by Sable Sylvan
“And they were all in your bag?” asked Jace.
“No, just the most special one,” said Kim. “It’s called…The Sunflower Jasmine.”
“The…wait, what?” asked Jace.
“The Sunflower Jasmine, it’s about a gardener named Jasmine who learns to take care of herself like she takes care of her garden,” said Kim. “It was the first romance I ever read with my grandma. It was age appropriate, so we could read it together.”
“Don’t you see what that means?” asked Gabe.
“What, that I lost something I can never get back?” asked Kim.
“No…there’s more to it,” said Gabe. He lifted up his shirt and Jace followed suit. “Look. On our chests. What do you see?”
“Two flowers,” said Kim.
“What kind of flowers?’ asked Gabe.
“A sunflower on Jace’s chest, and on yours…” started Kim. “Wait, how did I not realize this before? It’s a…”
“It’s a jasmine flower,” said Gabe. “There’s no doubt about it.”
“And you know what that means,” said Jace.
“It means…you two really…but…that’s impossible,” said Kim. “How?”
“Fate,” said Jace. “There’s not a force in the universe more strange or more powerful. But it brought us together, and it brought you…to us.”
“What am I gonna do about all my stuff though?” asked Kim. “I didn’t even think about that before, given I was so upset about the book.”
“More like what are we gonna do about it,” said Jace. “Trust me. Gabe and I…we’ve been where you are before. We’ve lost our luggage on tour before, our wallets, our documents, and we’re still here, right in front of you, in one piece. We can get replacements for all your documents. Your laptop…well, that’s wrecked for sure. You do have backups, right?”
“Of course, online, the college has everyone set it up,” said Kim.
“Then all we have to do is get you a new laptop,” said Jace. “You probably needed one anyway.”
“Textbooks, we can get you them for cheap,” said Gabe. “We do have an employee discount at the university library, and we have our connections.
“Clothes? Easily replaced,” said Jace. “The only question is where you’re gonna live.”
“I didn’t even think of that,” said Kim. “My dorm’s busted.”
“The college has put everyone from your dorm into the free rooms that were not destroyed in the fire,” said Jace. “But…”
“What’s the but?” asked Kim.
“But it was first come first serve, and you were pretty much out all weekend,” said Gabe. “It’s Sunday.”
“I have classes tomorrow,” said Kim. “What am I gonna do?”
“You have excused absences for the week, including extensions for coursework, given the circumstances,” said Jace. “But that coursework isn’t gonna disappear. It still has to get taken care of, and you can’t exactly study living in the gym.”
“The gym? Seriously?” groaned Kim. “There’s no frikkin’ way that’s gonna work.”
“You could try and rush a sorority, but, most of rush at WCS happens during orientation…and you don’t seem the sorority type,” admitted Jace.
“Not in the least,” said Gabe.
“You can rent an apartment, but WCS is in a ritzy neighborhood, so…no offense, but you can’t afford that,” said Jace. “That leaves you with one last option…stay with a friend.”
“I know Tashia’s parents have a free guest room, but I don’t think they’d literally let me live there for free,” said Kim.
“That’s not what we’re saying,” said Gabe. “You have two more friends in Seattle…well, technically, friends with benefits.”
“You’re not saying what I think you’re saying,” said Kim. “No way. Nope. No frikkin’ way.”
“There’s not another option,” said Jace. “I know it’s unorthodox, but…maybe this time, you shouldn’t try and push fate away.”
“Fine, fine,” said Kim. “Obviously, the people upstairs want us to be together. Do you have a guest room?”
“Yes, and we’ve…sort of already set it up for you,” admitted Jace.
“Of course you have,” said Kim.
“Trust me, before this, it was just a storage room, it needed furniture, sheets, all that jazz,” said Gabe.
“Okay, but if things don’t work out…am I gonna get kicked out?” asked Kim.
“Definitely not, “ promised Jace. “And that said, you can of course leave whenever you want. You’re not a frikkin’ hostage. You’re just a girl who happens to be as unlucky as she is curvy.”
“Wow, thanks Jace,” said Kim. “I’m sure that’s what every gal wants to hear. Well, in the meantime, I need to start on my coursework. Can I borrow your laptop, Gabe?”
“As long as you promise not to lookup the answer key for the final,” teased Gabe. He passed his laptop to Kim, logging her into a guest account. Kim went to check her college email first.
Junk, junk, hall group bullshizz, junk, events, junk, something relevant to her major, junk, and…a letter from her dean, Dean Bryn. She’d met with her dean earlier that week and gotten the impression that Dean Bryn really didn’t like her. Kim had talked to the dean about a mistake that had been made for her spring financial aid, which for some reason didn’t account for her Dean’s Scholarship, the full ride scholarship her vulnerable essay had earned her that spring.
