Becky came back a few days later, and she was in tears. She and Mike had split up while she was at home, and she was heartbroken. It was my turn to comfort her, to be the one to take care of her, and I did the best I could. I was sick a few more times, but I knew it was stress. I wanted to call the boys, but something stopped me.
Maybe it was the way Becky had talked about them as if they were some kind of perverts or the fact that she’d broken up with Mike because he kept pushing for group sex. I didn’t want to lose her friendship, not when she’d been so kind to me but I needed them. The longer I lived without them, the more I knew I couldn’t go on much longer without them in my life.
I’d turn to tell him something, only he wasn’t there. I’d reach for him in the darkness, but he wasn’t there. Even if he was a ‘them’, I wanted the one that gave me what I needed at any specific moment. I needed the Bentley brothers, period. And I needed them desperately.
I put it off because of Becky, but two more weeks passed and she was still hating men in general. I wanted to talk to her about it, to warn her but she was so negative about everything that I stayed quiet.
My nausea finally disappeared, about the time the emails and texts stopped altogether, and I could finally open up my browser without 500 notifications about what a whore I was and did I suck cock as well as the bathroom wall said I did. I walked around campus with my head high, my stomach was no longer a mess, and I got on with life.
Until the day I saw one of the brothers. He was there, waiting for me when I got off work, and I just couldn’t say no.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Celia
“Hi, I’m Colin.” He held his hand out to me, and I stared at it uncertainly.
I wanted to jump on him, wrap my legs around him, and kiss him until he fell on the lawn. But I held myself back, unsure, with my hands in the back pockets of my jeans. I couldn’t do this, could I?
“Celia.” I looked around, uncertain, but with an ache to be in his arms that I could barely control.
“I’d like to take you to dinner. Somewhere out of town, if you’d like.”
“That might be nice.” I readjusted the bag slung over my shoulder and looked around. Nobody noticed us. Nobody whispered, they just went about their business and didn’t care. “Maybe somewhere with milkshakes?”
“I know a place that makes the best peanut butter milkshakes you’ve ever had,” he replied, a grin on his face. He’d lost weight, and there were dark circles under his eyes, but in the gray depths, I saw hope. A plea for forgiveness.
Something in me twisted, and my face followed suit. He rushed to me, took me in his arms, and held me tight. “I’ve missed you so much, Celia.”
I snuggled into him, the safety so familiar, the comfort something I’d missed. I curled my head to his chest, listened to his steady heartbeat, and closed my eyes. This was where I belonged. Even if society said it was wrong. Even if Becky hated me for it.
“I can’t say no anymore, Colin. I’ve missed you all so much.”
He nodded silently and then opened the car door for me. I got in and sat, so relieved I finally felt exactly how miserable I’d been without him.
We didn’t talk, we just went through the drive-thru and then he parked in a park. We sat together and finally, I began to speak.
“What you three did was more than horrible, Colin. It was soul-crushing. I’ve never been so humiliated in my life, and this might haunt me for the rest of my life. I don’t know. What I do know is that I just can’t go on without you all. I don’t know how to make this work, or if we can, but I know you meant well and that you didn’t do this to cause me the grief that you have. And all I can promise right now is that I will try. That’s all I can do.”
“That’s all that we ask, Celia.” He took my hand, kissed it, and then wiped a finger down my cheek and along my jawline. “Whatever you want, that’s what you’ll get.”
“I just want to stop hurting and to be loved again,” I said to him with total honesty.
“Then that’s what you’ll get.”
I smiled, looked down at my lap and saw my hands were clenched together so tightly my knuckles were white.
I took a deep breath and then asked him to take me home. This was enough for today. I had to do this one step at a time.
***
The next day, another brother waited for me when I got off work.
“Hi, I’m Grant.”
“Hi, Grant. You’re my romantic one, aren’t you?” I asked as I took the flowers he offered me. He smiled that bashful smile I’d seen a few times and looked away.
“Yeah, I guess I am. Want to go to dinner with me?”
“Where are you going?” I asked and got in the car. This time, I didn’t even look around. I hadn’t told Becky my plans, or how I was taking things slow with the boys. I knew she’d be upset, but she’d find out one way or another, so I had to tell her soon.
“To the best place to get a steak in the entire state. It’s a little place, deep in the heart of the city, so we might have to walk, but it’s worth it.”
I looked down at the half-boots I wore and knew my feet might hate me, but I didn’t care. I’d walk the boots off my feet to be with him.
Grant wasn’t silent as Colin had been. He told me who he really was, what he wanted out of life, and how they didn’t really need to work at all but they all felt they needed to be productive. Keep the fortune alive, instead of spending it all away.
I liked Grant, and Colin too, but for different reasons. They may look alike, but they were completely different in and out of the bedroom. Memories of who I’d slept with and when started to play in my mind.
The quaint little place he took me to was romantic as I knew it would be, with real candlelight and steaks that practically melted under your fork. We talked for hours and then he took me home. Only I had him drop me off at Becky’s.
