“So, do you wanna talk about it?” asked Miguel as he emerged from the shower. He was wearing only a towel, his clothes were covered in sand, and he hadn’t wanted to undo all the good the shower had done.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” said Dominic with a shrug. He was sitting on the edge of his bed in only a pair of boxers. The look on his face was unreadable.

“Sure there is,” said Miguel, approaching the bed slowly. “You don’t just bone the person you hate the most because you’re horny. There’s something going on in that brain of yours.” He lowered himself to the edge of the bed. He hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself before, but Dominic was sexy. Just thinking about that initial kiss on the beach sent chills down his spine. It also conjured up feelings of confusion and nervous anticipation.

As much as he wanted this to signal a new step forward in their relationship, part of him feared that Dominic was still holding on to past grievances.

“I...” Dominic started then stopped and looked away. He was clearly struggling with something. “Let’s just leave it. We enjoyed ourselves, why make a big deal about it?”

“Because we’re supposed to be spending the next several months working together. If this is going to make things awkward then we should probably figure that out now, shouldn’t we?” Miguel knew he probably shouldn’t push things, but he wasn’t ready to just back down either. He wanted to know what was going through Dominic’s head. He didn’t want to be shut out.

“We just had sex. Really good sex. It was exciting. It felt good. It’s over, let’s move on.” Dominic rose from the bed and walked a few steps towards the kitchen. “I don’t want to talk about it right now. So please just leave it alone.”

“Dominic, if something’s bothering you then you need to open up about it. We can’t help each other if we don’t talk.”

“Dammit, Miguel, you’re not my boyfriend.” Dominic spun on his heel to face him. “You don’t need to help me through anything. We had sex. That’s all. That doesn’t change anything. In fact it only makes it worse.”

“You’re the one that started the whole thing.”

“I know who started it.” Dominic clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. “I wanted it, but this...we’re not a couple. We can’t be a couple. We’re just partners until this competition is over, then everything is going to back to the way it was.” He looked as if he was on the verge of tears.

“What do you want from me?” asked Miguel. He hadn’t expected them to suddenly be a cutesy couple that would hold hands and get ice cream together. He had hoped, however, that this might smooth over their relationship a little. Give them some sort of hope for a future where they weren’t enemies.

“I want you to never have turned in Tío. I want you to take back everything you said and did that day. I want all the pain and anger you’ve caused me over the years to just go away. What I want, Miguel, is for none of that to have ever happened. That’s all I’ve wanted every day for years now.” Dominic’s eyes glistened, and a single tear spilled down his cheek.

“Tío was a drug smuggler,” said Miguel, rising from the bed. “I took one stupid picture of him unloading a boat. I showed it to you, and you freaked out at me. I didn’t know what else to do, okay? I was a kid, you were a kid, I left the picture at the police station. I didn’t know what would happen, and I didn’t kill him.”

“You might as well have,” spat Dominic. “He died in that prison cell. I only got to see him every other week. The man who was more of a father to me than my actual father, died in a jail cell after fifteen years in prison. They were never going to let him out. The last president wanted to make an example of him. So they put him away to rot.”

“The entire island, the island that had loved him, turned away from him. They ridiculed him in the papers. They spoke badly of him in the streets. And whenever I walked by they would whisper ‘hey, that’s Isaac’s nephew. He’s probably a bad seed too.’ Do you know what it’s like, growing up with that?”

Dominic turned away again and stormed into the kitchen. He pulled open the cupboards and retrieved an unlabeled bottle of alcohol.

“You know what the worst part about it all was?” continued Dominic, as he unscrewed the lid from the bottle. “The worst part was that I told Tío the truth. I told him that it was you that gave the picture to the police, and he said that I needed to forgive you. He told me that I needed to forgive you because you were just being a good boy like you’d been raised.”

Miguel swallowed hard. He hadn’t known that. He’d always hoped that tío Isaac would’ve forgiven him, but he hadn’t been certain. From that day forward, Dominic had shut him out completely. Every time he’d seen Miguel he’d spouted an endless torrent of anger and hatred at him.

Their friendly rivalry had turned bitter. Every competition, every grade in school, everything in life had become a matter of life and death for them.

“I...My guilt has eaten away at me for years. I always told myself that I did the right thing, but I never knew for sure. When tío Isaac died I felt solely responsible. But what am I supposed to do, Dominic?” Miguel walked slowly towards the kitchen. “No matter how guilty I feel about it, I can’t undo what I did. Even if I could, that doesn’t change the fact that he was still breaking the law. I was confused, I didn’t fully understand the consequences of my actions or his.”

“He treated you like family. You should have done the same for him.” Dominic took a swig from the bottle in his hands. “You should have just asked him about it.”

“Maybe I should have,” said Miguel as he reached the kitchen. “But I’m stuck here in the present. Just like you are. So what do you want from me now?”

“I want...” Dominic set the bottle down as Miguel drew close. “I want...to know why you never asked me for help?”

“I showed you the picture. You freaked out at me and told me I was a liar.” Miguel frowned and took a step back.

