In the Closet Ch. 04

All characters are at least 18 years old.

——

Keith

Don’t be gay.

That was the mission for tonight. The fact that I had to remind myself was a notion I’d never have considered a mere week ago, yet here we were. As I approached the corner we’d agreed to meet at, I spotted a cute girl already waiting there with a small white purse. Rocking a black corset top that left her midriff exposed, as well as a pair of low-cut short shorts, she already had me halfway to horny. A flannel shirt was tied around her waist, and I realized I fucking recognized that shirt, which complicated my feelings. Top everything with a sexy pink wig that I’d come to love and, yeah, I had to remind myself that underneath it all was my little brother.

He spotted me, visibly skittish. “Keith?” he stage whispered. He was probably trying to avoid speaking out loud, lest somebody hear a girl speaking with a male voice. I’d have to come up with an excuse for why he couldn’t talk tonight.

“Looks like you made it out okay. Good,” I remarked. “You ready?”

She — God damn it, he — nodded, and I checked my phone to make sure our rideshare driver was on time. We passed a minute in silence before he spoke up again, still in a whisper.

“Keith? Why are you doing this?”

“I already said: ’cause I feel like a dick for Friday. And everything.” I saw the sweep of headlights and turned to see our ride turn onto our street. “Let’s not talk about it, aight? Driver’s here.”

The four-door sedan pulled up next to us, and the window rolled down to reveal the driver leaning toward us.

“Keith Lang?” he asked, and I nodded. “Hop in.”

I held the door open for Zach and he hesitated before getting in. The streetlights weren’t bright enough to see, but did he blush? Nah, I was just seeing things. I got in, and the driver looked back at me.

“Josie’s Bar, right?”

“Yeah.”

He was thankfully not a chatty type, keeping quiet during the trip. I minded my own business, looking out the window, but whenever I felt eyes on me, I turned around and caught Zach staring. It still caught me off guard how cute he was dressed up like this. I mean, he wasn’t exactly masculine to begin with. On the contrary, he was lean yet soft in all the right places, at least for a girl. And his features… Large round eyes, soft kissable lips, tender inviting neck…

Don’t be gay.

I took a deep breath to snap myself out of it. Focus on the clothes instead. That’s what was making me attracted. The short shorts were low-cut, which was exactly my type of fashion on a girl. Couldn’t stand the new trend of high-rise pants. To me, it just looked like the girls had no abdomen, and it messed with my perception of their bodily proportions. Besides, I liked a good midriff. No midriff with high rise. And Zach’s midriff looked tasty… Snap. Out. Of. It.

We arrived at the bar without incident and were greeted by the stocky bouncer outside.

“Cliff,” I greeted amicably. “Wassup, my man?”

With a toothy grin, Cliff clasped my hand and pulled me into a bro hug. “Wha’s good, K?”

I’d been coming to Josie’s ever since I came of drinking age, and had become close with both her and Cliff in a short span of time. They were good people, even if Josie was kind of ornery every now and then.

Cliff turned to look at Zach, his eyebrow raised. “And who’s this pretty lady you’ve got with you? Got a new girl already?”

“Cliff, man, what the hell you mean ‘already?'” I said in a lowered voice, grinning. “Be cool, alright?”

“Hey, I know how you do! Haha! Anyway, gonna need to see some ID.”

“Right, right.” I reached into my pocket and tucked a fifty dollar bill into my hand, then slapped it into Cliff’s in the form of a handshake. “Let’s not sweat the details, y’know?”

Cliff discreetly checked the currency before eyeing Zach again. “She’s at least eighteen, right?”

“Now that’s rude,” I laughed. “‘Course, man. What do you take me for?”

He shrugged before jerking his head toward the door, and I held it open for Zach, who nervously entered the dimly-lit bar. My friends were already present, with Max and Jake at the bar, while Cody was at the pool table with Damon. Cody spotted me first, standing up from his next shot and leaning against his cue stick.

“There he is, fucking finally!” he shouted. Then his eyes settled on Zach, and his eyes sharpened. “And who do we have here?”

Zach suddenly took my hand, and I looked down at him. He was petrified, his breathing shallow and his hand slightly trembling in my grip. Show time.

“Don’t be nervous, baby, they don’t bite,” I said to him, before dragging him closer to the others. We stopped on the other side of the pool table from Cody and Damon, and Max and Jake swiveled around to listen to the conversation. “Guys, this is Zoey.”

“What happened with you and Marie?” Jake wondered aloud.

Marie was the latest in a long string of busty blonde girlfriends, though admittedly she was lasting the longest. We were on-again-off-again, and were currently off. Whether we stayed off forever remained to be seen. She lived a three-hour drive away and had gone home for the summer, which made keeping distance easier.

“It’s not like that. Zoey’s trying to meet new people, and I figured I’d help her out,” I replied. The guys all got the same glint in their eyes.

