Lost & Found: Contemporary Reverse Harem

by Serena Lindahl

  Her eyes widen. “That racist bitch,” she growls. If the situation weren’t so serious, I might have laughed. She forgets her troubles in an instant if she sees injustice.

  “Pretty much,” I agree. The fact that I take after my mother’s beautiful Latina heritage and not my dad is only salt in the wound. “Shelly hates that my dad spends money on me. She has him under her thumb in every single thing except me. Dad never would have let her keep the letters, so she must have done it behind his back.”

  Silence stretches between us. Her tongue piercing clacks against her teeth and the cars continue to pass around us, but I’m only interested in her deep blue eyes and the feel of her hand in mine. “So you never got a single letter?”

  “I swear on my mother’s grave, little bug, I never got a single letter.” The other guys started calling her Pixie because she wasn’t getting any bigger. Since I was her slightly older brother, I’d changed it to little bug so it wasn’t so cutesy. Tears glimmer in the back of her eyes, but she takes deep breaths to keep them from falling.

  “I believe you,” she whispers. The breath leaves my body in one long rush. I hadn’t realized how much I needed her to say it, needed her to believe me. The rage still simmers under my skin - the anger at my stepmother who probably enlisted the help of her oldest daughter to hide the mail. They worked against me every chance they got. It’s nothing compared to what Senya has been through, though.

  “Do you want to talk about it? Talk about what happened?”

  She pulls her hand from mine and faces forward again. “Not right now, Manny. I need some time. Just take me to work, please.”

  I nod and restart the car. When she reaches for her door handle in front of the employee entrance, I stop her with a hand on her arm and a murmured plea. “Senya, please don’t shut me out again.”

  Her gaze flickers to mine, but she doesn’t reply. She just pulls gently away from me and heads into work. I sit there for several minutes after she’s disappeared into the store. I hate my stepmother. I hate myself for thinking she would have just dropped me like I assumed. I hate that I worry she’s still angry at me for something I didn’t do.

  My jaw is tight as I drive home after sending a quick group text. That bitch is going to pay.

  Chapter 13

  Apollo

  MANNY: Code Blue – my house

  Orion pulls his phone out at the same time as mine dings. I take it from him because he’s driving and read it out loud. We haven’t used the code colors since elementary school. Red means emergency, blue is urgent and involves one of us. Without a word, Orion turns the truck around in the parking lot of the Save-A –Lot, heading towards Manny’s instead of our house.

  “Why Manny’s house?” Orion asks as we’re almost there.

  I shrug, but he has a point. Manny’s stepmom doesn’t like it when we all gather at his house. I don’t give a shit what she thinks, though; she’s a bitch. The way she treats Manny is horrible.

  ARIC: working. I’ll call when I take my break in 15.

  I notice Sen isn't in on the text. Although we haven’t really been hanging out with Aric for a while, it feels good to include him in our circle again. He’s always been so laid back, and I don’t think he has any hard feelings about our separation. He’s also been there for Senya when she pushed us away. I still can’t decide whether that’s good or bad.

  Orion parks the car in the street of the upscale neighborhood so the wicked stepmother doesn’t bitch at us for blocking the garage. I groan when Manny’s oldest step-sibling opens the door. She’s had a crush on us since we were kids. It’s just another reason why we don’t meet at Manny’s house.

  “Orion, Apollo, so nice of you to drop by.” Claire bats her eyelashes at us and leans forward. Her breasts practically pop out of her shirt.

  Both Orion and I look up at the ceiling, and I curse Manny silently. I hate coming here.

  “Claire, quit drooling over my friends. Guys, up here.” Manny leans over the banister. Even from here, I can tell that he’s pissed. The anger practically radiates from him in waves.

  I share a look with Orion. Who we have to kill? A spike of fear spears my chest. Is Senya okay?

