Sizzling Hot Apple Cider

by Jaliza A. Burwell

  Koen let loose a string of curses that made me glad the twins were guarding our storage space. He rushed to the door, forcing me to jump to the side, pressing against the wall to give him space. He left us there to gape after him.

  He was gone. Just like that.

  I didn’t think he’d actually leave. I mean, I knew I asked him, but I didn’t think he would. And I definitely didn’t think it’d hurt this much to watch him go. Something was missing when he wasn’t around.

  “Maddie.” I looked over at the other two, expecting them to leave too. I waited for it, prepared my aching heart for it. I was used to it, people leaving, people not wanting me around. This time would be like the others. It’d hurt. I’d talk Dr. Adam’s ear off. I’d get over it.

  But would I with these three?

  Either way, they couldn’t stay here anymore. Not after everything they said to each other.

  “Please leave,” I whispered. “He’s your best friend, and whatever you guys are going through, you need to work it out. I refuse to be the reason you argue. Not like this.”

  “Maddie.” My name was a plea, Bryce’s eyes begging.

  “No. Please, go to him. Whatever is going on between you guys is hurting him.”

  I looked down at the floor, blinking hard. I couldn’t look at them, I couldn’t watch them walk away. It hurt.

  But it was for the best, right? It had to be. They knew each other forever. They only knew me for a few weeks. The weeks spent with them were amazing, but still, it’d only been weeks. A drop in the water to the years of history they had with each other.

  I heard their footsteps as they left the room. And then the soft click of my door.

  My heart broke, and I slumped to the floor, not understanding. I didn’t get it. How did it come to this?

  I thought we were having fun.

  I was only able to get up from the floor because the twins were still waiting for me. We had a tree in desperate need of a glamorous makeover. And dinner. Crap. Most of it was done by now, but that darn turkey was still in the oven.

  Time was still ticking away, which meant I didn’t have time to sit on the floor and have a pity party for one. Thanksgiving wasn’t going to be what was planned, but I could still make it something for the twins.

  With shaking legs, I got up and forced myself to go back to the storage room.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was official, our apartment was being robbed. I could hear them moving around, their footsteps heavy. The twins slept heavily, unaware of our doom. Familiar enough with my apartment, I figured they were in the kitchen area.

  We were trapped.

  And my cellphone was in my bedroom. Why was I so stupid to leave it there? Oh, right, because I had to charge the darn thing. After managing to make Thanksgiving something for the twins, and then bawling my eyes out through the phone to Kenni, my poor phone needed charging.

  I slipped out of the makeshift bed on the floor, and crawled to my feet. Morning light filtered through their superhero curtains. It was enough to know that there wasn’t much to use in the room as a weapon. Future note: Leave a bat or broom or anything in the boys’ room for invasions.

  Black nunchucks slightly under the bed got my attention. Sure, they were plastic, but if I swung hard enough, they’d hurt. I knew that from experience.

  It would have to do. I stayed light on my feet—something I didn’t know I was capable of doing until now—and grabbed them. They were cold to the touch, but I tucked them into my chest, putting all our survival into a plastic toy.

  I was beginning to think throwing Legos at the intruders to step on would be better. Those little buggers hurt. Sneaking to the door, I cursed my pounding heart. It made it too hard to listen in on the bad guys.

  While my stomach was threatening to revolt, I knelt at the door and reached for the knob. My hand shook, and I paused, taking in a deep breath.

  My nerves needed to settle down. They needed to listen to my will and be calm. It was the only way. I stared at the twins, my love for them filling me with determination and desperation.

  If I needed to be a mama bear, I was more than happy to do it. If it meant keeping them safe, I’d bloody my hands. I’d make my weapon work against them. I’d bash their heads in until they were in a coma.

  I’d make them regret putting my boys in danger.

  Someone made shushing noises, moving closer. In the living room now.

  The hairs along my arm and down the back of my neck stood up straight. They were hunting, searching for their prey. I only hoped they went for my room first, needing to get the adult in the household out of the way.

