by Elodie Colt
Asshole Bro: I won’t shut an eye until I know where the fuck you are. Common, let’s talk that shit out.
Asshole Bro: When I told you I loved you? I meant every fucking word, Ruby. Yeah, it started out as a game, but it became so much more and—
Panicking, I close the message quickly and scroll down to the next one.
Leo: You lucky girl. Twins
Leo: But make them pay first. Rip off their heads before you fuck them.
Leo: Probably not what you wanted to hear, sry… Just drag your ass back home and talk about it?
I snort. Count on Leo to turn it all upside down. I bet Daniel was behind that apology at the end.
Kendra: You’ve got a stalker, babe. Jesse 2 prowls outside the front door like a lion for 3 days now.
Kendra: Ok, this is getting out of hand. Just found Jesse 2 sleeping in the garage on Skyla’s surfboard, wtf?
“Shit,” I mutter, and Sam shoots me a look in question. “Raphael sleeps in our garage. Jesse probably kicked him out.”
“Nice,” Sam remarks in a sarcastic undertone.
I navigate to the settings again, unblocking Jesse’s number and waiting for a series of pings, but to my surprise, my phone only chirps once.
Jesse: I’m sry for what Raphael did. Come home, and I’ll explain everything.
A wave of disappointment mixed with anger churns in my belly. How come I get more devotion from the brother than from my actual boyfriend?
My fingers hover over the keys for a moment before I start typing.
To Kendra: Get him a blanket for God’s sake…
To Jesse: Tomorrow @ your place, 8 pm.
To Asshole Bro: Meet me @ Jesse’s tomorrow, 8 pm. PS. I saved your name under ‘Asshole Bro.’
His return message comes an instant later, and the way my heart makes a double beat annoys the hell out of me.
Asshole Bro: Got it. PS. I saved your name under ‘Gem
“What are you going to do now?” Sam asks after watching my face contorting into ten different expressions at the same time. “Break up with him?”
“With which one?” I counter without missing a beat, my tone humorless.
Sam chuckles, tossing back her beer before rising to her feet. “The one who broke your heart.”
I stare after her long before she’s vanished inside, then glance back at my phone. With a sigh, I change ‘Asshole Bro’ to ‘Raphael
With a grunt, I stuff a cushion underneath my back, slouching on Jesse’s couch. After night one getting no shut-eye and loitering around town, spending night two in a motel with a bed as soft as a wooden plank, and night three trying to get comfortable on a surfboard, I clearly feel the bones protesting.
Jesse only tolerates my presence because Ruby stated explicitly she wanted to talk to us both and meet us here. I’ve been waiting outside his flat for half an hour, and it wasn’t until zero-eight hundred sharp that Jesse stooped to unlocking the door for me. That was two hours ago. Point made, Ruby.
Jesse and I both dart to our feet when we hear keys turning inside the lock before Ruby breezes in. Banging the door shut, she drops her bag with a loud thud and stomps inside, plopping down into a chair opposite us.
It’s only after she’s made herself comfortable, throwing one leg over the other, that she lifts her head, meeting our uncertain gazes with a steel-hard expression. I feel my heart pulsing in my throat, clueless as to what she’s going to do next. Scream at us? Rip off our balls? Feed us to the sharks? Hell, I don’t care. I just want to glimpse a fucking flicker of emotion!
She pins Jesse with her laser eyes first. “Why did you never tell me you had a brother?” Her tone is flat. Business-like even.
“Because he’s the reason my girlfriend at the time nearly died.” Sure. It was my fault alone. And, of course, she was always ever his girlfriend. Fucker. “We went separate ways and pretended the other didn’t exist.”
Ruby’s face gives nothing away as her gaze swerves to me. “When did you find out that I was Jesse’s girlfriend? Before or after we fucked the first time?” She doesn’t even try to mince her words in front of my brother. Fine by me. Still, I don’t like the way she throws the word ‘fucked’ at me as if she never meant shit to me.
“After,” I mutter. “When you said Jesse’s name for the first time.”
Unfazed, her gaze trails back to Jesse again. It feels as if she’s finishing off a checklist. Who’s going to have more ‘x’ marks in the end, I wonder?
