Chapter 3

CHAPTER3

“Wait! I had nothing to do with this!” came the panicked announcement that had Sebastian opening his eyes in time to watch as his brother was tossed onto the end of his bed and-

Oh, God, no…

“Big day,” their mother murmured, drawing Sebastian’s attention to find her sitting in his desk chair, nodding absently as she cleared her throat, shifted, went to open her mouth again only to close it, shift again, clear her throat, and finally, she tried for a warm smile that actually terrified him.

That was followed by Sebastian shifting his gaze to his father to find him standing there, looking resigned before he shifted his attention back to Jonathan to find his brother openly panicking as he moved to climb off the bed and make a run for it, but there was no way in hell that he was going through this alone.

“Let go!” Jonathan bit out as he frantically tried to break free from Sebastian’s hold before it was too late and-

“I was thinking,” their mother began, making him swallow hard.

“We don’t need to do this,” Sebastian said hollowly as he watched his mother’s expression turn determined.

“You’re both at that age where you’re going to start noticing girls,” their mother began, carefully choosing her words as Sebastian sat there, telling himself that this wasn’t happening, only to frown when he saw the calculating look in his brother’s eye.

“And why would we do that, Mother?” Jonathan asked as he shoved Sebastian aside and sat up with a satisfied sigh.

She opened her mouth only to manage to get out a weakly mumbled, “Things?”

“I see,” Jonathan murmured with a solemn nod as he gestured for her to continue.

“Right,” their mother mumbled as she cleared her throat. “You’ll also notice that there are changes starting to happen in your own bodies,” she mumbled weakly as she gestured awkwardly towards them.

“And what changes would those be, Mother?” Jonathan asked, blinking innocently as Sebastian sat there, swallowing hard as he shot a panicked look towards his father to find him rubbing his hands roughly down his face with a muttered, “Jesus Christ.”

“We really don’t have to do this,” Sebastian said, praying that they took pity on him and stopped this before it was too late.

“I mean, personally, I don’t know what these changes of which you speak of are, but I can’t help but feel like Sebastian does,” Jonathan said as he shifted his gaze to him.

“I will kill you,” Sebastian bit out as he glared at his brother.

“I really hope that you don’t talk to the ladies like that,” Jonathan murmured with a sad shake of his head.

“You’re both at that age now where you’re going to start to have feelings that are new,” their mother said slowly as though she was testing every word.

“You know,” Jonathan said with a heartfelt sigh, “I’m glad we’re talking about this because I’ve been noticing a lot of changes that I’d like to discuss.”

“You would?” their mother mumbled weakly.

“I really would,” Jonathan assured her with a firm nod before pointing at their father. “But I’d really like to talk about all those changes and feelings with him.”

“What?” their father asked, narrowing his eyes on Jonathan at the same time that their mother said, “That’s probably for the best,” with a firm nod, looking really freaking relieved as she got up, cleared her throat, and with a murmured, “I’ll just be going now,” quickly made her way out of the room, leaving their father standing there, forced to watch her go.

“Now,” Jonathan said, shifting to settle in more comfortably on the bed, “about those changes.”

“We could talk about that,” their father murmured as he dropped down on the chair their mother just abandoned as he narrowed his eyes on Sebastian, “or we could talk about the fact that you snuck out of the house after I brought the little pain in the ass home last night.”

“I’d rather talk about all those changes,” Sebastian assured him with a solemn nod.

“And I’d really like to know why you felt the need to sneak out of the house and climb into Mikey’s bed at two in the morning,” his father said as he folded his massive arms over his chest while Sebastian slowly nodded as he sat there, really hoping the move would buy him some time and-

“I think he went over there because of those new feelings that Mother spoke of,” Jonathan said as he shifted an expectant look at Sebastian.

“Nothing happened,” Sebastian said, already knowing that it wouldn’t make a difference.

For a moment, their father didn’t say anything as he sat there, watching him, and then…

“Jonathan?”

“Yes, Father?” Jonathan said, blinking innocently.

“Go get ready for school,” their father said as he sat there, considering Sebastian.

“But what about all of these feelings that I’m having?” Jonathan asked with a heartfelt sigh that was abruptly cut off with a curse when their father leveled a glare on him. Clearing his throat, Jonathan said, “I should probably get ready for school,” as he climbed off the bed and quickly headed for the door, grabbing his school uniform along the way.

Once his brother was gone, his father asked, “Is there anything that you want to tell me?”

“Mikey’s a pain in the ass,” Sebastian said, watching his father’s lips twitch.

Clearing his throat, his father said, “I believe I have heard that somewhere before.”

“Is there any chance that we could avoid having this deeply disturbing conversation that’s guaranteed to scar me for life?” Sebastian asked, not really sure that he could handle this conversation right now.

“That depends,” his father drawled as he leaned back in the chair with a sigh.

“On?”

“Whether or not we actually need to have this talk,” his father said, making him sigh with relief because the last thing that he needed right now was to talk about just how badly Mikey was driving him crazy.

He just…

He wished that she didn’t make him feel like this. Most days, all it took was the mention of her name to leave him a nervous wreck and then others, he forgot how to breathe when he saw her. And when he held her…

He never wanted to let her go.

“Nothing happened,” Sebastian promised, hoping that would be enough.

“And you’ll tell me if that changes?” his father asked, watching him closely.

“We’re just friends,” Sebastian said, watching his father slowly nod as he thought that over.

“And is there a reason that you felt compelled to sneak out after I brought the little pain in the ass home last night?” his father drawled.

“Because we needed to finish our plans for world domination?” Sebastian said, wondering if he was about to start off high school grounded.

“And how did Reese handle finding you in his stepdaughter’s bed at two in the morning?” his father asked, making him wince as he thought about Reese’s hand wrapping around his ankle as he made his escape through Mikey’s bedroom window and-

Clearing his throat, Sebastian said, “About how you would expect.”

“Then, I guess we’re done here,” his father said with a satisfied sigh as he gestured for him to get up. “Hurry up and get ready if you want a ride to school,” he said, reminding him that this nightmare was finally over.