Patting me on the shoulder, she said, “It’s not up to your parents who you love. You’re an adult, Kelly, and so are the twins. If the three of you have decided to be in a relationship together, no matter how unusual it is, you have the right to make that decision and be happy about it. You’re not hurting anybody and you need to stay strong if your family gives you hell about your decision.”
The front door opened and I looked up at Asher as he walked in. As soon as he saw my face, he scowled and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,’ I answered. “I just finally told April the truth about us.” Spitting out that confession was all I could do to explain why I was suddenly feeling so down about everything.
Asher quickly crossed the room and took a seat on the couch behind me. Wrapping his warm, strong arms around me, he pulled my back against his chest and kissed me on the cheek. My eyes flicked to April and I smiled to see the expression on her face.
“You two are making me jealous,” she said. “Thank goodness Alex isn’t here to join in because if I saw both of them hugging on you, I think I would implode.”
Asher’s chest shook with laughter. “So I take it your reaction isn’t the reason Kelly looks like someone just ran over her puppy?”
“Not unless me telling her she’s my new hero is something that upset her.”
Laughing again, Asher asked, “She’s your hero?”
April blushed. “Kelly is dating two very gorgeous men.” Her cheeks flamed even redder. “There are probably a thousand girls out there who would kill to be in her shoes. Me included.”
Asher hugged me tighter and said, “Well, that’s strange because this entire time I thought it was Alex and me who were the lucky ones for being allowed to date Kelly.”
My heart skipped a beat at his sweet words and I remembered instantly that it didn’t matter what people thought about us as long as I had both of them in my life. Apparently the warm and fuzzy feeling from Asher’s words weren’t only felt by me. April swooned a little bit as she melted back against the couch.
Turning my head slightly so that my cheek was resting against Asher’s chest, I said, “Our caps and gowns came in. I put yours on the bed if you want to try it on.”
He groaned and said, “I guess I should, just to make sure it fits my shoulders. I got the largest size possible, so I don’t think it will be an issue.” Pushing me up so he could get up from the couch, he walked through the living room and disappeared into the bedroom. I laughed when I noticed it wasn’t just me that was watching his fine ass move through the room.
Catching April’s eye, I winked and asked, “So you think I did good, huh?”
Nodding her head emphatically, she answered, “Uh…yeah. Real good. And I wouldn’t let other people’s opinions about it worry you – or cause you all to rethink your relationship. If the three of you have found a way to make it work and you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
Her words helped calm my nerves, but there was still the ultimate question about what would happen when our parents found out. I didn’t want to cause any kind of strain on the family and I worried that if they reacted badly, it would ultimately lead to the three of us breaking up.
Just the thought of something like that happening was enough to shatter my heart.
Chapter Three
“It’s graduation day! Look at the three of you! You’re making me feel old. Now stand closer together so I can get a shot of you before you walk the line.” My mother stood proud with her new digital camera, fiddling with the buttons as she prepared to take the group photo. I smiled big, despite the fact that we looked like three ripe tomatoes in these horrid red gowns.
After snapping a few photos that may or may not have been in focus, my mom pulled the camera away from her face and stepped back to wrap her arm around my stepdad’s waist. “Just look at our children, all grown up and graduating college.”
I smiled to see her so happy, but in my heart I carried the weight of the world. I didn’t want to disappoint her, and I knew that revealing my relationship with Asher and Alex would do just that.
Over the past several weeks, the three of us had been debating about when and how to tell our parents. Alex joked around that we should just leave them a note and hope that they found it while we were out of the house. Asher felt that it would be better for me to tell my mom separately from them telling their dad. My mom tended to be somewhat of an emotional train wreck and perhaps their father would have a better chance of calming her down if he already knew about the situation and had time to digest it himself before taking my mother head on.
I had to agree with Asher, and it was decided that they would tell their father first to allow him to come to terms with the information. After that, we would all sit my mother down and let her know.
We also didn’t plan on telling them immediately when we returned home. We decided to start searching for jobs and an apartment as soon as we could, and once we found a place where we wanted to move, we would let our parents know before we moved out.
I hoped we would find jobs and an apartment quickly because I wasn’t looking forward to spending the nights alone in my room knowing that Asher and Alex were only a few feet away from me down the hall.
“Graduates, please start assembling and take your seats. The ceremony will begin in thirty minutes.” The Dean’s voice echoed out across the large room and I waved goodbye to my mom and made my way to my seat with Asher and Alex by my side. We had to separate once we reached the rows of chairs because my last name was never changed to be the same as theirs. My mom offered to let me change my last name years ago so that I wasn’t the only person in the family with a different name, but I chose to keep my father’s.
Finding my seat, I sat down heavily and waited for the long ceremony to begin. Opening announcements seemed to drag on forever and then the valedictorian of the class was introduced and gave a long winded speech about the future, our choices, the new generation, family, and being thankful for all the blessings we’d received by being loved by friends and families who pushed us to be the best we could be in life. With each word she spoke about family, my heart sank more due to my fear of breaking my mother’s heart.
