Big Three: MFMM Contemporary Romance

by Demi Donovan

  I shake my head, but she can’t see it. I clear my voice.

  “No, all of them.”

  “All of them… as in, the twins and Austin?”

  Her eyes grow wide and she puts her hand to her mouth. I’m half-expecting a repeat of the disgusted look on Milan’s face, but I should have known Christine’s better than that. She’s shocked, sure, but in that giddy, oh-my-god-you’re-so-lucky kind of way.

  “Tell me everything!” she demands, looking like she’s not entirely certain whether she should be appalled for me or overjoyed.

  Considering I’m a bit of both, but mostly the former, it’s sort of fitting that she leans towards the latter. I can see her devious mind imagining all the ways in which she could have had fun if she were in my place, and it makes me smile slightly.

  I needed that.

  “It wasn’t anything super bad. We were kissing… making out. Fully clothed,” I rush to add. “Milan walked in on us in my bungalow and… well, I’m fired now.”

  The resignation that hits my voice now is unmistakable and Christine’s glee turns to dread.

  “Oh no… Lily…”

  “Yeah, I know,” I say, hanging my head.

  The wind has picked up a little and I bundle myself tighter together on the bench. It might be Hawaii but in the middle of the night, it gets way too cold to be out just in a sundress for a prolonged period of time.

  I didn’t exactly plan on this night playing out the way it did, though, I remind myself.

  Not that it changes anything.

  “It’s okay,” I lie.

  “It isn’t okay.”

  I smile. I can count on Christine to be my conscience at times like these. She’s right. It’s not fucking okay.

  “It isn’t okay at all. Why did you get fired?”

  “Milan took me straight over to Mallory and demanded that I get dropped from her case and the firm. That she’d never forgive Mallory if she didn’t fire me and that the firm would lose Milan’s business for life if a ‘whore’ like me was allowed to stay on the payroll.”

  My tongue barely twists to give that recap of what Milan said about me. It feels like she singlehandedly painted a scarlet letter on my forehead and now everyone can see it if they look at me. Even though I don’t feel like I did anything wrong.

  “She has no right to say that,” Christine huffs, obviously outraged on my behalf. “You didn’t do anything wrong!”

  “Didn’t I?” I ask wryly. “I was sleeping with my clients’ stepsons. The same stepsons of the man who I’m arguing against at the moment. I did plenty wrong here from an ethics perspective. Mallory had every right to fire me.”

  Christine quiets at that. I can tell that she’s trying to study my expression, or what little of it that she can see from the glow of the phone.

  “You’re not telling me everything,” she says matter-of-factly.

  I don’t say a word to that for a moment. It takes me a bit to gather myself.

  “What?” Christine asks, urging me on. “What else could you not be telling me? So you had fun with three men who wanted you as much as you wanted them. That’s okay. You were long overdue to have some fun, you know that! Okay, the situation isn’t ideal, it sucks that you got fired… but you’re a great lawyer and you’ll get another job. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  I worry my bottom lip and Christine narrows her eyes. She can read me like a book, sort of like the brothers can. It’s sort of uncanny, because I’ve never had people like that in my life before.

  “Don’t tell me you weren’t just having fun.”

  That breaks the wall that I’ve been hiding behind.

  “I think I love them,” I admit, the words spilling over my lips. “Christine, you wouldn’t believe these guys… They’re so loving and kind and at the same time, they make me feel like they’d go to war for me. But I know it’s absolutely fucking insane and I can’t be with them.”

  “Why not?” she asks defiantly, cocking a brow.

  “Why not?” I echo. “Because there’s one of me and three of them. Don’t you get it? I want all of them.”

  I don’t add in the fear that I still think that they might turn against me. Especially now… hell, I think after witnessing the reaction of their stepmother, they’ve definitely lost their appetite for what we were discussing. A future together. The four of us living and being together.

  It just can’t happen.

  “Do they want the same thing?”

  “I don’t know… Not anymore, I think.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “I left them at my bungalow when Milan took me to talk to Mallory. I don’t know where they are now.”

  “Don’t you think you should be talking to them about this?”

  Christine’s voice is stern. I know she’s not being callous, she’s just pushing me to do what she knows I should do. Grab the bull by the horns. Go to the source. All of that.

  But can I?

  “Maybe,” I say.

  I’m not sure if I could get off this bench at this point though. It’s not the cold, though, that’s making me immobile. It’s the fear of rejection.

  “Lily, listen to me. If you don’t talk to them, you’ll never know. If they’re at your bungalow, you can face them and talk it through. Whatever happens, happens.”

  “Mallory told me to take the first boat off the island so I wouldn’t jeopardize the talks… I’m catching a plane tomorrow morning.”

  Christine glances at something on her screen and nods grimly.

  “I just got a note from Mallory to book you the first flight. That just means you don’t have any time to waste, honey.”

  I frown slightly. Could I actually do that? Open myself up again even if there’s a very big chance that I could get rejected?

  “No what-ifs,” Christine says, catching me mid-thought. “Get your butt up, pack your bags, talk to your guys. This isn’t the end of the world. You just need to figure out what happens now. And you need to do it together, okay?”

