Belong Together

by Goode, Ella

  Olivia is walking weird. Levi noticed it out the other day. We’re working her too hard.

  “She’s new to this,” he said.

  “So are we,” I argued.

  “We just need to be more careful.”

  And careful meant no more jamming our dicks inside her wet, hot heaven every five seconds. We needed to give our baby time to heal up. But she makes it so damn hard.

  “Oh, he sees me!” She waves her hand wildly. The guys next to us start clapping and I know they’re not cheering the team. I swing around and pin them all with a death glare. The cheers stop and their gazes all fall away.

  I need something… I scan the crowd until I spot it.

  “You there.” I point to a girl two rows back. She’s holding a plaid blanket in her hands.

  “Me?” she mouths.

  I nod and reach into my back pocket. “Five hundred—”

  A small hand reaches out and snatches my wallet from my grip.

  “I cannot believe you just did that,” Olivia hisses, looking like an angry kitten. Her adorable face is scrunched up and her tiny claws are out.

  For what, though, I have no clue. I cock my head. “What do you think I’m doing?”

  “You’re looking and talking to another girl. That’s what you’re doing.” She turns to her roommate. “You saw it, didn’t you?”

  The small girl nods emphatically, sending her ponytail swinging. “Yes. Definitely. He was talking to another girl.”

  While jealousy looks cute as hell on Olivia, I don’t want to do anything to make her feel insecure about my love. Quickly, I explain. “I’m trying to buy you a blanket.”

  Olivia’s face morphs from mad to confused in a blink. “Why? It’s like eighty degrees tonight. I’m not cold. Besides, if I was, you could warm me up.” She snuggles up against me, pushing her lush tits into my chest. “You don’t need to buy me a blanket.”

  I blow out a frustrated sigh but wrap an arm around her because that’s just how my arms work when she’s near me. They automatically wrap themselves around her body and pull her tight against me.

  “Baby, I don’t know why you’re wearing this T-shirt you found in the garbage, but it’s showing so much skin, I think you’re going to start a riot.” I stroke my hand over her back, counting the ridges of her spine.

  “I’m what?” She peers around at our fellow students who all look studiously away. “No one’s even looking at me,” she complains as she returns her gaze to me.

  “Now. No one’s looking at you now, but, like, five seconds ago, every guy who could see was tracking the trajectory of your chest movement like they’re all physics majors who are going to be tested on it later.”

  She waves a hand. “Zeke, you’re overreacting. No one’s looking at me but you.”

  “What the fuck are you wearing?” I hear bellowed from about twenty-five feet away.

  Olivia turns, cups her hands around her mouth, and yells, “Not a dress!”

  The crowd snickers. Even I feel an involuntary twitch of my lips. “You’re wrong, babe,” I inform my girl as Levi climbs over a bench, pushes aside a trainer, and stomps over to the stands.

  “About what?” She can’t take her eyes off the menace.

  “I wasn’t the only one looking at you.”

  “I guess not.” She leans down and reaches out her hands to touch Levi when he and I both shout, “No!”

  Behind Levi, a water boy trips. Two coaches run into each other. The medical tent gets knocked over. Levi grabs a towel from his waist and bombs it toward me. I catch it in one hand and thrust it toward a bewildered Olivia.

  “What just happened?”

  “A natural disaster,” Erika murmurs.

  “Here, put this around your neck.”

  “It’d be safer for all of us,” Erika urges. I give her a grateful look.

  “I don’t know what the big deal is,” Olivia mumbles, but she ties the sweaty terry cloth around her neck.

  Some of the tension drains out of my spine. “What happened to you being a rule follower?” I ask. “Back home you never tried any of this.” She wore cute stuff, but it was never revealing. She never really tested us before. In fact, ever since she’s stepped on to campus, she’s turned into someone completely different. Oh, she’s still sweet and innocent and kind, but there’s a mischievousness about her that I hadn’t really noticed before.