In truth, my mom had always been there for me, but it wasn’t her that made my life better in the end – it was the twins; their friendship, their love and the light they brought into my life.
In a roundabout way, the twins made me strong when we were young. They teased me, they tormented me and they made me grow a spine and thick skin. But after finding out that all of their torment had been their stupid way of expressing their interest in me, they’d taught me how to forgive and how to accept love from two people I thought I would always hate.
Regardless of our parents’ relationship, they had always been in my life and through their own stupid decisions, and eventual smart decisions, they had shaped my life.
It put a smile on my face to think about it, a smile I wore the entire walk I made up to the stage to accept my diploma when my name was finally called. As soon as my hand landed on the piece of paper, I heard two males voices that hooted and hollered above all the other voices and I turned to see both of them standing up out of turn to congratulate me on my success.
Laughter bubbled from my chest as I watched the twins make asses out of themselves, only to get reprimanded by the administrators that were standing in their area. Both of them blew me a quick kiss before finally taking their seats.
The ceremony ended and we went out with my parents for a quick late lunch, spending most of the meal listening to my mother fawn over the achievement of her children. I winced every time she referred to Alex and Asher as her boys, my stomach twisting into knots knowing that someday I would have to admit to her that her ‘boys’ were also my boys in a way that would shock her to the core.
The sun was setting when Alex, Asher and I returned to our apartment. Walking in, I looked around the space mentally calculating how many boxes we would need
to pack up the belongings we’d acquired since moving in four years earlier.
“Don’t even think about it, Kelly.” Alex’s voice called out from behind me just before he wrapped his arms around me and turned me towards him. “I’m not going to let you ruin our graduation night with thoughts about what we’re going to tell our parents about us…and thoughts about how we’re going to move all of this stuff back home this weekend.”
I laughed. “How did you know?”
He smiled. “Because I can hear the gears grinding in your head whenever you’re trying to figure things out and it’s not going to happen tonight. From this moment forward, you’re not allowed to think about anything besides how quickly you can get naked so we can celebrate our graduation in style.”
Asher’s laughter boomed out from the kitchen. “I’m mixing up some drinks. I think with a few of these in her, she can dance for us while she strips naked. I mean, we deserve a little show after what we did for her today.”
My mouth fell agape and I turned around, even though Alex refused to let me go. As he pulled me tight against his body, I eyed Asher and asked, “What am I paying you back for, exactly?”
He smiled. “For our enthusiasm when you received your diploma. You were the only student that walked who received a standing ovation for their achievement. I think that’s worth something.”
The shocked expression on my face made him chuckle, and he looked away quickly to pour some clear liquor into a glass.
Alex finally let me go and walked into the small kitchen to steal one of the drinks from Asher. He took a large sip and his face puckered almost immediately. His throat worked hard to swallow down the sip and he let out a big breath. “What the hell was that?”
Asher shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just mixing a bunch of stuff together to see what happens.” Taking the glass from Alex, he splashed a bit of cola onto the top and handed it back. “There. Try it now.”
Alex took another sip and almost spit it out. Clenching his lips together, he finally forced it down and squeaked out, “It’s good. It’s kind of like drinking fire…or gasoline.”
Smiling, Asher topped off two more glasses with cola and reached out to hand me one. I grimaced, but walked forward anyway and took the glass from his hand.
Holding it up, I asked, “Am I going to regret this?”
Both of the twins grinned and spoke in unison when they answered, “Not if there’s anything we can do about it.”
Chapter Four
“Tackle her, Alex! Don’t let her get away!”
Running around the room, I stumbled over my own feet as I attempted to out-maneuver a far bigger and more athletic man. Alex smiled at me as Asher came up from one side, effectively cornering me so that Alex could leap over the back of the couch and take me down.
We’d been playing pranks on each other all night and when I replaced Asher’s water with pure vodka and he took a big, supposedly refreshing sip, he came across the room at me and now employed Alex to hold me down.
Laughter was bubbling from my lungs and tears were running down my heated cheeks. Playing around with them like this made me feel like a kid and I cherished the moments when we could just let loose and feel free to be ourselves without the constraints of school, our family or society.
Leaping across the room, Alex wrapped his strong arms around my body, dragging me to the floor before sitting down on my legs to keep me down. Asher crossed the room slowly, wringing his hands together with thoughts of what he would do to me to get even.
I knew I was in trouble and I attempted to fight my way free, but Alex held me in place without even having to try.
Kneeling down by my head, Asher bent over to whisper in my ear. “Did you think that was funny?”
I bit my lip to contain the laughter that still wanted to escape my lungs. Nodding my head, I admitted the truth when I choked out, “Yes.”
He made a fake stern face, “It wasn’t funny.”
Remembering the look on his face and the way he spit the vodka out all over the kitchen, I laughed again, more tears running down my face as Alex started to tickle my sides.
“I think our little lady needs a lesson in manners,” Asher said. “What do you think, Alex?”
