“If I’m weird, you’re just as weird. I mean, the amount of time we spend together, my personality has definitely rubbed off on you.” We continue riffing off back and forth for a few more minutes when Scarlet comes back into dining room. The handcuffs are loosely dangling in her hands as she walks over to us. The two of us silently watch her.
“Hello, boys. Are you two ready?” Scarlet walks so she’s standing behind us. She starts with me, handcuffing my hands behind the chair. She cuffs Caden then sits on the table, between us. “Wait. Do you have the keys?” She’s talking to Caden since he’s the one who brought the cuffs, and I have to ask as well,
“Caden?”A look of horror must’ve crossed my face, because when Caden turns to me, he lets out another one of his hearty laughs. He’s laughing for so long that he starts to have trouble breathing. “Caden!”
“God dammit, Caden.” Even though Scarlet sounds annoyed, she’s also smiling.
Caden has an infectious laugh, and even when he’s being ridiculous, it’s hard to not join him in his joy. “Yeah, yeah. I have the keys. They’re in my pocket. You’re welcome to get them out.”
Scarlet hops off the table and bends over so she’s hovering over Caden, her face inches from his. “Which pocket are they in?”
Caden shrugs his shoulders, rendering Scarlet to make a guess. She goes for his left pocket, digs around and finds nothing. “I guess they’re in your other pocket.” So she places her hand into his right pocket and discovers that it’s also empty. Scarlet’s face scrunches into confusion, and she looks Caden squarely in the eyes. “Caden, where are the keys?”
“In my back pocket.”
Scarlet makes a silent, “Oh.”
Caden furrows his eyebrows and says, “Here, I’ll stand up slightly so you can reach back and get them.” Caden picks his butt up so there’s room to reach into his back pocket. Scarlet has to lean more into him. When she leans in more, her nose brushes Caden’s face. Her eyes flick up to his briefly before moving back down. She finds the keys and pulls them out of Caden’s pocket. She looks back at him and says breathlessly,
“Found them…” It looks like Scarlet’s going to kiss him, but instead she backs away, placing the keys on the table. She leans against the table and turns to me. “Oliver.” There’s been a shift in the mood that I may have missed. I look at Caden, but he is just watching me, waiting for me to respond.
“Yes…?”
Scarlet uses her foot to spread my legs. She positions herself between my legs and runs her hands up my chest until her fingers are circling my neck. She softly kisses me,
“Let’s have a little fun.”
• • •
Scarlet took her time teasing the two of us, but it still feels like it was over too quickly. She’s taken off my handcuffs and is currently unlocking Caden’s. I’m rubbing my wrists since they’re a little raw. Once Caden’s unrestrained, he massages his wrists as well. We both stretch then stand up, cleaning ourselves off. It doesn’t take long for all of us to get dressed. “You two can spend the night if you want…” I look at Caden, and we both absorb the weight of Scarlet’s proposition. If she means what I think she means, it would be a big deal. I’m about to ask what us staying would mean, but Caden beats me to it,
“Do you mean spend the night with you in the house or spend the night in the general house?”
Scarlet smiles at the question. “I would say it’s the first option, but it’s really up to the two of you. You can sleep wherever you want, but it would be nice if you chose to stay with me… in my bedroom.”
Well, of course we’re going to stay with her. “Lead the way.”
And with that Scarlet takes us upstairs. Neither one of us has ever been up there. I remember she mentioned not going herself when she first came back. I wonder when she changed her mind. It makes me regret not keeping contact with her. Caden and I were constantly worried about giving her space and what amount of interest was the appropriate amount of interest. Basically, we were overanalyzing every move and, in the end, getting nowhere. But we’re going to change that. Communication is key.
We go into Scarlet’s bedroom, and it’s sparsely decorated. I’m about to ask but she’s quick to explain,
“This is a guest room. I haven’t been able to go into my old bedroom for too long, let alone sleep in there. But it’s still a nice room.” Scarlet wanders over to the bed as her voice trails off. It would seem she’s returning to her more morose state, how she was feeling after we told her about our dad. I guess without distraction, her mind returns to its darker thoughts. Caden and I go to sit on either side of her, Caden placing a reassuring arm around her shoulder as she continues, “I can’t get it out of my head that Grandma Rachel was alone when she died. Not like in the moment, but I’d barely spoken to her in years. It’s like I abandoned her.”
