Lost & Found: Contemporary Reverse Harem

by Serena Lindahl

  “Ouch,” Orion hisses. “Sorry, man. It sucks. She’s a witch like her mother.” He claps Aric on the back as we slip out the front door.

  “Yeah, it’s better if you stay away. She’s crazier than her mom.” And that’s pretty crazy. I resolve to keep an eye on her. If Claire understands the situation between the five of us, I can see her manipulating things to hurt Senya.

  Aric takes off on his bike and the three of us pile into my car. “It’s weird,” Orion comments as I reverse down his drive.

  “What?” I glance at his reflection in the rearview mirror.

  “We haven’t hung out with Aric in years, but it feels just like yesterday. He hasn’t changed much.”

  “Aric has always had a really steady personality, even with the shit that happened with his family,” I point out. He’s the most predictable in our little group, even more than Apollo.

  “Do you really think we can do this?” Orion asks after a few moments of silence. I was waiting for him to bring it up again. “You seem like the jealous type.” He pokes my shoulder from behind.

  “If it were anyone but you, Apollo, or Aric, I’d be flipping out,” I say seriously. “I know that’s not really fair, but Apollo is right. I like my control. It keeps my anger from getting the better of me. I know what to expect with the three of you, and I trust that you have Senya’s best interests in mind. You’re not looking to just get your dick wet and play her.”

  “Isn’t it sad that we’re all practically in love with her after she was a bitch to us for several years?”

  “She had her reasons,” Apollo grunts to his brother. His willingness surprises me. It seemed like he had the hardest time letting her in again.

  “We revolved around her when we were kids. It doesn’t seem strange to me.”

  “And we only have a semester of school left before we leave for college. Is this just a temporary thing? That’s not fair.” Orion’s question brings up a vital point. We’ll soon be leaving the small-town minds of our high school far behind.

  “It’s not temporary to me,” Apollo states, his voice firm with certainty.

  I shake my head. “Me either. I don’t know what’s going to happen five months from now, but I was miserable all those years without her. I don’t want to do that again, no matter what it means for the future.” That’s mostly true. I still need to go to college. I can’t have a girlfriend without a way to take care of her. It’s just the way I’m programmed. I’ll find a way to be together if she wants me, though. I’ll drag her with me.

  “Good.” Orion nods in satisfaction. I don’t have to ask to know that we’re all on the same page. I saw him with his ex-girlfriends. He used to come over with Apollo after a date or the next day, and we’d spend all day reminiscing about our childhood with Sen. Are we all hopelessly obsessed or in love?

  Is there a difference?

  When we enter the foyer to my museum-like house that my stepmother is ridiculously anal about, she’s standing in the threshold of the dining room glaring at me. Dressed to the nines, she thinks it’s her usual night to be taken out on the town. She says she deserves it after my dad has spent three days on a grueling case and hasn’t been home in a week. She’s the most selfish woman I’ve ever met, although her daughter runs a close second.

  “To what do we owe the pleasure of the three musketeers?” Claire descends the stairs dressed in a skirt that barely hides her ass, and I resist the urge to gag. She’s a carbon copy of her mother, including the dyed blonde hair and frightening red talons.

  I ignore her, although I’m sure Orion glares at her because her face tightens as we walk past. She doesn’t even try to flirt with them; her pea brain realizes something is going down. Dad’s sitting in his den, sifting through the mail on his desk. His wife doesn’t handle any of the house business while he’s gone. I don’t know what she does, to be honest, except spend Dad’s money. Her interior design consulting company doesn’t have many clients.

  “Manny.” Dad greets me with a hug, and I gratefully return it with love. He’s always been there for me. Although my birth was the accident of a one night stand, he supported my mom in any way he could right from the beginning. When I was a kid, he had custody of me every weekend. He offered to take me more, but he’d already married the stepwitch, and I didn’t want to be away from Senya. He gladly took me in when Mom died, though.

  “Hey, Dad. How was the trip? The case?”