  Claire pouts, but we push by her and head towards Manny’s room like it’s the safe harbor in a storm. Their extravagant mansion looks like a museum everywhere but Manny’s bedroom. The house is all white and black with modern lines and fancy, decorative pieces. Manny’s bedroom is a shrine to everything his stepmother hates. Posters crowd the walls, one wall is a blackboard, and there are complicated equations written in chalk across the surface. When he runs out of room, he just writes on the walls. The gaming center and television are practically bigger than his bed, and the games and wires for the controllers are a tangled mess.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “Yeah. Why did we have to come here?” Orion’s tone makes it clear how he feels about it.

  Manny swipes a hand over his face. He’s taken off his usual school clothes and now wears nothing but a tank top and some gym shorts. His skin is glistening like he’s been working out. He doesn’t speak right away. Instead, he returns to the doorway of his bathroom where a pull-up bar is mounted. He heaves himself up before answering.

  “Sorry. I know you guys hate it here. I do too. But I need help so I don’t kill the wicked stepmother.” He talks in between chin-ups, his breathing ragged.

  Orion and I share another glance. Usually, Manny just ignores Shelly aside from the subtle digs he gets in when his father sides with him instead of her. Even though he’s a teenager and she’s supposed to be a grown woman, he’s usually the more mature one.

  “What happened?” Orion asks as he flops down on the couch in front of the gaming television. I act like I’m browsing through the new games in his collection, but I’m hiding impatience at wanting to know what’s going on.

  “Not yet,” Manny growls as he scrubs his face with a towel. “Once Aric calls, I’ll tell you. If I have to repeat it twice, I might go off.”

  “Is Senya okay?” I can’t wait any longer. I have to know this.

  Manny gives me a searching look before he nods, and my insides unclench with relief. “She was fine when I dropped her off at work. She’ll need a ride home. I can’t do it.”

  “I’ll do it,” I offer immediately. Taking out my phone, I text a quick message into the group chat so that she knows I’ll be there when her shift is over. She doesn’t reply, but it’s probably just because she’s working.

  Manny’s phone rings. We crowd around the small table in front of the couch. “Aric, you there? You’re on speaker.”

  “I’m here. I can hear you. What’s going on that requires a code blue?” There’s humor in his voice. It almost feels like we’re kids again, going on spy missions and creating nonsense code words to communicate.

  “I needed the brief moment of levity,” Manny explains.

  I glance at Orion. I have no idea what levity means. From the blank look on his face, my brother doesn’t know either.

  “Okay, I have fifteen minutes. Talk to me.” The sound of clanging tools and car engines echo in the background, but they become more silent as Aric walks away from the shop floor. Where he goes, I’m not sure. We take the truck to his shop for oil changes, but I don’t pay much attention to the business.

  Manny takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. His fingers clench and unclench around two separate stress balls. “Senya wrote to me. Did you know that, Aric?”

  “When?”

  “After the funeral and Dad moved us to Bradenton, she wrote to me. Lots. Snail mail. Said she didn’t have a phone or access to email.”

  “Ooookay… so she wrote to you. Why is she so mad at you?” Orion asks. “Did you not write back?”

  Manny shoots Orion a look that might have been a punch if we weren’t such good friends. Not that we don’t get mad at each other, but it rarely ends in violence. “I didn’t get a single letter. Not one. She says she
wrote twice a week for six months. That’s over fifty letters! And I didn’t get one.” He shoots up a finger like he’s trying to shove it up someone’s ass - hard.

  Silence spreads between us as understanding dawns. Senya had been stiff with us when we’d returned from the football camp and tried to see her even though she was in a different middle school. To Manny, though, she’d been outwardly mean when he returned to town. Part of me had thought poorly of her for it. I thought she was mad at him because his situation turned out so much better than hers after the funeral. That wasn’t his fault.

  “She thinks you ignored her letters,” Orion breathes. He likes to say the obvious out loud. We can hear noise on the other end, but Aric isn’t saying anything.

  “Yes. She thinks I abandoned her when she needed me most.”

