Unconventional

by Rebecca Royce

  Banyan jumped to his feet. “Mom, this is Giovanna. Giovanna, this is my mother, Haddi Lowen.”

  His mother stared at me without speaking, which left me to find my manners and handle this nonsense. I put out my hand. “It’s so nice to meet Banyan’s mom. I mean, I can hardly believe you’re his mom. You don’t look old enough to have children at all.”

  Banyan put his hand on the small of my back. Warmth spread up my spine. He was still in his boxer shorts, and I shot him a look. “Honey, do you want to go get dressed?”

  He smirked at me. “Sure, sweetheart, I was just thinking maybe it was time to put on clothes. Do you want socks while I’m up there?”

  I smiled my biggest fake grin. “Thanks.”

  “Welcome.” Banyan tilted his head to the side and spoke to Chance and Maven. “You two will look after my girl, right?”

  Chance cleared his throat. “For the two minutes you’re upstairs? Sure. I think Mave and I can manage to see to it that Giovanna is okay. Hurry up.”

  Banyan’s mother finally spoke as he rushed from the room. “Well, Giovanna, you can’t imagine as a mother how upsetting it is to see that your son is in town with his new…” She was trying to decide how to insult me. I could see the thought crossing right over her eyes. This woman was an open book. No, I decided right there. It took milliseconds. I wasn’t going to let her. Once she said the word—skank, ho, slut—whatever it was, she couldn’t take that back. We couldn’t make this end productively. I was going to save her the angst.

  I hugged her, hard. “Oh, I am so sorry, Ms. Lowen. How terribly distressing.” She had a different last name than her son. She must have gotten married at some point to someone after she had Banyan to someone named Lowen. “Please forgive us. We whirled into town. And I’m sure Banyan was going to get in touch with you. He’s so considerate that way.”

  I knew it was crazy. I had no business hugging this woman but sometimes the only way to deal with crazy was to simply be even crazier than the person doing the initial crazy stuff. I was thinking crazy a lot. That was fine. There were times that warranted it.

  Banyan’s mother stayed stiff for a second before she hugged me a little bit. We stepped apart. I sighed dramatically. “There’s nothing to it. We’re going to have to make this up to you. We’ll come over bright and early tomorrow. We can have breakfast. Does six work? I really like to get up early.”

  Her hand went to her throat. “Breakfast?” She practically choked on the word. Women like Haddi never actually ate breakfast. My mother had told me that once, and up until this second, I hadn’t known exactly what type of woman she referred to. In general, I didn’t like to lump people into categories, but this woman had come over here to have a snit for no other reason than to have one. I could have bad thoughts about her if I wanted to.

  She stepped back just as Banyan came down the stairs. “I’m going to pass on breakfast. But it was nice seeing you, and Banyan, maybe this year I will make it to visit you. Still haven’t seen that place you call home during the school year.”

  His mother had never been there? Even mine had seen it five times. I didn’t turn to look at him. If my parent had just made a statement like that, I’d prefer if all eyes weren’t on me. But Banyan seemingly didn’t flinch. Instead, he took his mother by the arm and escorted her from the house. A gush of wind flew inside, reminding me that it was really cold outside. A second later, Maven picked me up in his arms.

  “I cannot believe you did that. I wasn’t even sure for a few seconds what you were doing, but wow, you took the attitude right out of her. She had no idea what to do.”

  Maven set me down, and Chance pulled me against his side. “Pretty cool stuff there, Vonni. You should have seen her face. Breakfast? Hugs? She’s going to be on the phone with her therapist in the Uber.”

  I shrugged. “I was just trying to diffuse the whole thing before everything exploded.”

  “Well, you did that.” Banyan shut the door behind him as he walked into the house. “She’s absolutely stunned. Told me you were quite different from what she expected.”

  He handed me my socks, which I gladly took. The floors were really cold. Almost like thinking about the temperature made the radiators turn on, the banging of the air coming out of the heating suddenly filled the room with obnoxious noise.

  I sat down on the couch to put on my white cotton socks, and Chance suddenly banged on the wall. “Okay, guys, seriously, we can’t be late to this thing I planned. This is why I stick to pledges and don’t do social events. Let’s go. You all look great. Let’s just get out of here.”

  Maven grinned at Banyan who swung his arm around Chance. It was Banyan who laughed when he spoke. “Look, it’s stressed out type A Chance showing up here tonight. Sorry, bro, my mother has terrible timing. I thought for a minute she was going to have to come along except for the brilliant thinking of our girl here. Yes, where are we off to?”

  Chance pointed to the door. “Grab your coats.”

  He was really being silent about this. I stood. “Can’t wait.”

  I hadn’t had a bad night with these guys, even when all it involved was watching sports I didn’t quite understand and sipping small amounts of alcohol. I was really glad they’d decided I should be their friend. Even if I might never understand why.

  Chance’s planned night out started with incredible Chinese food. The restaurant was small inside and famous for pork. We ate ribs and laughed. I drank an entire beer, and it went to my head right away, which only made me want to eat more. Okay, I’d have to be careful with the stuff. But I laughed, listening to them all talk.