“I was emotional, we were ten. You were accusing my uncle of being a criminal. After that though, you never came to me again. You never went to anyone else. You held onto that picture for a week, then you left it at the police station.” Dominic looked him in the eye. “Why didn’t you come back to me?”

“I was scared,” admitted Miguel. “I thought that you wouldn’t be my friend anymore if I showed you the picture again. I didn’t want to tell the adults because I thought you’d find out it was me. I thought that if I gave the picture to the police that they would handle it, and no one would know I had done it. I thought you’d still be my friend that way.”

“But you were the only one who knew. The only one who could’ve known. So when they took him away and I confronted you...”

“I lost you as a friend anyway.” Miguel looked away. His heart had broken that day. He’d never lost a friend before that, and even though they fought about everything, Dominic had been his only true friend.

“I’m still not at a point in my life where I can forgive you,” breathed Dominic, stepping around the counter towards Miguel. “I’ve held onto that pain for so long, I don’t know how to let it go.”

Goosebumps prickled across Miguel’s skin as he looked up into Dominic’s handsome face.

“However,” continued Dominic, “we need each other right now.” He traced his fingers along Miguel’s jawline. “And...I can’t help but admit that I’m attracted to you.” One hand dropped towards Miguel’s waistline, and he hooked a finger along the edge of the towel that hung there. “So maybe, for now, we can just go back to pretending that everything’s okay?”

He met Miguel’s gaze with a question in his eyes.

“You want to pretend that the past doesn’t exist?” asked Miguel.

“Just for now,” said Dominic. “Just while I’m trying to figure this out. So we can continue on with the contest and...” he gently tugged at the towel until it fell to the ground, “so we can continue to have some fun.”

“Just beware,” said Miguel, taking the final step towards him. “I won’t be content to just be your plaything forever.” He leaned upward and pressed a kiss against Dominic’s lips. “So you’re going to have to figure out what you want before too long.”

* * *

Miguel was barely awake as the shop downstairs opened for business. The chime on the door tingled annoyingly every time a new customer went inside. The main street outside was growing busy, and the low murmur of conversation drifted up into the apartment.

Groaning, Miguel rolled over to face Dominic.

The alpha was still fast asleep. Somehow the sounds of the island waking up around him did little to disturb him.

He still couldn’t bring himself to fully comprehend what had happened last night. Somehow they’d had sex, multiple times, and come to some sort of understanding with one another about the current state of their relationship. Whatever that was. At least they could move on and move forward with their plan to win the barbecue competition.

Miguel climbed out of bed and took another shower. His clothes were still a sandy mess, but he helped himself to a few of Dominic’s things for the time being. Of course, he was much smaller and most of the clothes were several sizes too big for him.

“You’re stealing my clothes now?” grumbled Dominic as he groggily sat up in bed.

“Just borrowing. I can’t go around wearing a bath towel all day.”

“Well, you could. I wouldn’t complain,” Dominic chuckled. He climbed out of bed and retrieved his clothing from where it fell the night before. “Are you hungry?”

“A bit,” Miguel admitted as he dropped into a chair. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to make you breakfast in bed or anything.”

“I’m sure you’ll make it up to me later,” said Dominic as he made his way into the kitchen.

“How do you sleep with that racket downstairs?” asked Miguel as he watched Dominic cook. “I can only imagine it’s worse later on in the day.”

“I manage.” Dominic shrugged.

Before either of them could say another word, there was a knock at the front door. Dominic frowned as he made his way to answer it.

“Mom? What are you doing here?”

Dominic’s mother stood just outside, looking more than a little uncomfortable. “Listen, I was on my way to work, and I just wanted to apologize for your father’s outburst last night. He shouldn’t have said what he did.”

“Mom, the only one that can apologize for what dad said is dad.” Dominic shook his head. “He just needs to relax and get over the fact that we’re a team and nothing’s going to change that. We’re winning this contest together.”

She peeked her head into the room and caught sight of Miguel sitting in the kitchen. Her eyes went wide and she took a step back. Then she glanced over her shoulder before ushering Dominic indoors and following after him.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Dominic demanded as she shut the door.

“Look, you don’t need to hide it. It’s obvious you two had sex last night. The thing is...” she sighed and shook her head slowly and looked as if she were trying to figure out exactly the right words to use.

“Mom, just spit it out already. What the hell is going on?”

“The rivalry between Frederico and Pablo started back in high school,” she began.

“Mom, we don’t need a freaking history lesson. You’re going to be late for work.” Dominic was clearly done with putting up with his parents and their random freakouts.

“Just listen,” she snapped at him. “This is incredibly important because it changes pretty much everything.”

Dominic lapsed into silence and Miguel moved to stand beside him. Somehow he got the feeling that he wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

“Back then, Frederico was dating María. However, María cheated on him with Pablo. I was Frederico’s rebound girl. A few months later María found out she was pregnant. She’s always claimed the baby was Pablo’s child, but the timing was off. There’s no way that baby could have been anyone other than Frederico’s...” her voice trailed off as she locked eyes with Miguel.

Miguel felt his stomach churn as the reality of what she was saying hit him like a brick wall.

“Mom, you can’t be serious. There’s no way.”

“I’m completely serious,” she said. “You two are half-brothers.”