by Demi Donovan
I want to crumble onto the cool shower floor and just stay there, but Callum lifts me up along with him. He picks me up in his arms just like Troy did before, kissing my neck and the top of my head.
“You did good, baby girl,” he whispers in my ear as he pushes wet strands of hair out of my face.
I cuddle into his neck, a smile on my lips.
I don’t want this to ever end.
A silence falls over the shower stall, even though there are four of us there. Again, I’m being washed off, but this time they’re being a lot gentler with me. I think our joint exhaustion has something to do with that.
I barely cooperate as the brothers wash in silence. I’m limp in Callum’s arms as I’m carried out of the shower finally, hearing more footsteps in front of us as well as behind. Someone turns off the water and the next breath I take is inside the house again. It smells like pure sex in here.
My ears are pricked and it’s like I’m trying to make up for not seeing anything, though I’m barely thinking about it. The blindfold has held up well. In fact, when I’m wrapped up in a fluffy robe and handed off to someone else, I’m sort of beginning to wish I could keep it on forever. If it meant I wouldn’t have to leave Austin, Callum and Troy, I think that’s exactly what I’d do.
I don’t want to be a grownup. I don’t want to deal with my problems the right way.
I just want to keep hiding out in this tropical paradise with the three men who have made me feel better than I’ve ever felt before.
When the blindfold comes off, I miss it immediately.
Twenty-Two
Troy
“How are you, baby?” I ask her, cradling Lily in my arms in the living room.
We’re all dressed now. Well, sort of, anyway. We have boxers on, so that counts, right?
Lily’s in a hotel robe, looking up at me like a butterfly about to come out of her cocoon. I’ve never seen her so blissful.
“I’m okay,” she says, blinking her eyes a few times, getting used to the light again.
I drop a small kiss on the top of her head and urge her to drop her head on my shoulder again. We’ve been hidden away from the rest of the world for hours and I’m not done with that yet.
I don’t think any of us are ready to face the music, so we go for the better option. Prolonging the fantasy.
Callum pulls up the blinds because it’s already getting dark outside. I hear Austin in the other room ordering room service. Lily rests, her breathing becoming more even by the minute. I think if I gave her enough time, she’d fall asleep in my lap.
I brush her hair with my fingers lightly, loving her scent as it hits me with each breath. Giving her up seems entirely impossible.
“You okay?” Austin asks, looking at Lily as he pads into the living room.
I grin and she giggles, nodding.
“I am. Callum, if you’re wondering – I’m alright. I’m just saving you from needing to ask,” she says, her eyes sparkling.
Austin chuckles to himself, shaking his head. He makes a beeline for the mini fridge and coaxes out some beers, tossing Callum one and bringing both Lily and I one as well. I’m slightly surprised when she cracks it open and basically empties it in one gulp.
“Well, look at little Miss Blue-Collar here! You wouldn’t even entertain the notion of drinking a beer with us commoners at the game,” Callum scoffs playfully, sinking into a chair across from me.
We share a look and grin. We’ve had plenty of women in our lives, but Lily? She’s above them all by a tall, tall margin. Claiming her was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I would have never thought Callum and I could share with Austin without it being reduced into some macho bullshit within the first couple of minutes, but Lily has proven that the impossible can happen if you want something enough.
And we definitely all want her enough to make just about anything happen.
“Yeah, well, you didn’t exactly catch me in a similar state, now did you?” she sasses, smiling bright and sitting up a little straighter in my lap so she can get a clear look at both Callum and Austin, who are reclining back on the couch.
I can see the way her eyes hungrily trace the outlines of Austin’s abs, and then how she eats up the way the beads of water are still drying on Callum’s chest. I realize that we were fortunate – we got to see the way her beautiful face contorted with every moan and how her pussy stretched so nicely around our cocks, while she was completely denied the visuals.
Next time, I tell myself, battling away the thought that there might not be a next time.
Wasn’t that the whole point of today? That we’d have one round of no rules, everything goes, just to get it out of our systems?
I don’t think it worked. At least not on me.
If anything, I want her more now than I ever have. She’s consuming my mind and even having her in my arms is not enough, not when I know that she might never be here again.
“I ordered food,” Austin says lightly, stretching his arms over his head, his eyes resting on Lily.
“I’m famished,” she exclaims, falling back against me with a thud. “I feel like I could eat a horse.”
“Oh, we’ll show you what an appetite really looks like,” Callum promises with a chuckle.
And then maybe we’ll eat you for dessert, I add in my mind.
The food arrives quickly enough and after a while, Lily ends up sitting on Callum’s knee, eating pizza. The evening turns into night and none of us seem to be in any hurry to return to our regular schedule. We’ve skipped at least three activities so I’m sure our dad will be poking and prodding about what else we had to do than indulge his whims, but I don’t care. I wouldn’t give up the time spent with Lily for anything.
Lily looks like she has something on her mind as she wipes her fingers clean and curls up next to Callum. It’s weird, seeing her so relaxed and at the same time so tense. It’s pretty obvious that this woman is not very well-versed in the art of not giving a fuck.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, as that little frown that creases her brow persists.
