Three of Us

by Goode, Ella

  I sigh, dropping back down onto my bed. “Not yet,” I admit. I pull up our group text.

  “What’s your name?” I ask, realizing she hasn't told me. She was too shocked about the two boyfriends thing.

  I don’t give it much thought anymore. I guess it’s not normal, but it is to me. I’ve been theirs from the beginning. No one back home questions the Audley twins. They and a couple others ruled that place.

  “Erika,” she mumbles. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

  I fire off my text, telling them to get extra food and to double-check for more boxes in the truck.

  “If you haven’t actually done anything, then aren’t you just…friends?”

  I glance up from my phone. Erika’s no longer red, but her cheeks still have a lot of color and her forehead remains wrinkled. She plops down on her bed. I notice she doesn’t have much stuff on her side of the room. I’d been told my roommate was a junior, which is out of the ordinary. Generally, freshmen room with freshmen, but there was something about her having started college when she was sixteen, and with the way she keeps blushing I’m starting to think she’s younger than me.

  Her comment gives me an idea. “Never thought about it like that.” I wink.

  Quickly, I change their names in my phone to BFF One and BFF Two. I take a screenshot and send it to them. I start to count silently in my head. I don’t even get to two before my phone dings with a text message alert.

  Levi: Not fucking funny

  Zeke: Change it back.

  Me: I’ve been informed since we never do anything intimate, that would only make us friends. You two would definitely make the cut for BFF.

  Levi: I’m warning you.

  I can actually hear a growl of his warning in my head. After three years together you’d think he’d have figured out that while it might put the fear of God in others, it only makes me smile. He’s adorable when he’s all worked up. Adorable and hot.

  Zeke: That’s all right. I’ll fix it when I get back there.

  Zeke’s polite words are easy to read. By “fix,” he means take my phone from me. I hop up from my bed, looking for somewhere to hide my phone.

  “What are you doing?” Erika watches me.

  “I have to hide my phone,” I tell her. There really aren't a lot of options here. The whispers outside the door are growing louder, signaling the boys’ return. How the heck are they back already? I lift my pillow and shove the phone under it right as the door flies open.

  “Did you get fries? I could really go for some fries,” I exclaim.

  “Phone, Livvie.” Levi holds his hand out.

  “Oh, whatever did I do with it…” I pretend to look around. Erika laughs from her bed. Levi and Zeke don’t even glance her way because they’re too busy staring a hole into me. Zeke shakes his head before raising his wrist. He taps his watch and a second later, a muffled ding rings out from underneath my pillow.

  “You’re tracking me?” I shout in mock indignation. I place my hands on my hips like I’m surprised and shocked. Really, I’m neither. Levi shuts the door so the people in the hallway don’t get a front row seat to our mini fight.

  “You get her and I’ll get the phone,” Zeke orders.

  I squeal and try to dodge Levi, but the dorm room is too small and Levi is too quick. He grabs me around the waist and lifts me high against him. Reflexively, I wrap my arms around his neck, inadvertently shoving his face against my chest. He stiffens immediately and I realize that this joke could turn out way better than I could have planned.

  3

  Levi

  Livvie’s boobs are soft. Soft and bouncy and incredibly erotic. My dick hardens in an instant. Fuck.

  “Can you get the phone, bro?” I growl.

  “Got it.” My brother whips around, holding the phone above his head like a trophy. The elation drains from his face immediately as he sees my predicament.

  He marches over and lifts Livvie off me, setting her to the side. “Sorry, bro,” he apologizes.

  I mutter, “Fine,” and turn to brace an arm against the door so I can hide until my hard-on subsides.

  “How did you guess my password so easily?” Livvie yelps.

  “You always use a variation of our birthdays. You might wanna rethink that,” Zeke advises. “Try for something truly random.”

  “And then never use my phone again because I can’t remember it? I promise you that we really don’t argue like this all the time,” Livvie says. She must be talking to the roommate. “Hey, come over here and meet my roommate.”