Alex looked down at me, a sweet smile pulling at his lips. “Oh. I definitely think so.” As soon as Alex pushed up and the weight of his body was no longer on my legs, Asher grabbed me by the arms pulling me from the floor and picking lifting me to throw over his shoulder. His palm slapped against my butt sharply, the loud sound echoing through the room.
“Ouch!” I cried out…but in all honesty, I was too drunk to really feel the sting of the slap.
“Stop complaining, little girl. It’s time for you to pay up for our show that we put on for you today.”
With Alex tagging along behind us, Asher carried me into the bedroom and set me down on my feet in front of the large closet. Taking his seat on the bed, he was immediately joined by Alex and both men stared at me with messy brown hair framing their masculine faces. I stared into both of their jewel green eyes and suddenly felt shy because they watched me so intently.
“What would you boys like me to do?” I asked, a bit of a slur to my speech. I was feeling warm and fuzzy from the alcohol coursing through my veins and I was down for anything the twins wanted to do.
“Dance for us, beautiful.” Alex answered.
Laughter fell from my lips. “There’s no music.”
Grabbing the remote from the bedside table, Asher flicked the button and the lights on the stereo system lit up. Flipping through the stations he landed on a polka song and turned up the volume with a sly grin curling the corner of his lips.
I stared at him with wide eyes and shook my head. “You can’t be serious.”
He turned the song up and his smile brightened.
Fine, I thought. He wanted me to dance to polka. I would dance to polka. Not knowing a damn thing about how to dance, I started moving my feet in what most likely resembled some kind of drunken attempt at river dancing, my arms coming up and held out like I was dancing a Russian folk dance. I had no idea what I was doing and the twins were able to keep a straight face for all of five seconds before both of them burst out laughing.
“Okay, stop!” Alex said while clutching his sides. “Change the music, Asher.”
With a quick flick of his thumb, Asher pressed the button and a new song came on, something dark, sexy and with a beat that was intended to add an extra wiggle to any woman’s hips.
“That’s more like it,” I said as my body started to move to the song, my eyes locked to the twins as they leaned back on the bed, heat entering both of their green eyes.
They watched me without unblinking, their chests moving in and out with excited breath as I tugged at the bottom of my shirt and began to pull it up my body.
Moving as slow as molasses, I pulled the cloth over my head and held out my arm, opening my hand to allow the shirt to fall to the floor. Spinning on my unsteady feet, I wiggled my ass to the beat of the song, my fingers moving to the button of my pants, loosening the material before I pushed the tight jeans down my hips.
The material bunched at my feet and when I went to kick it off, I tripped and landed on my ass.
Howling laughter sounded behind me and my cheeks lit up with humor and embarrassment – especially when Alex and Asher started clapping.
I felt two strong hands on my shoulders and Asher’s warmth breath roll along my neck and cheek when he walked over and whispered, “That was the sexiest thing I’ve seen my entire life. Although, it’s probably a good thing you got your degree today.”
Turning to him, I asked, “Why?”
He chuckled, “Because you would make a horrible stripper.” Throwing a dollar bill in my lap, he said, “But that’s for your effort.”
My jaw fell open and I slapped at him playfully, not fighting back when he picked me up and carried me to the bed.
My pants were still tangled arou
nd my ankles and as soon as my body hit the mattress, Alex pulled them from my feet. Asher’s soft lips brushed against my mouth, his eyes locking to mine before he closed them and leaned down to take my lips with so much demand and passion that it stole the breath from my lungs.
With Alex’ strong hands running up my calves and thighs, Asher reached over to cup the weight of my breast in his hand – his tongue dancing against mine as he kissed me deep and slow.
I sighed, my body tingling with excitement because I’d been with the boys long enough to know when our night together would be short and sweet – or when it would be long and painfully sensual.
Tonight would be a long night and I settled against the mattress ready and willing for them to do whatever they wanted.
Alex’s fingers tickled my sides as he pulled the sides of my panties off my hips and down my legs. Meanwhile, Asher took his time making love to my mouth with his own. Neither twin was in a rush and I squirmed beneath them both, ready and waiting for whatever they would do to me.
Pulling his lips from mine, Asher kissed along my jaw and pressed his mouth against my ear. “I love you, Kelly,” he whispered.
My heart swelled with warmth and I caught my breath just enough to say, “I love you too.”
The next thing I felt was Alex’ lips trail along my inner thighs, his hands gripping my legs as he forced them apart. A sigh left my lips when his mouth closed over my pussy, his tongue tipping out to circle over my clit, slowly driving the small bit of skin into a throbbing frenzy.
I was so sensitive to touch after a few seconds of his kissing between my legs that when Asher reached between my back and the mattress to undo my bra, I gasped out, relaxing down again when I felt the lace pull free and his hands slip the straps down and off my arms.
I was completely naked, being teased into submission by two men I would love forever.
Asher idly played with my breasts, his eyes locked to my body as he used his fingers to pinch and pull my nipples into sensitive and tight peaks. My pussy clenched tighter when Alex pushed two fingers inside me, slowly pushing in and pulling out until I was panting with need for more.
Dearest Stepbrother: Double Trouble - Ultimate Bundle Page 11
