by B. B. Hamel
It really happened by chance. I came home from Berlin for a month just to visit some friends and family, and ended up talking with Ryan one night. He took me to his shop and showed me his sculptures, these amazing steel things that he built himself, and from there we got talking. One thing led to another and here we are, owners of a thriving steel fabrication business, able to build anything we’re contracted.
“They doubled the order yesterday,” I say to them.
Ryan sighs. “That’s not a bad thing.”
“It is if we don’t have the guys to fill it.” Henry frowns at me. “Right?”
“Right,” I confirm.
Wyatt tosses his ball to Caleb. The twins don’t say anything.
“Can we meet it?” Ryan asks me.
“I don’t think so, not without giving the guys overtime or hiring some temporary workers.”
“We can’t do temps,” Ryan says. “That’ll risk the quality.”
“So overtime,” Henry says.
“Overtime,” I agree.
“I’ll pitch in,” Ryan adds.
“We will too,” Caleb says, and Wyatt nods.
I let out a sigh of relief. “Okay then. I’ll get the overtime set up, you guys add yourselves to the schedule.”
“That’s it?” Henry asks. “Shit, I was almost worried we were about to be slightly less rich.”
The guys all laugh and the tension in the room releases.
“I thought James here was about to talk more about his pussy adventures,” Ryan says.
I roll my eyes. “Don’t be such a cock,” I say to him.
“What? It’s the truth. You’re always bragging about some hot new chick you’re fucking,” he says.
“You do,” the twins say at the same time.
I glare at them. “Don’t be creepy.”
Wyatt grins sand throws the ball at me. I catch it and throw it back.
“There was someone earlier, though,” I say despite myself. I know how they’re going to react, but I can’t help it.
Just as I predicted, Ryan groans. “You can’t fucking help yourself.”
“You know, we don’t all brag about the pussy we’re getting,” Henry says.
“This one is different.” I lean back in my chair, glaring at them. “She’s really young, for one.”
Ryan barks a laugh. “How’s that different?”
“Just home from college. Her name’s London.”
Henry raises an eyebrow. “Sounds like a hippie.”
“Daughter of my dentist, weirdly enough. But there was something there.”
Ryan groans and rolls his eyes. “Okay, I’m sick of this shit.” He looks at Henry. “You wanna meet her?”
I stare at them, but Henry grins. “That sounds fun to me.”
The twins both perk up, exchange looks, and laugh. “We’re in,” Wyatt says.
“Guys, what the fuck,” I say, but they’re already talking, excited.
“We’ll all try and get with her,” Ryan says. “Whoever gets it first, they win.”
“We can’t treat her like a competition,” I say weakly, and Henry just laughs at me.
“Sounds good to me,” Henry says. “We can beat James at his own game.”
“We’re sick of him bragging,” Caleb adds.
“We’ll win this pretty easily,” Wyatt says.
Ryan makes a face. “You guys really do share everything, don’t you?”
The twins shrug and go back to tossing the ball.
I glare at them. These four guys are my closest friends, but sometimes they’re a bunch of fucking assholes.
Although they do have a point. I think I brag too much about sleeping with women. Frankly, lately I’ve been getting so bored of it, like the magic is slowly getting sucked out of the chase and the game. I’m a fit, single man with a lot of money, and this town is pretty small. I’ve tasted pretty much every woman in it, so I’ve been going to neighboring towns just to meet new women.
I’m sick of the game, of the chase. I haven’t been interested in anyone in a few weeks, at least until London. I’ve had a lot of pussy in my life, but London seems like something else. I can’t say what it is about her, but I’m interested, and I want to get to know her for real.
And my mistake was telling these assholes about her.
“I think it’s fucked up what you guys are doing,” I say, slowly standing up from the table. The guys all look at me, and I slowly grin. “But fortunately, I’m going to fucking win, you assholes.”
They all laugh as I leave the room, a big smile on my face. I can’t help but get competitive with them, and besides, I have the advantage. We already had that little intense moment, and I know she wants me. Maybe I’ll throw the guys a bone though, give them a little helping hand and throw a party. She can meet them there.
These guys think they can have her, but they’re going to be so fucking wrong. I’m going to taste London just the way I want to.
3
London
I’m on my lunch break when I get the call.
I don’t normally answer my phone when I don’t recognize the number. I glance down and frown a little as it buzzes, and the caller ID just says that it’s private. I sigh a little bit, and I don’t know why, but I pick up the phone and bring it up to my ear.
Maybe I’m bored. Working the front desk at an ATV tour place isn’t exactly exciting and glamorous, although the pay’s steady and the work’s easy. I even like a few of the people I work with, including my old friend from high school, Maggie. She’s the reason I got this job, actually. She’s the owner’s daughter, and I think she’s being groomed to take over the family business one day.
Either way, I decide to answer the phone, despite myself.
“Hello?”
I recognize his voice right away. “Hi, London,” he says.
I bite my lip. “James?”
“The one and only. I hope it’s okay that I got your number.”
“Uh, yeah, it’s fine,” I say. “How’d you get it, though?”