“You have to stop thinking it’s your fault. It was Winston. He killed Rachel. We all make mistakes. God knows I’m no angel, but that doesn’t mean we’re responsible for all the bad things that happened.” Wise words from Caden. He falls back so he’s lying down.
I quickly follow suit and then Scarlet so we’re all on our backs. Caden and I roll onto our sides, looking at Scarlet. Caden places his hand at the hem of her shirt and lifts it up, exposing her stomach. He traces circles around her belly button, causing Scarlet to let out little laughs, “Your skin is very smooth.”
“Thank you. I moisturize.”
“Hmm… I do that, too.”
Scarlet reaches up and strokes Caden’s face. “I can tell. Your skin’s really soft, too.”
Caden moves Scarlet’s shirt further up, and her entire stomach is exposed with the edge of her bra peeking out.
She peers up at Caden, “Do you want me to take my shirt off?”
Caden shakes his head, “Let’s just take things slowly.”
I move Scarlet’s hair from her face and she turns her head to me. I caress her cheek then kiss her gently. As I’m kissing her, I feel my cheek getting slightly wet, and I move my face away from hers. It’s then I notice there are tears running down her face.
“What’s wrong?”
Caden hears my question and stops rubbing her stomach. He looks at us and sees her tears. He doesn’t say anything and waits for Scarlet’s answer,
“Nothing… You two are so gentle, and… I don’t know. It got to me. Life hasn’t been easy for me these past few years, and it feels like it’s finally getting better.”
I use my thumb to wipe away some of the tears and kiss Scarlet’s cheeks. “You mean a lot to us, too.” I know it doesn’t sound overly romantic, but neither one of us has ever been good at saying stuff like that. I just hope Scarlet can feel the sentiment behind my words. I give her another kiss with more gusto this time. Our kiss breaks and I move over.
Caden has moved his hand to the hem of her skirt. “Is this okay?”
Scarlet nods, and Caden scoots the skirt off, leaving her in her underwear. He moves on top of her and kisses her neck. “What do you want, Scarlet?”
“I want you…” Scarlet holds my hand as Caden massages her breasts. She squeezes my hand as she wriggles under him. I see his hands go down to her underwear. He’s about to insert into her and start making love to her, but he stills himself, waiting for Scarlet to say something. “Go ahead. I want you to.”
Caden moves slowly, and Scarlet grips my hand as she inhales sharply. Her breathing is even and deep. Caden keeps his slow pace with Scarlet’s breathing picking up. She lays her cheek on the bed, facing towards me. I give her a kiss, and in the moment, I can tell she’s close. While we’re kissing, Scarlet moans into my mouth and reaches her peak. We break apart as Caden withdraws himself. We all return to lying on our backs and take a few seconds to catch our breaths. Soon, we’re all asleep. It feels nice falling asleep next to Scarlet and my brother.
The next day, we all wake up together, and it feels like this is the way it should be every morning. There are minor readjustme
nts, but we all manage to smoothly get ourselves up and ready. We take a small breakfast before leaving. We’re jollier this morning, laughing over our coffees and toast. After we eat, Caden and I say goodbye to Scarlet, making sure we promise to come over soon. There are a few things that Caden and I have to take care of back at the office, but we’ll make sure to call Scarlet and make plans. We’re not going to let her get away.
Chapter 18 – Scarlet
Waking up between Caden and Oliver was like a dream, a dream I never want to wake up from. Finding each of them with an arm around me felt like I was finally home, safe and warm. If they didn’t have their arms wrapped tightly around me, I would have probably floated away. It’s adorable the way Caden sleeps. Shaggy blonde hair dangled just over his eyes, which I pushed away with my hand. His mouth hung ajar, tugged to the side of his lips, so that he breathed through his mouth, and I placed a kiss on my fingers and put them to his. Meanwhile, I felt Oliver nuzzled in my hair, his warm breath flowing across the back of my head. Even with his mouth closed, hums escaped from his lips, a sweet song I could fall asleep to always.