I walked in and she was there, a faint smile on her face. “You were out late.”
“Yeah. Listen, Becky, I need to talk to you.”
“I know, Celia. This campus might be huge, but it can be small. All I can say is, if you go back to them, I can’t be your friend anymore. I just… I love you, I really do, but I can’t support that lifestyle, and I can’t watch as you destroy yourself.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” I stood at the island that divided the kitchen from the living room and felt tears burn my eyes. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved a friend in my life. You’re like a sister to me. But I have to make a choice, and I have.”
“Alright,” she said and sat down on a barstool on the other side. “Tonight, we’ll still be friends, but tomorrow, you have to go. Okay?”
It was the last thing I’d expected, but also the only thing. Becky was firm in her beliefs but she was also kind, loving, and a real friend. She was doing what she thought was best for both of us.
We made milkshakes with ice cream and milk and watched girly comedy movies, and when we were both on the verge of falling asleep, she took my hand. I was sprawled on the end of the couch and she was on the other. Our hands linked, then our fingers curled around each other.
I smiled and when she spoke, I listened. “I will always be your friend, Celia, and if they break your heart, I will be there to put you back together, the way you’ve done that for me.”
“Thank you, Becky. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Celia.” She went quiet then, and soon she started to breathe deeply as she drifted off to sleep.
I didn’t want the night to end because I knew what tomorrow meant. She’d never talk to me again. Not until I broke it off with them.
I looked around her artist’s apartment. It was full of paints, brushes, canvases, and the other things she used for her art. It was comfortable, homey, a place she could live in. I was still heartbroken that she couldn’t accept my relationship with the boys, but maybe she was right.
Our friendship would only sour if she didn’t break i
I’d wanted it all but I could see now, I could only have it with them. It broke my heart, but I’d made my choice. And so, had she.
***
The next day was a Saturday, which meant no class, but Becky was gone. I packed up the few boxes that remained, and I called Keith. Well, the number that must be Keith’s. He came right away and lifted me in the air with a whoop I hadn’t expected. I smiled down at him and examined his face.
He was the fun one. The one that would make me laugh, that would push me into new things, that would make me live. “Hi, Keith.”
“Hi, baby. You coming home?”
“I am,” I said with a sad smile. “I just need to bring all this stuff back.”
“No problem. I’ll take you home, then the boys and I will sort this.”
I’d already brought the boxes down in the elevator, along with my handbag, and I thought about the keys I’d left upstairs with the note. “Thank you for everything. I’ll love you always. Call me if you need me.”
It was all I could write without bursting into tears, so I’d left it simple. She would know what my hand couldn’t write anyway. She was my best friend.
I went to their house, to my old room and waited for them as they went back and forth to pick up all my boxes. I’d decided to make a new start with them and I’d decided that they were meant to be a part of my world. Now, I just had to face the music and get on with it.
My clothes were in the first boxes they brought me, so I found a dress and went into the bathroom to prepare myself. I couldn’t stay sad, not as the heat of the bathwater took away my aches and pain. I had a brand-new life just waiting for me. One I couldn’t have ever imagined, even in my wildest dreams.
I hated to lose Becky, but there was nothing I could do about that. She’d made the right choice for her. I couldn’t live her life for her, so I had to live mine as I saw fit.
I heard the boys bring in the boxes to the bedroom, but none of them bothered me in the bathroom. They gave me space and didn’t put any pressure on me to come out. Which pleased me. I got out when the water started to turn cold and went into the bedroom. I found a pair of yoga pants and a school sweatshirt and put those on. We needed to talk before we did sexy reunion type things.
I left my hair wet, my face clean, put on deodorant, and sprayed a little perfume on myself. I went downstairs and found them all in the kitchen, preparing a meal of fajitas, with all the sides. I took a seat at the small table and watched them work together. They were like machines that moved exactly in time together, parts of a whole, and I could see it as they chopped onions, sautéed rice a little before they poured water over it to make Spanish rice, and how one cut limes and squeezed the juice into the dish that was held out to him, before he went on to cut up lettuce, tomatoes, and more onions.
They were a team, and it occurred to me why they wanted to share a woman. They were a unit, even if they were individuals. It wasn’t perversion, it was just completion of the parts. With me, they were now whole.
I smiled at last and waited for the food they were preparing.
Colin opened a bottle of wine, Grant got out a single bottle of beer when I shook my head no, and Keith took out a glass container of tea. He poured two glasses full when I nodded my head and brought it to me.
“Welcome home, baby.” He leaned down to kiss me and I gave him my cheek. My eyes sparkled, but it wasn’t tears this time. It was happiness. I was home and I was with my men. Where I was supposed to be.
We ate together and when the meal was finished, they cleaned up. I waited until they were done. My hair was dry now and my belly full. What came next?
“We need to talk, I guess,” Colin said when the last dish was dried and put away.
“I guess we do.”
“We owe you an apology,” Grant said, and they all came to sit down with me.
