by Ellie Parker
Still, she hesitated. “Let me check, and I’ll be right back.” I saw her dad peek out the living room curtains, a few words passed between them, but she was back shortly.
“Okay, I can go for about an hour.”
“That’ll do.”
She followed me out to the car, and I had a hard time looking at that blue thing Chase bought her. I took her out of Sandborn, into Crescent Beach to the shop where I’d bought my car.
I pulled into the lot. Bill, the owner, was just locking up. When he saw it was me, he flipped the lights back on and came out to meet us, just like I knew he would.
“Hey, Stone, how ya doin’?” Bill was a pussy; he’d do anything for a buck. Or a fuck. He could find the fuck somewhere else, though. I stepped in front of Jessa and tried like hell to ignore the way his eyes attempted to unclothe her.
“Yeah, I want to see the best thing you’ve got for this little lady.”
“Whaaaat?” shrieked Jessa. “Stone, you guys already bought me a car.”
“Yeah, but it sucks. It’s a guy magnet.”
“No, it’s not. I love it. Seriously, Stone, I don’t want another car.”
“Oh, maybe that’s what you like about it? Cause you can pick ‘em up along the road? Pull the roof back on and have them pound you into-”
“Stone, that’s enough. Seriously. What the fuck? If I’d known that’s what you were up to, I wouldn’t have come. You don’t know how much I appreciate what you guys did for me. I love the blue car. It’s perfect.”
“I’ve got a pale pink Lamborghini; custom paint job. Twenty miles on the odometer and it’s loaded.”
Jessa glared at Bill and got into my car again, slamming the door hard enough to take it off its hinges. She was mad now, but she’d get over it.
“Bring it out, Bill,” I told him.
It was a beauty. If it weren’t for the pink, I’d have been tempted to buy it for myself. “Jessa, get out of the car and come here. Take this for a ride.”
She was stubborn, shaking her head and looking away. I climbed into the front seat, holding the door open with my leg. “Look, you’ll like this one much better. It’s faster, worth more and you’ll have great resale.”
“Stone, for the last time, please just take me home. Don’t spoil the wonderful gift the three of you gave me. I’m not looking for guys. It fits me; I look like I belong in it. I love it.”
I wasn’t happy, but flagged Bill to put it back. There was no changing a stubborn woman’s mind.
“I’ll kill whoever you fuck in the car, Jessa.”
“You’re something else, you know that?” She looked pissed. Maybe I was wrong, but who could blame me. Jessa’s voice alone could cause any man to cum in his pants. I wasn’t even okay sharing her with my brothers and just the simple thought of having her look at someone else the way she looked at us, that made me see red.
“Protective,” I said in answer to her question, despite the fact that I knew it was rhetorical.
“Well, I’d start with asshole.”
“Generous asshole.”
“Jealous asshole,” she combatted.
I smiled at her and tipped her head up with a lone finger. “And I have every goddamn right to be. I don’t like people looking at what’s mine, Jessa. And you…” I moved closer, my lips no more than two inches away from hers, “belong…” I closed the space between us another inch, “to me.” Now, my lips were flush against hers. She didn’t part them. Didn’t let me in.
Good girl.
7
Jessa
I was starving. I’d left the house without breakfast that morning and must have left my wallet on my bed. I was late leaving, as usual. Thank god I wasn’t stopped for speeding because I didn’t have my license. Pull yourself together, Jessa!
When we came in as freshmen, the cafeteria was where the bottom feeders dotted the tables here and there, never wanting to appear as though they were together. They didn’t have cars, didn’t gather outside to have a cigarette beyond the hundred-year old oak that marked the edge of the school grounds. They also only had the two bucks their parents gave them to buy lunch.
