by Madison Faye
In our other life — the one we’d left — we’d be in suits and ties, and attending business functions, or charity balls, or some other shit where rich people just congratulate each other on being rich. The life had really never appealed to either of us, but that still didn’t mean it didn’t sting like hell when everything came crashing down.
Our dad had been sick for a while — that was no secret. But him going as fast as he did came as a shock to both of us. But then, that wasn’t even the hardest blow. The rough part came after, when our piece of shit Uncle used his team of crooked lawyers and his leverage over our father’s crooked board members to steal his oil empire away from us, the named heirs in his will. Our mother had died when we were young, and without any other family save a brother he never trusted, our father left everything to us.
But then Uncle Richard had stepped in and fucked everything up. And stealing the company was only the start of it….
You see, dad had died quickly — quickly enough that even the doctors were blown away. So when one of them suggested foul play, suddenly, the whole thing fell apart. Instantly, our world was torn even more apart as detectives and cops and specialists ripped our grieving hearts open even more. Looking back, I could have seen the warning signs, but we were so overcome with the loss of dad that we never saw the surprise attack until it was too late.
…Uncle Richard had set us up hard.
It was one of our father’s board members, still loyal to our old man even in death, who’d tipped us off about it. Apparently, Richard had evidence that linked us to tampering with dad’s meds and pushing him into the heart attack that killed him. And with the cops en route to take us in, we acted fast.
We grabbed what little things we could, got in the car, and took off.
…And we hadn’t looked back in years.
We’d come here, to Blackthorn Mountain, because both of us remembered a time when our parents had taken us here when were young, before mom died. Our parents may have been wealthy beyond belief, but they believed in the strength of spirit and understanding that the world was bigger than money and the privilege we’d been afforded. They’d taken us out to the woods and hiking a bunch of times, but something about this mountain had left an impression on us.
And so this is where we’d been for the last few years — hiding out on Blackthorn, becoming one with it, and forgetting the life we knew. We’d done okay, and we weren’t upset with the life we’d found up there, just pissed about the way our old one had been taken from us, and even more pissed that our father’s death was going un-avenged.
But running into her that day? Well, shit, that’d been like the first breath of fresh air either of us had had in years.
I took another sip of her whiskey as I looked at her, sitting there naked between us like some fucking angel come down from heaven. Soft pale skin, those sexy freckles, that gorgeous red hair, and those big blue eyes so full of light and spark and goodness.
Taking her the way we had — shit, that’d been incredible. Better than incredible. Like I said, Austin and I shared damn near everything, but nothing had ever come remotely close to feeling like that. Watching him take her like that first, and then making her come again on my cock?
Damn.
Better than good. Better than anything.
She looked up, and when she caught me staring right at her, she grinned bashfully. I smiled back, handing her the flask and watching as she took a quick sip.
She passed it to my brother before she sighed deeply, looking up at the late afternoon sun.
“I have to go,” she said quietly.
“No.”
I growled it before I could stop myself, and immediately frowned. She raised a brow, and so did Austin.
“I mean,” I cleared my throat. “I mean you don’t have to go.”
“I do though.”
“Why?”
Fuck, I just wanted her to stay. I think all three of us saw this as the fun, casual wild time it was when we’d all stumbled into it. But something had happened when I’d kissed her, and I’d seen it in Austin’s eyes too when he had. Something had worked its way inside of us and held onto our hearts — something we’d never expected.
…It wasn’t casual fun anymore. It wasn’t some wild fling we could joke about later. Fuck that. I didn’t want her to be a story I told. I wanted her to be the woman I held, every fucking day.
But our mystery girl just smiled at each of us in that heart-melting way that left me speechless and aching for more.
“I just have to be somewhere,” she said quietly. “This was…” She blushed, looking so fucking adorable when she did it.
“This was a lot of fun.”
“Yeah,” I growled, leaning in and running my hand up her jaw to cup her face. “Yeah, it was.”
I kissed her slowly, letting it burn into her lips, never wanting her to pull away. But she did, turning to kiss Austin in the same slow, deep way, before she pulled away from him too. And just like me, I could see the anguish on his face.
She stood and dressed quickly, with both of us sitting there stewing and scowling the more clothes she put on.
“How do we see you again?”
Austin’s words cut through the silence, stopping her as she laced up a hiking boot. She smiled shyly.
“Maybe if we’re meant to, we will?”
“That sounds like bullshit,” I growled fiercely.
Our mystery girl — the one from our dreams who’d just shaken us to our cores just looked up at us again and smiled that killer smile that almost broke me.
And that was it, just a long, knowing smile. Then she leaned up, kissed Austin, and then me, and then turned away. She scooped up her hiking pack and slung it onto her shoulders before she turned back and let those big blue eyes burn right into us.
“Bye,” she said quietly.
And then she turned, and walked right out of our lives.
I knew I should’ve chased her. I knew letting her walk away from us would kill us inside, and tear us up.
But I did. I sat there, furious and fuming as the best thing I’d known in years walked right out of our grasp.
