But Mom was concerned I could tell, those red nails tapping against the kitchen counter reflexively, a steady drumbeat of worry for her only child.
“Listen Ma, I’ll be okay,” I reassured her, sipping my coffee. These days I was downing caffeine like a thirsty woman stranded in the desert. It’s odd, I know, most people with anxiety are warned away from caffeine, but I needed to stay awake because sleep only brought dreams … filled with thoughts of my brothers.
“Karlie, trust me, I know a lot more than you think,” said my mom.
“Yes, Ma,” I said patiently. “But I don’t want to bother you with my problems, you and Jerry are so in love.”
“That’s true, honey, but we’re not so in love that we didn’t notice,” she said slowly. “I know we haven’t been the most attentive parents of late, we left the three of you to your own devices, but I still had one eye open and I saw how you looked at the twins.”
My face flushed. Oh god, this was like my worst nightmare come true. My mom had noticed that I had a crush on the twins? I prayed no but suspected the answer was yes.
“It’s natural for a young girl to be attracted to dominant men,” said my mom slowly. “After all, the boys are just like their father, alpha males, natural-born leaders, magnetic and inspiring.”
That was definitely how I’d describe Colt and Cain. Whether that applied to Jerry, I wasn’t sure, but I nodded, listening still.
“The thing is, you, Colt and Cain didn’t grow up together, so they’re no different from any other boys you’d meet at school,” said my mom. I flushed again, the fact that we were talking about this so embarrassing. But my mom continued.
“They are some boundaries that should never be crossed, after all human beings have these taboos to prevent all sorts of problems,” said my mom. “Take for example the Egyptian pharaohs. Brothers married sisters, and allegedly genetic defects were rampant, stillbirths and miscarriages happened all the time, not to mention adults with severe mental and physical disabilities.”
I nodded, my heart in my throat. I’d done some reading about Amenhotep I, who was the result of three generations of inbreeding. The poor pharaoh had suffered from all sorts of impairments, from feminine hips to a cleft palate, not to mention mental defects which were undetectible from mummy reconstruction.
But my mom was demonstrating a rare amount of intuition and insight.
“Colt and Cain aren’t that,” she said forcefully. “They were strangers to you until a few months back, when we introduced you at the house,” she said, “and it’s natural to develop feelings. I know seeing them on trial wasn’t easy for you, it was like watching a boyfriend take a beating.”
And this is when I had to step in.
“Mom,” I said slowly, “that’s the thing, Colt, Cain and I … well, we were dating,” I said. “For real,” I emphasized. “We knew it was crossing boundaries but it felt so right and,” I sighed, gesturing helplessly with my hands, “we went with it. I slept with my stepbrothers, Ma, and everything that goes with it.”
Instead of being shocked, my mom nodded knowingly, albeit a little hesitant.
“We’d guessed as such,” she said. “Jerry and I. We knew putting a pretty girl in the proximity of two males, it’d probably cause some excitement.”
“Then why’d you do it?” I asked, genuine astonishment entering my voice. “If you thought I’d be attracted to my steps, why place me in their vicinity?”
My mom was silent for a second.
“I didn’t know it’d go so far, I suppose,” she confessed anxiously. “I was worried about you Karlie, you didn’t seem to be developing as fast as other girls, you never went out on dates,” she rushed. “I figured maybe the boys would take you under their wing, show you around in the few months you’d have together before college. If you developed a light crush, then so what?” she said rhetorically, “I didn’t think it’d snowball into this.”
“You mean, you didn’t think I’d be sleeping with them,” I said, direct and to the point. No point in beating around the bush any longer.
“Definitely not,” said my mom emphatically. “I mean, had you ever slept with a boy before this Karlie? At least to my knowledge you hadn’t, and you were always dressed in those baggy black clothes, I didn’t think any guys would ask you out either.” That stung, but I could see the logic in it. “Colt and Cain, I thought maybe they could turn you around, help you be more social,” continued my mother.
Again, I could see my mother’s reasoning, but it still hurt. My mom’s faith in my social skills was so low.
“Mom, I know I wasn’t popular per se,” I defended myself, “but I still got out, I was always on the yearbook staff, I had a few friends and I was developing at my own pace. Wasn’t that enough?”
“Of course it’s enough, honey, I just thought I’d give you a little boost, a push in the right direction. Again baby, I never expected that you’d start dating your brothers, that you’d fall in love.”
And that took me aback because my mom’s skills of perception were more acute than I’d thought. She’d used the “L” world and wasn’t brushing this off as a summer fling or puppy love. Instead she was acknowledging it as the real thing, something valuable that I’d lost, the twins’ absence penetrating deep into my heart.
And that was the thing. Was I mourning a lost relationship? The thought made my soul crumple, I loved them so much and I couldn’t quite believe everything that had happened. But it was still difficult to process the magnitude of their actions, the pain they’d inflicted, the fact that they were ruthless in a way completely foreign to me.
Karla stepped in again with her thoughts, which were curiously apt.
“Honey, no man is perfect,” she said slowly. “I know you’ve been thinking things over, that you haven’t been communicating with Colt and Cain.”