That changed when The Three Musketeers showed up. Stone, always the instigator, walked in, surveyed the open space and slammed his books onto the corner of the back table. Like blond crows, Sven and Chase poked their heads in and Sven flagged me down to join them. Within five minutes, the Stark brothers had marked their territory and every surface swimmer male joined the group. Only the girlfriends of regulars were allowed to sit with us, and then, of course, I was there with my Musketeers pestering me between them. Okay, so I admit, sometimes things got a little out of hand. One of my three would come up with a prank for a teacher and egg on another guy in the group to carry it out. Starks were masters at coming up with ideas, but getting others to do the dirty work. Like one ongoing initiation challenge, there was always a candidate.
Then there was Marilyn. Born to be a bottom feeder, her sour face was always pulled in a scowl and her plus-size polyester shirts stretched over her expansive breasts. Her curviness was attractive, the kind that made guys realize that a little something to hold on to was hella attractive. The only problem was, with Marilyn’s attitude, it was hard to find anything attractive about her. And her hatred for me, well, that went beyond anything fathomable. It was nothing but jealousy, of course. She wanted the Starks – Stone in particular – and they had their sights glued on me.
As self-centered as Stone was, he never even noticed the way Marilyn looked at him. I did, though, and maybe that’s why she hated me. She wanted to be where I was sitting but couldn’t figure out how to get there. When Stone put his arm around me or touched my arm as he talked, Marilyn glared. When I took my tray up to the window, Marilyn would time hers accordingly and try to goad me.
“What does Stone see in you? You’re not in his social class,” she’d mutter at my elbow. “Stone said hi to me in the hall,” she’d add. I assumed she was lying, simply because Stone never paid attention to anyone, except for maybe me, and sometimes I wondered whether that was because the triplets were so competitive. I ignored Marilyn, but the constant toxic nibbles at me got on my nerves. I just couldn’t let her see it.
It was Friday and I’d just come from a history exam; never an occasion to celebrate. The cafeteria was serving chocolate cake for dessert and I let this buoy my dark thoughts.
Naturally, protocol called for eating the main course and salad before diving into the chocolate cake. The Starks, knowing about my chocolate fetish, all set their servings in front of me and each took a salad or handful of broccoli in return so I could go straight to the good stuff.
Marilyn did the unthinkable. I guess she finally had enough of her self-imposed, but socially assigned, exile. From the corner of my eye, I saw her waddling in our direction, a bowl in her hand. In that subtle way we had, I must have put out a warning energy because all three of my Musketeers went on high alert, their heads spinning from side to side to find the source of my concern.
Sven spotted Marilyn first and he hung back, protecting the rear. Stone was her objective, her obvious crush. He was concentrating on peeling the laminate off the lunch table and visually oblivious. You had to really know him to understand his fangs were barely concealed.
Marilyn’s face was red, and she was breathing heavily; either from stress of the approach or because she was worn out from walking across the cafeteria.
“So, this is how the princess lives,” she began, thinking herself wise beyond her years no doubt. “You’re just like Marie Antoinette, doing nothing but eating cake. You’re already getting fat around the middle and it looks awful since you’re so flat-chested. But maybe you’re just pregnant.”
None of my Musketeers waited to see my reaction, but went into swarming shark mode. In one smooth movement, they stood and surrounded Marilyn. Without laying a hand on her, they herded her out of the cafeteria and the school itself. I heard later that they locked the door be
hind her and Marilyn had to walk around the entire campus until she found a door that let her back in. She was late for class and crying. My Musketeers returned, standing shoulder to shoulder as they waited for me to finish my cake. They’d become my personal body guards.
If I’d had half a sense, I’d have seen the potential danger in that—but naturally, I didn’t.
I thought that would be the end of it all, but Marilyn was as tenacious as a bulldog. She began moving her seat at lunch closer and closer to our group. Naturally, I didn’t care where she sat, but she began staring at me through the entire meal. Whether she was eating mashed potatoes or spaghetti, dripping with sauce, she kept her eyes on my face. I didn’t want her walked out of the school again, so I mentioned something to one of the other boys and he made himself an obstacle in the line of view. The Stark boys noticed, though, and Chase ambled over and had a talk with her.