“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath after she’d gone.
“Yeah,” Austin muttered, his look echoing the one on my face and the pain in my heart.
“We can’t just let her walk away, man,” I spat.
“What are we going to do, fuckin’ chase her down and tackle her?” he shot back, his brow furrowing to a scowl.
“Yeah.”
He grinned, shaking his head. “You know we can’t do that. She walked away, no matter how much either of us want her to stay or want it to be more than it was.”
“You fucking felt it too.”
“Of course I did, Dallas,” my twin spat back, his eyes blazing. “But even if we’ve gone full fucking woodsman up on this mountain, you can’t just haul a girl over your shoulder and run off with her Tarzan style.”
“Fucking watch me,” I growled under my breath.
Austin grit his teeth, shaking his head as he looked away.
“We’ll find her,” he finally said, his voice edged.
“We’ll find her, and this time, we’ll show her exactly how ours she is.”
6
Stella
“Yay! You’re here!”
I’d been in a total funk every since I walked away from them. I’d spent the entire hike up the ridge to Katrina and Braun’s place hating myself for walking away from the two most amazing men I’d ever even dreamed about. I mean how fucking stupid was I?
I was scared is what I was. I was scared at how fucking real and natural being with them had been. I mean my God, I’d just had a threesome with two total strangers. And I’d had a few sips of whiskey, but it wasn’t like I’d been drunk or anything either. It should have been a little weird, and maybe a little scary or uncomfortable, even if a great story.
But it hadn’t been those things at all. It’d been amazing. Every s
ingle thing about the experience had felt so fluid, like us being together like that just made sense in the universe. And yet, I’d walked away because I knew what it was. Even if something in my heart had just latched onto them with everything I had, I knew that was silly.
What happened back there was a one-time fling — a wild story. I knew it was for them, and I knew that’s what it should be for me. It still didn’t stop me from cursing myself the whole hike over.
But that all faded the second the door opened and my best friend came shrieking into my arms.
“I can’t believe you’re here!”
I laughed, hugging Katrina dearly as she shoved the backpack off my shoulders.
“Right, it’s so unbelievable that I’d show up to my fucking best friend’s wedding.”
“Hey, there she is.”
I grinned as I looked past my friend to Braun, her soon-to-be-husband.
“C’mere caveman,” I laughed as I broke away from her and held my arms out for a hug. Katrina’s fiancé was a seriously big and imposing guy, and he was kind of fierce if he wanted to be. But my friend had turned him into a teddy bear, and at least around her and her best friend in the world — i.e. me — he was a big softy.
But ever since Katrina had drunkenly let it slip that he’d thrown her over his shoulder and stormed off to bed with her when they’d met, I’d decided to call him caveman. It was a term of affection, he just didn’t know she’d spilled the beans about that time.
Braun swooped me into a huge hug that lifted me off the ground a little before he set me back down. I grinned as I looked around the living room — the part of the house that had been the tiny cabin Katrina and I used to come to but was now only a small part of a much bigger place.
Braun was pretty damn good with a hammer.
“Holy shit has this place gotten even bigger since the last time I was up here?”
I nodded at a new addition off the back, complete with huge beamed ceiling and a massive stone fireplace.
“Oh, yeah, that…” Katrina trailed off and shook her head. “Vlad helped with that part.”
I grinned at Braun. “Aww, are you making friends?”
He rolled his eyes and made a face at me before he turned to the kitchen.
“Drink?”
“No,” I said, probably a little too quickly before I cleared my throat. “I’m good, thanks.”
I turned to glance over the living room when my eyes landed on the diagram spread out across a big table in the corner. I gave Katrina a look.
“It’s a seating chart!”
“Have you always been this bubbly?”
“Hey, I’m getting married in two days. Can it.”
I laughed as she elbowed me in the ribs. And for a second, I actually wasn’t thinking about the wildness I’d just experienced barely two hours before. For a minute, my mind and my heart let me forget about what I’d walked away from and just be happy for my amazing friend.
But then, her fiancé came walking over, slid his arm around her waist, and kissed her softly on the neck. It was beautiful, and so damn tender, and instantly, I was right back to cursing myself for being such a freaking idiot.
Katrina’s excited tugging on my wrist brought me out of it.
“Here, c’mon, check this out.”
I groaned, shaking my head at the perfectly plotted out and numbered tables drawn on a big poster board, complete with a little pile of sticks on bases with cutouts of people’s heads on them.
“Okay, you are ridiculous,” I laughed, rolling my eyes at her. I looked at Braun. “You know, she was like this in college too. Total nerd about planning and organizing.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, well, good thing I’m madly in love with this nerd.”
“Better be,” my friend muttered back jokingly, grinning as she turned and leaned up to kiss him.
And again, my mind flashed back to the two men who’d taken every part of me — the two gorgeous strangers who I’d melted into. The ones who taken my body and made me feel things I’d never even known I could feel. And the ones who’d somehow found their way into my heart and held on tight.