Even though last night was full of heartbreaking revelations, I can’t help but think about it with fondness. It was the first time all three of us spent the night together, and it felt so right. Everything felt so right.
• • •
I don’t have a lot of plans for today. Caden and Oliver said they were going to call me later to plan another date. Since our first one, we haven’t had a proper date, and even then, it started out as a business meeting. I told them nothing lavish this time; I wanted to spend a simple, no frill evening with them.
Around mid-afternoon, I hear the doorbell. I wonder who that could be. Oliver and Caden haven’t called, and I’m not expecting Chloe. There’s no one else who would call on me, but no point thinking about it. I can simply answer the door and find out who’s there. I check the peephole and see someone I don’t quite recognize completely. He does look familiar, but a name doesn’t come to mind. I open the door but not too widely just to be safe.
“Hello,” the pacifying voice coos. The gentleman standing before me looks to be older, judging by the salt and peppery pattern sprinkled throughout his slicked back hair. In his clean white tailored-fit suit I can tell he’s a tall man with a muscular build. What’s most striking is the pair of piercing blue eyes scanning me up and down.
He puts on a warm smile and says, “Hi, Scarlet. I was a friend of your grandmother’s and was hoping I could come in and talk to you.” He seems nice enough, and I haven’t spoken to many people about Grandma Rachel. I don’t remember him from the funeral, but then again, I didn’t pay much attention. I move aside so that he can step in.
“That should be fine. Come in.” I take him into the kitchen, and we stand around the island. “How did you know my grandmother?”
“Well, I knew your whole family. And I think you know my sons, Caden and Oliver?” My heart stops and sinks to the floor. His sons… Is he…
“Are you Winston Blakesley?” What is he doing here? Now I know why I recognized him. “What are you doing here? Why did you come to my house?” The blood in my veins begins pounding as I think about the wary things Oliver and Caden have told me about their father.
“I came because I wanted you to know who I was. And I was worried someone might try to attack you, so if you ever need anything, you can always come find me.”
That’s his excuse. I can’t believe he thinks I would fall for something as ludicrous as that.
“What are you talking about? I don’t believe you.”
“What do you mean you don’t believe me? I’m only trying to protect you from the people who would try to hurt you. You have to trust me, Scarlet.” He starts to skulk towards me, and I start backing up further into the kitchen.
“Thank you for your concern, Mr. Blakesley. If you think it’s that serious, then I’ll call the police myself, and hopefully can send someone to keep me safe.”
And at that moment, a large rock comes crashing through the window. I scream and shield my ears and face as it blows right passed me, shattered glass scattering everywhere.
“See? Someone out there is trying to hurt you. Thank god I’m here to prevent that,” he seems to be feigning a genuine smile but somehow it’s trickling with trickery.
Ignoring him, I spin around to catch who threw the rock, but all I see is a black car with tinted windows. It’s rolling its window up, and as soon as it reaches the top, the car drives away.
When I turn back around, Winston has gotten even closer to me, almost pinning me in the corner. My eyes may have grown twice their size, but I sew my lips shut to stifle a scream. I look around the room and locate my phone, “I’m sorry, Mr. Blakesley, but I need to report this incident. If you will please excuse me, I think you should leave.
A grin spreads across his face, “I’ll stay here with you. I saw the whole thing, so I can be an eye witness for the report.” He sounds so genuine; it’s kind of frightening. A part of me wants to believe he isn’t a bad person. At the same time, he’s also on the brink of overpowering me, and there’s nothing around me I can grab to protect myself.
“No, that’s okay. You don’t have to. I don’t want to inconvenience you. It’s really no big deal. I can take care of this by myself.” I manage to push passed him, but once I grab my phone, he swipes it from my hand.
“Before you do that… You need to hear my side.” He keeps my phone in between his hands.
