Undeniable: Reverse Harem Story #3

by Royce, Rebecca

  Banyan’s grin fell. “Might be the first time you have to work for it.”

  “Truth.” Maven nodded. “We’ll see if I can do it. They teach using the Socratic Method.”

  I didn’t know what that was. “Like what?”

  “It’s supposed to be like what Socrates used to teach his students. Teaching by questioning, never coming to an answer. Probing questions. All assumptions challenged. So even when you know a plus b equals c you have to challenge it and you might come out confused into thinking it meant d even when it still equaled c.”

  My head hurt thinking about it. “Maven, you’re super smart. You can do whatever you need to and you can thrive at it.”

  He didn’t answer for a second. “Thanks, Giovanna. I needed to hear that tonight.”

  “Why tonight, specifically?”

  Chance’s phone beeped and he sighed, rising. “It’s my brother. He wants to talk. I thought he was in London, but it turns out he’s been living on a sailboat for the last six months with three women somewhere near New Zealand.” He grinned at me. “Guess we like threes in my family.”

  Banyan threw his head back, laughing. “Must run somewhere in the genes.”

  My face heated up. I’d survived telling the detective about us, but for some reason, this was setting me over the edge. I’d get used to it. At some point I wouldn’t blink about just outing my life to anyone who wanted to know about it.

  “Anyway, I’m going to call him to talk about Dad. Be back in a second.”

  Maven leaned on his knees. I hadn’t forgotten him. I reached out to rub the back of his neck. “Why today, Maven? What’s going on?”

  “My father is getting out of jail early, or at least there is a large chance he will.” Maven cracked his knuckles. “And my mother let me know today that when he does, I will be expected to come to the big family reunion to greet him and celebrate his release from jail.”

  He stared at the floor as he spoke, as though the rug beneath our feet was suddenly incredibly interesting. I took a deep breath. This was the deep shame of Maven’s life. The man handled everything like he couldn’t be touched by pain except for this.

  What had happened with his father I didn’t one hundred percent understand because finance was something of which I only had a partial understanding. But his father had done something illegal with junk bonds. I supposed I could Google the whole thing. His dad’s name would likely bring up the trial and an explanation about what happened. Only, I didn’t want to do that. I really only wanted to know what Maven was willing to share.

  We were all entitled to dish out our pain on our own personal timelines.

  I touched his knee. “How does this make you feel?”

  He lifted his gaze. “Like I wish he could stay in jail forever so I never had to deal with him again.” He rubbed his face. “And I wish they could shove my mother in there with him just for shits and giggles. My parents are mean, selfish people. They got off, I think, on hurting each other and didn’t give a shit how that ultimately affected me. And maybe that makes me selfish, too, that I am making this all about me-me-me but children are entitled to a certain amount of… at the very least… safety from their families.”

  “Maven, you are one of the three least selfish people I know.”

  He took my hand, bringing my knuckles to his mouth, and he kissed them. “Thanks for that, Library.”

  “She’s not wrong.” Banyan stretched out his leg on the coffee table. “You are, without even knowing it, pretty selfless. Always have been since I’ve known you. We once shared a bedroom that didn’t include just sleeping with Giovanna, so yeah, I think I can speak for how you really are. She’s right.”

  He waved his hand in the air, and Banyan threw a pillow at him, which made Maven grin. “So they’re going to have a party, and I’m expected to come celebrate. I haven’t talked to the man since he went away, but yeah, I’ll come be all rah-rah if that’s what they want. I guess. I don’t know. What obligation do I have to them?”

  Banyan shook his head. “Can I be really mercurial for a minute?”

  “Always.” Maven nodded. “But I know what you’re going to say. She controls my trust fund until I’m twenty-five. I’ve got three more years of crap to swallow and then the money is mine. She could cut it off before then.”

  Chance stood by the doorway, watching us. His phone call must have been over. “You don’t need it. You have a home here.”

