CHAPTER 7 - BROTHER

“Well guys... Did you come just for a visit or do you have something important to tell me?”

The couple looked each other in the eye for a few seconds before daring to say anything to each other.

“Come on, are you guys getting married or something? Just know that I'm not going to be your best man.“

Qiang joked; an innocent joke that hid the eagerness to know what was really going on to make it so hard for them to tell him. The couple ignored him, they didn't think it appropriate to continue the alpha's game at that moment.

“Is... your brother. “

Yang Zi started, being immediately interrupted by Qiang.

“Fuck, goddamn son of a bitch” he muttered under his breath.

Of course it was his brother, who else was going to fuck up his moments of "peace"? It could be none other than that son of a bitch Xié Chen. Annoyed, he moved away from the couple to go sit on the couch. If he was going to receive shitty news, at least let it be sitting down.

“And what does that bastard want now?”

It was well known to all present the bad relationship the dark-haired man had with his brother. He hated him and the fucked up family business he was forced to help him support. If only he could just send it all to hell....

“He says he has tried to contact you.”

Ah, it was true, he had received his call while in the elevator with the redhead, and he had been pleased to ignore it.

“And he sent you and not anyone else because you're my only friends and I'm going to listen to you. Yah, what a jerk.”

Neither of the boys said anything, but it was clear that Qiang had hit the nail right on the head. The gray-eyed alpha could complain and curse all he wanted, however, he knew that no matter how much he fucked him, in the end he always ended up giving in to whatever his dearest big brother wanted, and not out of pleasure, oh no, he simply couldn't do anything to change it. It was the kind of life he had to live, a gray and empty one that he could only fill it with long sex sessions in any nightclub, although many times even these did not fully satisfy him.

Zi and Shi went to the couch where the alpha was and stood in front of him.

“Xié Qiang, looked serious.”

It was now Zhen Shi who spoke, appealing to the conscience he knew the other alpha had, even if it was hidden. The aforementioned frowned in annoyance.

“What did he say to you?”

“He did not want to go into details but insisted that it was very urgent.”

Yang Zi nodded effusively, corroborating his boyfriend's words; Qiang narrowed his eyes and his countenance became intimidating. That gesture made the couple's hair stand on end, they didn't know what he could be thinking, but it wasn't normal for them to see the brunet adopt such an attitude, he usually reserved it for his business.

“When is he coming?”

It was obvious that Chen needed him now, he just wanted to know how much time he had until his arrival.

“He will come for you in half an hour.”

Half an hour, that wasn't long.

He sighed with deep regret and brought both hands to his face. God, he didn't have a single fucking second to rest. He was used to problems, in a business like his they were his everyday occurrence, some smaller, others more serious, some personal, others not... it didn't matter, in the end it was all problems, and he was fed up with that lifestyle. He had always hated everything related to the Xié family, but as the years passed, the hatred became more visceral and he found himself wishing he was someone else, a normal person without so much shit behind him.

“Well” he clicked his tongue angrily and got up from the couch to stretch “I'm going to take a shower, you better be here when I get out.”

He would never admit it out loud, but even at 24, he hated confronting his older brother alone, and even if the couple could do nothing to help him, knowing he had them there gave him some support and security.

Yang Zi waved his hand in a disinterested gesture for him to go to the bathroom and Qiang simply snorted under his breath. Probably to someone else that gesture could be understood as contempt, but so many years of friendship with that idiot had made him learn that his actions were never usually malicious, and that the heart of that blond-haired omega was a warm and gentle place... maybe that was why he still felt some attraction for him.

He went to the closet to take out clean clothes: a dark shirt and pants of the same color. He didn't know what they were going to do, but he'd rather be safe than sorry. In case things went wrong, black clothes concealed the blood much better, and he didn't want to draw attention to himself when he returned home since, unlike his brother, he lived downtown, and the neighbors could see him.

After taking everything he needed, the brunet closed the bathroom door and turned on the water. He took off his shirt, and the image of his athletic and defined body was drawn in the mirror; a clean body, though marked by the ugly creases of an old scar above his left hip. He ran his fingers over it and frowned bitterly; it was just a mark, but one that would remind him for life where he belonged. He shook his head to push away any self-destructive thoughts that might pop up and finished undressing to get into the shower.

