by Nicole Casey
“Tell me everything,” I said. “Tell me about ‘Mirror, Mirror.’”
20
Ryker
I was reunited with my brothers after over twenty years of separation. The DNA test had confirmed it, and it was cause for great celebration. All things considered, I felt I should have been enjoying myself more at the party, but at the same time, I knew Holly was leaving. And though I told myself that she would return once she’d finished the thru-hike, there was a part of me that wasn’t entirely convinced of that.
Gannon found me in the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
“Just looking for some snacks to bring out.”
“No, I mean, what’s going on, really?”
I cocked my head to the side and looked at him with a furrowed brow.
He led me to the back of the kitchen to the pantry and pulled a bag of chips and some pretzels from the top. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
“But seriously, what’s up? I can tell when my little brother has something on his mind.”
“Little brother.” I chuckled. “I don’t know if I’ll get used to that.”
He put his arms out to the side and lifted his shoulders. “I think it’s a fair compromise. On the one hand, my little brother. On the other hand, Ryker. We both have adjustments to make, things to get used to.”
I nodded. “It’s strange for you to think of me as Ryker?”
He shook his head. “You were always Dennis to me, but I’ll call you Ryker. No problem. I’ll call you whatever you want.”
“Thanks.”
“But you’ll always be my little brother.”
I growled at him.
“And you’ve got something on your mind, Ryker. Something’s troubling you. I can tell, and I’d like to help if I can.”
I shrugged. “It’s Holly. I’m worried about her.”
“Worried how?”
“Well, you know she’s going back on the trail.”
He swatted down my concern. “She’ll be fine.”
“I’ve no doubt about that. But will she come back here when she’s finished?”
He pursed his lips and nodded.
“I mean, she’s got a life in California, friends, a dental practice.”
He rocked his head from side to side. “True. But she’s got friends here. And lovers. And she’ll have no trouble setting up her practice in town.”
“I know.” I looked away, dejected. “But it would be so easy for her to go back to California. I couldn’t fault her for that.” I sighed. “I miss her already.”
“Stop it.” He put his hand on my back and pushed me toward the party going on in the living area. “We’ll show her such a good time tonight that she’d have to be crazy not to come back.”
“That’s just the thing; she is crazy.”
Gannon’s advice was good, though. Her decision was out of my hands. All I could do was be supportive and show her the best time I could, show her that she’d never been more loved or had more fun than she could have here with us.
I shared my concerns and Gannon’s proposed strategy with my other brothers. And like good brothers, they all sympathized and helped me put Gannon’s advice into practice. Miles did his part on the guitar. He tried to play up-tempo bluegrass music, but Lawson, Shaun, and Holly danced as if it was slow, sultry jazz, their hips grinding to a very different rhythm.
“I think you need to change the tune,” said Will to Miles.
Miles motioned with his head to Holly and the boys slow dancing. “I don’t think it much matters.”
Brock took Holly from Lawson and Shaun and moved her around the dancefloor in his imitation of a tango. Holly clung to him with her legs straddling his hip. It was all a drunken mess, but we laughed and had a good time.
Finally exhausted, Holly collapsed into Ted’s arms who carried her to the corner where he set her on his lap and held her against him. His hand caressed her thigh, and I watched from the other side of the room, feeling an erection bulge in my pants.
I regretted inviting Wendy. I could sense Holly wanted to take things further, and I was eager to witness it unfold. But Wendy’s presence held her back. On more than one occasion, I spotted Holly necking with one of my brothers, then she’d get a glimpse of Wendy watching her, and she’d pull away—right when things were about to get good.
Holly and I were on the same wavelength regarding Wendy. I was the one who could watch. No one else, or no one who was not a Chandler.
I was relieved, happy even, when Wendy started saying her goodbyes.
“Are you sure you can’t stay?” I said. “Holly’s about one drink away from taking the guitar and doing her Elvis impression.”
“Regrettably, I’ll have to miss that,” she said, “but thank you for inviting me. I had a great time. But I’m afraid I’ve got a big day tomorrow. Can’t be staying out too late.”
“I’ll see you to your car,” said Holly.
I was in the kitchen cleaning up. The party was still going strong, but I had a lot of pent-up tension, and I always found that cleaning could provide a good substitute until I could get my release in other ways.
“That bitch!”
I turned from the sink and saw Holly storming in. My heart caught in my throat. I’d never seen her angry before, and it was intense. I made a mental note not to get her angry if I could avoid it.
“What happened?” asked Brock.
Holly didn’t answer him. Instead, she continued from the entryway into the kitchen. “I can’t believe it!”
She was coming at me, and I was frightened. “What happ—”
“We were nice to her,” she cut in, “invited her to our party. I thought we were friends!”
“Babe, slow down,” I said, and I took her hand in mine. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
She turned to the front door and pointed. “That… that bi… that fu…. Aggh!” She balled her hands into fists, gritted her teeth, and paced the kitchen.
Brock and Owen stood at the kitchen doorway and watched in silence.
Holly spun around to face me. “Do you know what she said to me?”