  If any of them noticed that I tended not to talk at dinners out, they didn’t comment. Maybe there would never really be a time that changed. One on one, I was fine. But something about the restaurant experience with more than one other person threw me off. I’d not ever stopped to think about why before.

  In any case, it was nice to not worry they were going to try to draw me out. They didn’t ignore me. In fact, Banyan had his arm around me the whole time and Maven kept knocking our shoes together under the table. Every once in a while, Chance would wink at me. This was easy. This was friendship.

  I loved it.

  Maybe ours was unconventional, but it was ours.

  I swallowed. Was it all about to go away when we went back to school?

  I forced the thought away. That was next week. This was now.

  Maven’s cell phone pinged as we were finishing up. “They’ve arrested someone for the fires. A homeless man who hung out near campus. They say it was him.”

  A homeless man? “How would he even get into the dorms or the frat? The security cards only let people in who have them or who are let in. Why was he starting fires?”

  Maven shook his head. “I’ll let you know when I get more information. Those are good questions.”

  I sighed. Something about that didn’t sit well in my gut. Not that I was some kind of expert on solving mysteries, but I thought a whole lot about plot all the time. That seemed strange. But maybe life was weirder than fiction sometimes.

  We ended up leaving the restaurant to go to Chelsea Piers for a while. I’d never been there. Rock climbing and bowling were things I loved to do, and I was thrilled. I had to bowl with my other arm because of the dislocated shoulder, and I had to watch the rock climbing, but it was so magical to be there. It was noisy, but the entire area had been dressed up in purples and golds for New Year’s Eve.

  By eleven at night, happiness had invaded my every pore. I didn’t get the impression they did these things very much. Maven really couldn’t bowl, although I’d never point that out, and Chance avoided the rock wall entirely. Banyan threw himself into activities with such fervor I couldn’t tell if he was good at what he was doing and just being silly about it or not good and overcompensating. Either way, I knew I’d never forget the evening.

  At eleven, Chance took my hand. We were apparently not done.

  “There’s mor
e?” I couldn’t believe it. This was plenty. Why add anything else to it.

  Banyan looked at his watch. “We have to be somewhere for midnight? We’re cutting it close for traffic, and seriously, Chance, we better not be going to Times Square. I’m not going to get into that mess. I’d rather watch it from home.”

  “Oh, we’re going to watch it but not from home, and no, we’re not exactly going to Times Square.”

  What did that mean? Banyan looked at Chance and put his hands on his hips. “You didn’t.”

  Didn’t what? I almost asked, and then Maven laughed. “You got the permits. Found someone to do it. The whole shebang. Just like you’ve been saying you were going to do for the last four years.”

  Chance grinned. “I’ve been saying it longer than four years. I just got serious about getting it done four years ago. Threw real money at the problem this year because I wanted to do it while we had Vonni with us.”

  “Guys,” I finally got the words out. “What are we doing?”

  Chance’s smile, broadened. “We’re going up in a helicopter. We’re going to see New Year’s Eve from the sky tonight.”

  I took a deep breath. “Wow.”

  Banyan put his hand on my back. “You’ve avoided my plane thus far. We never asked. Are you fearful of flying? Or heights?”

  I shook my head. “No, actually. I used to do it all the time. Going in a helicopter was never on my personal adventure list, but let’s do it. Yes, sounds great. Why not? We only live once. And thank you, Chance. This is amazing! Thanks for organizing it. Thanks for the surprise.”

  His smile fell slightly, which I couldn’t understand since I wanted to do what he planned. But when he spoke his words, he wasn’t quite grinning anymore. “You’re welcome, Vonni. This was my pleasure.”

  I’d never wanted to go in a helicopter. I knew my father wasn’t a big fan of them. He used to have to take one back and forth to an island he was researching in Southeast Asia before he met my mother. If I hadn’t been wearing headphones over my ears, it would have been uncomfortably loud. But New York was below us, and even though I’d never been much of a believer in anything, seeing the city lit up around and below us felt something akin to a religious experience. I couldn’t really explain it. But there were millions of people down below us, living their lives, and for just a little while, I could see them from up above.

  It was different on a plane. There were all kinds of restrictions on where the helicopter could go. Not directly over Times Square. Not directly over the East River. That was fine. I wasn’t missing anything. In fact, I wasn’t sure I’d ever look at this place the same way again.

  I lifted my head to see if the guys were enjoying themselves, but all three of them stared at me. What were they thinking? I’d never be able to hear the over the sounds of the blades since my headphones didn’t seem to be working, so I didn’t ask.

  A sudden sadness crept over me, and I did my best to hide the feeling from my expression. The vacation from myself was almost over. The truth was, we were all almost going back to school. I’d never spoken a word to any of them before that day on the street. Would that be different now? Would they still like me when I couldn’t be this open?

  I turned my attention back to the view. Life was simple above New York City.

  January 7th

  Maven

  I almost turned the car around and drove back to Manhattan. I’d delayed our return to school that morning so much that we’d hit rush hour traffic in New Jersey. I didn’t even mind. That gave me more time with Giovanna. Sometimes, like today in the car, she was quiet. I always wanted to know what she was thinking, but being prodded to explain her private thoughts had to get old. She’d tell me if she wanted me to know.

