by J. L. Beck
“I don’t want either of you to think I’m still innocent. I’m not. You’ve seen that tonight.” She picks up a piece of drywall and tosses it into a little pile that’s slowly growing taller.
I give her space, sensing she’s not ready to be crowded. But I can’t help noticing she keeps checking out the chest. Eve’s chest, I’m assuming, but I can’t be sure. “I-I don’t want you to think you have to do this wild shit for us, for me,” I stammer, too overcome by how strong Maddie is when Warren and I are sitting in a pile of rubble and just as ruined.
“For you?” She pops up her head, splitting her glare between me and my brother. “Is that what you’re thinking? I’m wanting to try different things for me. It’s what I want.”
“I’m sorry.” And I am. How fucked up is it I can’t grasp that she wants to enjoy her twenties like War and I had. That she wants to explore her sexuality like War and I had...with Eve. Try every position, twice. Push her limits. “I’m an asshole for pushing you away, making excuses, and that includes chastising myself for holding back so long what you needed, what you wanted until tonight.”
“You wanted it, too. Now I know why you held back. But tonight you both hurt me. I felt like what you did at the restaurant wasn’t for me, for us; it was for Eve. Tell me, was she there in the room with you, in your mind?”
Maddie’s question is an awakening slap in the face, and I cringe imagining if I was in her position. “No. Fuck, no.”
“Then why tonight? Why there?”
“Every addict has a trigger. Las Vegas is mine. But Warren and I have a fucked reason I keep this shit—our shit—from you.”
“I saw the photos, so I’m in the know, Cole.” She tosses two more pieces onto the heap, and two large pieces come tumbling down.
Yeah, I’m seeing symbolism everywhere. “We’re homewreckers, and once you hear why we’ve never shared this part of us with you, you’ll hand down the final strike and fuck up our shit.”
War scrubs his face, smearing his cheeks white. “The end,” he whispers.
As if he and I couldn’t be in a worse mess, I agree with him. But fuck if Maddie doesn’t surprise the hell out of me when she crawls toward us and slides between us, taking War’s hand and mine and placing both in her lap.
“That’s not true. I love you, Cole. I love you, War. Everyone makes bad choices; sometimes with the best intentions that turn sour. You had an entire life before me—an adult life. I’m not so blind that I didn’t catch Eve flirting with you tonight, War.”
“I’m sorry you had to see that, but know I rejected her advances. She’s obsessed. She played us. It’s always been about the money, and tonight I paid her off. I’m not sure if five hundred thousand is enough to buy off Eve, but threatening her with a lawsuit would ruin her reputation and most likely destroy her business.”
“Thank you for sharing this with me. But I’m still curious how you reconnected with Eve. As the photos revealed, you all seemed content, happy even. So, why didn’t you make contact with your father and rekindle that relationship? I mean, you were both doing well in life and in your direction. I’d think he’d have been thrilled to have you both back in his life.”
I clasp War’s shoulder, letting my brother know I’m too shocked by Maddie’s jump and her search for answers to speak, but my lips have other ideas. “When we were twenty-one, War and I celebrated our birthday Vegas style. We ran into Eve. We thought it was out of the blue….”
Fire burns my insides, and I recoil at the things I’m about to say out loud to her. “We were fooled into thinking running into her was nothing more than a coincidence, and then she brought us home, told us the place was her estate...”
War shakes his head, and his face turns beet red.
He’s still angry we weren’t smart enough to see what was right in front of us. Maddie’s mocha depths pierce mine, she squeezes my hand, and I know I have to continue…
“We should’ve been smarter than to believe Eve, but sadly we weren’t.” I pause, swallowing around the lump that’s forming in my throat. “Instead, I followed her orders, and she dragged us around like we were her puppies to train... I tied her to rings similar to those above like she asked, twisted her up in silk twine that took forever to braid around her like she ordered.”
Maddie’s eyes brim with tears, but she proves her strength by holding onto her emotions.
I can’t take my eyes off her as I continue on with the final words. “Then Warren gagged her like she demanded, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say doing so was hot as fuck—the tutor we’d always wanted tied up and wanting us, wet for us, begging us to... And while War fucked her pussy, I fucked her ass, just like she wanted, all while we pledged our love to her.”
Maddie stiffens, but I shake my head to show her I’m not finished just yet and pray she doesn’t close down. “Only the bitch had everything planned down to the very second, and just as my father opened the door to his home, to his playroom, he got the shock of his life, witnessing his sons fucking the love of his life. Every single thing that mattered to him slipped away, I know that now.
“Eve… She got what she wanted. War and I exiled for good. Dad believed we targeted him and that we both screwed his wife as payback. She stopped him from pressing charges…” I scoff at the memory. War shifts his weight and ditches his slumped position, I assume finding his strength like me now that the secret is out.
“That’s about the only good thing she’d ever done for us. We never saw her or him again.”
