9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Ryker

Feeling Stephen's soft tongue graze my bottom lip, I couldn't help myself. I wrapped my arms around his lithe body and pulled him closer. His arms wrapped around my neck and the kiss heated.

An intense draw to him had developed during our time together. I was also drawn to Etienne, but I wasn't slick enough to pull off a twin switch, that was for sure.

It was sort of perverted that I'd kissed Stephen's brother—not successfully—just a few nights ago. What the fuck was I doing? I wasn't the guy who ran around kissing random guys.

I slowly extracted my tongue from his mouth, scraping it on something sharp. "Ouch!"

"Oh, gods, I'm sorry. I have a chipped tooth I need to get capped. Are you okay?"

How fucking sharp could a chipped tooth be? "I'm fine. Just a little scrape."

Stephen quickly took my mouth again. Our tongues swirled aggressively, and when he rubbed his rock-hard cock against mine, I nearly busted the zipper of my slacks.

Stephen ended the kiss, leaving me a bit dizzy. He seemed to sense it and grabbed my biceps to hold me steady. "Easy there." His voice was a sexy growl, or that's what my ears heard.

"I, uh, I must be tired. It's been a long day, I'm afraid. Let's get you home."

I took his arm and handed him his cane. We walked the remaining few blocks to my house. It was dark on the street, but that didn't affect Stephen.

He'd shown himself to be rather courageous, which blew me away. He'd stepped in front of that lunatic holding the knife, and in my opinion, he was damn lucky it hit his wallet instead of his gut. I'd thought I would have a heart attack.

"Do you look forward to leaving New Orleans?" Stephen leaned a bit closer to me as we walked toward the front door.

"Not really. Come inside and let me grab my keys. The house isn't great. Some of my roommates are moving home or to the cities where they have jobs. Please don't judge me based on how it—damn! Sorry." I was an idiot! I knew he was blind, and why the fuck did I ramble like an idiot?

Stephen laughed, and it was damn attractive. "No worries. I understand completely. No offense taken at all. Are you planning to stay in this place? It sounds rather large."

"You're astute. It's huge. It was a duplex before the owner made it into one large house. There are several bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and a few bathrooms. It's old and needs to be updated, but they rent it to us furnished for a good price. I don't want to keep the place, so I'll need to find an apartment, but I haven't started looking yet. That's on the agenda for next week, I hope."

"Ah. Yes. I'm considering moving out of our house and getting my own place for more privacy. I haven't started looking yet either. Maybe we can look together?"

I remembered Etienne's comments on privacy. "There are many things worse than a lack of privacy. Loneliness and loss can destroy a soul."

"Won't it be traumatic for you and Etienne to be separated? I mean, have you guys lived together your whole lives?"

Stephen stood near the front door while I grabbed my keys and two bottles of water. I'd noticed he hadn't eaten anything at the restaurant, claiming he'd eaten before we went, but he did drink whiskey—which reminded me, I had too. I was guessing the scare had sobered me up, but I still wasn't going to drive us.

"I'm going to call us a rideshare to take you home. I was drinking, so I can't drive, but I'll make sure you get home safely." I noticed Stephen's back stiffen. "It's fine, really."

"It's okay, Ryker. I'm used to taking a car service, obviously. I look forward to our date tomorrow night. I know Etienne has plans with his girlfriend at the house, so I won't hate not being there."

That was news to me. I had no idea Etienne had a girlfriend. No wonder he freaked out when I tried to kiss him. "Damn. I feel horrible. I tried to kiss him, and he rejected me. I owe him an apology."

I felt like an idiot. He'd been flirting, but then again, maybe that was just his personality?

A melodic chuckle caught my attention. "No worries. He's still a bit confused about his sexuality. Anyway, I've had a wonderful time. I can't wait for tomorrow night." Stephen stood, and I took his arm and led him out of the house.

Luckily, a cab happened to drive by, so I held up my hand to flag it. "Here's a taxi."

Stephen turned to me, his glasses covering his milky eyes. "I can take a cab by myself, Ryker." He reached into his pocket and handed me a rather fancy business card. "If you need to reschedule or something comes up tomorrow night, here's my number. Call me."

I took the card to see it was a deep red with gold embossed lettering that read Etienne/Stephen Tremblay with a number. The card was quite classy.

"You and Etienne share a phone?"

Stephen laughed. "We share many things—except sexual interests."

I ushered Stephen to the taxi, and as I opened the door, he placed his hand on my neck. I couldn't see his eyes because of the sunglasses, but his glowing smile sucked me in. "Can I text you tomorrow? Do you have text-to-voice? I've had a great time, and I can't wait to see you again."

