~Emerald~

ethereal /●adj. extremely delicate, light, not of this world

One moment he was a beast; pulling me against himself with his tight grip and raging eyes that roamed over me like they had been famished. Biting my skin and torturing me with patience, he never ceased to let me know who I belonged to for the next hour of the clock.

The next moment he was ethereal; kissing me with so much want and need and entwining his fingers with mine like he won't let me leave. Sometimes, he just looked at me and kept looking till I wouldn't know what he wanted to communicate through his eyes and I would keep wondering about it for the rest of the day.

~Kaylen~

"Jayden!" I growled, picking up another one of his smelly socks from under my bed and throwing it out the door.

I bet he was really happy to claim my old bigger bedroom as his when I had moved out to papa's place. And now, after a week of shifting back, I still kept finding his belongings at weird places all over my room.

"I've been wondering where you were gone!" I heard his faint voice from the hall outside and I chuckled, shaking my head at his stupid self while he continued to talk to his socks.

I was back home after a tiring day-- hell, every college day is tiring--but I was satisfied. I didn't want to confront myself about it but I knew I was nervous when he avoided me the whole day.

Earlier, I thought it was because he had called me 'baby' the other day. I was disappointed at that moment because it was basically a hint that before no time he would start fantasising about us getting married in future. I had told him I didn't want him to feel anything for me, except for lust. But the way he had looked so embarrassed and ashamed when I glared at him, had me thinking twice about my own feelings. He was an ethereal soul and maybe I was too harsh on him.

Well, we needed to talk about that sector.

Anyway, I was glad to know that that wasn't the reason why he had texted me not to follow him. It was Prof. Christie, his ex. Apparently, she had threatened him about exposing our affair--if you could even call it that. That was definitely bad news. Emerald could lose his job and we both could lose our reputations, so it was only fair that we controlled our dicks on campus.

"Kaylen!" I heard dad's voice calling from downstairs.

"Coming!" I shouted back and went down the stairs.

He was busy typing away on his laptop when I flopped down on the couch beside him. He shut his computer and put it away along with his spectacles before turning to me.

"How was your--" He stopped midway to sniff. "You stink! Go take a shower." He scolded and I rolled my eyes before putting my head on his shoulder. He grunted a few times in a funny manner before he let his fingers run through my hair soothingly.

"Why did you call me?" I asked, closing my eyes and losing myself in the nothingness that his calming presence provided.

"To tell you to shower. Don't roll your eyes again. We're going to your father's friend's place for dinner." He said, pushing me away from himself.

I made a face before getting up and walking back to my bedroom with a sigh. I knew who this 'friend' was, the same guy papa had been eyeing at the gym that day. I don't know why, but I just didn't like him. I just had this feeling, call it sixth sense or whatever, that he and my father had some history.

Nevertheless, I knew my parents won't let me skip this dinner and I would have to drag myself there so I might as well look presentable.

I showered and roamed around naked in my bedroom for a while, listening to songs and arranging stuff a little. I had adopted this quality from dad, to see that everything was neat and tidy around the place unlike Jayden who was more like papa in these things.

After a while when I heard the main door open and shut, and something dropping, followed by light curses, I knew my papa was home and it would only be around ten minutes before he summoned all of us to seat our asses in the car. So, I begun dressing myself up, choosing for a black shirt and fading jeans and just like I had known, while I was gelling my hair, papa was calling everyone downstairs.

I jogged down the stairs, meeting Jayden on the way. He was wearing a baby-blue button up with skinny jeans and for once, I was glad he atleast looked like he belonged to our family. Most of the times, he dressed outrageously as a silent protest against us taking him somewhere he didn't want to go.

"I see you boys are ready, let's go." Said papa when he saw us and then we proceeded to sit in his car and drive over to his friend's place, two hours away.

~

I looked around at the familiar surroundings, spotting the condo I lived in for a whole of two dreadful weeks round the corner as we walked towards the house we were invited to.

When we reached, papa pressed the bell and we stood patiently till the door was opened by that guy, my father's 'friend'.

"Welcome!" He announced happily, throwing his arms around papa. I narrowed my eyes at him and then looked at dad, only to see him smiling amusingly. Did he not have the same sixth sense as mine?

"Oh Noah! So good to see you!" He now turned to dad, hugging him too. Then his eyes landed on my brother and I who were literally hiding behind our parents. I shuffled away a little with an awkward smile, avoiding the hug I assumed he was going to give me next.

"Such handsome boys!" He gasped, making his way from between my fathers and wrapping his hands around me tightly.

"Hey, Mr. Wilson." I greeted, patting his back lightly as my way of returning the hug.

"Oh cut out the 'mister'," he laughed, hugging Jayden next. "Just call me Uncle Flynn."

We nodded at him and he clutched onto each of our hands and practically pulled us inside.

I just knew how this evening was going to go.

~

"Oh, we had an amazing time in college! Didn't we?" Uncle Flynn was saying to papa as we all sat around on the couches in their sitting room. Fifteen minutes into this wonderful gathering and I was bored out of my mind already.

"Of course we did," papa replied with a small smile.

"Daddy!" We heard someone shout in an annoyed way before they barged into the room, abruptly stopping and blushing in embarrassment on seeing the party.

It was a guy in a tank top and shorts, with a duffel bag handing by his shoulder and a water bottle in hand. His attire, along with the sweat glistening on his skin made it obvious that he had just come back from a workout or a game. He looked like a high schooler, not more than eighteen. But he was admittedly, very hot.

While he looked around at the new faces, his eyes met mine. He held it for a while, smiling a little and I smirked back.

"This is our eldest son, Dimitri." Uncle Flynn introduced.
"And these are your Uncle Ian and Uncle Noah and their sons, Kaylen and Jayden."

He nodded and smiled at us awkwardly before muttering that he had to change and fled. His sweaty skin still stayed in my mind as I prevented myself from smirking and when I mistakenly glanced at Jayden, he was subtly wiggling his brows at me.

~

I had the pleasure of sitting right opposite to Dimitri on the dinner table. Jayden was sitting next to me and nudging my knee with his, whenever Dimitri and I locked eyes.
Sometimes, I truly wanted to hate my brother.

Our parents were chatting amongst themselves, talking about boring stuff and we were just sitting silently, eating our food before Uncle Flynn did the most amazing thing ever.

"Dimitri!" He said suddenly, "Why don't you go show Kaylen and Jayden around after dinner?"

Dimitri blushed a little as he nodded, throwing another shy look my way.

I smirked at him before taking another spoonful of lasagna in my mouth. Maybe the evening wasn't entirely bad.

A/N: Uh-oh.