Still in the living room, the loving couple sat on the sofa waiting for Qiang to finish. Yang Zi sighed somewhat dramatically and rested his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, a gesture very common for him and which Zhen Shi understood as a silent "I want cuddles". The alpha was not much given to displays of affection, especially when he was away from home, but at that moment they were alone so he allowed himself to enjoy his boyfriend a little and reached out to stroke his hair tenderly.

“What do you think this important matter is going to be?” Zi asked.

The chestnut-haired shrugged his shoulders without ceasing to pamper him at any time.

“I don't know, and it's none of our business” he said, closing the subject.

The omega frowned his face in a grimace of dissatisfaction. He had known Xié Qiang since his adolescence and he had never confided any secret beyond his one-night stands, something he hated, since he always ended up covering his ears so as not to hear the obscenities he made to those omegas. Sex had never been a taboo for this alpha, but his private life... was a mystery.

Of course, that's supposed to be normal when you're one of the heads of a powerful clan, isn't it? If it were up to him he wouldn't even have told them about the mafia, but well, various circumstances had led him to have to do so.

“I guess it must not be easy for him” Zi continued, exhaling the words in a sort of sigh.

And he was right. He might be loaded, but being the imposed leader of a mafia along with the brother you hate was not a life to wish for the dark-haired man. Yang Zi felt a little bad for Qiang, he had been his friend for a long time and over the years the light in his eyes had faded, turning him into an increasingly dark being, almost as dark as his brother.

“Yes, I suppose so.”

The brown responded by inertia, and without hardly being conscious, he slid his fingers from the omega's hair to his neck, caressing it softly and thus distracting him from whatever he was thinking, bristling his skin in the process. That gesture completely changed the blond's mood, who smiled to himself and buried his face in the alpha's neck, soaking in his good scent. Suddenly and to Shi's surprise, her boyfriend gently dug his teeth into her skin, drawing a shy sigh of pleasure from him.

“Yang Zi, be still.”

Zhen reprimanded him, but that didn't stop him. The blond now moistened his lips, willing to take his partner further, and very slowly, he kissed his neck with infinite calm, closing his lips around his skin, smiling against it as he noticed how he bristled with pleasure.

“Stop it. Wait until we get home...”

The alpha held back a moan, Yang Zi could be very insistent when it came to touching him, and the worst thing is that he almost always used to give in to him. However, in a vain attempt to stop the situation, he separated a little from his boyfriend so that he would not continue kissing him; although as he imagined it was useless, because he knew as much as he did that he was weak to his caresses.

Shortening the distance that Zhen Shi had gained just seconds before, the omega once again attacked his neck with malice. Very delicately he slid the tip of his tongue from his shoulder to the earlobe, and this time, Shi could no longer hold back and let out a soft growl. With that, Yang Zi knew he had won.

Years ago, when their relationship was exclusively one of friendship, he would have taken a punch at the slightest sexual mention, but over time Shishi had accepted his feelings and there they were now, lying on his mobster friend's couch and with Yang clamoring for more intimate attention from his boyfriend.

The omega took advantage of Zhen's weakness to leave a trail of wet kisses across the skin, kisses that he knew for a fact drove him crazy. He also caressed with feigned dissimulation his inner thigh, gradually blurring the alpha's (and anyone else's) moral values about getting it on in someone else's house without the owner's permission.

Zhen Shi sighed deeply and pleasantly, but he didn't let it stop there; he carefully grabbed his boyfriend by the nape of his neck to pull him slightly apart so he could take possession of his lips. Yang Zi let out a high-pitched moan of surprise. The kiss was slow, not too deep, but intense enough to send the blond's sanity flying. The kiss exuded a great passion and desire, something they could not manifest in that place, and knowing that they were doing something "forbidden" served as an incentive to heat up the omega even more so, without taking into consideration that Xié Qiang could appear at any moment, he moved his hand dangerously close to the other's crotch, caressing it on top and noticing that all his efforts had not been in vain, since his boyfriend was more than hard.

However, the chestnut-haired man's hand grabbed him by the wrist.

“Stop it...” he whispered without much credibility in an attempt to stop him.

