Flynn, Joyee - A Zane Po' Boy [The O'Hagan Way 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) by Joyee Flynn Page B

Banning,” I gasped, never having in a million years thought he felt that way. I let me arm fall to me side. “That not be true. I just didn’t want to rub salt in the wound I caused by crying to ya that me heart be broken. That wasn’t ya burden to carry. It was mine.”
    “Of course it was mine!” he snapped and shoved me off of him. Banning jumped to his feet, pissed off again. “Ya be me twin. I felt ya pain, ya idiot! And yet, I couldn’t help ya because ya wouldn’t let me. Ya still didn’t want me.”
    “Ya want to know what I went crying to ma about?” I asked, trying to keep calm because one of us had to obviously. I didn’t wait for him to answer. “That I broke us and didn’t know if I could fix it. Fuck Cesar! I hated the bastard, but I loved ya. I didn’t know how to make it better.”
    “Ya were?” His eyes were wide in shock. “Ya weren’t crying over the love you lost?”
    “A few times, sure. But after a few months, it wasn’t about that,” I answered gently. I brushed me hand over the side of me head that had hit the ground, feeling the blood that had dried there. The cut had healed already though. “It wasn’t real love, Banning. It was a cruel joke and it hurt, but nothing compared to losing ya.”
    “Ya didn’t lose me! Ya just never came back to me.”
    “I tried, dammit. Ya shut me out.” We were starting to talk in circles. We needed ma here to kick both of our arses.
    “Because ya always wanted me to forgive ya. I did. I forgave ya the moment ya asked and probably before. But then ya turned to ma always, and I still felt as if ya didn’t want me around.” He slumped down to his knees, looking so forlorn and lost. I couldn’t help what I did next. Maybe he’d slug me again, but I had to take the risk.
    “We be idiots,” I whispered as I wrapped me arms around him. “I never meant it to be this way or hurt ya. I thought ya didn’t want me anymore either after I broke us.”
    “All I wanted was me twin,” he mumbled as he hugged me back. “I just wanted ya to love me and have faith in me again, need me.”
    “I’ll always need ya, Banning. And I do love ya. Ya be me twin. Zane might be our mate, but ya come first to me. And I do trust ya and have faith in ya. Why do ya think I did everything you did or wanted ever since?”
    “To try and get me to forgive ya,” he grumbled, starting to pull away from me embrace.
    “No,” I said firmly, shaking him. “Because I trusted ya judgment. If I had listened to you before, none of this would have happened, ya idiot!”
    “Oh.”
    “Aye, oh .” I snickered. God, were we both stupid. All these years of issues and hard feelings, and really, we created them by ignoring that damn elephant instead of talking and beating the bastard together.
    He slumped against me, probably feeling as exhausted as I did from finally getting this all out in the open. “Should we go get our mate then?”
    “No, give him some time. He needs to think about all of this, too, and honestly, I’d like a few days just to hang out now that we’ve beaten the elephant.”
    “What elephant?” he asked as he sat back on his feet, eyebrows drawn together in confusion.
    “This elephant that’s always been in the room.” I chuckled as I gestured between us. It took him a second before I saw realization dawn on his face and he smiled. Yeah, we’d be okay now. I knew it.
    “Zombies?” Banning shrugged, and I wanted to laugh. When in doubt, shoot shit on the Xbox.
    “Zombies sound great, me twin.” I smiled at him and stood, holding out me hand to help him to his feet. He mirrored me grin and let me. Then slung an arm over me shoulder, and that’s how we walked back to the house…together.

    * * * *

    Banning and I spent the week catching up. It sounded odd since we had lived together for centuries…Hell, we shared a room. But it was something we needed and we were closer than ever now.
    We also talked about plans for the future. We liked