  “Give Levi a moment. It’s been a long day,” Zeke says.

  Long day? It’s been a long two years here at Brentwood without our girl, but now that she’s here, my body wants to pin her to the wall and rail her until we’re both too exhausted to stand.

  And I can’t do that. Not until she’s eighteen. Zeke and I haven’t discussed the D-date because neither of us are sure she’s ready.

  Livvie’s mom made us promise not to touch our girl until she was eighteen. We agreed because Livvie’s mom is awesome and we respect her. Plus, we plan on her being our mom-in-law and you don’t want to start the rest of your life on the wrong foot. Even without the pledge to Livvie’s mom, Zeke and I probably would’ve waited. The longer that time has passed, the more rational Livvie’s mom sounded.

  Give her a chance to find herself. The person Olivia was at ten is not the person she is now at fifteen. The person she will be at twenty is not who she is now. You and your brother are overwhelming personalities and the only way for your unconventional relationship to survive is for Olivia to truly know herself and be your equal.

  My dick deflates enough that I can face Olivia and her roommate. I push away from the door and throw my brother a sheepish grin.

  He gives me a sympathetic half-smile and gestures toward the wide-eyed girl sitting cross-legged on the bed. “This is Olivia’s roommate, Erika.”

  I cross the room to shake the girl’s hand. “I’m Levi. The better-looking version of the Audley twins.”

  The girl’s eyes dart from Zeke’s face to mine and then back again. “But, um, you’re identical.”

  “Not you, too!” cries Livvie. “I swear everyone says that they’re identical, but they’re really not. Levi’s eyes are bigger, but Zeke’s lower lip is fuller. And Levi’s ears are sort of pointy.” Livvie reaches up and brushes a finger across the top of my ear. A shiver runs down my spine and a groan nearly escapes. I move out of her reach.

  “Maybe you can see it but,” the roommate tilts her head, “they are exactly the same. In biology, they would be the prototype for identical twins.”

  Livvie throws up her hands. “I swear everyone is blind.” She turns to me. “Let’s eat. I’m hungry. By the way, I’m missing one of my boxes. It had a bunch of clothes I bought at the mall last week.”

  I almost look in Zeke’s direction but catch myself and instead walk over to the desk where I dropped the food to grab Livvie.

  When Zeke was loading the boxes, one of them came open and the stuff inside made his heart stop. While Livvie was saying goodbye to her mom, he stuffed the box in the corner. Zeke went and got food while I stashed the box across the street in the new condo Zeke and I bought, in preparation for Livvie’s arrival.

  I made the mistake of opening it. Inside were things that I didn’t even know existed—bras with cutouts around the nipple area, underwear with slashes in the center, stiff things that would squeeze her tight around the waist and push her tits up high. It was soft stuff and sexy stuff and I nearly nutted in my jeans just picturing her wearing one of these get ups.

  There’s a hard clap on my back. My brother stands over my shoulder with a worried look.

  “You okay?” he asks quietly. “Our girl’s hungry.”

  “And wouldn’t I like to feed her,” I grumble. Feed her my dick. I’d part those cherry lips of hers with the tip of my shaft and then sink into her hot, wet mouth inch-by-everloving-inch.


  Whack!

  My head jerks forward.

  I reach up and sweep his hand away from my skull. “What was that for?”

  “Stop thinking with your little head. Now’s not the time. We promised we would wait, remember?”

  “I know.” I scowl. “I’m not doing anything.”

  “You’re thinking about it.”

  I lower my voice. “Damn right I am. You’re telling me you didn’t see the shit in that box and not nearly come in your pants?”

  It’s Zeke’s turn to grimace. “Why’d you think I stole the box? We can’t let her wear any of that stuff around us. The minute she puts one of those things on, we’re doomed.”

  “I know that.”

  “So stop thinking about it. It’s not going to help us wait out the next few days.”

  “Are you guys actually cooking lunch on my desk or what over there?” calls Livvie. “I think Erika is dying over here.”

  “No. I’m fine,” the roommate protests.

