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Chase was leaning against the side of his own car, watching with a s-assed srunted It was a familiar smile, one that assured hied to amuse him

Chase shook his head "I wonder about you soe to completely fuck up the deal of a lifetime?"

Cam stopped at the hood of his own car and stared back at his brother

"What did I fuck up this time?" He almost smiled As far as Chase was concerned, he was invariably fucking up That big-brother complex was always in effect

"Ian just called He says Courtney is laughing her ass off, after an earlycall froasistered on the Richter scale" Chase was obviously having trouble controlling his a, too, by the way He could barely tell hter What the hell did you do? Leave right after I did?"

"I’ fro to have to have a talk about what she discussed with Courtney Everything Courtney knew, Ian ed to find out Of course, it worked in reverse, and that part sucked, too

"Ca on the Richter scale Don’t you know better than that? I thought you’d at least stay when I left"

Caer he could feel building inside him There was silence behind hi to tell me what happened, Cam?"

Chase’s question drew him to a stop It wasn’t the first time his brother had asked hi happened" It was his standard answer

He didn’t get the standard response Before he could anticipate Chase’s er clear on his face now

There was no a in his brother’s eyes For the first tie directed toward him

"How stupid do you think I am?" Chase bit out "Do you think I haven’t always known that so happened? Even ere boys, I knew it Tellhappened, Chase" He was lying through his teeth, just as he always had

Chase was the oldest twin; he had always felt responsible for Cam, always tried to look out for hiive hio, it would have destroyed Chase even worse than it had Calared into his, his expression furious, his dark face twisted into lines of pain

"I hate it when you lie tolife with the only wo her, Cam?"

"I won’t lose her" No matter what, he would hold onto Jaci No matter what it took She didn’t have to know the truth

Chase pushed away froh his hair as he all but snarled "Da to yourself?"

Ca between them He could feel his brother’s frustration, his worry, just as he knew Chase couldn’t feel those darker emotions that Cam made certain stayed carefully buried

He had learned over the years, when the darkness was like a bitter acid eating into his soul, he could share a lover with Chase, his or his brother’s, and he could release that darkness and still stay grounded It was the reason he had left Jaci so quickly He could feel that darkness rising inside hiet away fro To explain To belong

"Stop worrying, Chase" He shrugged his shoulders, knowing that wasn’t enough, knowing it did nothing to ease his brother’s concern

"Yeah, that’s what you said when you joined the fucking hteen years old You couldn’t even wait two years, could you Caet for it? A e and a thanks, but sorry, we can’t pay you for your sacrifice?"

"The military didn’t do this to me, Chase," Cam bit out

"No, it just made it worse," Chase retorted "Ca up with Jaci Just like you did in Oklahoma If you can’t tell me what happened, then you daoing to walk away again"

"She’s not walking away" He would stop her He didn’t have to tell her the truth He could hold her without it He would make certain of it

"If she walks away, that’s it," Chase inforht and hard "Do you understand that, Cam? If you push her away like you’ve pushed me away, and anyone else that could have cared for you, then I’ve had enough If you can’t trust h with the truth, then fuck it What the hell are we even brothers for?"

"Blacklowered back at Chase

"Fuck you, Caht, frustrated Ca inside him--hell, he could feel it, and there was no way to help it

"Chase, bro, you’re blowing this all out of proportion," he told hi to be fine"