, and the stress and anxiety of the past two months leaked away. His arms came around me, and he hugged me back.

“Paybacks are a bitch, just so you know. You owe me big time.”

“I know. Thank you.”

“Okay. Enough. Get off me or people will talk.”