At War’s addition, I bite the inside of my cheek, an unsettling feeling sinking into my bones. Maddie’s quiet once more, her face flat and unreadable, too pale. As expected. There’s a million different thoughts running wild in my mind, and as I twist away, she reaches out and pulls me back to her, always back to her.
“She played you. Hell, she still is, but I won’t let her fuck with me and my future husbands. I won’t let her trample our love…” There’s a brief pause and a flicker of fear in her eyes. “You love me, right?”
My response escapes my lips faster than any words ever have before. “More than anything in this world, Maddie, but you see, I’m fucked up in the head as is War.”
“Not to me. I still think you’re perfect, and I’m ready to prove it come Saturday with everyone we know here as witnesses.”
Hope builds between us as she pulls War and I together and climbs us like a tree, her perfectly sculpted legs wrapping around our hips and drawing us closer.
It’s then that everything hits me all at once—the emotions the uncertainty. I have a future in her, in us, and I can’t just let it go. I won’t just let it go. She’s all that matters in this moment, and with that single thought on my mind, I know there’s nothing that can touch us—not even Eve.
Chapter Fifteen
Maddie
My wedding gown should be stained black after all the shit I’ve been dragged through the last couple of days, but I made the guys promise not to say anything to my parents about Eve. Ever. They agreed one hundred percent.
Miracles of miracles, the wedding planner, aka Janet, is a saint and I’m staring out of the third story window at the transformed terrace below. I catch a glimpse of Arnold who steals a kiss under our wedding arbor before dashing off. Secrets, I know, and I guess he and Janet are okay after all.
The landscaping has been transformed, and I’m told the faux arbors are adorned with twinkle lights. Dining tables circle the pool, and Janet’s draped the round tables in my favorite color that matches the sapphire in my guys’ eyes. What they don’t know is that underneath my corset-style wedding gown, I’m wearing even more bindings for them to untie. I’ve learned from watching How to Shabari on the internet. Crazy, right? It’s not only for them. I understand the extreme BDSM is not their thing, or mine, and I’m okay with that, but they get me. Me. And my desire to test my limits a bit.
Mom’s pacing our master bedroom, as if she’s holding something inside, and every time I l
ook at her, my insides quiver. I’m her only child, and she’s gifting me away. That’s cause to make any mom freak.
She glances at her watch for the fifth time in ten minutes, and I feel the need to comfort her when she’s supposed to be the one fussing over me. “Don’t worry, Mom. Both Sampson and Dad agreed to walk me down the aisle. I’m over the moon about Dad finally coming out to our family and friends.”
She bites her nail then pivots to face me, her pink cheeks flushing a bit before turning pale.
I pull her to me, worried she’s concerned about my choice. “Mom. This is the path I’ve chosen. I love Cole, and I love War—”
“There’s a problem,” she blurts, as if the house is on fire and the flames are licking the closed bedroom door.
“What?” My knees turn to rubber, but I stiffen my legs. “Whatever is happening will pass.”
“No. Cole can’t find War. He’s called in the police. There’s talk about a strange woman….”
“Fuck.” I grip my mom’s shoulders and give her a gentle shake, fleshing out a plan. If Eve’s here, there’s no telling what damage she plans to inflict on my family. “Find Dad and Sampson. Bring them out onto the terrace and stay with them. Don’t come back inside the house looking for me, for us, until either myself or the police tell you it’s okay. Promise me.”
Before Mom can counter, I flee the room, hitch a hip on the spiral staircase, like I once rode sidesaddle on my pony, and slide down the railing rather than trip to my death in these four-inch heels.
My pulse spikes as I hear a muffled sound from somewhere deep inside the house, and at the same time, Cole bursts into the foyer through the front door. “Did you hear that?”
He nods, holds out his hand that I grip, as if it’s my life that’s counting on him. Together, we spring toward the secret room that’s no longer a secret, and my heels click against the floor.
The muffled sound permeates the walls again, and Cole makes quick work of opening the door, using the code pad hidden inside the wall sconce.
Eve swings the cane she’s holding, the firm, thin rod connecting with War’s back that’s lined in pink, raised welts as his arms are tied above his head to the ceiling rings. “Again!”
War forces the words from his lips as he clutches the bindings. “...love you, Eve.”
I’d never been gut punched. Really, that’s a lie. Words can knock the wind out of you, and the pain can be so great you’d wished yourself dead. “The fuck he loves you, bitch.”
War’s urgent breaths halt, and his body shakes uncontrollably. He grips the chains that hold his arms. “One more time...is all I had to do to protect both of you....” War begs, like he’s a martyr.
Well fuck that even if confusion blast through me at how she captured my groom. War refuses to look at me, and I’m fearing he believes he’s betrayed me, betrayed us, when I know this man. He’d suffer in silence to protect his twin. Me. That’s when I see the scattering of pamphlets on the ground, facedown. “Blackmail...” I whisper, understanding his reasoning.
Cole’s had his fill of Eve pissing him off, and he puffs out his chest. He bolts, knocking Eve on her plump, sparkly ass that doesn’t look so good now that her dress is hiked up to her panties.