“I have my ways,” he says, and laughs softly. That’s pretty vague, but he’s already moving on. “Listen, I called for a reason.”
“What’s that?”
“We’re having a party, and I want you to come.”
“Party?” I raise an eyebrow. I haven’t been to a party since school ended, unless you count that thing at my parents’ house, which I definitely don’t.
“Are you unfamiliar with the concept?” he asks, teasing me.
“No, I just, I’m surprised is all.”
“What do you say? Lots of people, good music, the works. Bring a friend if you want.”
I hesitate a second. I barely know this James guy, and he somehow mysteriously found my phone number… and yet I really want to see him again. I keep thinking about that moment we had, and how I want to see what happens next.
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll come. But if it’s boring, I won’t stay long.”
He laughs at that. “Good. I just have to make sure you’re not bored.”
I grin a little bit. “I bet you can handle it.”
“Maybe,” he says. “But there are four other guys that can help out if I can’t.”
I’m taken aback by that comment but he’s already telling me where and when, so I have to pay attention. It’s not until later, after I hang up the phone, that I really think about what he said.
Doesn’t matter though. I’m grinning to myself as I stand up from the little break room table and head out to find Maggie. We have a party to go to tonight, and I suspect she’s going to want to be a part of it.
* * *
“How do you even know these guys?” Maggie asks me, her big blue eyes wide. She’s a little taller than me, straight bangs, hair to her shoulders, tan skin, super thin. She doesn’t look like the kind of girl that works outside on ATVs all day, but Maggie can surprise you sometimes.
“I met James at my parents’ party,” I say. “Remember that?�
��
She laughs a little. “Oh yeah. We used to try and steal vodka and get drunk.”
“If I remember right, you totally succeeded one time.”
She grins. “More than once. I’m great at getting drunk.”
“Speaking of getting drunk.” I steer her over toward the bar, and we both get a glass of wine.
The party’s in the machine shop of their steel fabrication company. Most of the machines are still in their places, though a large central part of the room has been cleared out and replaced by a dance floor, a DJ playing decent music, a little bar off to one side, and a bunch of empty cocktail tables. There are a surprising amount of people here, and although it’s only a little past nine, the place is already getting wild. Which is funny and dangerous, considering we’re in the middle of a steel fabrication shop.
Nobody seems to mind that, though. I’ve never seen half these people before. Rich, attractive people by the looks of them, not at all your normal citizens of Leadwood.
“Whoever this James guy is, I can’t complain,” Maggie says, sipping her drink. “He throws a good party.”
“He really does,” I say, looking around. I haven’t spotted him yet, unfortunately, and I feel like I might break my neck trying to.
Maggie doesn’t seem to notice. She’s bobbing her head along to the music, sipping her drink. We stop at an empty cocktail table and watch the crowd moving around us, and I wonder how many drinks it’ll take before we’re both dancing with the rest of the party.
Probably more than I want to drink. I’m getting antsy, although I don’t know why. I guess I want to see James again, even though he’s probably busy with his party. He doesn’t have time to come babysit someone like me. I’m probably way below his radar.
But after a few minutes of chatting with Maggie, a man steps up to our table. He looks like he’s James’s age, with dark scruffy hair and a clean-shaven face. He’s handsome, incredibly handsome actually. He’s not quite as rugged as James, but there’s something about him. He has a pair of simple glasses on, which make him look sophisticated, although he’s wearing a simple pair of jeans, boots, and a cardigan overtop of a button-down shirt.
“Excuse me,” he says, making eye contact with me. “Are you London?”
I’m surprised. I don’t know this guy, although I wish I did. “Uh, yeah, I’m London.”
He grins. “I’m Ryan Coleman,” he says. “Friends with James.”
“Oh, wow, hi,” I say, shaking his hand. He lingers a second, looking me up and down in a brazen kind of way. Normally that might make me think twice about talking to him, but he’s so confident and handsome that he gets away with it.
He lets my hand drop. “He told me you’d be here.”
“Did he really?” I ask, a flutter in my chest.
“Sure. We own this place together, along with three other guys. You’ll meet them eventually too.” He looks over at Maggie, finally realizing she’s there. “And who’s your friend?”
“Maggie,” she says, smiling.
“Good to meet you.” He shakes her hand briefly and turns back to me. “Listen, why don’t I introduce you to the guys?”
I glance at Maggie and she just gives me this huge grin. Clearly Ryan’s coming on to me, although I don’t know why. Maybe James has something to do with it, but for whatever reason, I don’t question it. Maybe I’m just so bored with my life here, or maybe I just want a taste of something exciting. Either way, I nod my head, and Ryan whisks me away, out across the crowded room.
We end up at a table behind the DJ, tucked back with the machines. Three guys are sitting here, all the same age, all handsome as hell.
“This is Henry,” Ryan says. A man with dark eyes and darker hair nods to me, a little smile on his full lips. “And these are Wyatt and Caleb.” Twins grin up at me, light hair, tan skin, mirror images of each other, both of them strikingly gorgeous.
“Nice to meet you all,” I say.
“James told us a lot about you,” Henry says. “Everything good.”