Yang Zi purred near his ear, refusing what was asked of him.

“Let me... I really want to touch you...” he whispered more and more agitated, and he could no longer refuse.

He ended up letting go of his wrist and spread his legs a little as an encouragement to continue what he was doing; besides, the water from the shower was still running, so Qiang was still oblivious to what was going on between the two of them.

Seeing himself free again, the blond resumed stroking his partner's crotch, this time without subtlety, thus demonstrating the desire he had at that moment to join him in the least pure way he could think of. Letting himself go, Shishi slid one of his large hands down the omega's back until he settled it on his ass. He caressed it with desire, squeezing it gently to earn a small moan from his omega that made him burst with heat. God... he wanted and desired this asshole so much that anything that came from him made him melt with love and pleasure; without thinking too much about it, he grabbed him by the hips and lifted him up enough to straddle him.

Yang Zi let out a faint laugh of complicity and surprise at seeing his shy Zhen Shi act that way. Sharing those moments with him made him feel like the happiest person in the world, the happiest and the hottest, for as he felt the erection press against his ass, he swayed his hips to give him more pleasure. It worked, and he was rewarded with a low moan that excited him more than it should, so much so that he felt his underwear start to get wet.

The water had ceased to be heard, but neither of them noticed, they were too busy enjoying each other.

Zhen Shi grabbed the blond by the nape of his neck and pulled him to kiss his neck at will. Yang Zi, full of joy, threw his head back to give him more space... but his bliss did not last long.

“Hey, guys, I don't remember giving you permission to do it at my house... at least not without me.”

For a moment they had both forgotten where they were, both had let themselves go, so seeing Xié Qiang standing with his arms crossed in front of them, looking at them with that characteristic mischievous smile, left them frozen. Filled with embarrassment, Yang Zi got off his partner's lap while the latter adjusted his pants so as not to give the brunet a chance to make fun of his current state.

***

The warm water sliding down his body relaxed his muscles, but Xié Qiang was far from feeling relaxed. He'd had a shitty day and his only hope of making it a little better was to get someone in that club to have a good time with, but fuck, the last thing he expected was for the night to end with his fucking brother in the way.

With a frustrated sigh, the alpha turned off the faucet and stepped out of the shower, drying off and dressing in record time, for he had spent more time than expected underwater and his brother would be on his way down.

He came out of the bathroom rubbing his damp hair with a towel. He looked towards the couch expecting to find the couple in a lovey-dovey attitude, but the image he received left him pinned to the spot; of everything he could imagine, THAT image was the one he least expected. The distinct smell of excited omega and alpha flooded his nostrils and he couldn't help but smile sideways. He found it hard to believe that his two friends were capable of heating up in a house that wasn't their own.... No, from Yang Zi he could expect it, that son of a bitch was a fucking stove, but for Zhen Shi to do it was indeed surprising.

Well, a little fun wouldn't hurt, and cutting them off could be a lot of fun.

“Hey, guys, I don't remember giving you permission to do it at my house... at least not without me” he said, as he approached them as if nothing

had happened.

The astonished look on their faces when they were discovered was hilarious. Did they expect not to be caught? How deluded they were... although without a doubt, the funniest thing of all was the vain attempt of the imperturbable and serious Zhen Shi to hide his more than noticeable erection, something he never imagined he would ever see.

“Don't stop, are you sure you don't want me to join you? I see Zhen Shi in high spirits” he joked as he jumped onto the couch and put his arm around both of them to pull them to his body.

“AAAAAAAHH , NASTY QIANG, LET US GO!” Zi shouted while his friend's arm compressed his side with force, making it impossible for him to escape.

The brunet laughed mischievously, although in his laughter a slight hint of emotion could be caught, and those were the only moments in life in which he could feel some joy, those that he shared with his only two real friends, those that made him savor for brief minutes what it could be like to lead a normal life.

He clearly ignored the blond's request, and with a most wicked grin, leaned over to them until the three fell pathetically off the couch. Yang Zi hit his hip hard. He screamed and cursed Qiang with a vengeance, then grabbed a cushion and repeatedly beat his face with it. The alpha pushed it away without much difficulty. The couple's excitement had become history.