  “But why didn’t you get the letters? Did she have the wrong address? One or two getting lost is understandable, but not that many.” Aric’s voice sounds confused, but Orion and I know exactly what happened. Aric hasn’t been around the wicked stepmother. Lucky him.

  “Manny’s stepmom is sort of a bitch. Actually, not sort of. She’s awful.” Orion says when it’s clear our friend’s jaw is too stiff to form words. “She hid them, right?”

  “I’m sure of it.” He grinds his teeth and starts pacing. He’s squeezing the stress balls so hard I’m surprised they don’t just pop open. “She probably enlisted Claire to help her.”

  I’m silent as I consider how hard it would be to get to the mail first every day, then sorting it to steal every single letter. It had been a coordinated effort.

  “Do you think she talked about her problems in the letters? Do you think she was asking for help?” Orion asks, and I cuff him on the back of the head. Manny’s clearly upset without pointing out the obvious.

  The genius jerks his head in something resembling a nod. “I should have been here. She needed me.”

  “She needed all of us,” Aric points out. “Look, we can’t change what’s already happened. Did you tell her what you think happened?”

  “Yes, and she says she believes me.”

  I’m a little surprised by this. As far as I know, Senya has never met the stepmom either. It’s hard to accept someone can be so deviously evil when presented with her perfect, botoxed smile. That Sen believes him suggests that the bonds that used to hold our little group together are still there. They’re just frayed and in need of some serious care. Some of my anger towards her fades with this new information. I’d have been fucking pissed if I were in her position, too.

  “We just need to be here for her now,” Orion mutters. It’s one of the smartest things I’ve heard him say.

  “She doesn’t feel safe in her home, and I don’t think she has any food. And now, she doesn’t even have her bike. She needs us now,” Aric seconds.

  I’m almost as angry as Manny. No seventeen-year-old girl should starve or be scared to sleep under her own roof. Orion and I are blessed. Our parents are wonderful, well-off, and we’re spoiled with love and everything we want. I can’t even imagine Senya’s life.

  “I’m picking her up after work. I’ll take her to get some food,” I say. “I know Dad won’t mind if I use our debit card. I’ll tell him.”

  “That’s a start,” Orion agrees, “but if she really isn’t safe, she needs a place to stay too.”

  Manny nods. “I’m going to talk to my Dad after I face the wicked SW. He can tell me what rights Senya has if her mother is bringing men into their home that pose a threat to a minor.”

  SW is Manny’s stepmom’s initials, but it doesn’t stand for Shelly Waters. Orion made up the nickname when she deliberately forgot Manny at school while his dad was out of town. He’d spent the night at our house. SW actually stands for sadistic witch. It's funny when we call her that in front of other people. She just thinks it’s textspeak or her initials.

  We all nod, and Aric clears his throat. “That sounds like a great idea. Manny, can you do me a favor? I know we should focus on Senya, but I need something. My mom is trying to cut off Dad’s custody of Daisy. She wants to move and take Daisy with her. We can’t… My dad might start drinking again, and my sister needs us. Mom is a bitch. She sounds a lot like your stepmom.”

  I run an agitated hand through my hair, pulling at the strands. Orion and I really are sheltered. I knew Aric dealt with some shit after his mom left and his dad got laid off, but we never knew the details. We know one thing, though; Aric dotes over his little sister. She hangs the moon and stars for him, and he’s her idol. It’s cute. I couldn’t imagine life without my brother, so I understand.

  “I’ll talk to Dad,” Manny replies with a firm nod. “If there’s a custody agreement, there might be a stipulation that she can’t move. My dad also does some pro-bono work, mostly where custody is concerned. Drives the SW crazy because she thinks it’s a waste of time.”

  “Thanks, Manny. My break’s over. Y’all got Senya tonight?”

  Aric’s question isn’t meant to speak to my dick, but it still does. I’d love to have her tonight, but so would the rest of us. Still not a good idea. Not unless we decide to share her without fighting. Once that little thought pops in my head, it doesn’t want to go away. I force my mind back to the present.