  I bit back my fear when I heard someone at the door. They were coming for the boys first. Why? To use them as bait?

  Too bad for them, I was here.

  Pressing myself against the wall, I got into position, ready to whip them with the nunchucks. The door creaked open, and I took in a shuddering breath.

  This was it.

  As soon as it was open far enough, I made my move. Using all my strength, I snapped out the nunchucks.

  “What the—” Someone grunted, jumping back.

  With a yell, I charged forward, not willing to give them time to recover. I rammed my shoulder into them, ignoring the flare of pain.

  Someone swore. There was yelling, but I was too far gone.

  They had to go down. All of them.

  The boys were right there.

  Hands grabbed at me, and I kicked back, remembering every single action movie I ever watched. I was never trained in fighting, but I wasn’t going to go down until the end.

  The hands tightened around my biceps, almost hurting but not quite. I was pulled away.

  “No!” I rammed my head back and connected with a chin. Holy bananas, that hurt. Movies did not tell you how much it hurt.

  I whimpered, trying to blink back the tears. They were obstructing my view.

  “Maddie!” My head snapped over to the familiar voice. Koen.

  He was here to save me.

  “Get ’em!” I yelled and kicked back again, hitting something.

  “Dammit, Maddie, it’s me.”

  “Lies, I don’t know a me.” My arm got free, and I rammed it back hard, almost smiling when I hit something and my attacker grunted.

  “Maddie, dammit. Stop.” Koen was in front of me, his hands on my shoulder. “Stop, you’re hitting Bryce.”

  I froze. “Bryce?

  “Yes. You know, idiot number two.”

  “Hey!” the man behind me said. That time I finally recognized his voice. Bryce. Not an intruder. Not a stranger.

  A friend.

  And I’d totally beat his butt.

  “Oh my goodness!” I moved to turn. Everyone let me go so I could face him. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Did I hurt you? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

  Bryce’s chuckle calmed my nerves. “I’m fine, spitfire. Wow, I didn’t know you had it in you.” He rubbed his stomach and winced.

  “Oh no. I just assaulted you. I can’t believe I did that.”

  “Sissy?” Lee stood at the slightly closed door, peeking through. “Is everything okay now?”

  “Uh, yeah. Everything’s fine.” My heart was ready to burst with embarrassment, my body was still shaking, and I wanted to hide in the closet, but I was okay. The boys were okay. No danger was around.

  “No more fighting? They aren’t going to hurt you?”

  “No.” I shook my head, my wild hair briefly filling my eyesight. As I blew out a slow breath, I pushed my hair out of my face. “No. It’s fine. We were just messing around.”

  Lee’s expression told me I was a big fat liar. I totally was, but I wasn’t going to tell Lee that our lives were almost in danger.

  “How about you wake up your brother? We have guests.”

  Lee’s gaze flickered around the room, taking in Dayton, Bryce, and Koen. After nodding, he slowly closed the door until it clicked.

  “What are you
doing here?” I turned to the guys, moving so all three were in view. No way was I going to acknowledge the fact that I’d attacked them. Frankly, it was their fault for sneaking around in a single woman’s apartment with children involved.

  They were lucky they were even alive. Or that I didn’t have my phone on me to call the police.

  Koen met Bryce’s eyes before giving me a small smile. “We came to apologize. We texted, but you didn’t respond, so we let ourselves in.”

  “Let yourselves in?” Frowning, I looked around. “How? Did you crawl through a window?

  Bryce ducked his head, trying to hide his sheepishness. “Not quite, I borrowed the spare keys hanging by the door when you kicked us out yesterday. It’s only to the apartment, but we waited until someone left this morning to let ourselves in.” He held up the key. It was the one I kept for when I only wanted to run downstairs to check the mail.

  If a key could self-combust, that one would with how hard I glared at the traitor. How dare it work for someone else but me?

