"Where did yer red panties go, lass?"
Pam lifted her head from Connor's chest and blinked dumbly at him.
He'd dragged them to bed after pouncing on her in the doorway to his and Murphy's flat, and now he was sprawled back on the mattress, Pam draped over him.
He waited for her to reply.
She shrugged and pressed her face against his chest, flipping her hair out, trying to hide the heat in her cheeks. Leave it to Connor to ask about the panties he'd bought for her within the first week of their relationship.
She hadn't seen that pair since Friday.
Since Murphy.
"In the wash, I guess."
"Hmmm," was Connor's careless reply.
Pam bit her lip at how easily her lie had come.
"Wear em' t'morrow, aye? Yer a fuckin' dream in em'."
"Sure," she mumbled, wincing at yet another lie.
Connor hummed again and absently twirled the ends of her hair around his fingers.
Minutes passed in silence, and it was the door bursting open that roused them both.
Murphy sauntered into the flat, a case of beer in one hand, and a pizza in the other. "You two done fuckin' yet? I'm starvin', an' I'm not about to eat this on tha stairs out front." He breezed past the pair on the mattress, his eyes finding Pam's. Connor groaned and closed his eyes, annoyed with Murphy's timing, and the darker twin took the opportunity to send a smoldering gaze in Pam's direction.
Pam bristled and sat up, taking the sheet with her.
"S'not like I haven't seen tits b'fore, Pam," Murphy chuckled, sinking into a kitchen chair and flipping the pizza box open.
Her guts twisted as she scrambled for her shirt and jeans, pulling them both to the bed.
Connor was already up, parading across the space as naked as the day, and he clipped Murphy upside the head for his comment. "Ye fuckin' git, don' say tings like dat."
Murphy protested at Connor's blow, and then watched his brother move to the toilet to take a piss. Murphy turned back to Pam, his eyes alight with brutal honesty. "All I meant was ya don' have ta be shy, lass." He licked his lips and tilted his head pointedly. "We're all family here."
"Tha fuck is yer malfunction, Murph?" Connor called after he'd flushed.
Murphy lifted a slice of pizza from the box and took a huge bite, answering Connor with a shrug. "M'just tired," he offered lamely. His eyes flicked to Pam's. "Haven't been sleepin' well. Been havin' all sorts o'dreams."
"Well, don't fuckin' take it out on Pam. She's not tha reason ya can't sleep."
Murphy's fervent chewing slowed, and he swallowed thickly before scowling at the table.
"It's fine, I understand," Pam muttered shakily.
Connor gaped at the woman. "Don't be lettin' him get off easy, lass." He turned back to Murphy. "When was tha last time ya went ta confession?" He reached around Murphy and stole a piece of pizza and wrestled two beers from his brother before retreated back to the mattress.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Pam suddenly asked.
Connor frowned as he plopped down. "Dreams are a manifestation of a guilty conscience. Ya sinned lately, brudder?" Connor chuckled, but his attention wavered again as Pam stood, hiking her jeans up and quickly buttoning her blouse. "Where ya off ta in such a hurry? Thought ya had tha night off?"
"I just remembered I'm supposed to meet a friend for dinner," she explained hurriedly.
Both twins watched her with a curious eye. Connor stood, stuffing half the piece of pizza in his mouth and chugging back the beer. "Aye, I'll walk ya, then."
"No, it's okay. Stay and eat."
Connor shook his head, already stepping into his boots. "It's fine, lass. Really. I don't mind." He turned to his brother. "Ya wanna tag along?"
Pam's heart crept into her throat as she looked across the loft at Murphy's narrowed gaze. Slowly, he shook his head, and reached for another beer. "Maybe next time. You two go on. Been a while since ya spent any time alone, aye? And ya still got a few night shifts next week before schedule rotation, Connor."
Connor grumbled, but nodded, and helped Pam into her coat. "Aye, true enough." He slipped into his own jacket and ushered Pam out the door.
The door closed and Murphy leaned back, heaving a sigh. He'd been walking on thin ice there. Unsure of what had made him act like that towards Pam, he scrubbed a hand over his face and took another swallow of beer before closing his eyes, and remembering their last moments together the night before.
She'd come hard for him, and long, and the way she'd gasped and clung to him afterwards was enough to make him want more. He'd been stupid to think he'd only want a taste.
"Say somethin'," he'd growled as she stood at her front door watching him pull his boots on.
"I don't know what I'm doing," she murmured.
Murphy snorted and stood straight, reaching and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'd say ya know just fine, girl."
"This will kill Connor."
"Only if he finds out."
Pam sighed. "He'll find out."
Murphy cocked an eyebrow. "Ya plannin' on tellin' him, Pam? Because I'm not."
"He'll find out," she repeated. "Connor always knows."
Murphy stared hard at the door his brother and Pam had just left through. She hadn't been with Connor very long, but it seemed as though Pam had Connor's number already. Of course Connor would find out; that was how his brain worked. He could sniff any scheme, any lie, any deceit out and drag it into the open if it served him. Unfortunately for anyone directly involved, they didn't know Connor knew until it was too late.
Murphy lit a cigarette and chewed at his thumbnail, wondering if his brother was figuring shit out.