“You weren’t surprised to see Raphael in my room when you came back. Since when did you know that he switched places with you?”
Ha, try to worm your way out of this one, bro. I’d bet he would lie if I weren’t here, but alas, he’s trapped. “Since… since the day he called me,” he mumbles after a harrumph.
“And when was that?”
“The day after the wedding. I didn’t know he would—”
Ruby’s hand shoots high in an I-don’t-want-to-hear-it sign, and his teeth clack shut. “Did you know I was on the pill?” Her eyes slice into mine, her words lancing right through me. I slowly shake my head. “So, you just left it to chance? Taking the risk to knock me up just to keep up the act?” I rake a hand down my face, guilt spreading in my stomach. She’s right. I didn’t even think about the possibility of her getting pregnant. Fuck, I’m such an asshole. “I’ve slept with a stranger,” she goes on. “For all I know, you could have screwed twenty bitches right before you screwed me.”
“I didn’t. And I’m clean,” I grind out, but she stays emotionless, her head swiveling to Jesse.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were visiting your parents in North Dakota?”
Oh, now comes the juicy part, and I can’t deny the satisfaction I feel at seeing Jesse blanching. Come on, bro, spill it. “I wasn’t visiting my parents,” he drawls with a cautious look at Ruby. “I was visiting a… friend.”
My head whips in his direction, and I send him a scowl from hell that nearly burns my irises. Jesse returns it with a pleading look, one I choose to ignore. He can’t be so stupid as to think I’m going to play along, now, is he? I’m done playing.
“You forgot two syllables, brother,” I retort. Jesse only gulps, so I help him out. “He means ex-girlfriend.”
“Explain,” Ruby commands, her tone still as flat as a pancake.
“Lana King,” Jesse reveals at last, deflating like a balloon. “She was my—” Another deadly look from me makes him correct himself, “our girlfriend. She’s now a paraplegic, and I wanted to check on her.”
Check on her? Smooth. Real smooth. Thankfully, Ruby doesn’t buy the BS Jesse’s feeding her. “Are you two an item?” she presses.
“No.”
“Did you fuck her behind my back?”
“No.”
Huh. Funny how truths can be twisted lies at the same time.
Ruby pauses, munching on her lip. “And yet you found it more important to be with her for two fucking weeks instead of taking your long-term girlfriend to her best friends’ wedding, all done in secret and arranged before you even booked your fucking trip.”
My hand itches to offer her a high-five, but I fear she’d rather high-five my face. I’m impressed how well she can act the part of a tough chick, knowing all her soft spots by now. She’s a gem, dude. She’s got the shell of a diamond.
Jesse just shakes his head slowly, rendered speechless. If I were him, I’d drop my shields and wave the white flag.
“You said she was both your girlfriend.” Ruby wiggles a finger between the two of us. “Who was first?”
Jesse and I shoot each other a pointed look. He doesn’t want her to hear the truth, but the way I see it, we’re already busted.
“Neither. We shared her,” I clarify, expecting to hear a horrified outcry, but instead, Ruby just snickers.
“Like you shared me? Two weeks for Twin
A, the other two for Twin B?”
“No, we were both her lovers. Not just a threesome, not just a few nights of fun. It was a serious triangle relationship.”
Ruby taps a finger against her lips. “Interesting. I thought this stuff only works in movies. How long did it last?”
“Until Raphael had the grand idea to go cliff diving,” Jesse snarls, and I shoot up on the spot.
“Oh, yeah? As far as I remember, the idea was yours!”
Jesse jumps up from the couch, too, getting in my face. “And as far as I remember, you were the one who—”
Ruby is suddenly between us, pushing with one hand on each of our chests, and we both stumble back. Her head swirls from one brother to the other until she deadpans, “Take off your clothes.”
Jesse throws me a befuddled look. “What?”
“Take off your clothes,” she repeats, crossing her arms. “I want to see how identical you are.”