  “We wanted to surprise you with breakfast,” Dayton said. “To apologize.” He waved toward the kitchen, where paper bags covered the counter.

  “We were complete idiots yesterday,” Koen said. “And we left like that.”

  “Who’s idiot number one?”

  “What?” Koen looked confused.

  “You said Bryce was idiot number two. Who is number one? Is there a three?”

  My question was enough to pull a chuckle from Koen. “I’m number one. Dayton is number three.”

  Nodding, I pushed by them and to the kitchen. As I got closer, the smells finally hit me. Bacon and potatoes. Perfect. I opened one bag, spotted one of those white flimsy cardboard containers and pulled it out. It was full of bacon.

  I stole one and munched on it as I empty the other bags. Pancakes. Potatoes. Fruit, no doubt because of Koen. French toast. All the foods of my heart.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, trying to get around the small rock of emotions forming in my throat. This was too nice of them. More than anything I’d expected from them, especially after what happened yesterday. “You didn’t need to do this.”

  “We did.” Koen guided me away from the counter and then he took over getting everything set up.

  “Food time?” Lawson asked, coming out.

  I smiled at him. “Food time.”

  “Oh, I want French toast!” He tried to look around Koen to see what all the options were.

  “Good choice, little man.” Dayton ruffled Lawson’s head, making the boy’s bedhead even worse.

  It was hard not to smile all through breakfast. The guys really were a lot more relaxed. There was zero tension as they joked around and teased the boys.

  Afterward, Bryce volunteered for cleanup duty while Dayton grabbed a bag he had tucked out of sight.

  “So, another tradition in my family is the day after Thanksgiving we have a big breakfast, and one present for each person. We bungled yesterday, Thanksgiving of all days, so let us make this up to you.”

  “You didn’t,” I said.

  Dayton’s grin was boyish and excited. “I did. The rules for presents after Thanksgiving is that they have to be family oriented. Something everyone can play with together.” He held up three packages, giving one each to Lawson, Lee, and me.

  “Can we really open these?” Lawson asked, practically vibrating with excitement.

  “They aren’t going to unwrap themselves,” Dayton said.

  That was all the permission they needed as they tore into the Thanksgiving wrapping paper. I didn’t even know Thanksgiving wrapping paper existed.

  “Cool.” Lawson held up a box. An image of a kiddie version of a dartboard was on it.

  “Oh, this looks fun.” Lee stared down at the Rock ’Em Sock ’Em game.

  “Are you trying to make my babies aggressive?” I asked.

  Dayton snorted. “I think you do that enough.” He rubbed at his shoulder.

  “Hmph.” I refused to be apologetic. They’d scared me.

  “In our defense, we did text you multiple times. We weren’t sure if something was wrong or if you were ignoring us again,” Koen said.

  “Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” I replied, unwilling to fall for his charm. Though if he kept pushing, I’d fail miserably. It was hard to stay mad at these guys. Almost as hard as staying mad at the twins when they needed to be in trouble. Somehow, the twins always made me feel like I should have been the one apologizing.

  Besides, everything that happened yesterday wasn’t going to disappear. The way they made me feel wasn’t going to change. What I didn’t want happening wasn’t going to change either. The way I saw it, I was an obstacle to their friendship, and that wasn’t a good feeling.

  “What did you get?” Lee stared at my present, as if it was going to reveal itself to him.

  “I don’t know.” I held it out to him. “How about you and Lawson find out for me?”

  Nodding, he took it and ran over to his brother. The two of them tore into the present and then gaped, eyes lit with pure excitement. Oh boy, what was it? What did the guys get me to make Lawson and Lee look like that? I was almost scared to find out.

  “This is awesome!” Lawson held out the box so I could see.

  It was a science kit and by all the promise of goo on the cover, it was going to be absolutely messy.

  My glare had Dayton and Koen looking nervous. Bryce would have been included too if he wasn’t hiding in the kitchen still. The scaredy-cat.

  “Um, how about we get them set up with the Sock ’Em game and then we can talk?” Koen asked.