  “And I’d cover your tuition.” Banyan added before looking at me. “No one controls my trust fund or Chance’s.”

  Maven was so still, if I hadn’t had my hand on his leg, I might not have been sure he was alive or a statue. I did know what it was like to suddenly find yourself alone in the world, to be a grown up and be expected to just have the ability to function when maybe you didn’t. But my situation was different than Maven’s. I was never going to have a trust fund. He wasn’t trying to live off it forever. In fact, it looked like he was about to start a really challenging school experience in order not to have to do that.

  “The thing is…” When he did finally speak it was a low whisper. “My grandfather left that money to me. My parents are shadow images of what they should be. They’re not real, they’re all show and no reality. That finally came out when the old man got locked away. I’d always known it. They pretty much ignored me unless I fucked up. That was good because when they did get involved, it was scary. There is punishment and then there is making a kid think you might leave them on the side of the road to die if they get a note home in first grade. I don’t want them getting to say I can’t have what he left to me.”

  I didn’t blame him. If they took away his financial security, it would mean he might have to come back to them for things again. Except that Chance and Banyan would see to it that didn’t happen. What was the right thing for him to do?

  “Then I guess we’re all going to Pop’s welcome home party.” Banyan announced. “We’re all invited, right? Because if we’re not, we’re totally crashing.”

  Maven sighed. “You’re all coming. Whether they like it or not.”

  “What day is this?” Chance turned to ask.

  “Assuming they actually let him out and there aren’t things that can go wrong until the last minute, I’m just going to go with the idea that it’s happening. Sunday. At noon.”

  Sunday at noon. “We’ll be there. You can count on it.”

  “I know.” He smiled at me. “And that’s amazing.”

  Just then Banyan’s phone buzzed, a loud sound that I wasn’t used to. He grabbed it and stared down. “It’s the alert that someone who is not Molly is approaching the house. Shows me a video feed.” Banyan paused. “Aw, fuck.”

  There was only one person I could think of who would get Banyan to react like that. “Your mom?” I got to my feet.

  “What is it with all of our parents? Is the universe aligning to make the assholes who gave us DNA go crazy these last weeks?”

  I touched his arm a second before the doorbell rang. “Maybe she’s just saying hi.”

  “Maybe pigs are going to fly out of my asshole.” He winced. “Sorry. I can come up with a better analogy. That was low grade.”

  I dragged him forward. “Come on. You need to answer the door. Get it over with. You can’t leave her standing out there.”

  “I could. I absolutely could leave her standing out there. Where is there a law, Maven, that says I can’t leave the woman who once dressed me up in her clothes when I was six years old and made me walk around in her heels in front of her bitch friends for kicks couldn’t stand forever on my front porch?”

  Maven shook his head. “No law I know. Leave her there.”

  All right, if that was what he wanted that was what we could do. “Do we let her know we’re in here or do we pretend we’re not home? Like should I turn on every light and blast music?”

  “I fucking love you.” Banyan walked to the door. “I’m letting her in. All hands on deck. I’m not
doing the mama drama tonight alone.”

  I turned to Chance. “How is your brother?”

  “Also ignoring my dad.” He ran a hand through his air. “And apparently now vegan. On a boat where they were presumably supposed to be fishing.”

  That was interesting. “Would that make him a pescetarian?”

  “You know I don’t think so. I get the impression they are going around on an old fishing boat in some kind of orgy thing with their pantry stocked with vegetables, not fishing at all. It was hard to tell exactly because I think he was also high as a kite.”

  “Did someone say orgy?” Banyan’s mother floated into the room. The last time I’d seen her she’d been in a snit, really wanting attention. She’d been fake upset, and I’d gone along with it to get her out as quickly as I could manage. Tonight, she looked more like a woman trying really hard to not look like she cared what she looked like.

  I hadn’t known a lot about fashion before I’d worked for Kay and Connie. I still didn’t, not really. Their store had been a secondhand clothing store catering to college students and had included the owner’s unique brand of style here and there. So I knew what rich women were trying to wear, second hand or otherwise.