  I drag a hand down my face, tell my dick to get its mind out of the gutter and grab the carbonara and breadsticks. It’s only a few more days. I can last that long, right?

  4

  Olivia

  “Oh, crap!” I gasp when I’m jolted awake. My body hits the hard ground, ending my perfect dream of me doing something about Levi’s massive hard-on that had been pressed up against me yesterday. I was rubbing myself up and down on his thick shaft when the hard floor decided to interrupt my fantasies. The throw rug my mom bought doesn't soften my fall at all. A light flicks on, and I wince in the sudden brightness. Once again, my panties are sticky with wetness. Not only am I being tortured by them in real life, they’re in my dreams too. This can’t go on or I’m going to die.

  “I’m okay,” I say before Erika can even ask. “Guess I’m not used to a twin-sized bed.” I blink a few times, adjusting to the light. With a hand over her mouth, Erika attempts to muffle her laughter. “I’m kind of a klutz,” I admit. “Don’t let the boyfriends know I admitted to that.” I sit up, rubbing my head. I hope I don’t get a knot on my forehead from the fall.

  “Your secret is safe with me,” Erika says, giving up on hiding her amusement. She grabs her glasses from the nightstand and slides them on. “Though they might ask.” She points to her forehead.

  “Great,” I mumble, realizing my tumble must have left a mark. I walk over to the bathroom and inspect my face. There’s a small reddish bump, but with a touch of cover-up, I can hide it. Since I’m up, I go ahead with my morning routine before vacating the bathroom for Erika.

  “It’s all yours,” I tell her.

  She lets out a yawn and stretches before she scurries into the bathroom. I make my way over to my clothes to find something to wear. After Levi and Zeke left last night, I called my mom to tell her I was all settled in and gave her a rundown of how everything had gone. She made me FaceTime her so I could introduce her to my new roommate. Even then Erika was shy. Just talking to my mom left a red tinge on her cheeks.

  It made me feel oddly protective of her. I know I’m the freshman, but have the feeling she hasn’t ventured out much. Based on our talk last night, she goes from class, to the library then back to her dorm room. I’m glad I have a roommate. Getting to know her made it easier to not think about how I could easily slip from my dorm room over to Levi and Zeke’s place which would break my promise to Mom.

  Erika didn't share much, but her parents come off as overachievers that expect her to live up to impossibly high standards. She lives in the dorm because she is taking so many classes that she doesn’t have time to take care of her own place. When I asked who she hung out with, she gave me a blank stare before saying, vaguely, “just some friends.” She sounds lonely. My mom and I have always been close. It’s part of why when I’m done here I want to move back home. I like being close to her. Even Levi and Zeke love her like a second mom.

  “You want to come to orientation with me?” I shout so she can hear me through the closed bathroom door.

  “I’m going to the bathroom,” she whispers in mildly shocked tones.

  “I kinda figured. With you being in the bathroom and all,” I laugh. The water runs and a moment later, the bathroom door opens.

  “You can’t talk to me while I’m going to the bathroom.”

  I’m not sure if that was a question or statement, but I go ahead and answer, “Why not? I can talk and pee at the same time. I mean, I won’t do it if it bothers you or something.”

  “No, it’s fine. I—” She laughs and shakes her head as if coming to her own realization. “You’re right. I can talk and pee. Just don’t tell my parents that.”

  “I think I can keep that secret if you can keep mine.” I point to my forehead that I still need to cover up. “Your parents sound a little high-strung.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Erika sighs, going over to her own cubby and digging through her clothes. “Technically, I don’t have to live on campus anymore, but the only other option would be living with my parents again since my class load is so big. My last roommate would relieve herself on the floor after she spent the night drinking and I still chose to keep rooming with her over going back home.”

  I nod but I don’t really understand. It would suck not to be close to my mom. It makes my heart hurt for her that she doesn’t have that in her life. Though if she stays close to me, my mom will be all over her too. It’s how my mom is.