I shook my head.
“She said she found a better story here, at this party than anything ‘Mirror, Mirror’ was up to.”
I chuckled.
“You think this is funny?”
I put my hands up defensively and took a step back. “I don’t get it. She wants to write about us. That’s great.”
She huffed. “No, Ryker. It’s not great. She wants to write about us.” She pointed back to the living area. “As in swingers on the trail, or orgy in the mountains.” She shook her head. “She wants to write salacious gossip about us, about me, about you and your brothers.”
I glanced over at Brock and Owen. They hadn’t moved from their posts at the doorways, and judging by their facial expressions, they, like me, didn’t see what the fuss was about.
“My friends and family are going to read that,” she said, now less angry and more hurt.
I put my arm around her.
“I don’t want my life, my private life, on display for others to gawk at, let alone my own family.”
“Did you tell her that? Did you ask her not to write about us?” I asked.
She looked at me like I was crazy. “Of course, I did. She doesn’t care. She’s selfish and only cares about the attention her sensationalist articles will get her.”
A moment ago, I hadn’t cared if articles were written about us, but seeing how hurt Holly was suddenly made me very angry, angry at myself mostly. This is all my fault. I invited Wendy here. What was I thinking? Why was I so foolish?
Brock came over to us, followed by Owen. “Now, now,” said Brock, and he put his arm around her. “We’ll figure this out. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Holly lifted her head from my shoulder and wiped her eyes.
A wave of rage passed through me. How dare she hurt my girl!
“Let’s
go in the other room,” said Owen. “Let’s talk this out. We’ll find a solution. Everything’s going to be all right. You’ll see.”
We convened a meeting. Holly explained who Wendy was—a sensationalist journalist who never portrayed her subjects in a good light. She explained how much she valued her privacy and how badly she did not want Wendy publishing anything about her.
“That’s why you never mentioned us in your blog?” said Will.
Holly nodded.
“I get it now,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Holly asked.
“At first,” said Will, “to be honest, I was a little hurt that you were writing about all the people you’d met on the trail and here and around Franklin with no mention of us. But now I get it.”
Holly gritted her teeth and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now. Pretty soon, the whole country’s going to be reading about us.” She paced and stomped angrily, shaking her head.
“I don’t think she’ll write anything,” said Lawson, who’d been sitting quietly in the back up until then.
All heads turned to him.
He took out his phone, looked at the screen then put it back in his pocket. “It’s too late now,” he said, “but I’ll call her first thing in the morning.”
“Call whom?” asked Gannon.
“I’ve got a friend who works for ‘Mirror, Mirror.’”
“You do?” said Shaun.
“Yeah. So, do you. Sasha.”
“Sasha works for ‘Mirror, Mirror?’” said Ted, surprised.
“Yeah. She’s one of their top scientists.”
I looked at Holly, confused. She didn’t seem to be understanding how this was helpful, either.
“I told Wendy I would get her an interview with one of ‘Mirror, Mirror’s’ top scientists,” Shaun said to Holly. “I told her I’d call Sasha tomorrow and set it up.” He stopped as if he’d answered all our questions and solved everything.
“And?” I said.
“And now we’ve got leverage,” he said with a smile. “I’ll ask Sasha to grant an interview solely on the condition that Wendy does not write about us.”
Holly shook her head. “She won’t care. She told me she’d rather write about us than write about ‘Mirror, Mirror’ anyway.”
Shaun seemed unphased. “I’m sure she was just bluffing. ‘Mirror, Mirror’ is a big story, and it’s hers as long as she respects our privacy.”
“I don’t know,” said Holly, not entirely convinced but less angry and upset than she’d been a minute ago.
“It’s a great deal,” said Shaun. “She’ll take it. You don’t need to worry. We’ve got your back. We won’t let anything happen to you that you don’t want to happen.”
I could tell from Holly’s facial expression that she was relieved. Shaun had such a calm, cool way of speaking, it was difficult not to believe him. It was difficult to stay worried when he said that everything was going to be all right.
Holly chuckled. “Thank you, Shaun.” She laughed. “God, I was so angry I could have strangled her.”
“You don’t need to strangle anyone,” said Shaun matter-of-factly. “That’s not how we handle things here.”
Holly shook her head. “I know. It was just an expression.”
“Here, everybody knows everybody,” said Shaun, “and we look after our own. Nothing’s going to be written about you that you don’t want to be written. I promise.”
There was a beat of silence, then Holly rushed over to him, grabbed him by the cheeks, and planted a big kiss on the lips. We all cheered. Miles went back to his guitar, and the party started up again, instantly in full swing.
21
Holly
Spending days in the mountains visiting poor communities of isolated people and then spending nights with my new band of lovers, the last week had been such a rollercoaster of emotions it was no wonder I was on edge, like a time bomb ready to go off at the slightest provocation.
The provocation I got was not, however, slight. We’d been betrayed by someone we welcomed with open arms into our group, someone we went out of our way to help, someone who only cared about gaining a bit of attention no matter who she had to hurt in the process.