Marilyn didn’t take that well, screaming and crying. I finally suggested that we eat lunch somewhere else.
“Fuck, no!” barked Sven. “That bitch has problems and she’s going to deal with them on her own. If I have to talk to her, she’ll be sorry.” Stone never said a word. I wasn’t sure he was aware of what was going on, but I couldn’t see how he wasn’t; his brothers knew.
Marilyn followed me to class, to the bathroom and out to my car. She was always around. As far as I could tell, she’d had only the one friend in her entire school career—Lucy Taylor. That had been two years earlier and Lucy had mysteriously disappeared one night and never shown up again. I remembered we were all freaked out for a couple of weeks. Cops came and interviewed kids, but the only one who knew anything, was Marilyn.
8
Chase
I hadn’t seen Jessa around much except at school. I got quite a kick out of buying her that car. She was the envy of the girls at school; not only did she have a better vehicle than any of them could hope for, but we Starks had bought it for her. To the other girls, that was almost like a triple engagement ring.
Sometimes at night I thought about Jessa, and what it would be like to be married to her. She was beautiful; no one in school held a candle to her. Then there was the way she filled out a bathing suit. Jesus! She got decent grades, despite her hatred for Math, treated everyone well and had a great sense of humor.
I knew she’d been having trouble with that girl named Marilyn. I felt sorry for the girl; she wasn’t any competition for Jessa. Not even close. I also picked up on the fact that Marilyn had an eye for Stone, but in his normal, self-absorbed self, he paid no attention. All he’d had to do was tell Marilyn to get lost and that would have been the end of it. But no, he couldn’t even pull it together that much. I think Stone felt like he’d been associated with Marilyn forever if he did anything about it. So, in his book, it was much better just to let things go.
The three of us had decided that since it was senior year, we’d all go out for football together. We hadn’t been too involved up until then; there were girls and cars and horses to keep us occupied.
I think the idea that after we graduated, things would change between the three of us made us cling to each other. It was the time of life when you started using phrases like, “last time we…” and that was almost unthinkable.
We had just about equal physical capabilities and the coach seemed to like the idea that having triplets playing on the same teach would draw some attention and increase the attendance. Add to that the fact that only our jersey numbers would separate us; switches and fake hand-offs were suddenly new and shiny tools to play with.
We’d had a pretty good season so far. Jessa came to all our games and sat right behind the bench, calling our names in rotation as we pulled off some special play. Only Jessa could tell us apart and that, combined with that subliminal mind thing we all had going, we were the most unbreakable foursome.
Homecoming was coming up and of course, there would be a dance afterwards. We considered ourselves too adult for that but decided to have a bon fire at a local lake outside of town. We’d bring a keg, invite our group and let the wind blow where it may. I liked that idea much better than being stuck in some stuffy gym with parents and teachers nodding and smiling when the DJ would play some slow oldie so they could join in on the floor.
“Hey, Jessa?” She was leaving the cafeteria, hanging back, I noticed. I couldn’t believe she was afraid of that Marilyn girl, but there she was, stacking and re-stacking her books and purse while everyone hurried out to their classes.
“Oh, hi, Chase,” she said when she saw me. Her voice was airy and hesitant.
“Anything wrong?”
“No, I’m all right.” I noticed she looked around before she said that.
“Hey, that girl…she giving you trouble?”
“Who? Oh, her? Oh, heavens, no. I’m trying to protect her. I figure if I stay out of her way she’ll give up and forget about me.”
“Stone should do something about it.”
“No, don’t bother Stone. He’s not, well, good with that stuff. You know that.”
I nodded. “Hey, wanted to ask you to be my date at the bonfire after the game Friday.”
“I’m not sure how long I can stay out, but I’d love to go.”
“I can talk to your dad.”
“You most definitely won’t talk to my dad.”
“You know it’s not the worst idea in the world.”