  “We won. That asshole will be put away for years.” Dad finds immense pleasure in catching bad guys and giving them their due. I’ve always been proud of him. Although it sounds cheesy, he is my hero. He shakes hands with the brothers before giving me a piercing look. “It’s not like you to make an appointment to talk to me. What’s going on?”

  “I’d like Shelly and Claire to join us if that’s okay.” I keep all my anger tightly restrained so he realizes I’m not acting on my overwhelming emotions. Orion and Apollo move to a corner of the room, present and supportive but not the centerpiece. I’ve been thinking of this moment since Senya told me about the letters. I can’t deny that my wildest fantasies have my dad finally realizing what a bitch and a mooch my stepmom is and leaving her. He’ll have the freedom to find a woman that will appreciate him instead of manipulating him. There’s no love between them anymore, but they do share two kids. The younger girls are sweet despite their mother, but I don’t spend much time with them because the stepwitch thinks I’m a bad influence.

  Dad arches a brow at me but nods, calling for his wife and stepdaughter. It doesn’t surprise me that they’re hovering outside the door, trying to eavesdrop. Claire glares at me, but Shelly actually looks nervous. Good. Everything she’s attempted to get my dad to hate me has failed. She sits primly on the leather couch, her feet crossed beneath her and her ridiculously expensive clothes carefully smoothed. Claire sits next to her but slouches and crosses her arms over her chest. She manages to look both bored and unaffected. Dad retakes his seat behind his massive mahogany desk and eyes us like we’re a troublesome case. I feel like the leading witness.

  “Okay, Son, what’s this about?” It doesn’t faze him that the brothers are here. They’ve been around me my whole life. They’d be a more common fixture in our household if it weren’t for the stepwitch.

  “Remember Senya? My old stepsister and best friend?”

  “Of course,” Dad says. I mention her name more for the stepwitch’s benefit. I know he remembers her. He felt horrible about taking me away right after the funeral. I think he’s still trying to make up for it. He’d known how close we were, but he’d already accepted the job change and couldn’t alter it without ruining his entire career. Throughout middle school, I was an asshole to him, to everyone, because I was so far away from her and the other guys. For a while, Dad was worried I’d never recover, but I became a lot better at hiding my anger. I still felt it, but I didn’t lash out as obviously or without considering the consequences.

  My eyes settle on Shelly. Her face has grown pale under the layers of expensive makeup. Satisfaction rises in me. She knows exactly what I’m going to say, and I’m taking a cruel but immense pleasure from her fear and worry. “She sent me letters after the funeral. She says she wrote every week, sometimes twice a week. She didn’t have access to a phone or email.”

  Dad’s dark eyes spark. “But you told me you couldn’t get a hold of her. That’s why you were so…” he breaks off.

  “Angry,” I finish with a nod. “I was mad, and I wasn’t lying. I couldn’t contact her. I never received a single letter. Not one.”

  I stare at Shelly. She’s never been a good liar despite her manipulative, passive-aggressive nature. She shifts uncomfortably on the couch. Claire seems bored, but I know her tells. Her manicured fingernails are poking into her skin.

  “How is that possible? That many letters just disappeared? Did she have the right address?” It only takes a second for Dad to connect the dots. His gaze shifts to his wife and his hands tighten on th
e armrests of his luxury office chair. “Shelly? Do you know anything about this?”

  Shelly waves a manicured hand. “Who sends letters nowadays? So primitive.” She shudders as if the postal office is a personal affront to her.

  “That doesn’t answer the question,” Dad says. His voice is evenly toned, and I recognize the prosecutor that is renowned in northern Florida for winning nearly every case he pursues.

  “She was being abused,” I continue. My hands clench into fists. “She got sent home with her mother after the funeral, and her mother’s boyfriend was abusing her. She reached out to me in every letter. She wanted to know she wasn’t alone.” My voice shakes with anger and sadness. Nothing will ever make up for the fact that I wasn’t there for her when she needed me most.

  “Well, how was I to know that?” Shelly's voice is suitably shocked. Maybe she’s a better liar than I thought.