  This was a new look for me.

  She looked more like she belonged sitting on a lounge chair in the Southwest than strolling around the Upper East Side of Manhattan. But maybe I didn’t know the current trend. She was dressed in a jeans skirt like I might have worn to middle school dances—if I’d ever done such a thing. We’d been living in a tent in a brush somewhere during those years, but I’d seen movies, and the girls wore jean skirts. Her shirt was long but tight where it stopped maybe three inches above the bottom of the skirt. What was odder were the flowers in her hair. I was swept away to a vision of hippies on the streets of San Francisco.

  Banyan’s mom had paired the look with silver stiletto shoes. Her long, dyed hair flowed down her back, seeming much longer than the last time I’d laid eyes on her. She must have extensions. Her eyebrows here shaped differently, too, somehow pointier.

  There was no doubt she was gorgeous, had probably always been that way, and she must have worked hard to remain so. Banyan talked a lot about her going to spas. She was fit and thin. All of that probably took a lot of work.

  I respected the effort.

  I didn’t like that I was now sitting with an image of her parading Banyan around in high heels as a young boy to be laughed at by her friends. In fact, I wanted to claw her eyes out with my fingernails. I’d also been on the other end of adult laughter when my mom had made me read aloud—or attempt to—at about six years old to demonstrate my issues publicly.

  I stayed very still. She was Banyan’s mother. I’d follow his lead.

  “Oh.” She looked me up and down. “I see the girl is still here and wearing pajama pants.”

  I stared down at my clothing. She was right. I hadn’t given my outfit a thought since I’d sat down to write. I’d even seen the police detective that way. I had to remember to do better than this. I needed to at least get dressed in clothing when I got up in the morning so this didn’t become a habit.

  Not that the guys were complaining. They all seemed to want me out of my clothing more than in it.

  “Well, I like easy access.” Banyan walked behind me, pressing me against his chest, his arm coming across my middle to hold me to him. “Giovanna, you remember my mommy dearest? And say hi to Chance and Maven, Mom.”

  His mother held up her manicured hand in a universal sign for stop. “I don’t want to hear or think about your sex life, Banyan. Just cover it up. I’m way too young to be a grandmother.”

  “Oh, but they’ll call you Nana. Wouldn’t you love that?” Banyan seemed to be on a roll, and I tried not to wince. It was everything I could do not to elbow him to stop. “Besides, it might not be my baby. She’s dating all of us.”

  That temporarily took the smug boredom off her face. She visibly swallowed. “Well, that is interesting. I suppose you boys are entitled to your fun. I don’t see the appeal but whatever.”

  I closed my eyes. He’d walked right into that one.

  “Giovanna is the best thing to ever happen to any of us.” His voice was deadly serious. “And I know I’ve been needling you a little bit by being dramatic because seeing your face reverts me to an angry thirteen year old, but if you speak about her again in any disrespectful way, I will kick you out on your ass and never speak to you again. It would actually be a huge relief to do so.”

  I patted his arm. “Banyan, maybe you should find out why she came tonight.”

  Maven moved until he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Banyan. “We’re having an off night. And, yes, we’re all very protective of Giovanna.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “I came here to give you the good news. I’ve gotten an agent interested in your work.”

  Banyan’s whole body stiffened behind me. “How would you have done that, Mom? You’ve never seen my work.”

  She met his gaze head on before giving me the once over, again. “Well, let’s just say that I may have used you in conversation to get his attention. Anyway. Why does it matter? He’s interested. Come tomorrow night to the address I’m texting you and meet him. You do remember how to dress, right, Banyan?”

  Chance pointed at the door. “Out.”

  Everyone turned to regard him. Chance was usually so quiet in conflict. Was he seriously throwing Banyan’s mother out? She must not have believed it either because she didn’t move.