I still wanted to tell myself it was just some random fling, but I knew it wasn’t. I knew it’d been a lot deeper than that.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced a smile.
“So, who goes where?”
Katrina groaned. “Still finalizing that. I’ve gotten most of the tough ones. My Aunt Beth will be here, and your old marine sergeant—” She nodded at Braun and then to where she was pointing. “Will go right here, next to her.”
“Aunt Beth the hard ass?”
“Yeah.”
Braun snorted. “Perfect.”
“Wasn’t this going to be a tiny wedding?”
“It was,” Katrina shrugged. “And it’s not big, it’s just bigger than we thought it was going to be.”
“She means ‘it’s more than just her and me,’ like I was sort of angling for.”
“And I love you for letting me change your mind,” Katrina grinned at her soon-to-be-husband who just laughed and shook his head.
I snorted, rolling my eyes too as I turned to grab my bag that was still sitting by the front door. Behind me, Katrina sighed heavily.
“Shit, but what about the Caines?”
“What about them?”
“Well, I don’t know what to do with them. Together or separate?”
Braun snorted. “Together, of course. Those guys are fucking joined at the hip.”
I laughed as I turned back. “Gay couple you guys know?”
Braun roared out a laugh.
“No,” he chuckled. “Brothers. Hell, worse than that actually.”
He shook his head as he pushed his hand through his hair.
“They’re twins.”
I froze.
“What?”
The word came out choked, like I couldn’t quite say it right. I couldn’t move either, my feet stuck right where they were as I stared at him.
“What did you just say?”
Braun arched a brow. “I said they’re twins. Austin and Dallas that is.”
My most opened and closed, but no words came out.
No way. No FUCKING way.
Katrina shook her head, oblivious to the storm roaring through my head.
“Yeah, they’re kind of our neighbors. They live across the ridge near High Pass Lake.”
“Here on Blackthorn,” I croaked out, my tongue numb.
It can’t be. It just can’t be.
“Yeah, they’re inseparable,” Katrina said with a light laugh. “They share everything, even this old ranger station tower they live in.”
She frowned before suddenly, her eyes lit up.
“Oh, I know! We’ll put you guys all at one table!”
My jaw dropped.
“It’s perfect!” Katrina gushed. “Your my best friend and maid of honor, and they’re Braun’s…”
Her fiance snorted. “They are not my best friends, they’re my neighbors, kind of. And Vlad’s my best man,” he shrugged, frowning. “I mean, I guess.”
“Whatever, they’re a lot of fun, and you’ll love them, Stella.”
My mouth was still trying to figure out how to make words, and my pulse was still roaring like an avalanche in my ears.
“Yeah, perfect, they’ll go here.”
I watched, blinking and feeling my heart hammer against my chest as Katrina plucked two of her sticks with cutout faces from photographs stuck on them from her pile and plopped them down at one of the drawn tables.
My body shivered.
There, right there looking right back at me, were the two of them. The faces of the gorgeous mystery men from my wild afternoon.
The two faces I’d watched and kissed and moaned into as they made me cum. The two faces who’d imprinted themselves on my heart. The two faces who I’d had a one time, wild, insane, no strings attached fling with, because I knew I’d never see them again.
…And now they were staring right back at me, from the seating chart of my best friends wedding plan, where they’d be.
In two days.
Sitting on either side of me.
Oh fuck.
7
Stella
My skin tingled that night, after dinner and when I was alone in bed in the guest room. Well, no, my skin had tingled all day — and even more once I’d learned who my mystery men were. Yeah, no, they weren’t total strangers who I’d never see again. They were going to be at the wedding.
I still wasn’t sure if that thought was terrifying or wildly exciting. But now that I was alone, and in bed, and in the dark with just my fevered memories of earlier, it all came rushing to a head. And when I felt the teasing, wet heat between my legs, I was pretty sure “exciting” was winning out.
Badly.
I bit my lip, my hands toying together in the dark as I squeezed my thighs together. I could not stop thinking about them. Besides the mind-blowing sex, there’d been a spark there — something that felt so right and so familiar in a way I’d never felt with anyone else before. Part of me wanted to laugh at myself for being silly, and for seeing this wild one-off story as something more than it was.
…But I knew what I’d felt with them, and what I still felt later in that bed. I’d felt like a part of something bigger — like being with them was something I’d been looking for my whole life. I didn’t care what a silly thought it was, and I held onto it there in the dark.
And slowly, more of the earlier events came teasing back into my head in hot little replays. I remembered the way they’d kissed me, and touched me — the way one of them had held my legs wide apart against his body while the other had slid his tongue through my pussy.
I moaned oh-so-quietly in the guest bedroom of my friends’ house, and when my hands finally pushed their way under the covers, I knew it was useless to resist the urge. I bit my lip, turning to bury my moans in the pillow as my hands pushed under my panties to find me soaking wet. I whimpered, fingers teasing over my hard little clit and curling inside of my entrance. My slick, sticky heat coated my hands, making them slippery as they rubbed over my pussy.