  It sets me back on my heels. Levi and I thought we could control the whole situation, make sure that everyone toes the line and I guess in our arrogance we thought that included Olivia. That she’d wear what we wanted. Stay where we wanted her to stay. Do what we wanted her to do. But she’s her own person and she’s starting to flex and…that both scares the hell out of me and gives me a harder boner than I’ve ever had before.

  I reach for her neck. “What now?” she asks, slightly irritated.

  “I’m going to need that towel for a sec.” I pull it off and tuck it into the front of my jeans. No one needs to see my raging hard-on that I can’t do anything about for another—I check the scoreboard—forty minutes. Fuck, why are these football games so long?

  Chapter Three

  Olivia

  “I’m so hungry,” Erika says as her eyes roam over the menu. We didn’t have time to eat before the game. We took so long making our shirts that we didn’t have time to grab a bite. Erica and I worked so hard on those shirts and my men didn’t even appreciate them. They didn’t have one nice thing to say about them. They seemed more pissed than anything else.

  I didn’t tell them, but their reaction to the shirt I made especially for them hurt me. I played it off because I didn’t want them to see my disappointment. I don’t know if I’m being silly about it, so I’m keeping my trap sealed for now.

  Maybe I need to eat something to calm down. “We ate that giant bowl of popcorn,” I remind her.

  “You saying we shouldn’t get an app?” Erika asks, putting her menu down. Her face is so serious I burst out laughing.

  “I didn’t say that.” I hold my hands up in alarm.

  “Okay, cool, because the sampler has a little of everything,” she says with a nod as the redheaded waitress slides up to our table looking anything but friendly. I glance down to her name tag. Drina. She doesn’t look like anyone I know, so I just chalk her mood up to her having a long day. Erica and I order, but I swear I get an eye roll from Drina as she takes my menu from me. I furrow my eyes and try to place this girl. I’m pretty sure she’s not in any of my classes. I really don’t remember ever seeing her before. I shake it off. A few girls have been rude to me since Levi and Zeke have been all over me. I’m not going to waste time worrying myself over every person who has an issue with something I did or didn’t do in my life. Especially not some stranger named Drina.

  I’m sure it’s clear by this point that the twins and I are a unit. People have to know that I’m not their sister or cousin, as some had originally thought. People are just so closed-minded that they can’t believe that both of them belong to me. They can’t wrap their minds around it. I can’t wrap my mind around how everyone is so concerned about what others do in their private lives. It’s frustrating. No, forget that, it’s fucking annoying. If these strangers think they are going to belittle me or make me feel self-conscious, they’re in for a rude awakening.

  “She was rude,” Erika says as the waitress stomps from our table.

  “Maybe she’s having a bad day.” I try to give her the benefit of the doubt and remind myself that not everyone is an asshole. My mom taught me to try and always see the good in people.

  “You’re too nice,” Erika says. When we first met I didn’t realize she had a fiery side. Sure, she was shy and quiet, but I learned quickly she can be fierce when provoked. I don’t think she knows it’s in her either.

  I’m guessing being shy and quiet has allowed her to slip under the radar. She keeps to herself mostly, so no one really has a reason to provoke her.

  “I’m noticing,�
� I admit.

  Erika shrugs. “Better than jaded. You got two men all over your ass to make sure no one messes with you.” She shrugs. I glance over my shoulder out the window to where Zeke is leaning against a tree playing on his phone. I say “playing,” but he’s probably working.

  He walked Erika and me here after the game. Levi should be along shortly. His team won and had to go back to the locker room for a post-game team meeting. I could tell from the look in his eyes when he ran off the field after the game he was still worked up. I lick my lips thinking about what’s to come.

  When I glance back to Erika, I see she’s looking out the window, too. I follow her gaze and see she’s looking past Zeke.

  “What are you staring at?” It’s dark now and I can’t see far past where Zeke is standing. I squint, trying to get a closer look. I think I can make someone out. Whoever it is, he’s freaking huge. He may be bigger than my own men, but at this distance it’s too hard to tell.

