Their Virgin Brat

by SC Daiko

  He manages a weak smile. “Sorry, but my mind has gone completely blank. I can’t remember anything that’s happened since I woke up this morning.”

  “You met a fence on a bad stride,” Dad says, standing next to Aiden’s bed. “Firefly somersaulted right over it and came down on top of you.”

  “Jesus,” Aiden hisses. “Is she okay?”

  “She’s perfectly fine,” Sam says brightly, planting herself firmly on the opposite side of Aiden’s bed. “Emma took her back to the stables, and she’s kindly asked her staff to look after the team for us.”

  A frown creases Aiden’s brow. “I’m gutted to have let everyone down. What about the Grand Prix?”

  “Had to give it a miss,” I shrug. “It’s not the end of the world. The London Victors will make up points at the next event. Main thing is you’ve regained consciousness.”

  “What about my leg?” Aiden groans and his jaw twitches in agony. “It’ll be months before I can ride again.”

  “You’re not to worry about that,” Dad mutters. “I can help out with training the youngsters.” He shoots me a look. “And you, Liam, can ride Aiden’s Grade A horses on the circuit until he’s fully recovered.”

  A young Asian nurse bustles into the room. “I need to prep Monsieur Roberts for theatre. Kindly return to the family room and doctor will meet with you there after the procedure.”

  “I’ll see you later,” Aiden smiles bravely. “How about a kiss?” he winks at Sam.

  She bends and kisses him gently on the lips. “I love you,” she whispers.

  “Love you too,” he grunts.

  On the other side of the door, Dad grabs me by the arm. “You and I need to talk, son.”

  Rhiannon links her arm through Sam’s. “Likewise. I think it’s best we have separate conversations.”

  “Right,” I say, releasing a breath. A crazy laugh fizzes from my throat. “I propose we go to the café just outside the hospital. We can sit at separate tables, then meet up in the family room after we’ve talked. Aiden won’t be outta theatre for a while.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Sam says in a false bright tone. “Lead the way.”

  DAD stirs sugar into his coffee. “Would you mind telling me what you and your brother have been getting up to with your stepsister?” He jabs a finger at me and grits his teeth. “I trusted you to look after her.”

  “We love her, Dad. It’s real. We wanna keep her.”

  “How can you both be in love with her?” His eyes glitter. “I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous in my life. I put up with your sharing that Jennifer woman because I thought it was just a phase, and wasn’t serious. But this is an entirely different ball game.”

  My breath hitches. “We’re in what’s known as a poly relationship. It’s not common, I’ll give you that, but it’s not unheard of. Sam knows a girl from her home town, Eleri Thomas, whose songs are at the top of the charts. She lives with two men in Northamptonshire, and she’s even had a couple of kids with them.”

  “Are you thinking of having children with Samantha?” Dad lets out a brittle laugh. “How would you know who the father is?”

  “We haven’t discussed it yet, but I don’t think she’d be bothered which one of us it was. She loves us equally and unconditionally.”

  “I don’t buy it,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, son, but you’re living in cloud cuckoo land. I think it’s best Samantha goes back to Wales. She can keep Jason in the stables where she kept him before moving to Herefordshire. By all accounts, she’s learnt how to manage him.”

  I bring my fist down on the table. “No! I’m an equal partner in Roberts & Sons. You can’t dictate how Aiden and I live our lives. And I expect Sam will be telling Rhiannon the same thing. She’s old enough to make her own decisions.”

  He folds his arms and glowers at me. “Rhiannon told me her daughter has never had a grope, much less a screw. I expect that’s no longer the case.” His tone is hostile. “She was shocked Samantha had fallen in love with Aiden. You’re both thirty and she’s only nineteen. Rhiannon will be out of her mind with worry about this so-called poly relationship.”

  I take a sip of my coffee, but it tastes bitter on my tongue. Bitter like the feelings flooding through me.