  “Okay,” I say after a moment of hesitation.

  “Good. Now go, and report back with the good news.”

  Christine smiles wide and I have to mirror her infectious hopefulness. Maybe what she’s saying could actually happen… maybe this is only a bump in the road?

  “Thank you,” I say softly, and Christine scoffs.

  “Please, you’ll be doing plenty of making up for it with all the smutty stories you’re going to tell me about all the things your stepbrotha-lovahs are doing to you!” she quips, winking and ending the call before I can be properly outraged by what she’s suggesting.

  When I get back to my bungalow though, the rose petals are still there, but that’s practically the only thing. Not a single Stephenson brother… No note. No nothing.

  Austin’s lights are out and when I go to knock on his door, I get no answer. And when I go to the twins’ house, no one’s there either.

  So I guess I don’t get my happily ever after.

  Thirty

  Austin

  I’m pacing back and forth and it loosely occurs to me that I might have been doing that for longer than what’s strictly healthy.

  Then again, not a lot of wise decisions are currently being made, and in that sense I am in good company. There’s been a lot of cursing, a moderate amount of wall-punching, and a general sense of unease, but I’m yet to spot an idea worth considering on how to solve what we’ve cooked up.

  Casting a glance at my brothers, I find Callum lurched back in a recliner, staring at the ceiling, and Troy seated on the armrest of the flimsy-looking couch, looking dead-eyed. I can commiserate with what both of them are currently feeling, I’m pretty fucking sure.

  “He’s taking his fucking time,” I say finally, prompting Troy to look up.

  “Well, you’d imagine he’d have a few words to say,” he notes with a shrug, standing up and rolling back his shoulders.

  Its dawn, and we’ve been here all
night, cooped up in one of the three studies that my father’s suite has. We’ve practically been kept prisoner here, though the door’s wide open for anyone who wants to use it. The only lock on it is the pretty open revulsion of one parent and one step-parent.

  Milan must have been no more than two steps out of Lily’s bungalow before she had our father on the phone, screaming at him to get his ‘boys in check’, as he offered it to us. I doubt that’s the exact phrase Milan used, but whatever.

  We each received a phone call about three minutes after Lily was dragged out of the building, and were told to report to the main lodge and face our father. The rest of the night has been spent on explaining, getting angry, and then explaining some more.

  You’d think that a man of our father’s experience wouldn’t be so flabbergasted, hearing that three men happened to fall for the same woman, and that she’s run off with the hearts of all of them. Well, maybe the bit about said men being his sons, the woman being his ex’s lawyer, and said sons having decided to play house with said lawyer could be considered a little unorthodox.

  I punch the wall again and it doesn’t budge.

  At least the bite of pain in my hand distracts me for a moment. A moment long enough that when I look up and find Robert Stephenson standing in the middle of the room, looking haunted, I do a double-take.

  “You boys have sure fucked up this time,” he says, but there’s no real bark to it.

  He sounds and looks tired, as are we all.

  “We can agree to disagree on that one,” I say tersely, and he gives me a look that I meet with one of equal caliber.

  Floors would be opening up and men would be swallowed alive if our current moods were translated into earth-shattering forces.

  “Did you talk to Milan? Where’s Lily?” Callum asks, getting to the point while I’m still busy brooding over what I perceive to be my very personal loss.

  The first thing that happened when we got here was that dad told us to turn off our phones until we had the matter ‘settled’. We did that, but it wasn’t until fucking dawn that we collectively realized that this meant none of us had called Lily, or given her a chance to call us. When Troy tried her number, it went straight to voicemail, as it has been ever since.

  “I did,” my father says with a nod of his head, pushing his hands in his pockets.

  He does not look like a man looking forward to his wedding tomorrow. He looks like a man showing his age for the first time in his life. I don’t like the look on him, and I don’t like that we’re causing him heartache when he has enough bullshit to deal with between Milan and Andrea.

  “I don’t know where Lily is. I know she has been fired and is no longer Milan’s lawyer. I also know that I have to be sitting down in an hour with her, discussing the terms of our divorce. And now with the information she has on you three and Lily… well, you can imagine that she’s going to get everything that she wants.”

  My gut twists. I figured it would go there finally, but I still held out hope. Foolish, naïve hope that Milan wouldn’t sink so low on account of Candice, and the fact that Lily works for a friend of hers.

  Worked, I mentally correct.

  Not only did we tear open wounds that she hasn’t even told us about, but are at the same time so fucking obvious on her, but we got her fired. We’ve done nothing to protect her and it’s making me so fucking disgusted with myself and how I’ve handled everything.

  “Dad,” Callum starts, but he’s silenced with a look.

  “Look, guys, I don’t know what to tell you. You’ve been telling me all night about things that I’d only expect to read on the pages of the kinds of rags Milan and Andrea read, and yet here I am, hearing it from my three sons. You all have reputations, businesses to maintain… You’re ready to throw that away on a relationship that will not even work?”

  I bristle at that.

  “You don’t know that,” I tell him with a snarl.