  “You see him?” she asks, and I turn back to look at her. My heart jumps—maybe this is what she was talking about this afternoon. I stupidly got wrapped up in the twins’ phone sex. Then we immediately rolled into making shirts for the game when Erika got home. Jesus, I’m a shitty friend. But as I stare at her face, she doesn’t look scared. No, she looks fascinated. It’s obvious to me that we have a new mission.

  We both jump when the waitress drops down our appetizer. She doesn’t even ask if we want anything else before she walks off again.

  “Must be a really bad day.” Erika rolls her eyes. She reaches for a mozzarella stick, and I follow suit. My phone lights up with a text. I look down to see it’s a text from Levi in our group chat.

  Levi: Coming for you

  I smile at his text and a tingle settles inside me when I think about what’s coming.

  Me: Still having dinner with Erika.

  His response is instant.

  Levi: Eat fast

  Me: No! I’m having dinner with my friend. And we will be walking her back to the dorm.

  Levi: I’m not going to be walking anywhere if you don’t take care of my cock. I’m fucking aching for you, baby.

  How can his text be rude and hot at the same time? “Other half is here.” Erika nods towards the front of the restaurant before shoving a ranch-covered chicken finger into her mouth. She moans like she hasn’t eaten in days and the guys at the table next to us throw speculative glances. She doesn’t notice. I fight my giggles because I know she’d turn cherry red if she knew.

  I turn to see Zeke has Levi by the arm and is pulling him back from coming inside. His eyes lock with mine and the look he gives me makes my nipples harden. I jerk my gaze back to the table so I don’t go out there and hump him, as the waitress sets our food down on the table.

  I turn my phone over when it lights up with more messages. I reach for my burger and take a big bite. Erika only has half of hers left. I don’t know where she is putting all of this food.

  “Your man is pacing out there like a caged animal.” I don’t turn to look because I know what I’ll see. “Check, please,” Erika calls to the snooty waitress.

  “It’s already paid,” she says with a tight smile.

  “If your twins keep buying me food I could turn into one of their fan club members,” she quips but remains stony-faced, aiming a glare at the waitress. It’s clear she’s calling her out for her nasty attitude towards me. I’m grateful that I have a friend like Erika. Good friends are hard to come by and I’m never letting her go.

  “It wasn’t them,” she snips and flounces away to take another table’s order.

  “Who paid for our food?” I glance around.

  “She’s not having a bad day. She’s just a big jealous bitch,” Erika says, reaching for one of the fries that’s left on my plate.

  “We better go. I like this place and I don’t need Levi burning it down so you come out of it,” she says it with a laugh. I’m not sure I find it so funny.

  I look back to where Erika had been staring earlier but can’t see anything now. “Got a pen?” I ask, reaching for a napkin on the table. She rummages in her bag and hands me one.

  Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.

  I scribble down one my favorite quotes my mom always said. It takes so much more effort to be unkind to people than it does to be nice. I just don’t understand people who act this way.

  “Eric Hoffer,” Erika says over my shoulder, reading what I wrote.

  “Yeah.” I pull out a couple of twenties and drop down the tip. The amount I left is likely more than the meal was altogether. I’m not going to stoop to this girl’s level. She can be as rude to me as she wants, but I’m going to be the better person. One of us giving lip back was enough, and Erika was already filling those shoes.

  Erika grabs my shoulder as I stand, drawing my attention back to her. “Don’t let these people take that from you, Livvie.”

  I’m confused. “What?”

  “That good you see, sharing kind words in the face of cruelty.” She smiles at me like she’s proud of me.

  “If they”—she motions to the people around us—“don’t understand how you landed those two men, then they don’t know you. Because I see why.” This time it’s her who locks her arm with mine as we walk out of the restaurant together.

  We meet Levi outside and he goes to pounce on me, but I hold a hand out. “Lock it up,” I tell him. “I’m walking my friend home.” He pauses for a beat then steps back with a nod. He’s not happy about this, but he’s not fighting me on the issue.

  Erika fights a laugh, and I bite my lip to fight one of my own, but her solemn words linger in the back of my mind.