“That right?” Max drawled.

“The catch is that she blew out her voice. Can’t talk for another six weeks.”

“Can’t bitch, can’t scream. The perfect girl does exist,” Cody chuckled. Beside me, Zach tensed. Couldn’t blame him; on top of the creepy line, Cody was his biggest bully. He was one of those shitbags that was fun to be around, but you knew deep down that you’d do anything to keep your future daughters away from guys like him. He made for a good wingman and fellow alpha of the group, but goddamn was he unsettling sometimes.

“Relax, alright? Just ’cause she can’t say no doesn’t mean you can go nuts. She’s still mine, I’m just letting you guys, y’know…”

“And we appreciate it,” Max said with a grin, immediately pulling Zach against him by the shoulder. Zach gasped but managed to otherwise stay silent, eyes wide and staring up at Max. Max was a bit of a dandy and perpetually single. Low body count though, despite appearances, which we all gave him shit for.

“Not like you to share, K,” Cody observed in a low voice, and I shrugged. His deceptive sleepy eyes studied me a moment longer before focusing on Zach. I’d just thrown my brother to the wolves. The rest was up to him.

Cody leaned back down and sank the eight ball to finish the game, and Damon handed me his cue stick. “You want next?”

“Rack ’em,” I replied, and Cody reset for another game while Damon headed over to the bar to hit on Zach.

“Want a beer, K?”

“You know it.”

Josie came out from the back and gave me a casual wave. She was a sassy Italian from the east coast, which was a real change of pace here. Her bar had less traffic than most others, which was part of why we liked it. On weekdays like this, sometimes it felt like our personal hangout.

She took one look at Zach and barked, “No fuckin’ way you’re old enough to be here, sweetheart. Who let you in here?”

“She’s with me,” I announced, and Josie shot me a disapproving look.

“Uh huh. I’m gonna whoop Cliff’s ass. Do you even have a fake ID?”

I took my shot to break and start the game, then swaggered over to the bar to appease her. “C’mon, Josie. It’s just one night.”

“At least put in the effort to get a fake ID,” she complained before sighing and turning to Zach. “Beer?”

He nodded and Josie served up a round. The guys all seemed to like Zoey — damn it. Zach — which was good, and honestly took me by surprise. With the pink hair, I supposed he looked like a streamer slut, and none of us complained about those. During the pool game, Cody always had an eye on him. It was a look I knew well. It was the one he had before he proceeded to ruin a girl. Obviously I wasn’t going to let things escalate that far, but some flirting, maybe kissing or touching should be okay. I almost grinned at the idea of if the guys ever discovered that they’d made out with a dude.

Zach seemed to be more relaxed now, smiling and sipping on a beer as my friends hit on her — fuck. Him. My eyes and my brain were telling me different things, and it was messing with me.

“You gonna tell me what’s going on?” Cody prompted quietly.

“What do you mean?” I replied as he sank another ball.

“Always thought you were into big tits. Compared to the other girls, she’s flat as a board.” I checked back on Zach, and Max was rubbing his hand on Zach’s bare shoulder while Damon was leaned in closer than was polite. This was the most sociable I’d ever seen my brother, and I was glad I’d done this. Not exactly the type of confidence I’d wanted to give him all these years, but whatever. “I mean, her nips are a little puffy, which is pretty hot too, but I dunno. Just never took you for one who’d compromise on that.”

“Zoey’s an exception,” I said with a shrug.

“That ass looks like a nice handful though. I’d fucking love a feel, really sink my fingers in, y’know? That gonna be a problem?”

Zach was either feeling slutty enough to love it, or it would scare him straight. Win-win, really. “Nah, no problem. But she can’t talk, so maybe have her consent in writing before you try to dick her down, yeah?”

Cody chuckled. “Sure, sure. Man, I’d love to bury my cock in that thing.”

We were guys; I was used to this kind of language about girls. But his words made me feel something… new. I couldn’t tell what it was. Probably wasn’t important.

The night went on and we all downed a few more beers. Zach was already tipsy after his first, and solidly drunk by the time he started his third, and I was just praying he wouldn’t puke it all up. At some point I came out of the restroom and he was gone.

“Where’s Zoey?” I asked.

Nick pointed toward the back of the bar. “Cody took her into the alley. You know how he gets.”

The others chuckled, lamenting that they hadn’t been more aggressive sooner. My stomach rolled a little bit. It was that funny feeling from before. Nothing uncomfortable, just a bit of unease, but I was definitely not leaving them unattended. I opened the backdoor that led out into the alley, and sure enough Cody had Zach backed against the wall, a hand planted next to his head as he leaned near him. They both looked at me as I stepped outside, with Cody bearing his trademark feral calmness. Zach looked a bit nervous but not scared, so I didn’t feel like I needed to intervene.