“How do you know?” I said swiftly. “Have you been monitoring my cell usage?”
It was possible, my bills went to Jerry and he could probably see which numbers I called.
But it was a lot less threatening than that.
“Of course not, honey,” laughed my mom. “It’s because Colt and Cain have been talking to their dad, and he told me that they miss you, that you never reach out to them anymore.”
I gasped. So the extent of our relationship was completely obvious to our parents? Even Jerry knew of the tangled bonds between the twins and I, that we were engaged in a ménage?
And my mom nodded, as if hearing my silent question.
“We’re parents honey, we know a lot more than what you think … or what you’d like to think,” she said with a nod.
I took a deep breath, still shocked but relieved as well. I’d been navigating these choppy waters alone, with no one to bounce my thoughts off of, but maybe I had an ally here.
“But Mom, aren’t you worried that I’m in a threesome? Aren’t you worried about the negative blowback when people realize that I’m dating my brothers, plural?”
That made Karla laugh.
“Honey, one thing I’ve learned from being married to Jerry is that only you and him matter,” she said. “Or in this case, you and them. Don’t let other people get you down because there will always be people who try to drag you underwater.”
“I know Ma, haters gonna hate, but it would be especially bad if people found out about Colt, Cain and I,” I said slowly. “It’s a double-whammy after all. Twins dating their stepsister? It’s pretty shocking, you have to admit.”
“Yes honey, but like they say, ‘everything will pass,’” she responded seriously. “Take me, for instance. You think that there hasn’t been a ton of gossip over my marriage to Jerry? Billionaire CEO takes up with his decades-younger secretary? It’s fuel for the fire, and plenty of people said nasty things, but Jerry and I, we just stood firm. Our love is real, and that’s all that counted.”
That was food for thought. I hadn’t really paid attention to my mom’s life recently, I was so caught up wit
h the twins, completely immersed in my own world. But yeah, I could see how what she was saying was true. The press had probably been unkind to my mom, depicting her as some kind of Salome doing the dance of the Seven Veils in Jerry’s office.
But my problems went further than that.
“Mom, has Jerry ever done anything that you find … unpalatable?” I said, choking a little. “Like really off-putting? To the point where you don’t want to be with him anymore?”
My mom thought for a moment.
“Honey, I was Jerry’s secretary before we got married, I see everything he does in business,” she said. “He didn’t get to where he is without slitting some throats.”
Yeah, I could see how that could be true.
“But Mom,” I pressed. “What about things that you find despicable? Like you might not be able to live with it.”
“Baby,” said my mom, taking a deep breath. “Jerry has engaged in some borderline business actions, things that might qualify as tax evasion, even breach of contract if you analyzed it closely. But the thing is he always knows how to get himself out of a jam. Why, is something bothering you?”
And I let it all spill out, the dancing, the fact that Jimmy Long had lied during the trial, the fact that Colt and Cain had beat him, forcing him to change his story, how I wasn’t sure if I could live with the twins knowing about their sheer ferocity, the violence they were capable of.
My mom was silent.
“That’s a big one honey,” she said slowly, “I can see why you’ve been hiding for a while. No wonder you didn’t want to walk at graduation,” she mused. “It’s been like a pressure cooker for you, hasn’t it?”
And I nodded tearfully.
“I don’t know what to do, Mom,” I said in a quiet voice, looking down at my hands. “I love them so much but I’m scared. If they could do that to a man, what else are they capable of?”
I expected Karla to toss off some answer from the top of her head, but she surprised me again with her thoughtfulness.
“Honey, no one can tell you what’s wrong and what’s right in this case. You have to let your heart guide you, let it tell you where to go next. The boys … they’re waiting, they told their dad that they want you to matriculate at State next year with them, but don’t let that sway you from your own deep thinking. It’s the only way to find contentment, honey … with yourself.”
And I realized that despite her reputation as a floozy, my mom was actually deeply perceptive, with a lot of insight into the world. Because it was true. I could only find happiness if I settled the score with myself first.
“Thanks Ma, I appreciate it,” I said gratefully, reaching out for a hug. It’d been so long since I’d touched her at all that it was almost foreign, but it felt good. A mother’s arms can be strangely soothing, especially when you’re hurting.
“No problem, sweetheart,” she said. “Now,” she encouraged with a wink, “go and fill out some college applications. No matter what happens between you and your brothers, you should still go to school.”
And I knew she was right. I wanted to invest in myself … and that began with an education.
EPILOGUE
Karlie
Three months later …
I thought back to the day I’d decided to finally chat with my brothers. It’s not that I’d ignored them, I’d sent them some emails briefing them on classes, my new roommates, that kind of thing, and they’d replied with polite but short emails, probably hesitant to overstep the invisible boundaries I’d set.
Because I’d matriculated at State. After applying to a couple schools, I’d found out that I’d been accepted at three. Berklee, Tisch and State had welcomed me with open arms, Tisch even awarding me an arts scholarship based on my photography portfolio.
But by the time the acceptance letters arrived, I already knew where I was headed next. To State … with my brothers, although I wasn’t sure if I’d be seeing them right away.