  Chapter Four

  Levi

  Livvie is pissed. I don’t know the reason, but I’m fairly certain the target is me and Zeke. I jingle the keys in my pocket and glance over at my brother to see if he’s noticed anything, but he’s still on his phone.

  He must feel my gaze because he looks up and meets my eyes with a rueful quirk of his lips. “Sorry, man. I gotta go. There’s a security breach and they want me to come in and take a look. Some developer let the latest release go out with a big backend bug.”

  He bends down and gives Livvie a quick kiss on her forehead. “Be nice to Levi while I’m gone,” he says. Silently, he sends me an apology for jetting off while our girl is mad. He squeezes my shoulder and murmurs quietly, “Make-up sex is the best.”

  But it’s not quiet enough, because Livvie slaps him across the arm. “How would you know? We’ve never had make-up sex, so unless you’re doing it with someone else, you wouldn’t know.”

  He backs up, his two hands in the air. “It’s something I’ve heard, baby. Just something I heard.”

  And then the coward flees before either Livvie or I can do anything about it.

  “I’ve heard the same thing,” Erika offers.

  I decide that Erika is the third-best girl in the world, after Olivia and my mom.

  “You don’t have to protect these big dolts, Erika,” Livvie proclaims.

  “Actually, feel free to throw up as many shields as you want. I may look big, but I’m very soft.”

  Livvie slams an elbow into my gut and then bounces off me. I catch her before she falls.

  “Soft, my ass. You feel like a boulder. There’s not a soft place on your entire body.” She holds her elbow up to her roommate. “Am I getting a bruise? It feels like I’m getting a bruise.”

  The roommate actually stops, crouches down to get a better look at the body part in question, and then nods. “Probably. It’s hard to see in this light, but you could definitely be bruised.”

  “Are you kidding me? If Livvie said that you should eat worms, are you also going to agree with that?”

  Erika straightens and shrugs. “I guess so. She’s not likely going to recommend that unless we’re starving and worms are the only way to stay alive.”

  “Thank you,” Livvie says. “This is why we’re friend
s.” She hooks an arm around her roommate’s shoulder and glowers. “Erika appreciates me.”

  “And I don’t?” There’s nothing I want to do this entire weekend but appreciate Livvie in a thousand slow and leisurely ways. I worked out all my aggression on the football field, there’s no practice until Monday, and I plan to take it easy—sit on the couch, watch some Sunday football, make love for a long, long time. “I appreciate you a helluvalot.” Like, right now, I’m appreciating how her boobs are pushing at the top of that chopped up thing she’s calling a shirt. I’m also admiring how her ass swings back and forth in her tight, form-fitting leggings. I’m also—

  “You didn’t appreciate my shirt and I worked hard on it. You made me wear a towel for the entire game.”

  “Your shirt’s fine so long as you’re not wearing it outside our home.”

  “Erika’s wearing the same one as me and you’re not making her stay home.”

  “I mean…Erika’s not my girlfriend.”

  “Being your girlfriend doesn’t give you the right to tell me what to do.” Livvie’s chin juts out. “You guys are always so bossy. Demanding I wear bras all the time. Telling me to throw away my dresses. Stealing all my nice underwear. Making me wait three years before I had sex!”

  “We gave your underwear back,” I protest.

  Erika looks like she wants to shrink under a rock, but Livvie doesn’t notice. She’s intent on giving me the business, which, frankly, is sexy as hell. My cock stirs in my jeans.

  “You think that I like it that you run around on the field wearing those tight pants while all the girls in the stands are staring at your ass?”

  “Really? The girls in the stands are staring at my ass?” That surprises me. Aren’t they paying attention to the action?

  “Seriously? You think that all the women in the stands are there because they like watching twenty-two men chase after a leather ball? No! They like seeing the men hit each other wearing their skin-tight leggings. They like seeing those jerseys come off and the tight abs underneath. They think about running onto the field and climbing the players’ sweaty bodies like a tree trunk.”