  My stepsister rolls her eyes. It’s subtle, but my dad doesn’t miss anything. “Claire? Do you know anything about this?”

  “Claire,” Shelly snaps. Her hand anxiously pats her elaborate hairstyle.

  The younger witch glares at my stepmother, and vindication roars through me. I hadn’t counted on this, but it works in my favor. If Claire is mad at her mother, she’ll fess up to put the blame on Shelly. They are two peas in a pod, not at all concerned about throwing the other one under the bus. “Mom told me to hide the letters the days she couldn’t get to the mail before Manny got home. I didn’t want to,” she lies. “And Mom read all of them too. She knew what was going on.”

  “Claire!” Shelly’s voice is shrill, but the truth has been revealed. Dad is very still, an iron statue of silent rage. I inherited my temper from him, but I’ve never seen him lose it. He spends countless hours in the gym and the courtroom, channeling his fury into something useful. Over the past three years, I’ve honed my firm control by observing him. Shelly looks at Dad, her face pleading. “She was a bad influence, Dennis, and Manuel was already having problems. I was doing him a favor. Really, I only wanted to keep him safe.”

  “Do you know why I was so angry? It was because I couldn’t talk to her. And what about her safety? If you read the letters, you knew exactly what she was going through. How could you just ignore the abuse of a thirteen-year-old girl?” I demand. The anger blazes through my veins and sparks on my skin like electricity.

  “Do you still have the letters?” Dad’s voice is like glass. It cuts through the air. Shelly flinches like it’s tangible or visible.

  She shakes her head. “No. I shredded them.”

  “Did you read them? Did you know what Senya was going through?”

  Shelly nods and sniffs. “If you ask me, it was best for Manuel not to be exposed to that girl. Her mother was a junkie who took felons into her bed. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She’s just like her mother. Of course, something like that was bound to happen. I didn’t want that kind of dirty drama affecting our family, Dennis.” She swipes at her skirt like it’s something that can be brushed away, and I step toward her. My body vibrates. I want to slap her. How dare she say Senya is like her mom? How dare she say that she somehow deserved it? No child deserves that. I take deep breaths as Apollo’s hand clasps my shoulder and brings me back to the moment.

  “Shelly.” My dad’s voice slices through the air like a whip. “Get out. You too, Claire.”

  Shelly stares at my dad, her eyes wide. “I did it for Manuel, Dennis. For our family. Your career could have been affected by associating with that kind of trash because I knew you would just want to help.”

  “Get out.” The ice in Dad’s voice makes me shiver. I’d almost forgotten how scary he can be.

  Shelly stands up, her shoulders pushed back. “What about dinner?” She has the nerve to ask.

  “Get out!” Dad roars. Both of the women jump and scurry from the room.

  Dad paces behind his desk, running a hand over his face. “Shut the door,” he directs one of the brothers. Orion follows the order. Anger fills my friends’ faces. Not much makes Orion angry, but his hands are clenched in response to my stepmother’s confession.

  “I’m sorry, Dad. I know she’s your wife, but…”

  “But what she did is unacceptable,” Dad finishes for me. I release a small breath of relief. Some small part of me was worried he’d take her side, but I should have had more faith. “How is she now?”

  “She’s suffered,” I answer in a soft voice. “Remember how she pushed me away when we got back here? It was because she thought I ignored her letters. She thought I left her in that shithole to be abused. I didn’t push her enough. I didn’t ask for an explanation.” I place some of the blame on my shoulders for not trying harder to get her back. “She says she stabbed someone. He’s in jail now.”

  Dad looks up at the ceiling. He’s seen a lot of horrid things in his career of prosecuting criminals. He knows how desperate a teenage girl has to be to stab a grown man. “I’ll look into the police records and make sure he was prosecuted fully,” he says finally. “It’s not enough and it will never make up for what that woman did, Manny. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I was so concerned with my cases at the time. I never knew.”

  “It’s not your fault, Dad.”

  Dad looks at the brothers. “Senya didn’t turn to you guys either?”