I knew Wendy was suspect from the first time I had met her. I should have followed my gut. Instead, I was too willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. I was too trusting, too naïve, perhaps. I would have sulked and beaten myself up over my poor decision, but the guys wouldn’t let me brood in my bad temper.
“Everything’s going to be all right,” they told me. And with their kind eyes, with the lullaby cadence of their voices and disarming smiles, I believed them. They were sending me too many positive vibes for me to indulge in my negative thoughts.
“I can’t go back on the trail now,” I said to Ryker.
He beamed, grabbed me by the hips, lifted me up, and spun me around. “That’s great news!”
I pushed away, my arms tight at my chest. “I’m still going back,” I said. “I need to finish what I started, but I’ll wait a few days till we get this Wendy situation sorted out.”
He set me down. I started to walk away, but he put his arm around my waist and pulled me to him.
“It’s difficult to stay upset,” I said.
“Good.” He planted a kiss on my forehead. “That’s the point.”
With our bodies pressed tightly together, we rocked and swayed and glided across the improvised dance floor of the cottage.
“It will get sorted out, and quickly, too,” he said. “You’ll see. Then you’ll go back on the trail. You’ll finish the thru-hike in record time. And then you’ll hurry back to us.”
“And we’ll all live happily ever after?” I said.
“The happily-est.”
He kissed me. But I was still trying to hold on to a bit of my anger; I still felt the need to show how upset I was, so I pushed him away and turned from him—right into the arms of Will.
My heart leaped. In a blink, I had gone from looking into my lover’s eyes to looking into his eyes six years from now. And they shone with the same abiding kindness and passion.
Of course, I knew each of the Chandlers was his own person. I had come to know them well, well enough to be familiar with Miles’s disregard for the serious—everything was a game or a joke to him; well enough to know the sensitivity of Lawson—how perceptive he was, almost to a frightening, uncanny degree, like a mind reader; well enough to tell Gannon from Brock—not only in the subtleties of their features but in their physical and emotional needs that they were not too proud to express.
I knew each of the Chandlers well and individually, but sometimes—like during parties at the cottage—I let my imagination have fun. I allowed myself to see the Chandler brothers as different iterations of the same man: iterations of my lover in different contexts and from different times all played out simultaneously in the present.
When I turned away from Ryker’s kiss only to land in Will’s ardent embrace, I gave up on my anger toward Wendy; I gave up on my loose claim to reality and let myself be swept away by my fantasy.
“Happily ever after,” I said to him.
He held me tight in his arms. His bulging erection pressed against my waist.
I stood on tiptoes so that my crotch could feel the contact of his throbbing cock. “You’re too tall,” I said.
He slid his hands from my waist down to my ass. He grabbed me and lifted me.
“Oh!”
“Now we’re the same height,” he said, and he gave me a peck on the lips.
I took his chiseled jaw in my hands, my lips on his, my tongue tasting them, then slipping inside his mouth to find his tongue.
He lost his balance and started to fall. Fortunately, Owen was there and caught us. I looked from Will to his identical twin, Owen, and a tingling fire rippled through my body. My lover is everywhere and at the same time!
“You saved us from a nasty fall,” I said to Owen. “My hero!” I rea
ched for his beautiful face, touched him lightly on the cheek, then grabbed him by the hair, and pulled him to me for a wet and sloppy kiss.
No sooner had I tasted him than I pulled back. My other hand found the back of Will’s head, and I turned and kissed him. I felt a hand on my breast, another hand on my ass, another hand on my other breast, and another hand grabbing and stroking my thigh. While I was being groped and fondled, I went from one mouth to the other of my lookalike lovers, pecking and licking their lips.
“All these hands on me,” I said. “Can someone stop fondling my breasts long enough to get my pants off, please!”
Hands wrapped around my waist, unbuttoned my pants, and slid them off me. I still felt the four hands groping me, so I looked over my shoulder and saw Ted with a lustful grin standing behind me. “Ask, and you shall receive,” he said.
“In that case, give me your massive, hard cock.” I turned back to Will.
He tried to kiss me again, but I held his head away, his mouth an inch from mine. I looked into his eyes, burning with desire, while Ted yanked down my panties and slid his fingers along my wet pussy.
I gasped.
Will lunged for me, his lips brushing mine, but I kept him back. Owen put his mouth to my neck and nipped and sucked greedily from my nape down to my shoulder.
I felt the tip of Ted’s cock brush my labia. I gasped again.
No sooner had the breath escaped my lips than he rammed his long, stiff cock into me. I grabbed Owen’s shirt and balled my hand into a fist. With Will, instead, my hand clutched his strong muscular shoulder. As my hand was no longer pushing him back, Will lunged at me with thirsty lips. I looked down, and he kissed me on the top of my head.
I tore off Will’s shirt and buried my face in his smooth, sculpted chest while Ted pounded me from behind.
Owen took off his shirt, and I left Will’s chest to explore the ripped pecs of his twin. The bristles of his chest scratched my cheeks, and when I couldn’t take anymore, I left him for the smooth skin of his brother.