Stephen leaned forward and kissed my neck, taking a deep sniff of my skin. When he pulled away, he smiled. "I have text-to-voice, so I'll wait to hear from you."

I tossed some money over the seat of the cab to the driver and closed the door. It had been quite a night.

Tuesday morning, I got a call at six as I was running through The Quarter before heading to work. "Hello?"

"Hi, Ryker. It's Etienne Tremblay. I'm sorry about last night. I had a reaction to something the chef made. Turns out I might be allergic to an African pepper Gerard used in one of his sauces. Anyway, may I have a do-over?"

My gut told me not to accept the invitation because I was sort of into his brother, and Etienne was straight. "I met Stephen last night, Etienne. I apologize for trying to kiss you. I was wrong in thinking you were interested in me. Stephen told me you have a girlfriend."

"I'm not… I'm not sure what I am, Ryker. The woman I loved died a while ago, and I enjoy your company. Will you please give me a chance to make it up to you? I want you for a friend, at least."

I sighed. "Can you come with Stephen and me for dinner? I'd love to talk to the two of you."

"I'm afraid Stephen won't be able to join you for dinner tonight. He had to go to Miami to look after one of our properties, but I'd love to go to dinner with you. Stephen asked me to apologize for not being able to keep the commitment, but I'd be more than happy to keep it for him."

I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't heard from Stephen but Etienne was entertaining. After thinking for a moment, I agreed. "Okay. I'll pick you up at seven."

We ended the call, and I arrived at the office, going to the gym to shower and dress for work. Why did I have such a stupid grin on my face?

That evening, I parked on Conti Street and walked to Royal. I stepped into the bar at The House of Tremblay and sat on a stool that was becoming my usual. I never considered I'd have a usual stool anywhere, much less at the bar of a French restaurant.

"Hello, Ryker. Beer or… I'm thinking you're a whiskey drinker at heart." It was Sabine, and she stared at me as if she knew secrets I hadn't told her. I was immediately uncomfortable with her.

"I, uh, yeah. Whiskey is fine. Is Etienne here? We were supposed to go for pizza. Have you spoken to Stephen?"

The cackle was unexpected, but she abruptly stopped laughing and stared at me. "You're playing with fire, boy. Don't fuck up my family."

She walked away without giving me anything to drink, and the bar became silent. I glanced around the room to see everyone staring at me. I was filled with fear when Thomas Tremblay came out from the kitchen and pointed to the front entrance without a word.

There was a glare in Thomas's eyes that scared the fuck out of me. It was as if they were plotting to kill me, and I had no way to defend myself against them. What the hell had I gotten myself into?

I tossed a twenty on the bar and hurried out of the building. I walked down the street to my car and then stopped immediately. Why the hell was I allowing the family to run me off?

Families tended to make life difficult if they disagreed with each other's choices, but I wasn't asking for anyone's approval, and Etienne and Stephen didn't seem like the kind of men to ask either.

Instead of leaving, I leaned against the car and thought about what the hell I was running from? So fucking what if the family didn't like me? That shit didn't matter to me.

I hurried back to the restaurant, but instead of going in through the front door, I went around to the back door and entered through the kitchen, taking the stairs to the second floor and then up to the third floor. I stopped at the top of the steps and listened, hearing a conversation on the other side—or half a conversation.

"He's not meant for you. You'll destroy him just like you destroy everything good." The voice sounded like Etienne's.

"You don't know fuck about him, Etienne. He's not a fucking Puritan. He's a beautiful, sexy man, and you're not into men, as I recall. I want him. You want him for a friend. Who do you think Ryker will want to be with?"

I reached for the door handle, finding it unlocked. I twisted the handle and opened it, stepping inside. The space was exactly what I expected. Dark woods. Deep colors. Masculine. Sexy.

After closing the door, I walked farther into the apartment to see Stephen standing in the middle of the room. Before my very eyes, Stephen's eyes cleared, and he looked like Etienne.

"You don't know him the way I do. Ryker is a beautiful soul. He's interested in helping people, and all you ever do is kill people."

Etienne's eyes were suddenly white again. "You want to play fucking rummy with him. I want to get to know him and begin a romance with him. I could see the two of us having a relationship, Etienne."

"Until you kill him like you killed Farrah." Etienne stared into space, and then…

"I didn't kill Farrah, and we both know it." It was Stephen.

I wasn't sure what the fuck was going on, but Stephen's white eyes were staring in my direction. I was sure he couldn't see me, but a chill went down my spine, nonetheless.

Were Stephen and Etienne the same person with two personalities?