After another moment of hesitation, we take off our shirts, and Ruby watches as we loosen our belts and kick our pants aside. Other than the darker tan I sport, the slightly longer hair, and more pronounced abs, he’s still my carbon copy. Same good looks. Same bad boy.
Her eyes drop to our boxer briefs. “Those, too.”
I’ve got a bad feeling where she’s going with this, but at the same time, a rush of excitement makes my dick salute. Ruby is slowly slipping into the role of a domme, and suddenly, the only thing I see is her milky skin in a latex one-piece with her fist around a whip. My brain quickly files the fantasy under future-jerk-off-clips.
We push our remaining clothes down simultaneously, our dicks springing free. Her hands make a fist around each, yanking us closer and making us both hiss.
“What are you doing, Ruby…” Jesse mutters in a tone that conveys how many unholy things he wants to do to her.
“You shared me. Now I’m going to share you.”
Our dicks are rock-hard. We love threesomes. We get off on that shit. The problem? I don’t want to share Ruby, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Technically, she’s still my brother’s girl, and the thought makes me breathe fire.
I get it, I’m the third wheel. But not for much longer.
Hooking my fingers into her belt loops, I yank her forefront to me, and Jesse steps closer, sandwiching her in between. I can see the exact moment it dawns on her what she’s really asked for, her eyes showing a flicker of insecurity.
“I’ve never done this before…” Her voice cracks when Jesse’s hands move to her front, pulling up her shirt and unclasping her bra while I go for her jeans and panties. Six years of radio silence, but we still know how to play the game in perfect harmony.
“Good to know,” Jesse whispers into her ear.
I glide a finger through her folds, surprised to find her slippery wet. She may be anxious, but this turns her on.
Her eyes are on mine. Her hands claw at my shoulders. Her body faces me. She trusts me with this. She wants me to take the lead.
Then I’m going to stake my claim.
Grabbing her knees, I hoist her up, and she hooks her legs around my hips. Jesse lets his hands dance over her breasts, nuzzling her neck while my tip jerks against her clit. I’m waiting for him to tell me to get my hands (and dick) off her, but his lust-filled gaze signals he wants me to go on, his arm curling around her torso to support her weight.
“You’ve never touched fifth base with her,” I remind him when he gathers her juice with one finger, sliding it back up her crack.
“She never wanted to.” His fiery eyes are on Ruby who bites her lip, clearly flustered.
“Hey.” I chuck her chin, bringing her lips to mine. “You don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for.”
“I’m ready,” she whispers, and I regard her for a moment before nodding to Jesse to go on.
He glides his dick through her wet folds while I plunder her mouth again, trying to get her to relax. The moment Jesse pushes into her from behind, she yelps in surprise, and I quickly follow suit, gliding her down on me, making the pleasure override the pain.
“Jesus Christ…” she prays, her eyes and mouth wide open as she clutches both mine and Jesse’s arm, holding on for dear life.
“Let us take care of you, Ruby,” Jesse pacifies her, and it doesn’t take long for her to lose all inhibitions as she drowns in an overload of sensations crushing into her from all sides.
We envelop her in our arms. We smother her in our heat. We fight for her in our minds and battle it out right in the middle of Jesse’s living room.
One sinks his teeth into her neck, the other bites down on her tit. One nibbles her ear, the other sucks a savage trail down her cleavage. One puts his finger into her mouth, the other plays with her little nub. One yanks her head back, the other yanks her upper body closer. And there’s nothing Ruby can do other than relinquishing her last thread of control and letting us work her over.
“I… I can’t…” she chokes in between a series of ferocious lunges.
“Yes, you can. Just one more…” I hum, eager to take her to the skies a third time.
“She’s close,” Jesse grumbles, feeling her entire body quaking. He clamps one hand around her throat, pulling her head back onto his shoulder, while I gather all my strength to push her over the ledge one last time.
She doesn’t scream. She doesn’t breathe. She doesn’t fucking move.
The sensations paralyze her, and the sight of her falling apart between us makes us shoot our loads simultaneously. My knees buckle, and we tumble onto the couch in a mess of limbs, three hearts clashing as they nearly burst through our chests.
