My face pulsates as the rhythmic twitches grow between my legs. I grab the pillow above my head, cover my face, and bite down in an attempt to swallow my screams while he devours me. "Fuuuck."
My face is covered with the pillow, but I don't mistake the sound of the bedroom door opening. Or my brother's voice. "What the hell is going on in here?"
Oh fuck. Fuckity. Fuck.
Busted. We're so damn busted.
Bram shifts and my ass instantly hits the bed, the sheet yanked up over my head. It's almost like one fluid motion; it happens so fast. "Get the fuck out, Owen."
"I don't remember there being any girls here tonight, so whose pussy are you eating, Windsor?"
"Don't worry about it. Get out of here."
"Is it the girl you've been seeing? The one you're so secretive about?"
Owen knows Bram is seeing someone?
"I said don't worry about it. Get out of my bedroom, asshole."
Owen laughs, and I recognize the sound as his drunken chuckle. "I want to meet her."
The mattress shifts as Bram leaves the bed. "OUT! Now, motherfucker!"
"Okay, but tell your girl under there to keep down that screaming shit. People are trying to sleep out here."
"Sure thing, Owen. We'll be quiet, so you can go back to sleep."
I hear the door close, the lock pop, and then feel the dip in the bed beside me. "He's gone."
I pull the sheet off my head and see Bram lying on his back with his arm over his face, covering his eyes. "Fuck, that was close. Too close." His voice is trembling.
"It's okay. He didn't realize it was me."
He removes his arm from his face and looks at me. "Unless he looks outside and sees your car."
My heart speeds. "Shit. I didn't think about that."
"I never dreamed he'd burst into my bedroom. I should've locked the door."
"He's drunk. He probably won't remember any of this tomorrow. Or at least maybe not too many of the details."
Bram grabs my forearm, pulls me down, and wraps his arms tightly around me. "If he remembers anything, we're screwed."
I'm not worried and he shouldn't be either. "It's fine. He didn't know it's me in here."
"True, but he thinks I'm in here eating out someone else. Come on, Claud. Think about that for a minute. Do you really think he'll go along with us announcing we're in love after he thinks he walked in on something like that only five weeks earlier?"
Bram just said we're in love. Not dating. Not seeing each other. Not having a fling.
We're. In. Love.
I forget all the complications our relationship creates and only focus on those three words. "You said we're in love."
"Yeah. I did." He rolls us so we're lying on our sides, facing one another, his arm draped around my naked body. "I am so fucking in love with you, Claudia."
This is all I've ever wanted. Him. His heart. His love. "I'm in love with you too."
"I've always protected you. I always will."
He has, as though it's his job in life. Even more so than my own brother. "I know you do."
"And that's exactly what I'm doing when I say you have to leave now. Owen can't figure out you were the one under these covers."
Logic tells me he's right but the thought of leaving him after we've just experienced this wonderful revelation together feels wrong.
"We just admitted we're in love with each other. The last thing I want to do is leave you."
Bram pulls away and turns on the lamp. He sits on the side of the bed and leans forward with his forearms resting on his thighs. "We'd be so fucked if he'd seen that prom dress on the floor."
"But he didn't." I move to sit behind him, wrap my legs around his waist, and press my face to his back. His body is trembling, and it's a true testament to how badly he is shaken by our near exposure.
He lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses the top. "Sometimes I think I'm losing my mind because my thoughts are so irrational when it comes to you."
My heart is pounding in my chest. Pulsating in my face. Thumping in my ears. "Irrational could mean a lot of different things."
"I want to tell you not to go to Chattanooga this fall. I want to tell you this apartment is big enough for both of us. I want to tell you to marry me and let me put babies inside you."
My breath hitches and he kisses my hand again. "Duke … "
"Trust me when I say I know how absurd that must sound at this point in your life. You're young and there's so much you haven't experienced. You deserve to go to college and have tons of fun. Get a degree. Have a great career."
I don't think there's any way I can leave him in four months. And it would be dumb to do it when Chattanooga holds nothing for me. "You. My career in photography. Everything I want is right here."