  Samantha

  We sit at an outside table and order cappuccinos from our waiter. Liam and Michael have gone indoors, and I’m glad of that; they might distract me from what I need to say to Mam. Our coffees arrive and I lean towards her, touching my hand to hers and releasing the breath I’ve been holding. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before about what was going down between me and the guys.”

  Mam huffs, and I give her a half-smile. I love her and don’t want to hurt her. She brought me up, loves me, and has always been there for me. “I don’t know what’s got into you, Samantha,” she says.

  I fight the urge to say Liam and Aiden have got into me. Not only have they been inside my body; they’re inside my soul. “I love them, pure and simple.”

  “I don’t see anything pure and simple about it,” she snorts. “Apart from the fact they’re your stepbrothers, how can you cheat on Aiden by having a relationship with Liam at the same time?”

  My mouth flaps open. “Is that what you think? That I’m two-timing them?” I pause, work out how to phrase what I need to say next. “Erm, they’re cool with me loving them both. They’re twins, their relationship is different than ordinary brothers. They share and do everything together.”

  Her eyes flare and her cheeks redden. “Including sleeping with one woman at the same time?”

  “Mam, that’s too much information. But, since you put it like that. Yes.”

  She lets out a gasp and shoots me a horrified look. “They’ve corrupted you!”

  “They’ve helped me,” I say, straight to the point.

  “I don’t understand.” Her voice sounds pained, and I feel for her.

  “We’ve never spoken about this, but I think it’s time.” I twist my fingers in my lap. “I’m sure you know that I realised Dad was violent towards you.”

  Her eyes well up, and she breathes slow and deep. “I was ashamed. Ashamed of him, but mostly ashamed of myself for allowing it.” She brushes away her tears, and I feel her pain again. “I wanted to protect you. That’s why I never spoke about what was happening.”

  “It festered inside and made me scared of men,” I come right out with it, and my voice is small and pathetic. “The reason I never had boyfriends.”

  She reaches across the table and takes my hand. “I’m so sorry. I wish I’d known. I just thought you were busy with your riding, that you didn’t have time for boys.” She gazes at me, into me. “We could have sought professional help.”

  I offer a sad smile, and my lip trembles. “We can’t change the past.”

  Her eyes are chocolate-brown, like mine, and they melt with regret. She takes in a breath and steadies herself. “I wish I could make it up to you.”

  “You can. You can accept the fact that I’m in a relationship with Aiden and Liam,” I rasp. “I love them so much.”

  She shakes her head. “That’s a big ask, my love,” and her voice rasps too.

  I can think of nothing to say; no words come. I let out a sob.

  “Please don’t cry,” she says. “You’re what kept me going all those years. Whenever I asked myself what the hell I was doing, staying with your father, I remembered if I hadn’t married him I wouldn’t have had you.”

  I knuckle away my tears. “You could have left him,” I say. “Could have taken me with you and made a fresh start far away from him.”

  “I thought about it, believe me I did. But, at the end of the day, despite everything, I loved him. I know you’ll find that hard to understand…”

  “Just like you find it hard to understand how I can love both Liam and Aiden.” A sudden idea occurs to me. “I wondered how you could trust another man after what went down with Dad. I mean, you must have been wary?”
>
  “Michael isn’t like other men.” She brushes the hair from her face. “He’s special. He broke through my barriers.”

  “His sons are special too.” I clear my throat of the lump that’s lodged there. “They’ve gentled me. I’m not the same girl I was, and now I can’t imagine my life without them.”

  Mam stares at me with a thoughtful expression. “Maybe they have. I sense a change in you. You’re softer, somehow.”

  “I feel more confident. More able to cope. More alive.”

  “Well,” she says, sighing. “I recognised the happy glow last night because I feel it too with the twins’ dad. I just thought you’d fallen for one of them, not both.” She sighs again. “I can’t promise anything. But I’ll try to accept the situation. Just give me time, Sam. I’ll put in a good word for the three of you with Michael. I know him well enough to guess he won’t be happy.”

  We finish our coffee and push back our chairs. Michael and Liam come up to us, and my heart sinks. I can read in Liam’s eyes that his conversation with Michael did not go well.