“Oh? Nothing!” she says quickly, masking her thoughts with a makeshift grin.
It doesn’t convince me or Austin.
“Spill it,” he says, looking at her sternly.
I’ve always hated that skill of his. He can get any secret out of anyone just by giving them ‘the look’. Lying to him when we were younger just wasn’t something that happened.
She licks over her lips and I have to fight with my basic urge to go grab her out of Callum’s lap, pin her against a wall and fuck her senseless. Again.
Somehow, I persevere. Maybe it’s the slight muscle spasms in my thigh, which I haven’t felt since I stopped training to get beaten senseless on a weekly basis. Or maybe I’m just getting that fucking excellent at this whole self-control nonsense.
Whatever, I stay in my chair and drink my beer, waiting for what she has to say.
“I’m sad this has to end,” she finally says softly, her words barely louder than a whisper.
A silence falls over the room. I think we’re all in agreement with her. I know I don’t want it to fucking stop.
“Does it have to?” I ask, letting my thoughts echo out.
No sense in bottling them up.
I see a flash of hope in her eyes, but it’s gone in the next second. We all know how fucking insane this whole thing is.
“It does,” she says when no one else is willing to say it.
“I don’t necessarily agree,” Austin speaks up.
Lily turns to face him, quirking a brow almost as a challenge.
“Yeah?” she asks. “And how do you see this going? I get into a relationship with one of you and then everything else goes back to normal, you’ll all get along and I won’t get fired for dating a client?”
“First of all, none of us are your client,” Austin scoffs. “Second of all, I didn’t say you had to choose one of us.”
He quiets and Callum and I e
xchange a look. He grins privately, hiding it from Lily as he shakes his head slightly. Of all the crazy fucking things…
Well, I guess we’ve done the crazy fucking of this particular notion already, but what Austin’s suggesting is insane!
… Isn’t it?
“You can’t be serious!” Lily says, that pink flush of aggravation lighting her cheeks. “What you’re suggesting is… is…”
“Insane?” Callum pipes up, a very clear note of amusement in his voice. “You’ll find that we operate the best on the border of insanity.”
“Don’t you start now,” Lily groans, slipping herself off of Callum’s lap.
She stands in the middle of the room, looking at the three of us as if we’ve collectively lost our minds.
And maybe we have, but it’s the best idea I’ve ever heard and I’ve learned that if something feels right, it probably is right.
“I don’t want you to dismiss this outright,” Austin says, looking like he’s completely at ease and relaxed, though I bet his heart is pounding as hard as mine is. “I’m just saying it might be something to think about. I think the weight of the problems here would be on our shoulders,” he continues, pointing at me and Troy, “and if we manage to sort them out between ourselves then it might actually work.”
Lily’s mouth gapes open.
I don’t say what I want to – that it looks like she’s missing something in it, like a big fat Stephenson cock.
“You’re insane,” she quips, turning beet red now. “And I’m not going to entertain your insanity.”
“You don’t have to entertain it, you just have to think about it,” Austin calls after her as she storms out of the room, in search of her clothes.
I hear a muffled response but I think it’s something in the lines of our budding insanity again. I grin to myself, mimicking Callum’s headshake now.
“She might be right, you know,” I say when I think she’s out of earshot. “It might just be too insane. Even for the three of us.”
“The other option is that we lose her, period. I don’t know about you but I’m willing to test out insanity if it means I can have her with me,” Austin says grimly.
I can’t argue with that.
Twenty-Three
Lily
I feel like I’m at everyone’s beck and call but my own. I’m sitting in another lavish, private dining room, trying to keep up a civil conversation with the woman who I’m supposed to be representing, while at the same time secretly banging her three stepsons behind her back.
I don’t think there’s a word in the English language to describe just how out of the world stupid this whole situation is.
And what’s worse, I’m not even sure if I want to, or if I’m ready to get out of it.
“How was the flight?” I ask Milan, who is scooping some salad on Candice’s plate.
“Long,” she says with an exasperated sigh.
“Arduous,” Mallory adds, and I nod at that.
I focus on my plate of food and take a big sip of the bottomless Mimosa that keeps on getting filled as if on its own volition. Though, actually it’s of course the overzealous servants. I wonder who I should talk about to make sure they don’t get me drunk and ready to spill all my secrets.
“So tell me again, what happened with Robert,” Milan asks, turning her attention to me.
I almost spit out my drink from how nervous I am.
I keep thinking that she must be able to read it off my face what I’ve been doing lately. Or more like who I’ve been doing.
I still feel them, Austin, Callum and Troy, as if they’re here with me. My skin still burns from their touch and my pussy aches for them. I might have not slept a wink last night because of how wound up I was. Not only from the sex but what Austin told me as well.
About how it might not have to be the end.
And how stupid, irresponsible and crazy it is.
I can’t be the toy for three men who have nothing better to do than mess with a woman’s mind! I’ve been with someone who used me before and as much as I don’t want to believe that the Stephensons could be the same, I can’t bring myself to trust them so easily.
