“Come here,” Kevin murmured, his breathing almost back to normal.

I just hummed and did as he wanted, tugging the sheets around my body as I moved to snuggle in his arms. After two rounds of fucking hot sex, my body still felt cheated, but my window was open, letting a breeze in, and the sweat cooling over my body made me shiver.

We lay there in silence, and I reveled in it because I was entirely comfortable when I was with Kevin. We’d snuggled before, but never on my bed. I felt so drowsy; I thought I would fall asleep if I weren't too careful.

Kevin took care of that with just a few words.

“I made you come,” he said. “So let’s talk.”

I peeled my lids back, lips already set in a pout. I knew, if I gave him just the right look, asked just the right way, he would say yes to whatever I wanted. But he knew me well, and he was obviously determined to talk about this. He had me in his arms, and no matter how much I squirmed, he wouldn’t release me. I knew, if I wanted him to let me go, he would, but I didn’t seriously try to fight my way out. The last thing I wanted was to start a fight with him.

“Do we have to?” I asked, my tone flippant, throwing an arm around him to hug him to me like there were invisible hands ready to pull him away from me.

“Stacey,” he reprimanded lightly, arms tightening around me. “We keep going around this, and I know you don’t want to, but it’s going to come out at some point. Please. I want to tell them before they find out some other way. So we can explain things.”

I sighed and closed my eyes, ducking my head to bury into his chest. “I know,” I said, my voice muffled. “I think about it, too.”

More than anything, I knew how important this was to him. It was important to me, too, we just saw things differently.

Kevin and my twin brother, Rod, were best friends and had been for as long as I could remember. The only other person Rod was closest with was me. Back when we were younger, and boys were still gross, I always thought I had to compete with him for Rod’s attention. It wasn’t until junior high that the three of us started growing close and doing things together.

I didn’t know how or when, but somewhere along the line, from junior high to my second year of high school, I fell in love with Kevin. So in love. My brother and I were close, as twins tended to be, so I told him everything. But this one thing, I couldn’t tell Rod so easily.

If Kevin hadn't liked me back, nothing would have happened between us, and it was because my brother was there, unintentionally in the way.

“But seriously, do we have to say anything?” I asked. I knew I was whining, but I didn’t care. “Everything is so perfect now! I’ll be eighteen soon; then we’ll be graduating soon after that.”

“I realize, Stacey, my birthday is just before yours. Yours and Rod’s. We can't just wait until we’re legal to tell them. Do you think your parents will just let us move out together?”

“They won’t be able to stop us,” I muttered, mulish.

“But,” he coaxed, “if we explained things to them well, they don’t have to say no to the two of us dating, right? I mean, it’s not like your family hates me. They love me.”

Of course, I knew. The whole town knew how close he was with our family. There have been jokes flying around of him marrying into the family, but those were just jokes. No one had meant it. I couldn’t help feeling uneasy, wondering what my parents would think if they heard the news. To them, Kevin might be good enough to be their son’s friend, but maybe not enough to be their daughter’s boyfriend.

And Rod…his was the opinion I most valued, and thus the one I most feared. I didn’t want to have to pick between Kevin and my twin brother. Maybe that thought was just a little dramatic, but it had kept me up a few nights, worrying.

“I just don’t want to risk it,” I said honestly, hoping Kevin would understand. “I know you don’t like the sneaking around, Kevin. I don’t like it either. Rod is your friend, and Mom and Dad are your parents’ friends, but they are my family. I have it way worse than you do!”

He let out a harsh sigh, and I bit down on my lip. I didn’t just blow it, did I? Crap; I hope not!

I thought I had, though, when Kevin pulled away from me. He sat up, knees raised so he could brace his arms on them, fingers clasped between his knees. I raised up on my elbow to see him with his head bowed and eyes closed, expression twisted.

“Kevin?” I called softly, sitting up with my knees tucked under him so I could face him. I let the sheet drop to my lap, exposing my breasts to the air. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen me naked, anyway, and I’d gotten over my embarrassment around him ages ago.

“Maybe you see it that way,” he said, turning his head and opening his eyes to look at me sideways. “But, just because I don’t have as close a relationship with them, doesn’t mean you have it harder. How could you know that?”