“You do.” But I said it with a smile.
“And we’ll have to spend years making up for the humiliation we’ve caused you,” Keith said, serious for a change.
“You will.” Short and simple, that’s how I planned to play it for the moment. “Dinner was lovely by the way.”
“We were trained by a chef one summer, down in Texas. It was during our high school years.” Keith told me and he leaned back in his chair. His fingers tapped on the table and I knew he was nervous. I looked at his fingers, then at him. What next?
“We know you may not want exactly what we want, but we won’t force you into anything, ever. And we’ll never lie, or omit the truth, again.” Grant burst out, his face red. “At one time, we had a girlfriend, one that loved us all. And well, I fucked that up. We thought it was best to ease you into this after her.”
“Why?” I asked, confused by this sudden information.
“Because we all need to trust each other and at one point, I broke that trust. I wanted Angie to myself and I convinced her that I was the only one for her. We planned to run away together, and she was on her way to the plane. She didn’t make it. A drunk driver hit her and she died. If it hadn’t been for me, she’d be alive and we wouldn’t have been so distrustful. We wouldn’t have pulled this stunt with you.”
“I see.” But I didn’t really. It would take some time to process it all, I guess.
“What’s he’s fumbling is an apology, Celia.” Colin finally spoke up to say. “We lost faith in each other, which we shouldn’t have, and when you came along… well, we were afraid we’d rush, that we’d harm someone else. We did, as it happens, but it wasn’t intentional.”
“I know that,” I said finally, to let them off the hook. This was hurting them too, and I didn’t want to make them suffer. Besides, I really didn’t want to hear about the women they’d loved before me. They’ve been through this before, they’ve learned what works, and hopefully, those lessons would serve them now.
“The point is, we’re sorry, Celia,” Keith said and took my hand. “We’ll take this however slow you want to. We won’t break your heart again and we promise. We will love you, always.”
“You’ll love me?” I asked stunned to actually hear the words.
“Yes, darling, love,” Colin agreed. Then Grant said it too.
“You may not be ready to say it to us, and it may not make sense to you yet, but we do love you, Celia. All three of us.”
“You’d better, dammit. I’ve just given up the only friend I have for you.” I didn’t mean to say it, but it came out. “Now, which one of you is taking me to bed tonight?”
I looked at them, but I couldn’t choose, and then it hit me. I didn’t have to. My nostrils flared and my eyes went round. I didn’t have to choose at all. I could have all three.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Celia
They all stared at me, and I felt exposed but wanted, and it made me hot for all of them. I’d toyed with the idea for so long now, in the back of my mind, and I wanted to know what it was like to have all three Bentley brothers between my legs, in my mouth, and maybe even more.
“Teach me what you want. Keep me as you're one and only. Make me what you need,” I sighed as my hands reached for them.
“Don’t worry, baby, we know just what you need,” Keith said to me before he picked me up and carried me into the living room. The place where he’d taken me that first time. Where I’d lost my virginity. I suppose it was apt. I was about to fuck all three of them, so it was only right I go back to where it all began.
I knew now that they’d had this planned all along. Keith was meant to seduce me, Grant was meant to make me fall in love, and Colin was meant to make sure I felt secure. They’d accomplished their jobs perfectly. Now, I needed all three of them to make it complete.
“Let me love you, Celia,” Keith said as he put me down. I shrugged off my sweatshirt and he pulled down my pants so that I was naked before them all. Grant went to one wing-backed chair, and Colin went to the other as Keith removed his clothes. Then he knelt between my legs, pulled me down so that I was just right, and took one juicy lick of my center.
“She’s so ready, but I think she needs more.” I heard him say. My eyes were on Colin, and then on Grant, and I couldn’t breathe. It was so... sensual.
I’d always thought it would be weird and awkward, with a lot of apologies, but my men knew what to do. I kept calling them the boys, but these were men, through and through.
Grant adjusted himself in his pants and I wanted to feel him in my hand. I looked over and saw that Colin’s hand hid his own erection, or perhaps he was simply holding it to ease the ache. “Why don’t you come over here with me? Take off your clothes and come here with me.”
I said it loud enough that there was no doubt I meant it.
Both did as I asked and one went to each side of me. Keith waited, between my thighs, to worship me. As the woman at the club had been worshipped.
Grant turned my face to his and kissed me, deep and long, his tongue a sword that battled against mine. I held his face in my palm before I turned away and looked into Colin’s eyes.
“You’re so brave, Celia. I knew you were, but fuck.” He kissed me then and ended his words. His hands came up to take a breast into his hand as he kissed me, and the soft stroke of his fingers against my nipple brought it all into reality. This was actually happening.
I gasped when Keith’s tongue slid into my folds, and he hummed with appreciation. He pushed my legs wider apart, to really get into my pussy with his tongue and then a finger. He slid the digit into me just as Grant took my other nipple into his mouth and I broke the kiss with Colin to swear. “Fuck, that’s so good.”
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