  “Oh, you guys want to talk? With me included this time?” The sarcasm dripped from my question. I needed to make sure they understood that what they’d done yesterday wasn’t okay.

  Koen’s gaze flickered to the boys as he sighed. “Yes.”

  “Very well.”

  Lawson and Lee were more than happy to beat each other up. The big question was who would be red and who would be blue. Apparently, it was a huge decision to make, but once they settled down, it was time for me to face my own battle.

  In the kitchen, I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms over my breasts, doing my best to look cool and collected. I could be cool and collected. I had to be.

  The guys were nervous as they shuffled around and shared glances. Good, they needed to be.

  “We want to formally apologize for our actions yesterday,” Koen began.

  “What we did wasn’t fair.” Bryce rested his hip against the counter. “We talked about all these what-ifs without you, even though it involved you.”

  Dayton spoke up. “Yeah, that wasn’t fair of us. We like you.” He glanced at his best friends. “All three of us. We care for you, we all want more, and it made us a bit crazy even though we know you aren’t ready for any kind of relationship.”

  It felt like we were about to go in another circle.

  “You guys embarrassed me,” I whispered, needing to prevent it from going in the direction I felt like it would.

  Dayton closed his mouth as all three stared at me.

  “Having three men argue over you isn’t a dream come true. I don’t care what any female says. In a matter of moments, the three of you managed to make me feel like absolute garbage. That I’m some finicky woman who doesn’t know what she wants or some seductress trying to manipulate the three of you. Do I like the three of you? Yes. Do I know what I want? No.”

  My face burned as I spoke, finally saying what had been on my mind for too long, festering into something ugly. I licked my lips and kept going. I didn’t drink alcohol often, but a drink sounded amazing right about now.

  “I love the relationship the three of you have. I love your friendship. And I love that you guys opened yourself up to me. But now I feel like I’m cancerous. And trust me, I know cancer is an ugly, relentless beast. I don’t want to be that with you. I don’t want to be the reason you are confused, fighting each other, and
falling apart.”

  In desperate need of a breath, I paused. Bryce used that opportunity to speak up.

  “I think it’s adorable that you think you can break our relationship.”

  I glared at him.

  He shrugged, dismissing my reaction too easily. “We’ve been friends practically since we’ve been born. Trust me, the argument we had last night doesn’t come close to the ones we’ve had in the past. I have a scar from some of our fights. We all do. But in the end, we always come back together, we always laugh it off. You won’t change it, so don’t give yourself that much credit. We aren’t mad—at each other or you. We’re only scared and jealous. We don’t want to lose you. We don’t want to push you away. We’re also greedy enough to want to keep you by our side and only our side.”

  “We messed up,” Dayton said. “We shouldn’t have talked like that, especially with you nearby.”

  “You shouldn’t have talked about it at all,” I said.

  “How can we not?” Koen asked. “We all want you. We all want you with us, laughing, and happy. None of us want to give you up. Seeing your reaction last night hit us hard. We don’t ever want you to hurt like you were last night, not by us. It’s hard to comfort you when you’re mad at us.”

  “The breakfast,” I whispered, too choked up at that moment with their sincerity to be able to speak loudly enough.

  “Yes, the breakfast.” Dayton stepped forward, moving closer. “We talked more after we embarrassed ourselves like that. We don’t want to scare you away.”

  “What do you want?” Maybe being straightforward with them would work. It felt like we were on two different points and they were gearing up to do something different than I expected.

  Bryce came to stand next to me, leaning against the counter. I saw what he was doing, pretending to be on my side.

  Well, it worked, darn it. I knew he was on my side. They all were. They’d never do anything I didn’t want. We just needed a clear line of communication first.

  “We all want chances,” Bryce said.

  I blinked. Chances? “Excuse me?”

  “If you’re interested, of course, give us a chance. Spend time with us over the weekend. Let us prove that we can play nice. No jealousy. No fights. Nothing. We only want to spend time with you.”