It’s been a long process. I’d started emerging from my room slowly, sometimes just for a fifteen minute swim in the pool, some relaxation in the peaceful waters. And slowly I’d stepped back into the sunshine inch by inch, until I was back to my old self, just in time to move into the dorms on campus.
But once there, I hadn’t approached my brothers. Instead, I’d watched from afar, literally up in the stands as they clinched victory after victory on the football field, the blue and gold of their uniforms gleaming in the warm afternoon sun.
But the time had come, I was ready once again. Gulping, I’d written an email to my steps asking to get together for coffee, my heart in my throat. I wasn’t even sure they’d respond, truth be told, and it was with a surprising ping that I saw a reply pop into my inbox not two minutes later. Colt was inviting me to their private suite. Evidently as star athletes, they had a living room and espresso machine, luxuries I didn’t have. I was sharing a triple with two other girls, nice but a little cramped.
So with shaking hands, I’d knocked. It was a sunny day and I looked around, hoping no one saw me on their doorstep. My thoughts soon flew out of my head because Colt opened the door, his massive form dwarfing the frame.
“Sister,” he said greeting me, stepping aside to let me in.
And I trembled a bit, wobbling slightly in my high heels as I walked into the plush suite. The furnishings were luxurious, huge bay windows overlooking the verdant campus. Cain was already seated, waiting for me with watchful eyes, his massive frame still but filled with silent power.
“Brothers,” I’d said again slowly, seating myself on the divan, nervously smoothing my skirt before clasping my hands protectively over my stomach. But my brothers gave no sign of noticing. Instead, they lounged on the opposite couch, their massive forms making even the king-size piece of furniture seem small.
“It’s good to see you, Karlie,” drawled Cain, stretching his long legs out before him. His pose was deceptively calm, but I could see the intensity in his eyes, matched by the latent energy in his brother’s still form.
I took a deep breath.
“Colton, Cain,” I said slowly, “I’m ready to move forward.”
Both my steps remained motionless although a shockwave of electricity ran through the air. I could feel the tremors in the air, sparks already running down my arms to sizzle in my fingertips.
“What does that mean?” asked Colt slowly. He gave me a searching glance. “Does that mean you’re talking to us again? Or are we still communicating through email?”
I flushed.
“I know it wasn’t easy for you either,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Beating Jimmy wasn’t your top choice, but with so much on the line, it was necessary. He wasn’t going to turn any other way and for someone like that, I’m not sure there was any other way,” I said slowly.
“But Karlie,” said Cain, “What’s made you come around now? I mean, are you going to be bringing up Jimmy” and here he spat the name, “twenty years from now? Is this something we’re going to be hearing about forever?”
“Absolutely not,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m over and done with it because I needed to make peace with myself.”
Here, my brothers’ brows furrowed.
“What do you mean?” growled Cain. “You did nothing wrong.”
I shook my head, slow but determined.
“Brothers, I wasn’t okay with what happened because I wasn’t fair to you or myself.”
Colt shot me a puzzled look, so I went on.
“You accepted my dancing, no questions asked, so long as I wasn’t doing blue light specials. It’s not exactly something that every girl does,” I said, flushing, “and I took your acceptance for granted. It’s a part of me that I have to let out, to escape the confines of being everyday Karlie, photographer and good girl.”
“But I didn’t do the same for you,” I said slowly. “When you decided to teach Jimmy a lesson, I was judgmental. I didn’t accept that physical force is a part of who you are … both on the
field and off. I struggled with it, applying my values, my mores, to you with a terrible result.”
“Once I realized what I’d done, I knew the problem was internal. I needed to let go of my inhibitions and accept you for who you were … and who you are,” I said with a great breath of air, getting my feelings off of my chest.
Unfortunately, my brothers weren’t letting me off so easy.
“But Karlie,” said Cain, “How do we know that you won’t be mentioning the name ‘Jimmy Long’” and here he spat the words again, “twenty years from now? Because you know that’s our timeline. We want you for keeps, and it can’t keep coming up.”
My heart leapt. They wanted me for twenty years or more? To keep? This was the first I’d heard of it and the air lodged in my throat, making it difficult to breathe. But they deserved an answer.
“I won’t keep bringing it up,” I promised. “I don’t know how I can convince you, but we have something together that’s difficult to find sometimes. Some people are never so lucky,” I stated gently.
“That’s right,” growled Colt. “We have love,” he added, his eyes boring into me. “It’s the real thing, Karlie, don’t take it for granted and don’t let it go.”
“Love,” I agreed with an incandescent smile, my emotions tumbling, my spirits joyous. A rush of happiness descended over me, lifting me so that I was almost flying on the tips of my toes. “And something else too, brothers … I’m pregnant.”
And that stopped them. The shock was palpable in the air, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. We’d slept together for months, never once using protection, their seed mixing in me night after night. And I was nineteen now, at peak fertility. Was it really that surprising that I was pregnant with their child?
“Karlie,” said Colt. “If you have our baby …”
The F*ck Book: A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance Page 30