The youngest of the Xié brothers grabbed another cushion to counterattack, but before doing so, three dry knocks on his door alerted the three friends. Someone was knocking and they all knew who it was.

Xié Chen.

They practically jumped up from the floor without mentioning anything about it; the good mood that Qiang had achieved in those few minutes disappeared completely, and his cold face practically turned to stone.

“Stay there” he said, and they both obeyed him without complaint.

He approached the door and opened it too calmly. In front of it, his brother was waiting for him, wearing his usual black suit (shirt, jacket, pants, socks and shoes); his face was even more serious than Qiang's, more stoic, with a much deeper look due to the difference in age; his dark hair, combed backwards, showed the first gray hair of his thirties and many years, still to be dyed. Xié Qiang looked at him defiantly, he wanted to slam the door in his face, but he could not do it.

“Brother” greeted the youngest of them.

“How are you?”

A polite question, or at least that's how Qiang saw it. He could answer her with another, perhaps a "How was your trip?", but he had no intention of doing so.

“Since when do you care?” was what he answered with disdain. He kept his gaze on him all the time, one as cold and gray as his.

In the distance and still on the ground, the couple watched the whole scene without daring to move a muscle.

“That's tense, isn't it?” whispered the blond in Zhen Shi's ear, who simply nodded without breathing too hard.

Xié Chen's face did not change one iota with his brother's attack, he simply averted his eyes to the lovebirds inside the apartment and then turned them back to Qiang. He did not answer the question, it was neither the time nor the place to get into an argument.

“Let's go” he simply said, and headed for the elevator to which despite Qiang's constant refusals, he also had the key.

Before following, the younger alpha turned to his friends with a very fake smile, even more than they were used to seeing.

“You can stay here to finish what you have started, but open the windows when you finish. Oh, and you have an extra key in the front cabinet, lock the door when you leave, you could give them to me at another time.”

Qiang winked at them cheekily and knowingly, an attempt to act natural as he would have if his brother wasn't there, but all three knew how forced that gesture had been. Despite everything, Yang Zi, with all his affection, showed him the middle finger just before the alpha closed the door and left them alone.

They could breathe easy now, the strong, tense pheromones emitted by both alphas still hung in the air, but they were getting lighter and lighter.

“Fuck...” muttered Zhen Shi as he threw his head back in relief.

“I know, those two together can be very scary” Yang Zi said now, imitating the brown man and throwing his head back “Hey...” he continued afterwards.

“Hmm?”

“We should go home.”

Zhen Shi nodded his head.

“Yes, we should...” he corroborated, then added – but I think it's better to wait a couple of minutes.

Yang Zi did not object, after all, they were both hoping for the same thing: that the brothers would leave so as not to cross paths with them on the street again.

***

The elevator ride was long. Both brothers, leaning across from each other on either side of the cubicle, were silent. Chen watched the other alpha closely, he always did, probably looking for some clue that would alert him that something was wrong, or at least that's what Qiang always thought.

On his side, Qiang did not want to see him. His brother was the only alpha, and human being in general, whom he barely looked in the eyes, only at specific moments. That might seem like a sign of domination, and deep down maybe it was, but he hated it so much that he didn't even care.

“Why didn't you pick up the phone when I called you?”

Xié Qiang frowned in annoyance, almost preferring to continue in silence.

“I had more important matters” he said, and the image of the red-haired man and his anger appeared fleetingly in his head, almost making him chuckle under his breath.

Chen did not need to ask what it was, he knew perfectly well his brother and the little games he played in the clubs of the city to know that the reason why he had not attended to his call was an omega, and one of a very particular aroma due to the traces of pheromones that had been left in Qiang's hair. It was a citrus scent, but with a sweet spot; a strange combination, though quite interesting.

“You know you shouldn't take your omegas home, it can be dangerous.”

The junior alpha clicked his tongue in genuine annoyance. Ugh, there it was again, Chen had repeated the same thing to him over and over again since he had moved into that apartment about 8 years ago... Luckily, they arrived at their destination and he didn't have to respond, he simply stepped out of the elevator with his back to him and reached the street, waiting for him to open the car. The subject was not mentioned again, Chen opened the car and they both got into it. Qiang waited for him to start the engine and finally tell him what the hell was going on.