  “Don’t I?” he asks, the look in his eyes suddenly very sad. “You see how forthcoming life is about keeping two people together who love each other. You think it’ll be easier for four? Never mind the press that will ruin you, and her, but think about the future. Ten years from now, do you still see this,” he says, motioning loosely at me, Callum and Troy, “working?”

  We look at each other and I see the same answer in their eyes that I feel in my heart.

  “We do,” I say stiffly.

  Robert Stephenson shakes his head and then runs his hand through his full head of salt and pepper hair. He looks tired, weary.

  “Well, what can I tell you then?” he says with a shrug. “True love’s hard to come by. I had it with your mother…”

  He looks at Callum and Troy, and then me. She was a mother to all of us, Callum’s and Troy’s mom Maria.

  “I’ve been looking for another chance at it ever since. I’m not sure I’ve found it. If you think what you have is that precious with this girl… Well, you better fight for it.”

  My breath catches in my throat. That was not the reaction I expected. Especially considering the berating he gave us when he first heard the news, calling us out on taking advantage of Lily and a million other things that were at least half-truths. At least when it all began.

  “Dad…” Troy says. “You mean it?”

  He nods, relaxing his shoulders.

  “What changed your mind?” Callum asks.

  “Milan. Milan changed my mind,” my father chuckles.

  Seeing our confused looks, he elaborates.

  “The world’s full of bad choices, some of which take the form of people you end up loving, for better or for worse. I’d rather see my sons make a choice that makes them happy, than see them make a choice that leads into nothing but sadness…”

  He looks at me directly now and I feel that burn around my ring finger. I know exactly what he’s talking about.

  I step up to him and we hug tightly, not a word passing between us. He does the same to Callum and Troy and then practically kicks us out of his rooms. When the door closes behind us, I’m not entirely convinced that he has any faith that we could make it work with Lily, but having his blessing to try… well, that means a fucking lot.

  “We have to find her,” I say as the three of us head towards the nearest flight of stairs.

  My gut’s telling me that Lily Morris will be nowhere to be found on this blasted island. We’ve missed our window so now we’re going to have to fucking build another one.

  “I have an idea,” Callum says with a wide, confident grin.

  It better be a good one.

  Thirty-One

  Lily

  I yawn into my palm.

  Still wearing the same dress as I was when I had dinner with Austin, Callum and Troy, I’m about to head into the Honolulu International Airport’s security check line. It looks about a million miles long, and that figures. It’s an ungodly hour in the morning and I should be tucked away under a mountain of blankets, but instead, I’m here.

  I’d expect nothing else from karma.

  With dark rings under my eyes and my hands still clutching a cup of black coffee that’s both too strong and not strong enough, considering the life choices that led me here.

  And boy, are there a bunch of them.

  Christine lined up my flights and I’ve had my phone on silent since then. After swallowing my pride on the island, I tried each of the Stephenson brothers, and after getting my hopes up three times before the calls dropped to voicemail, I gave up. The implications were clear enough and I’d like to think that I don’t need to be told at least some things twice.

  Like when I’m not wanted and have become a burden.

  Or when I’m told to “Get the fuck out of my home,” by my then-fiancé, getting kicked out of an apartment that I was paying the rent on.

  You’d think I’d be smarter than that by now, I tell myself, rolling my eyes as I slip my sunglasses on after getting one too many questioning looks on account of my puffy e
yes.

  “Excuse you,” a man says as he bumps into me at the mouth of the security check line, elbowing past me.

  I slick my tongue over my teeth and bury down the explosion that wants to erupt, complete with curses and screams. I think avoiding a run-in with airport security would be for the best at this point in my day.

  I’m about to take my spot in the line when a commotion behind me makes me turn around. I freeze in the spot, seeing the wide, powerful forms of Austin, Callum and Troy heading right for me. Sucking in a breath through my nose, I pop my sunglasses to the top of my head and just stare at the approaching men, as most of the other women are at this point.

  Austin looks grim but determined, and Callum and Troy seem to be echoing him in that, moving like the point of an arrow straight towards me without a word. They don’t need to say anything, after all. I’m not going anywhere.

  “We need to talk,” Austin says as they come up to me.

  “Do we?” I ask, trying to muster what little defiance I have at this point.

  God knows, Milan beat most of it out of me. All of my arguments about why it wasn’t the worst fucking idea in the world to be together with Austin, Callum and Troy were deftly handled by her and I was left reeling in the aftermath.

  And now I’m face to face with the cause of my downfall again, my body far too fucking willing to throw itself into the fire again.

  “Yeah, we fucking do,” Troy says, a blaze in his eyes.

  He looks like he’s about ready to tear my clothes off right in the middle of the airport. When he steps up to me and kisses me, pulling me into his arms like I’d gotten away from him too soon in the bungalow, I think he just might. Dazed, I answer his kiss and his tongue pushes into my mouth.

  There are a few hoots and hollers from the peanut gallery, the three super-hot men that seemed to appear out of nowhere catching attention, and the kiss only adding to it. But when Troy lets go of me and Callum grabs me, the hoots suddenly turn into gasps, and then I hear phone cameras starting to go off.

  I panic and try to push myself away from Callum. I completely forgot that Troy and Callum are both nationally known figures and for a moment, I think they forgot too.