  “I’m getting her from work. I’ll make sure she’s okay,” I assure him before he hangs up.

  “Thanks, guys,” Manny says. Getting it out has helped him, but his eyes are still hard. “I want to confront the SW, but I want to do it in front of Dad. Will you guys be there for me when I need it?”

  Orion and I stand and nod, squaring our shoulders. Orion claps him on the back after he pulls him in for a bro-hug. “We got your back, Manny. Anytime. Just call. You going to be able to hold off until then?”

  Manny shakes his muscles out. “Yeah, I’ll be all right. If I’m having trouble, I’ll probably come over to your house.”

  “You’re always welcome,” I say, even though he knows it. Our parents love Manny. They love Aric and Senya too, though, and still ask when they’re coming over. They knew how close we were as kids.

  “Thanks, guys. I feel better now that you all know. It makes me so mad. She needed me, she wanted to confide in me, and she thinks I just abandoned her. I’d never do that.” His voice breaks and my heart stops. Manny still loves her. It’s obvious. They were so close as kids, and I remember him freaking out when he started to have unbrotherly feelings for her. He thought he was a creep. But they weren’t blood. We didn’t blame him at all. Our budding teenage hormones found a welcome fantasy in Senya because she was safe, beautiful, and our friend. We were all in love with her. But that was before…

  Things are different now.

  I don’t know what to say, so I just stay quiet. I want to tell Manny it will be okay, but I don’t know that it will. I want to tell him that it’s okay to love her like he used to, but I’m not sure I want him to. It makes me a little jealous. But I still pull him in for a hug before we leave. I’ll back him against his stepmother any day, and I don’t want Senya to blame him for something he didn’t do. I’ll put in a good word for him because he’s my friend. The years she was so mean to him hurt all of us. Maybe Manny can let go of some of his anger if she forgives him.

  Where that leaves me, I don’t know. But I’m trying to be selfless. I want to protect Senya more than anything. Being with her comes second to her safety.

  Chapter 14

  Senya

  I’m glad Belle isn’t working tonight. She’d know right away that something is wrong because I can’t focus for shit. I’m a drone in front of the women’s changing rooms, not even counting the clothes as I give the women the numbers they ask for and unlock the doors. My mind keeps replaying what Manny said. I believe him. The Manny I know would never lie about something like that, and I can’t believe that he changed that much. It had been harder for me to believe that he never responded. I’d hoped there was an explanation that made him innocent, but my new life didn’t leave
me with the most positive outlook.

  What do I do now?

  I want to forgive him. But if I do, does that mean that we’re family again? Or that I’m part of their little group? I know Aric fits in just as smoothly as he used to. Seeing all of them together the other night told me none of them held any hard feelings. Except me. It had seemed so natural, all of us together again.

  SUN GOD: I’ll pick you up from work and give you a ride home.

  I’m happy it’s Apollo, and I’m almost hoping Orion doesn’t come with him. Apollo won’t press me. I think. Sometimes, I don’t know what he’s feeling under that stoic expression. Or any time, really. Everyone thinks Aric is the mystery, but it’s really Apollo. He hides everything from everyone but his brother.

  My shift is over, and I’m almost outside when Chad calls my name. I want to run from him, but he’s my boss. It might be something work-related. I wait by the automatic doors, my eyes on the parking lot. The brothers’ huge black pickup isn’t hard to find. The thing is a monster. I don’t know if the driver can see me, but I can see the truck from here.

  “Senya! I was hoping to catch you before you left!” Chad flashes a smile that belongs in a toothpaste commercial. He’s a good-looking guy. I’ve seen other girls at work flirt shamelessly with him, but he’s not my type. He’s too clean-cut, too preppy, and I have a feeling he’d be a needy boyfriend. Plus, he’s my boss and five years older than me. Those two things don’t seem to bother him at all, though.