"Pam," Connor ventured as they walked in chilly evening air. "Can I ask ya somethin'?"
Pam quickly looked to Connor, expecting to be confronted by Connor's unwavering gaze. Instead, he looked rather…perplexed, a term Pam had never associated with Connor before. She could practically hear the gears in his head turning, however, and she proceeded with caution. "Uh…sure," she breathed, shoving her shaking hands into her pockets.
"Have ya noticed Murphy actin' strange lately?"
"What do you mean?"
Connor looked at Pam, unable to decipher her expression, and he shrugged, before turning to the street once more. "I dunno…he hasn't been himself lately. I just thought that you've been spending time wit' him these last weeks, so maybe he's said something?" He looked to Pam again, and scowled at her wary look. "Ye have been spendin' time wit' him, haven't ya?" Connor pressed on. "Has he been seein' someone? That sneaky fucker, he's got a girl, hasn't he?"
Pam's mouth opened and closed in a panic, and her heart began to beat rapidly.
"Hail Mary!" Connor whooped, laughing as he did a little jig on the sidewalk. "That fucker is, isn't he? Who is she? Have ya met her?"
"No," Pam blurted out, shaking her head. "I mean, no, he's not seeing someone."
Connor blinked, his face going serious for a moment, but then he was grinning again. "Ah, ya just don't know him like I do," Connor explained. "He gets kinda snarky at first. He doesn't like talkin' about it, aye? Likes ta keep tings to himself, until he gets his feelins sorted out." Connor continued, convincing himself that Murphy had found himself a girl, and was keeping low key about it.
"Well, he's doing a good job of hiding it," Pam offered with a flat chuckle.
"You'd…" Connor paused again. "You'd tell me if ya knew, aye?"
Pam nodded, her blood sluggish as she lied through her teeth. "Yes. I would."
Connor smiled broadly and cupped her face to kiss her soundly. When he'd finished, he let her go with a series of smaller, softer kisses, until he groaned and held her at arms length. "Aye, well, here we are," he announced, pointing to the sign over the door. "Want me ta come in an' make sure she's here? If she's not, I can wait wit' ya an' have a pint."
"It's okay, really, Connor." Pam flicked her wrist out and checked her watch. "You have to be at work in a few hours, anyway."
Connor grunted and grabbed her wrist, looking at the time. "Fuck me, yer right. Well, have fun. Stay out o'trouble, aye? Ya comin' ta mass in the mornin'?"
"I have a few chores at the studio tomorrow," she lied.
"I'll say a Hail Mary fer ya, then," Connor whispered, kissing her cheek. "G'night, lass. I miss ya, aye?"
Pam nodded, stepping to the door of the bar. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Connor nodded with a smile. "McGinty's. Five o'clock. I don't work until midnight. Come down, have some dinner and a pint."
That, she figured, she could do. A public place with Connor nearby – what could possibly go wrong?
I drank alone at the bar Connor had walked me to. Four beers and I was feeling precarious. Halfway between home and the flat shared by Connor and Murphy, I had a choice to make. I knew what I wanted – to see Murphy again, to yell at him, to unleash the anger that had been bubbling since he barreled into the flat earlier that evening. It wasn't that he didn't have a right to come and go as he pleased in his own space. Every word out of his mouth, however, had been directed towards me. Had he done it to bait me? To spite me? To test his own luck, and Connor's inherent intuition? As the last of my beer passed my lips, I cursed loudly in my head. Murphy was a brat. Connor was, too, but at least I knew that up front. Murphy was petulant in his silence and his seemingly broody behavior. I was learning that right away. I felt like some new toy that had been left under a Christmas tree in some long-ago MacManus living room, but without a tag.
They were fighting over me. At least, that was how Murphy viewed it. Connor didn't know the meaning of competition, but the resolve that I tasted on Murphy's tongue was clear enough. Connor had something, and so Murphy wanted it. Was that it? Was that the only reason for his actions? My guts turned again at the thought. I hoped that wasn't the case; the twins were growing on me, exponentially, at an alarming rate, and each in his own right. I should have known the minute the pair walked through the front doors of Unlimited Blue, and if not then, surely when I'd put ink in their skin, the most intimate of processes I could imagine. I'd branded them with my mark.
Connor had done more than enough to repay that favor, and though the handprints and rope burn faded, the feeling was still deep, and it was honest, and it was frightening and exhilarating all at once.
I wondered if Murphy was trying to do the same, but going a different route, through my mind, rather than my body.
I left the bar shortly after I finished the fourth beer, and turned to take the road home. I made it safely enough, and hurried past the kitchen, which still struck me silent and unmoving as I attempted morning routines – there, next to the coffee maker, was where Murphy had dropped me to the counter and done things that still made me blush. In the bedroom I stripped, and then went immediately for the shower.
As I searched for clean clothes a little while later, the earlier exchange with Connor had come to fore. He'd expect to see the red panties he'd asked about, and while I could imagine he'd have the perfect punishment for me if I didn't comply, sooner or later, he'd really wonder where they went. I needed to get them back. At least, that was my reasoning for my next actions. Dressing in a daze brought on by beer and too much thinking, I headed back out, pausing for a shot of whiskey and to collect my own resolve. I was going in to get that underwear back, and to give Murphy a piece of my mind.