My moment of bliss lasts for about two seconds until Jesse brushes a sticky strand of hair behind Ruby’s ear, kissing her forehead with tender loving care.
Yeah, you’re still the third wheel, buddy. And nothing will ever change that.
It feels like trying to pull myself from an artificial coma when I stir awake. My throat is dry, my body is sore, and I need a full minute to clear my head and remember what happened before I crashed on the couch.
A threesome with twins. That’s what happened.
“You can’t keep them both,” I hear a hushed voice, and I peek through my eyelids, watching the two brothers arguing in the middle of the room.
Jesse’s tone is depleted when he says, “I know.”
There’s a long pause before Raphael breaks it. “I’m going to leave tonight,” he declares, and Jesse looks up at him in surprise.
“Where are you going?”
Raphael shrugs. “Not sure, yet. Somewhere far away from the East Coast. But first, I need to check if Ruby burned my passport.”
Jesse chuckles, but I can’t find any humor in the situation. Raphael wants to leave? Why? Why now? Why ever?
“Talk with Ruby first before you make a rash decision and board the next plane.”
“Where does that come from now? I thought you couldn’t wait to get me out of the picture,” Raphael says and clicks his tongue. “Actually, I’m surprised you let me crash here and didn’t throw me out in the middle of the night.”
Jesse scratches his chin in a thoughtful gesture. “Maybe Ruby wants you to stay…”
A moment of silence follows, but my heart pumps loudly in my ears. Raphael squints his eyes at Jesse. “You don’t get it, do you?” he hisses out of nowhere, trying to keep his voice low. “Ruby isn’t Lana. You can’t share her. I won’t share her. Hell, if it were up to me, I’d make any guy blind who dares to look at her, even you. That shit we did six years ago? It was fun, but we both knew it wouldn’t last. Three is one too many.”
Jesse scoffs and tucks his hands into his pockets. “Really? Could have fooled me when my sack slapped against yours a few hours ago…”
Raphael’s jaw clenches so hard, it looks as if his teeth might shatter any moment. Judging from the murderous glare he sends his brother, he’s on the verge of letting his fists do the talking. “I did it for Ruby. It was a one
-off.” His throat bobs. “Things are different now, Jesse. We may be brothers by blood, but we’re not brothers by heart. Not anymore.”
“No, we’re not,” Jesse agrees in a grave tone. “Now we’re rivals, aren’t we?”
As if on cue, both heads whirl in my direction, and I can’t hide any longer that I’m awake.
Slowly, I sit up, holding the blanket close to my naked body like a shield. Yesterday, there were no restraints. No limits. No barriers. The darkest secrets uncovered. The deepest desires satiated. But all the walls we’ve torn down rebuilt themselves overnight, now more impenetrable than before. I can’t even look at the two without blushing ten shades of red, ashamed by showing an inch of naked skin.
“I don’t want you to vie for me,” I say despite the million other things I want to get off the table instead. I love them both, and watching the bad blood boiling between them doesn’t sit well with me. “You’re twins, for God’s sake. You should be bosom buddies, not archenemies.”
Raphael quirks his lips as if he finds my announcement endearing and explains in a soft tone, “This war started a long time ago, Ruby.”
“You mean, it started with Lana.” Both avert their eyes. “Tell me about it.” Go figure. I’m slipping into my psychologist role again. Shouldn’t I be the one visiting a shrink after all the bomb-ass shit that went down?
“There’s not much to tell,” Jesse huffs. “We went cliff diving, and she nearly broke her neck.”
Oh my God, poor girl. I can tell the pain is still sitting deep. How the hell did I never notice how much he’s hurting? How the hell did I never notice that he loves another? “And why are you blaming Raphael for the accident?”
“Because I talked her into it,” Raphael admits. “I was the one who told her it was safe, and that she had nothing to fear.”
“But she jumped by choice, right? You didn’t push her or anything?”
“No. God, no…” Raphael mumbles.
I regard Jesse with pinched lips. There are many conflicting emotions playing on his face, but the most prominent one is… regret. Raphael said it was Jesse’s idea to go cliff diving. The way I see it, they both played their parts, but in the end, it was Lana’s decision.