Her cheeks were crimson red. She shook her head at me, over and over and over again. “Seriously, Chase. Don’t. He’s still pissed as hell about the car.”
“But he still let you keep it.”
“That’s only because mom talked him down from the heart attack he was about to have.”
“Fine,” I said, though I knew with everything in me, that if she didn’t show up, I’d be climbing through her window, forcing her to sneak out.
We rounded the corner just in front of her class, stopping before we got to the door.
Kissing could get you thrown out of school for a couple of days, so I grabbed her wrists and pulled her just a little closer. I couldn’t deny how great her breasts felt buried into my chest. “I’m serious, Chase. Promise me you won’t.”
“Go on now. You’ll be late for class. See you at lunch?” She waved and gave me another one of those million-dollar smiles and I had to step off into the men’s room to calm myself down before I went into class. It didn’t really matter if I was late. I was a Stark. My dad didn’t just sit on the school board, he owned it – just like most things in this town. And Papa Stark, well, let’s just say, what he wanted, he got.
9
Chase
The school week dragged and Sven got pissed when he found out I’d already asked Jessa to be my date. Sven had gotten the idea somewhere along the way that she belonged to him, which was bullshit. She’d never committed to any of us, but rather to all three of us. Even Stone wanted to be a part of whatever the hell it was we had with Jessa. At first, I thought maybe it was simply a matter of convenience. He never liked going out of his way for anyone. And Jessa was the only girl who’d ever sparked his interest enough to have him intentionally step off his own course of action. So of course, he wasn’t exactly happy about me staking a claim on her for the night. Maybe I’d drop it. Maybe I wouldn’t. But whatever the case, I didn’t feel like dealing with them being pissy.
When Friday finally came around, I was happy. The pep rally got my blood going. Jessa’s face, her smile, they put me over the top. I looked forward to the night more than any night I could remember.
Coach dropped Stone in as quarterback, and I went in as receiver. It was exactly like all the times we’d tossed the ball in the side yard. Catching from Stone came naturally, no matter how fast, no matter how hard, no matter how terrible the throw, Stone had it. Chase ran interference and when the game ended, the scoreboard read “Minton: 14 Vengeances: 36.”
I looked to the stand, my eyes going for the spot where Jessa sat and then roving over the crowd. No way w
ould she leave the game before the end and no way could she disappear that fast. I wouldn’t say I was panicked. But fuck, if there was anything that could kick the adrenaline of winning up a notch, it was Jessa’s wickedly innocent smile.
Disappointment knotted in my stomach a little and after only a few more seconds, I gave up looking for her.
I was pulling off my jersey as we ran for the locker room. Stark and Sven shot me dirty glances as they listened to the coach’s post-game bawling out.
I was already in the shower, Jessa on my mind and not a damn thing else I gave a crap about. As soon as I’d washed all the sweat from my body and thrown on some clothes, I was out, pushing the gas pedal like a mad man. I knew my brothers well enough to know that they wouldn’t hesitate when it came to trying to beat me to the punch. As soon as they noticed Jessa was no longer here, they’d be at her house, climbing through her window or banging down her door. I didn’t want one, or both of them, to sneak out ahead of me and steal Jessa for themselves. The fact that they wouldn’t have batted an eye when it came to stealing her wasn’t fucking fair, if you thought about it. For the most part, I’d dropped into the background and allowed them to do the whole up close and personal thing with her. Play with her as much as they pleased. Tonight, was my night.
I pulled up to Jessa’s house, a small little place that looked like something out of a 1940s movie. Instead of ruffled curtains, her windows were all covered with blinds.
I knocked on the door as opposed to pushing my finger against the doorbell. Sure, she’d warned me about showing up like this, not wanting her dad to get a whiff of the wolf who was very clearly going to steal his daughter away sometime soon.
I was almost disappointed that Jessa was the one who answered the door. If there was anything to be noted about the Stark boys, it was that we know how to charm the pants off just about anybody. Knew how to calm even the loudest barks, too.