I pouted. “You forget I have to live here, while you’re only over on occasion. I have to deal with sitting at the dining table and my mom teasing me about boys and my dad telling me that I am a ‘good girl’ waiting until college to start a relationship. Or, better yet, after that.” I raised my hands and curled my fingers to make quotes.

Kevin grimaced, but I didn’t see him willing to relent.

“And what about me?” he challenged. “Stacey, Rod is my best friend. He’s also as much of a teenage boy as I am. I have you, do you think he doesn’t have anyone?”

My eyes widened, then my nose wrinkled. “That’s disgusting, Kevin. Rod doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

He chuckled, but he sounded more tired than anything, and he rubbed a hand down his face. “Why is it disgusting for him to have a girlfriend?”

“Because he’s my brother. I don’t want to think of him like that.”

The look in Kevin’s eyes was sharp. “Yeah, well. I’m pretty sure your brother wouldn’t want to think of you in a relationship either.”

I scowled at him and folded my arms under my breasts, lifting them up. His eyes drifted lower, but sadly, he didn’t take the bait. His eyes were still clear when he met mine.

“What is the point of this, anyway?” I questioned. “Wouldn’t Rod tell me if he had a girlfriend?”

“As you told him when we started dating?” he countered.

“You didn’t tell him, either,” I pointed out.

He didn’t have an answer for that. Our getting together had been somewhat sudden. He came over for my brother, but he wasn’t around. Then one moment, we were both seated on the couch, arguing over movies. The next moment, he had me on my back, and we were making out. If my mom hadn't called me from upstairs, we would have gotten caught.

There was some pussyfooting around each other after that, trying to get time alone together so we could talk things over. We didn’t want to hurt anybody, and I didn’t want to destroy his relationship with Rod and my family any more than he did. So, we decided to date in secret until we thought it was just the right time. It would have been hell if we’d gotten together, only to break up a few weeks later. But here we were, still going strong, and I was more than confident now that it was forever between us.

Convincing the family was where the problem came in.

“Seriously, though,” I muttered, growing curious. “Is Rod seeing somewhere? Is it that girl, Becky? I’ve heard rumors that she’s into him.”

Kevin sighed, resigning himself to talking about my brother. “I can't say he’s dating anyone, but he lost his virginity before I did.”

I wrinkled my nose again. “Ew.”

Kevin threw me a look. “Anyway,” he said pointedly. “This happened before you, and I did anything, and he told me all about it.”

He kept staring at me like he was expecting me to get something. After a while of it, I frowned.

“So?” I asked, shrugging.

He sighed again. “So, Stacey. Guys talk about this sort of thing. When they get a girlfriend, their first experience with sex. He’s never dated anyone that I know of, but he’s been with a few girls. And almost every time, he keeps wondering if I’m seeing someone if I’ve had my first time already. He’s curious about me, and he can tell me everything, but I can't tell him all my firsts were with you. Think about how that feels for me.”

I raised the sheet to cover my breasts and raised my knees, hugging them to my chest as I looked away with another pout. Kevin carded his fingers through my hair, but it wasn’t enough to get me to turn around.

“Stacey,” he said, his voice strained. “He trusts me. And I love being with you, but every time, it feels like I’m stabbing him in the back. I’m an only child, so he is the closest thing to a brother for me.”

I turned to him with a glare. “And if he told us we couldn’t be together anymore? Would you just go ‘hey, man. Sure. I’ll go break up with her right now.’”

I watched him intently and watched several expressions go through his face. I couldn’t read them all, but the longer he stayed silent, the more I worried that he really might. Finally, he sighed, shoulders slumping as his expression fell.

“I don’t know what I’d do,” he said honestly.

Relief was warm in my chest, and I reached over to hug him, and one of his arms circled my back. Right behind that, though, was a feeling of guilt. Because of course, I felt it, too. I was keeping shit from my family, no matter how much I thought it was for the best for the both of us.

“I want to tell him, Stacey,” he muttered. “I know there are things I can't talk about with him because you’re his sister. But I want him to know that we’re together.

“I know. We’re just not ready to tell anyone else yet,” I said, soothing. “But I promise we will soon.”