While Cole’s cutting away War’s bindings, I’m thinking about all the ways I want to take this bitch out, but the urge to comfort War overwhelms. “War, there’s never going to be a last time with this monster because she doesn’t play by rules.”
The moment War’s free, he tangles his arms with mine and grips my body, as if he’s rescuing me and hasn’t just been kidnapped and whipped.
“Always my rules, you’ll see,” Eve warns.
War’s eyes flash with fear, and I wish I could turn back time and save him when I spy a single pamphlet turned faceup topping the pile of rubble, depicting Cole, War, and Eve.
Dressed in my corset gown with the bindings laced at my back, it takes every bit of restraint I have to keep from physically hurting Eve because I’m panting with rage and finding breathing difficult. “You’re a monster who’s preyed and capitalized on exploiting others, children. There’s no place on earth for a person like you.”
Cole hitches his arm around War’s welted back, and War yokes Cole’s shoulder as they head past me, but it’s too late.
The shrill sound of my mother’s voice reaches my ears, but Eve won’t have the last laugh.
Arnold and Officer Soares burst into the room. “Eve Devereux, you’re under arrest.” Officer Soares rattles off a list of offences as Eve’s led past us, this time in steel cuffs.
“Wait.” War scopes out the single earring dangling from her lobe. He turns his stare on me.
A silent message transpires between us—between me, War, and Cole—as though our minds are fused. I don’t know how I know the earring has sentimental value, but I yank it from her ear. “You won’t be needing this where you’re going.”
Eve’s removed, but she fights the officer all the way out, promising vengeance.
A wave of sadness hits me. Money changes people, and I don’t want to end up letting money dictate my life. Eve had everything, and she wanted more and more, like she’s an empty vessel of greed. “I don’t want to be married to billionaires.”
War pulls me against his tacky body, and I practically crawl up on him, my dress hiked up so I’m locked around his hips, and Cole sandwiches me from behind.
“We have something to tell you, but it can wait.” War claims my lips.
Maybe he kisses me to silence my questions, but here’s the thing: I know we all have to work through secrets before we reveal them to those we love. It’s not the secret that wounds, but the wedge they create between us when we’re scared to be judged after the reveal. I love them unconditionally, and I’m not feeling guilty knowing I have the freedom to want for nothing. When War’s ready, he’ll tell me everything, and we have our entire lives ahead of us. We hold onto one another until Janet appears in the doorway, and I know it’s time to solidify our love, our union...and my out-of-the-box reveal.
Chapter Sixteen
War
What the fuck was I thinking agreeing to Maddie’s wedding ceremony done Vegas Style? She said ropes and bindings…
Extreme Weddings and jumping out of a fucking helicopter strapped to a flimsy parachute? The air blasts against my face the moment the wedding coordinator opens the door, and I’m thinking Eve didn’t seem this dangerous. Okay, that’s a shitload of shit. Because here I stand. Me and Cole, holding our girl so tightly with feelings of love surging through my body and filling me up with strength enough to take seriously I’m leaping into the blue. “On the count of three, babe.”
“Hold me tight, War. Don’t ever let me go.” She turns to Cole, squeezing my hand, and I assume my twin’s. “You too, Cole. Never let go.”
“Not a chance, sugar.”
The officiant nods, giving Cole and me the go ahead to slip the band on her finger, right next to that big-ass rock.
But where once I thought I’d be nervous on our wedding day, calm suddenly overtakes the moment and affects me so deeply that I tear the fuck up when she holds up the symbol of our love.
“I. Do. I Do!” Maddie squeals and launches her sweet little body at me and then Cole.
“We have something else for you...and we can understand if you don’t want them, but they were our mother’s and never should have been with…” I don’t give voice to her name. Instead, I dig into my pocket and retrieve the earrings now that we have the pair. “These were our mother’s, and they’re only crystal, but she loved them, and I remember her piling her hair up like you have now when she wore them.”
Maddie’s lip quivers as she takes them in her hands, and, for a split second, I think I’ve made a mistake and she’s gonna chuck them out the open door. But then she squeezes them and holds them to her chest, right over her precious heart, as if she understands why even Eve held them in such regard.
“I’ll keep thes
e forever, treasure them just as I treasure both of you.” She lands her soft lips against mine, repeating the endearing kiss with Cole. Now that we’ve kissed our bride, I pledge to look to the future, believing one exists for eternity. Our future, a trio of lovers. “On the count of three, we jump. “One, two, three!”
Epilogue
Maddie
The big oak tree had sat on the Brown Valley Ranch for the past three generations. Didn’t matter which side you chose to sit, either you were watching the sunrise or the sunset. That’s why my great-great grandparents picked this spot for our family cemetery.
Some say you can never really bury your past, but I’d convinced Cole and War that they should try.
Greed had led Eve to jail first and soon after to her grave. At one time, she may have pictured herself as part of a loving family, but since she had no living relatives Cole and War’s hired investigators could uncover, even the guys had problems with putting her in the ground where no one would remember her.