  They shake their head, and Orion speaks. His voice is serious for once. “We spent three months going to her junior high, trying to find out where she lived and why she hadn’t tried to contact us when we returned from camp. She was either never there or avoided us. I think she just felt alone and might have been mad at us because she thought we were with Manny or something. Even Aric got pushed away until after he moved to her junior high, and she still held him at a distance. We’ve finally convinced her to be friends again, but…”

  “She’s been through a lot. She’s probably not the same girl,” Dad finishes.

  I shake my head. “No, but she’s still just as amazing as she used to be.” I don’t hide the adoration and love in my voice. I want my father to know how important she is to me.

  “She’s still with her mother?”

  “Yes. She says it’s okay, but that apartment she lives in…” Apollo shakes his head. “It’s not good, Mr. Waters.”

  My hands clench again. When Apollo told me about the mess she lived in, I almost went there to drag her out.

  “I’ll see what I can do about getting her out of there. She’s almost eighteen?”

  “In April,” I reply with a nod.

  Dad sighs. “I know it’s a little too late to heal the wounds she’s suffered, but if I can help in any way, I will. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault, Dad. I just…” I pull at my shirt nervously. “Shelly has never been kind to me, Claire either, and she’s not that nice to you either.”

  Dad holds up his hand. “I know. When you get older, you just settle sometimes. It’s been easier to just ignore her and throw money at her instead of dealing with her irritating pleas. I love the twins too. I can’t imagine them not living with me, but this may be the last straw. What she did is unacceptable, especially when she knows how I feel about predators preying on children. I don’t blame you for being mad about it. She’s been a bitch to you ever since you came to live with us. Hell, she was against you even before that. You’ve dealt with it really well. I understand how important Senya was – is – to you though. A little bit of advice, boys. Don’t settle. Love an honest woman, protect her, and support her.”

  A lump rises in my throat. I would have always protected her from anything, but I can’t turn back time. I resolve to protect her from now on. I catch the brothers’ eyes. I’m not alone. Together, we’ll support her. Hopefully, it helps rebuild her after the trauma she endured. I doubt my dad intends for us to love, protect, and support the same woman, but she’s who we want.

  I give my dad a hug and tell him I’m spending the night at the Tuckers’ house. He nods absently. H
is mind has already moved on to what to do about his wife and her carbon-copy daughter. I want to say I’m sorry again, but I’m sure he does too. I didn’t set out to ruin his marriage, but I can’t deny that I’m not upset about it. Even if he doesn’t divorce her, he’ll never trust her again. It won’t make up for abandoning Senya, but it soothes a little of my need for vengeance.

  I’m not perfect.

  Chapter 21

  Senya

  Thoughts of the men that used to be boys fill my entire shift, and I can’t resist telling Belle all about it. She goes crazy and asks a million questions, and we spend the whole time giggling and talking about what it would be like to have four boyfriends. She seems a little jealous, and I don’t blame her. If they choose to go forward, I’m lucky. I’ve got my heart set on it now. I’ve been without them for so long; I don’t want to spend another minute without them again. If they decide they can’t share me, I don’t know how I’ll feel. I can’t choose one of them.

  Chad ignores me, treating me like any other employee, and my heart is light when I finally escape work. The night is chilly. I shiver as I pull the stupid polo shirt out of my stupid khakis. I hate my work uniform. I hate the tight waistband around my stomach. I’ve always been a sensitive kid. I remember my dad having such a hard time with it, but Maria had always been so patient. Aric is waiting with his bike, and he looks up from his phone to give me a wave. I wave back, trying to keep from smiling like a giddy school girl.

  “You need to wear more clothes,” he scolds me with a frown, his eyes roaming over the gooseflesh rising on my arms.

  “Really? Because I can think of four very good reasons to lose some clothes.”

  He laughs while he removes his jacket and slides it over my shoulders. It smells like him – leather and grease. “You’re a handful, aren’t you?” His lips brush against my ear; it sends fire straight to my core. I’ve been in a state of constant arousal for a day, maybe longer. I’m about to explode.