“Very good,” the twins both echo.
I smile at them a little uncertainly, but Ryan steps up to the table, and I join him. I start drinking my wine as the guys ask me questions about myself, making jokes, and it takes me a few minutes to realize that they’re all flirting with me.
Four handsome, older men, and they’re all clearly hitting on me.
“So how did James drag you out here?” Ryan asks me. “Did he bribe you or something?”
“No,” I say, laughing. “There’s not a whole lot going on in Leadwood, you know.”
“Girl has a point,” Henry says. “Although we were just saying how lame this party is until you showed up.”
“I don’t think this is lame,” I say.
“Sure it is,” Caleb says, and Wyatt agrees with him.
“We do what we can,” Ryan says. “But you know how it is. Leadwood and all.”
I laugh a little bit. “I think this is pretty great. Do you do it often?”
Henry shrugs. “Only when we feel like it.”
“Or when there’s a good reason,” Ryan says, eyes staring at me, and for a second I think he means me.
Suddenly, the twins stand up. “Let’s go dance,” Wyatt says, or maybe he’s Caleb.
“Er, dance?” I say stupidly.
Caleb, or maybe Wyatt, laughs at me. “You know how to dance, don’t you?”
“She’s just nervous to get close to us,” the other twin says.
They grin at me, and suddenly I rise to the challenge. “Okay then,” I say. “You two think you can handle me? Let’s see what you got.”
They both grin, and the two other guys laugh.
“Good luck,” Ryan says as I’m whisked away by Caleb and Wyatt.
The dance floor is packed and I’m feeling pleasantly buzzed from my glass of wine. I’m pulled up tight against one of the twins, and I can’t tell them apart at this point, even though they’re dressed differently. He pulls me close and suddenly I feel another man behind me, grinding against my ass, and I realize we’re all going to be dancing like this together.
It’s exciting, a little strange, and totally new to me. I wonder for a second where Maggie is, and why I haven’t seen James yet, but I don’t care. I’m dancing with two gorgeous twins, handsome and older than me, grinding against one with my groin and pushing against one in the back. For a second, I can’t help but wonder if they do more than just dance together.
We move like that for a few songs, and at one point I grab a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. I throw it back and the twins both laugh, pulling me tight, moving against me in sensual rhythms. I lean back against the twin behind me, hand on his face, as the other one moves up against my front. I realize suddenly that I’m dripping wet with excitement and sweating from the exertion. I glance off the dance floor and I spot Henry and Ryan, both of them watching us, which only sends another thrill down my spine.
I don’t understand it, but these men are all hitting on me. Maybe it has something to do with James, or maybe they’re just into this weird sharing thing. I’ve heard of people like that, a bunch of men sharing a single woman, and I always thought it was strange… but now, with one twin at my front and another at my back, I don’t find it strange at all.
We dance to one song after another, and I don’t know how much time passes. I’m tired and excited and spinning with pleasure, when the twin at my front suddenly cups my jaw, moving my face toward him.
I kiss him without hesitation. He tastes good, salty and clean like grass. When we break off the kiss, the other twin tilts my head back and kisses me, and I don’t question it. I don’t let myself question it.
They kiss me like that, one after the other, as the songs keep playing. Finally though, I feel dizzy with excitement, and I have to break it off.
“I have to go,” I say lamely, and hurry away from them, heart beating so fast I can hear it.
What the hell was that back there? I’
ve never done anything like that before. It was like I was under a spell or something, and for a brief second it felt totally normal to grind up on two older man and kiss both of them. Maybe it has something to do with them being twins, but I can’t be sure.
I get a drink at the bar and throw it back, needing something cool. As I’m standing there, getting myself together, Maggie appears nearby.
“There you are!” she says, looking exasperated. “I’ve been looking for you all over.”
“Oh, I was, uh, I was dancing,” I say.
“Listen, I have to get going. I have an early shift tomorrow, and it’s like already one in the morning.”
I gape at her. One in the morning? “I’ve been dancing for that long?”
She shrugs and grins. “Apparently. I had a good time, by the way, no thanks to you.”
I smile a little weakly. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. I would have ditched you in a second for that guy, don’t worry. Anyway, you coming or do you want to find your own ride?”
I glance back at the dance floor and for a second I want to stay, but I just nod. “I’m coming.”
I follow Maggie back out of the shop. I don’t say goodbye to the guys, I just can’t bring myself to do it, but I swear I can feel their eyes on me.
And I like it. I feel insane, like I’m losing myself, but I know they all want me… and the thought drives me insane.
4
Ryan
I pull up to a small shack of a building on the outskirts of the mountains. There’s a pretty big parking lot, and trails snake their way up through the forest all around the building. Smaller outbuildings to the left and the right form storage sheds, probably for the ATVs themselves.
I kill the engine of my Triumph and step off. I take a breath, surprising myself. I actually feel nervous for the first time in a long, long time. I didn’t expect to really get into this stupid game of ours, since we’re always doing dumb shit like this. I can’t count how many absurd games the five of us have played together over the years, and although someone always gets hurt, it’s rarely one of us.
