I Wanted One Stepbrother, So All Three Claimed Me novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Third Floor

The attic door was open a hand's width, and the lamp inside was on.

Kenji stopped on the top stair in his socks.

It was one in the morning.

He had been sitting on the second-floor landing for an hour with Erik's slammed door behind him and the calculus problems unsolved in his lap.

Then he had stood up and climbed.

Leif sat on the edge of his bed in gray sweatpants with no shirt, his elbows on his knees, holding something in both hands.

It was the flannel shirt.

He had not washed it.

"Ken," he said, without looking up. "Go back down."

"You kept it."

"Go to bed."

"You kept my..." Kenji came in and pushed the door shut behind him. "Leif. You're holding it in both hands."

Leif closed his hands around the gray cloth.

The room was the whole top of the house, long and low, with a slanted ceiling and a big iron bed.

One round window looked over the roofs to the black river and the bridge lights.

It smelled like cedar and clean sheets.

Everything in it was folded, mended, and in its place.

"I can't," Leif said.

"I haven't asked yet."

"You're eighteen. I'm twenty-five. I've known you eleven weeks, and my father is married to your mother, and I'm the one who's supposed to..." He stopped. "I'm supposed to look after you."

"I know what you're supposed to do."

"Then you know why I said it was a mistake."

"I know why you said it." Kenji crossed the floor and stood in front of him. "I want to know why you're holding that shirt."

Leif looked up.

His face was raw. The serious blue eyes had dark circles under them, and he looked worn out.

"Because it smells like you," he said.

Kenji's throat closed.

"My name's Kenji."

"I know," Leif said.

"You've never once said it."

"I know that too." Leif's hands tightened. "If I say it, it's real."

"It's already real."

Kenji took the shirt out of his fingers and set it on the pillow.

Then he climbed onto Leif's lap with a knee on either side of his hips.

Leif's breath left him in a rush.

His hands came up and hovered at Kenji's waist, not touching, shaking.

"Tell me what you want," Leif said. "Once, plainly. And I'll hold you to it."

"You."

"Say the rest."

"I want you to take me to bed," Kenji said, steady, "and fuck me slowly, with the lamp on, so I can watch your face. I want you to say my name while you do it. And I want you to stop pretending I'm a houseguest."

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