  “What are you wearing?” I grab my favorite pair of shorts. I’m not sure if they can be classified as shorts anymore since they are so tiny and tattered. I’ve just about worn them out, but I refuse to give them up. Levi and Zeke think that I threw them in the garbage. Hopefully I can get back to my room without them seeing me. I smile, thinking about the possibility of them seeing me wearing them. If I am suffering from want, they should, too.

  “I’m a yoga pants kind of girl,” she says. She disappears into the bathroom again. I slip on my shorts and one of the shirts I ordered online with the university logo on the front. I experience a second of indecision when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror over my desk. The scooped neckline shows a lot more of my chest than I’m usually comfortable showing, but it plays into my overall plan. I slip on some flip-flops while pulling my hair on top of my head. I don’t want to mess with it right now. Sometimes you have to go outside your comfort zone to get the results you want.

  Erika comes out a moment later in a pair of yoga pants and a shirt that is two times too big for her and engulfs her slim body.

  “You do yoga?” I ask. She looks limber and fit. She reminds me of a ballerina.

  “If wearing yoga pants counts as doing yoga, then I yoga all the time.” She smiles over at me. The joke is silly, but I can’t help but smile back, probably bigger than I should. It’s nice she’s coming out of her shell a little.

  “So you’re coming with?” I grab my cell phone and slide on my crossbody purse.

  “Yeah, but pretty sure you BFFs said for you to keep your”—she pauses for a second—“ ‘sexy ass put’ until we come for you.” She finishes, but her cheeks are only lightly stained with pink this time.

  “Meh.” I wave my hand. “I’m up already. Let them sleep. They’ll track me down when they get up.”

  She shakes her head like I’m crazy. The Audley twins are giant and can be intimidating, but I know under that bark lies nothing but sweetness. I don’t bother telling her that because no one ever believes me. She’ll see soon enough how sweet they are to me.

  We head out. “Everyone is looking at you,” Erika mumbles under her breath while we walk down the long hallway. I look up from my phone to see people are looking at me. I shrug. It’s not like I didn’t experience this before in my small town. I just never really cared what other people thought about us.

  “What can we eat around here?” I change the subject when I notice she doesn’t like the people looking at us and push open the door to take the stairs down.

  �
�There’s a coffee hut two blocks over. They have breakfast sandwiches and some pastries.”

  “Sounds good.” Erika points out a few places to me as we walk.

  “Ladies,” a man calls to us as we walk down the sidewalk. We stop walking as he jogs over to us, a stack of yellow papers in hand. “You should come. You both could definitely help out our house.” He hands me one of the flyers.

  I glance up at him. His wavy blond hair gives him a pretty-boy surfer look. “Your house?” I ask, looking back down at the flyer. It’s got a cute grizzly bear on it. “Like a wildlife house?” Maybe it’s some bear rescue or something.

  He laughs. “Yeah, it can get wild.” He runs his hand through his hair. “We need to do some repairs on the house and we’re doing a car wash to help raise the money. You should come.”

  “We’ll think about it,” I tell him. I glance over the flyer again. Bold type declares: Volunteers needed for the WOW Car Wash. All money collected goes to the Bears fund.

  “Bring your bikinis. It can get wet.” He winks before jogging off and towards another group of girls walking by.

  “Are there even bears around here?” I ask Erika.

  She shrugs and looks over the flyer. “Only bears I know about are shifter ones I read in romance books.” Her mouth falls open and her face turns a shade redder than I’ve seen on her before. I burst into laughter. I like that I’m not the only person who says things before they think.

  “Pretty sure my boyfriends are bears. They just can’t shift,” I tease, trying to ease her embarrassment over her small slip. I nudge her with my elbow. “That I know of,” I add, and she giggles. “And don’t hold out on the book recs. I love a good romance, too. They have gotten me through the last couple of years,” I sigh.

  We fall into talking about our favorite books. I fold the flyer up and put it in my purse as we order. I get a hot chocolate and muffin. Erika gets the same. We sit down at an open table outside, and I pull out my phone to check the time.