  I still couldn’t really believe what had happened the last weeks. What had prompted me to run out onto the street and call out to her with that stupid name? That really wasn’t like me. That was more a Banyan move, but I’d had no idea what to say, and I didn’t want her to get away. It had felt like if I didn’t stop her right that second, I’d never see her again.

  Now here we were. In this strange relationship I’d never anticipated. The guys and I, we shared women. Maybe for a night. This ongoing sort of dating, sort of not dating thing? This was new. I didn’t think she knew that, and I preferred it that way. Let her think we had this all together. She didn’t need to know how much I worried that I’d lose her, that this couldn’t be sustained as is for much longer.

  How could this work, really, in the long run? She was going to have to pick one of us to date, or not date any of us and we’d all just become good friends. I hated everything about that.

  Since I couldn’t, unfortunately, control the universe, I had to concentrate on getting us through now. I wouldn’t compete with Chance or Banyan. First off, they were my brothers. We’d lost a close friend together, and that had bonded us in a way others didn’t really get. I knew them like I knew myself. I’d never hurt them. Deep inside of me, I wasn’t exactly sure I would win if I did ask her to choose. Banyan and Chance were great guys. They were different than I was and would probably be better boyfriends.

  She turned to look at me, raising her eyebrows in the way she did when she observed me, like she wanted to make me out somehow.

  “You’re upset.”

  I gave her a half smirk. “Who wants to go back to tests and finals? Papers? We have to get the pledges through this last bit to make them brothers. All of it is just… a lot.”

  She bit down on her lower lip. “I see.”

  Did she? “You’ll come tonight, right? To the SPiI party? We have the best back to school one every January. Way better than the other houses.” Did I even care about that anymore? Well, I did and I didn’t. They’d elected me to care until May, so I was going to pull this shit off one way or another. “You can bring your friends. Text Banyan. We’ll get them all on the list. No one with you waits in line.”

  I was rambling. Damn it.

  “You want me to come?”

  I loved the sound of her voice. “Are you kidding? Of course?”

  You’re my girl, library. Please don’t disappear from my life back to that place where I can’t touch you, where I just see you from a distance. Please don’t let me disappear back to whoever I was before I met you.

  “Then I’ll be there.”

  I let out a long breath. “Great. Cool. You’ll have a good time.”

  We pulled up to her dorm. “Just like I promised. I got you back here.”

  She nodded. Her eyes were distant. It was hard for me to read her like this. “Thank you, Maven.”

  Anything, Giovanna. I’d do anything for you.

  “Sure. See you tonight. If you want a ride, let me know. I’ll send a pledge to get you.” Just say goodbye Maven, before she decides you’re pathetic. “See you later, library.”

  Her smile was huge. “See you later, SPiI.”

  She got out of the car, grabbed her bag, and walked into her dorm without turning around. She took my heart with her. My phone dinged. It was Banyan. He and Chance were back. We didn’t have enough beer for the party, and three brothers needed to speak to me. I had to pull my shit together. And fast.

  Do not fret, dear reader. Part 2 of 3 is coming soon. What happens now that they’re back at school? You’ll have to wait to see. Sign up for my newsletter at www.rebeccaroyce.com and be on the lookout for Unexpected coming soon. Flip the page to see the list of all of my books!

  About the Author

  As a teenager, I would hide in my room to read my favorite romance novels when I was supposed to be doing my homework. I hope, these days, that my parents think it was worth it.

  I am the mother of three adorable boys and I am fortunate to be married to my best friend. I live in Austin Texas where I am determined to eat all the barbecue in town.

  I am in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal and try to use all of these elements in my writing. I've been told I'm a little bloodt
hirsty so I hope that when you read my work you'll enjoy the action packed ride that always ends in romance. I love to write series because I love to see characters develop over time and it always makes me happy to see my favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.

  In my world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.

  I'd love to hear from you! Please visit my website at www.rebeccaroyce.com to sign up for my newsletter and learn about my books!

  Cheers!!

  Rebecca

  Other books by Rebecca Royce…

  Wings of Artemis

  Kidnapped By Her Husbands

  Rescued by Their Wife

  Crashing Into Destiny

  Meeting Them

  Reclaiming Their Love

  Loving Them

  Ship Called Malice

  Saving Them

  Dark Demise

  Light Unfolding (coming soon)

  Last Hope

  Tradition Be Damned

  Past Be Damned

  Destiny Be Damned

  Compassion Be Damned (coming soon)

  Dragon Wars

  Forever

  Eternal

  Always

  Evermore

  Endless

  Wards and Wands

  Hexed and Vexed

  Curse Reversed (coming soon)

  Safe Haven

  Everywhere and Nowhere

  More coming soon….

  Soul Bound

  Prisoner of the Dragons

  More coming soon….

  Shadow Promised

  Strange Days

  Weird Nights

  Bizarre Years

  More coming soon…

  The Warrior

  Initiation

  Driven

  Subversive

  Redemption

  Justice

  Warrior World (spin off of The Warrior)

  Deacon