  Aiden

  Pain, pain like I’ve never felt before, stabs at my leg like a dagger in the flesh.

  “Monsieur Roberts? Are you awake?”

  I open my eyes. A male nurse is standing over me. He shines a pencil torch. “Look straight ahead. Good. Now follow this light. Perfect.” He hands me a switch attached to a drip. “It’s a morphine pump. Press it and you’ll feel some relief.”

  I do so and drift into a drug-induced, but relatively pain-free sleep.

  Then I hear my father’s voice. Am I still dreaming? No, he’s right by my head. “Aiden?”

  I blink. “Huh?”

  “I’m here with Liam. The doctor has just told us that both your shin and calf bones were fractured in your left leg in two places.”

  My stomach lurches. “Shit!”

  “Quite,” he deadpans. “They’ve inserted titanium rods down the middle of your tibia and fibula, as they’re known.”

  Fuck! It’s worse than I thought.

  “When will they let me out of hospital?”

  “Tomorrow, possibly,” he says in a clipped tone. “After you’ve had x-rays to check the procedure was successful. But you’ll require careful monitoring when you get home. You’ll be in a wheelchair at first and then crutches.”

  Agony shoots through me, and, clenching my teeth, I press the switch on the morphine pump again. “It’s a frigging nightmare.”

  “We’ll support you, bro’,” Liam says, coming into my line of vision. “Sam and I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

  “Thanks.” I try to sound positive, but all I can feel is anger at myself. I glance at the plaster cast on my leg, and then I close my eyes, the final moments of the accident before I blacked out coming back to me.

  I shouldn’t have urged Firefly on. She’s never stopped on me before, though, but we’ve never jumped in a frigging thunderstorm either. My lovely mare is all heart, and she’d given it her best shot after that moment of doubt. It was my fault for asking the impossible of her. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

  “We’ll book you on a flight back to the UK when the doctors give you the thumbs-up,” Dad mutters. “Rachel will fly to Paris to help Liam take the horses home.”

  “What about Samantha?”

  Is Dad fully in the picture about the three of us?

  He folds his arms. “She’s insisted on staying in Paris, and will fly home with you.” He frowns. “I can’t say I’m happy with your strange set-up, but I’ll set aside my concerns for the time being. We can discuss them when you’re on the mend.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate that.”

  I catch Liam’s eye, and he nods.

  Yep, Dad is fully in the picture.

  “Rhiannon and I leave tonight,” Dad continues. “We’ll arrange a private ambulance to meet you at Heathrow when we know what flight you’re on. You’ll have special assistance, covered by our insurance.”

  Dad is fully in management-mode; it’s his way of coping. “I’m sorry I ruined the last day of your honeymoon,” I tell him. “I know it was supposed to be a celebration.”

  “Can’t be helped,” he says, glancing at his watch. “I’d best be off or we’ll miss our plane.” He bends and pats my shoulder. “See you back at the yard.”

  He pushes his way out of the door, and in a heartbeat, Samantha enters the room. She beams a smile at Liam and me, and it’s like the sun has burst through black clouds. Love for her swells my heart. I know it’s a cliché, but, like the song, surely love will keep us together?

  15

  Samantha

  I’m working with Rachel, cleaning tack. Liam has driven Aiden to the hospital in Hereford for a check-up and to get his cast changed. Excitement tingles through me; all being well, he’ll be moving upstairs to his own bedroom tonight. We have plans... plans that make my clit spark.

  When we got back from Paris six weeks ago, we found our parents had set up a bed for Aiden downstairs in the trophy room. It was only a single bed, but there was no way we could be together, the three of us, with Aiden’s leg in plaster and him having to keep it immobile… even if Mam and Michael weren’t watching us like freaking hawks.

  Liam and I agreed not to have any one-to-ones; it wouldn’t have been fair to Aiden. Instead, we focused on helping him. He joked about missing the hospital morphine pump each time the pain was bad, and having to use a wheelchair to get around has been a real nightmare. Liam and I took it in turns to be with him; we washed him, we dressed him, we helped him on and off the toilet. There’s nothing we didn’t do for him.