Or at least that’s what my rational mind keeps telling me.
The rest of me? Well, let’s just say that it took a whole lot of fucking willpower to keep from running into Austin’s bungalow last night and asking to sleep in his bed because I didn’t want to be alone. I didn’t want to be without at least one of the men who makes my heart beat so fast in my chest that I think it’s about to stop and pop out at the same time.
“Well, he sat down with me very late in the evening,” I start, bringing my focus back to Milan’s question. “We talked in short about the contract. I know it has been in the making for months and I was under the impression that you had it all ironed out, that he just needed coaxing to get it signed, but he flat-out refused.”
The corners of Milan’s mouth twitch. I can tell that she’s subsequently not surprised and entirely pissed.
“He then said that he would only talk about it if you came here with Candice. After that, I relayed the message to you. He’s been nothing but cordial to me since, including me in all the pre-wedding events and generally being nice to me.”
I shrug, uncertain about what I should make of it. I am absolutely certain that there’s something, or a whole lot of somethings, that I’m not being told about. Either by Mallory or by Milan, or more likely by both of them. I also realize there’s very little I can do about it.
I’ve been asking around about Milan and Robert’s marriage. It lasted a long while, but the consensus seems to be that they mostly stayed together over the last few years for Candice’s sake. The twins told me that they got a feeling about Milan from the start that she wouldn’t be a keeper, but they were old enough when she came into their lives that they wouldn’t have to worry about her long.
The twins were out of the house within a couple of years of Milan’s arrival in Robert’s life and Austin was out even before that. They’re all cordial with her, but clearly love Candice, being the prime examples of overprotective older brothers.
I shudder at the thought of what her future boyfriend will have to go through. Big brothers are formidable obstacles for a teenage boy to begin with, but two ex-NFL players? Forget about it.
Milan’s squeezing her fork hard, looking gloomy. She grabs for her Mimosa and drowns it with one gulp, glaring a hole through the closest servant when he doesn’t immediately jump to refill her glass.
“He’s been doing this for years,” she hisses.
If Candice wasn’t in the room, I’m sure there would be a whole lot more expletives in that statement.
“Doing what exactly?” I ask, careful to keep my voice level and non-confrontational.
You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to make someone fly off the handle who is under as much stress as a high-profile divorce brings with it. Hell, I’m barely in a relationship at all and the thought of ending it sends me into a nervous panic. One of the first things I learned in Mallory’s employment was when to use kid gloves with my clients.
“Dragging this out, making it impossible to move on,” Milan sighs, and for a moment I think I see a more human side of her.
Underneath all the expensive jewelry and the perfectly maintained visage of timeless beauty, there’s a tired woman. Or if there isn’t, she’s one hell of an actress.
The moment passes as quickly as it presented itself and Milan is back to her poised self, sitting ramrod straight and delicately sipping her drink. She looks gloomy and throws a glance at Candice that doesn’t exactly scream of motherly affection.
“It’s fine. We’re giving him what he wants. He will sign the papers and we can finally be out of here,” Milan says, making Candice look up.
“We can’t stay for the party?” she asks, wearing a frown that reminds me a lot of Robert’s and Austin’s.
“No, baby, we won’t be staying for the party,” Mil
an says with some exasperation.
“Why not?!” Candice argues, her expression fierce.
“Because we won’t,” Milan presses through her teeth. “Now eat your damn breakfast.”
Candice doesn’t look any more convinced, but she picks up her fork again and jabs listlessly at the salad. Milan rolls her eyes and when I glance at Mallory, she seems like she’d much rather exit this scene. I share the sentiment.
Sometimes you don’t get to work for the people you would want to, but you still have to do right by them. I might not find Milan to be the best mother or the easiest person to get along with, but I’m still going to do my damndest to get her what she wants.
“May I be excused?” Candice asks after a couple of minutes, which Milan and Mallory had filled with discussing whether the beaches on the island are any good.
“Sure,” Milan says curtly, waving the blonde-haired little girl off.
Candice grabs her phone and bolts from the room, leaving the three of us alone. I almost want to run out with her because she was my one buffer against Milan’s mounting foul mood.
I’m not a child and I can handle whatever’s thrown at me, I remind myself, and then squelch the urge to roll my eyes.
I sound like a motivational booklet and I shouldn’t have to. But it’s a habit I’ve gotten into – reaffirming mundane things that I should already be well aware of – since Jacob.
“Sometimes, I wish I’d never gotten involved with him,” Milan says, sipping on her drink.
“Robert, you mean?” Mallory asks, arching a brow.
“No, my damn personal shopper. Yes, Robert. You know what they say, once a cheater, always a cheater.”
“He cheated on you?” I ask, rummaging through my memory on the case.
I haven’t seen anything about his infidelity in the case notes. And I think I’d remember something like that.
A sinking feeling enters my gut. I’m not sure why, but that particular piece of information feels like it’s a lot more damning than I would like to think it is.