  I gently excused myself from Banyan’s arms to walk toward her. Doing my best impression of my mother, I slipped my arm into hers and ushered her toward the door. “Thank you for coming over tonight. It’s time for you to leave now. Banyan will be there tomorrow night dressed however he sees fit. It’s too good an opportunity to miss. Have a safe trip home.”

  By the time she thought to open her mouth, I’d gotten her through the door and out on the street. I shut the door quickly, leaning against it as though I could keep the world out with my body weight alone.

  Chance finally dropped his arm and turned to Banyan. “I couldn’t take another second.”

  Banyan nodded. “Why would some random agent who may or may not want to fuck my mother be interested in representing me?”

  “Because you’re Banyan Iburgess. If he’s investigated your mother, he knows your story. He knows the infamy of it. How she tried to wreck your father’s marriage. The scandal of it. There sometimes has to be an edge to sell things.” Maven never pulled punches when it came to the truth. It was hard for me to hear and must be ten times as much for Banyan. Still, there was no malice to it. Just sometimes in life what was true could really, really suck.

  Banyan stretched his arms over his head, his shirt rising slightly to expose his belly button. “Well, fuck, if it gets people to look at what I’ve done, then I guess I’ll continue to be the infamous baby that almost brought down the house of Banyan. I need a drink. I know we’re taking a break, toning it down. But I am having a drink outside of this house.”

  I didn’t know where my fake ID was. “Do you want company?”

  “No, actually.” He shook his head. “This is a drink I’ll have alone. I’ll be fine.” He grabbed his wallet off the side table. “Don’t wait up.”

  The whole thing was over so quickly I almost couldn’t believe he’d walked out the door. I rushed forward, flinging it open just in time to see him getting in a taxi. I never found cabs that fast. What were the chances? And with Molly out there? Did he take the security?

  My stomach clenched even as Maven came up behind me to close the door. “He’s okay. He just needs a minute. She does that to him.”

  “And the constant reminder of his… heritage… is probably not helpful either.” I didn’t need to launch at Maven like that but Banyan was now gone who knew where, drinking all alone while neither Maven nor Chance seemed the least bit concerned about it.

  Maven rubbed his eyes. “I was just t
elling him the truth.”

  “You were brutal, man.” Chance patted his shoulder. “Truth or not. Hey, they want to buy your work, not because you’re talented, but because your father fucked over his wife?”

  “That wasn’t what I meant. It’s a way to get people to look. He’s talented. That’s why they’d buy him. Fuck. Do you think that’s what he thought I meant?”

  I took a deep breath. “I think everyone is off tonight. Too much of all of this. Molly. Chance’s dad. Your dad. His mom. How can any of us breathe at all?”

  Maven shook his head. “I’m going to go take a shower and go to bed. I’ll make it up to him in the morning.” He leaned over to kiss me. “Try not to worry. Banyan’s a big boy. He knows this city better than anyone. He’ll be fine. He’ll go blow off some steam and come home.”

  Chance shrugged. “By the time he gets wherever he went, he won’t want to be there anymore. This is Banyan. Outside of a few relationships, he’s bored instantly and that includes places.”

  “I’m going to write for a while longer,” I told them but that was a lie. I didn’t want to go to bed. I wanted to wait up until he came home. Even if he was drunk and pissed, I wanted to be there.

  Chance kissed me lightly. “Love you.” He and Maven both turned toward the stairs, and as they climbed, I heard their conversation. “Maybe law school will teach you some tact.”

  “Fuck me. I would never hurt Banyan. Sometimes I forget he’s so sensitive.”

  “We’re all sensitive. You and I just pretend better.” Chance laughed. “I cried like a baby last night.”

  They paused before Maven spoke again. “He might have been right about that drink.”

  I sat down on the uncomfortable couch to wait. And wait. And wait. The writing didn’t want to come back. I was too… distracted. If Banyan was going to get bored and come home, he hadn’t done so by three in the morning. I stood by the window, staring outside. He’d said he wanted a drink. Was he passed out drunk somewhere?