In order to appease him, and buy myself more time to delay anything he’s planning, I’ll give him a chance to explain, “What do you want to tell me?”
“I found out that you think I had something to do with your grandmother’s death. Until a few days ago, I thought her death was an accident, but apparently that’s not the truth?” His directness catches me off-guard.
“Umm… yeah. Something that might be less than kosher, but I don’t really know.” Heat starts to brew underneath my skin, the hot core in my stomach.
“But I heard that the blame is coming around to me for this ‘less than kosher’ death. If it was anyone, it would be Caden and Oliver. My sons aren’t who they seem to be. They come off as innocent and savory, but there’s more to the story.” Caden and Oliver. The thought had crossed my mind before, but they are his sons. How could he so callously throw them under the bus?
“Why are you telling me this? They’re your sons.”
“They might be my children, but I can’t stand idly by while they go around taking advantage of people and hurting them. You need to know that they would visit your grandmother regularly. Like I said, they aren’t as innocent as they appear.” The calm demeanor he came with is starting to break down and change. The friendly sparkle in his eyes has disappeared, taken over by black sinister smoky eyes, and over the course of our conversation, he’s gotten closer and closer to me. I’ve tried to back away without drawing too much attention to it, but he kept inching towards me.
“I’m sorry, but I really think you should leave and let me call the police now…”
He’s inches away from me, almost like he’s going to grab for me, and I jump. “You don’t understand, Scarlet! Just wait. If you sell them the house, they’ll drop me just as quickly. I’m telling you, you’ll see. The boys aren’t worth it!”
“I want you to leave. You need to get off my property.” I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ve told him to get out, but he won’t go. I force a gulp down as my hands start forming sweat in the center of my palms. My eyes dart back and forth around the room, looking for something, anything that will help me. What do I do?
Chapter 19 – Caden
Yesterday was so amazing that I’ve spent the first half of today thinking about what happened. I still can’t believe Scarlet let us spend the night… in her bed… with her. Oliver and I agreed that we’re going to make sure to stay in communication with Scarlet this time. This way we won’t potentially lose her a second time. Oliver and
I had parted ways earlier after taking care of business for the day. I’d gone home to take care of some of my own stuff.
About halfway through the day, I got a bad feeling, but I couldn’t quite place where it was coming from. As it got later, I started to wonder about our dad. Yesterday illuminated the suspicions I had about him. It’s one thing to think your father is a cruel, horrible person. It’s a whole other beast to actually have proof of him being that cruel, horrible person. When Oliver and I spoke about our notions, it still felt extremely theoretical and even possibly untrue. For most of my life, I didn’t really like my dad, but I also didn’t always believe he was capable of such heinous acts. That took years to formulate in my mind, but even when confronted with Scarlet’s proof, I wanted to believe there was still a chance for him. Because despite everything, he is still my father, and as his child, I wanted to look up to him, confide in him, be close with him. All these feelings are making me feel guilty. I’ve never spoken to Oliver about this, because he was always more lenient with Winston. He wanted Dad to like us, so he worked hard to please him. I just wanted him to be a decent person, but I guess it’s too late for that now.
Winston’s supposed to be on a business trip to Hong Kong; it’s a deal Oliver and I are also supposed to be working on. Winston said not to worry if we don’t hear from him calling to check in, which is strange, and now I’m starting to wonder. I mean, I don’t expect him to call us; he would never make the effort. But usually he has Oliver and me call him to discuss game plans. Especially since we’re doing the work on the campaign. With each passing minute, I grow more and more fixated on this little detail. By late afternoon, it’s bothering me so much that I call Oliver.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Oliver. Did Dad ask you to call him at any point?”
“What are you talking about, Caden?”
I can hear the confusion in his voice. I haven’t done anything to prime him. “He didn’t ask either one of us to call him when he always asks one of us to call.” While I’m talking on the phone, I get on my computer and start searching for something. “Something is up, Oliver. Something isn’t right. I might drive over to Scarlet’s and check up on her.”
Two Bad Groomsmen_An MFM Menage Romance Page 50