  He grinned and bore it like a trooper. Never complaining. Never downhearted. Never anything less than determined to prove the doctors wrong, and start riding again well before they think he will. I hope he’s right; their prediction of six months is far too long for him to be out of the saddle.

  Rachel glances at me now, and a smile teases her lips. “You had a fab workout on Jason this morning. He’s coming on in leaps and bounds.”

  I can’t help feeling proud of myself. Last weekend we competed again at the Wales and West. I qualified for novice status, and will aim for the fox hunter qualification next. “He’s like a different horse,” I say.

  She fixes me in her gaze. “And you’re like a different girl, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

  I suck in a breath. “What do you mean?”

  She pauses to collect her thoughts. “You love Liam and Aiden, don’t you? And they love you. I see it in your faces.”

  My cheeks burn, and my heart misses a beat. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Don’t worry. I won’t breathe a word,” she snickers, spreading saddle soap on her sponge. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  “I wish we didn’t have to keep it a secret.”

  “You haven’t told your parents?”

  “We have,” I huff. “Mam’s okay… ish. She’s trying to see things from our point of view. But Michael still doesn’t ‘get’ us. I’m not sure he ever will.”

  “Give him time. He’s from a different generation, don’t forget.”

  “Mam’s trying to bring him round, but she isn’t getting anywhere,” I say, shaking my head.

  “Maybe you should talk to him?” Rachel suggests. “Maybe he needs to hear it from you?”

  I narrow my eyes. “Maybe...”

  “Definitely,” she says serenely. “Under his gruff exterior, beats a heart of gold. I know from experience.”

  She tells me about when, soon after she started working in the Roberts yard, her mother fell ill and she needed time off for hospital visits. Michael was completely understanding and didn’t quibble. It strikes me that my situation with the twins is totally different, but I don’t say so. She means well. We chat on about Rachel’s boyfriend, Jeff, the guy she met in Hereford, and how their relationship is developing. Seems things are getting serious, and I’m happy for her.

  I go to hang up the bridle I’ve been cleani
ng, except the sound of a car coming through the front gates distracts me. “They’re home,” I squeal, spinning on my heel and running out the door.

  Aiden

  I swing my legs from the front seat of the SUV. Liam has already jumped out; he hands me the crutches he fetched from the back. The pleasure of being upright takes my breath. I stare down at the fibreglass walking cast covering the lower part of my left leg. “One step at a time,” the doctors said. And I’ll do just that. Take those steps again, and again until I’m back to how I was before the accident.

  Samantha runs up, beaming her beautiful smile. “You did it,” she says, laughing with delight. “You’re out of the wheelchair.”

  I long to throw my arms around her, but I’m holding onto my sticks so I wink instead. “Can’t wait for tonight.”

  She blushes, and it goes straight to my cock; weeks of abstinence have made me frigging hard.

  Dad appears from around the corner of the tack room, and my dick immediately deflates. “Your mother needs help in the kitchen, if you wouldn’t mind, Samantha,” he says. “She’s making a roast dinner to celebrate Aiden progressing to crutches, and needs you to shell the peas.”

  Hmm, they were pretty confident I’d be out of plaster if Rhiannon is cooking something special. Mrs Potts no longer cooks for us, and I’ve got to admit Rhiannon is doing a great job. She has a wider repertoire than Mrs P, who just does the cleaning these days. And we’ve all noticed the house is looking much better for the increased amount of time spent on that job.

  I watch Dad and Samantha walk to the farmhouse together. Frigging hell, I wish he’d accept the fact that Liam and I love her and she loves us. He treats her with kindness, and seemed as proud of her as we were when she jumped a clear round at the Wales and West last weekend. But, whenever we try to broach the subject of our relationship, he steers the conversation to another topic.

  I catch Liam’s eye, and he nods. “Time to move on to plan B?”

  “Probably,” I groan.