Kim read the letter, and what she read made her go pale. She closed the lid of the laptop, a single tear falling from her eyes.
“I can’t believe it,” she whispered softly. “I can’t frikkin’ believe it.”
“Kim? What happened?” asked Gabe.
“My dean emailed me,” said Kim. “There was a problem with my financial aid. I might not be able to keep taking classes here.”
“You have the Dean’s Scholarship, what could have possibly happened?” asked Jace. “That’s supposed to cover everything: books, meals, tuition, housing.”
“It does…but to accept the scholarship, your parents must consent to your receiving the funds,” said Kim. “I don’t know why, something about tax laws. My parents were sent the forms in the spring by my social worker and signed them…but apparently? They need to sign them every semester. My social worker sent them the forms and my parents sent the forms to the college with a letter, apparently quite poorly written, about how they don’t think I deserve the funds because they think I tore my family apart, so they won’t consent to me receiving the funds.”
“That’s outrageous,” said Jace. “What is the college doing about it?”
“Nothing,” said Kim. “The Dean said my options are to take out private loans, somehow convince my parents that they should sign the forms, or…drop out of the college.”
“You can’t drop out, you need an education,” said Gabe. “Listen. Kim. I might be a hardass, but, you know you mean a ton to me. I promise you this. No matter what, Jace and I? We’re gonna make sure that you’re here next semester. Well, not here in the hospital, but at the college. Even if Jace and I have to take extra shifts at Bear Buns, even if we have to sell our used underwear to perverts on the Internet, we’ll find a way to make sure that you don’t just succeed next semester, but that in three and a half years? You’re walking across the stage for graduation. Jace and I will handle this. You just need to focus on getting better, getting settled at our place, and getting caught up on your school work.”
“Alright,” said Kim. “I will. And Gabe…Jace…thank you.”
“No, Kim,” said Jace. “Thank you…for letting us help you.”
Chapter Eight
The good thing about losing all your stuff in a fire? You don’t have a lot of stuff to move. As soon as she was discharged on Monday morning, Jace and Gabe, who had found subs for their classes, took her home in their car, a nice green SUV.
They pulled up to a large Victorian house just a few blocks from campus.
“You two weren’t kidding when you said you had a house a few blocks away from campus,” said Kim. “I was expecting some grungy apartment ten blocks away…I can see the school clock tower from here, and the science building, and this is really a nice house…a really, really nice house.”
“Well, it was a fixer upper when we got it,” said Jace. “But we got a great price on it, and with the help of some of the other members of the Bear Buns family, we had it in ship shape in no time. Various members of the Bear Buns family have stayed in this house at one time or another, so it was definitely a great investment for the club too.”
“Come on, let’s check out your room,” said Gabe. “It’s still early in the day, so if you wanna go shopping for things, we can do that tonight.”
Kim followed Jace and Gabe into their house. The house was even larger on the inside than it looked on the outside, with gorgeous hardwood floors, without the creaky creepiness of many old houses. The downstairs contained all the public areas, while upstairs, there were four bedrooms. One was for Jace, one was for Gabe, and one was a shared study now that Jace had moved into Gabe’s study and given his room up for Kim, as it was the room with the most light.
“So, what do you think of the room?” asked Jace.
“I think…it’s perfect,” said Kim, a tear in her eye. “You two really set this up all on your own?”
“It was nothing,” said Jace. “It’s not like we had to make the mattress from scratch.”
“I don’t understand…how did you know how to make it so perfect?” asked Kim. She looked over the room. There was a gorgeous white wooden bed frame with a set of pull out drawers. There was a matching white Parson’s desk with a minimalistic bookshelf in a corner, with a real leather office chair in robin’s egg blue. There were mint and aqua details for the fabrics, including sheets, curtains, and a nice braided rug that reminded Kim of a seashell. It was better than the dorm room that had burned up in the fire. The bed was bigger, the desk was nicer, and she had an actual real book case to put books on, instead of milk crates. The best part? There was a bay window seat with gorgeous cyan pillows that she could sit in to do her reading.
“A little birdie gave us some advice,” said Gabe.
“Tashia?” asked Kim. “Of course. She saw the way I looked at this stuff when her parents took us shopping for essentials…but I didn’t have the money to spend. I was saving it for school supplies.”
“You don’t have to save any longer,” said Jace. “Don’t worry about the cost. Really. Bear Buns…well, let’s put it this way. Gabe and I have never used the money from the job for anything but big purchases like the house, and for emergencies. Taking care of you? Definitely constitutes as an emergency.”
“And trust me, babe, what you need is two big, strong bear shifters to take real good care of you,” said Gabe, sweeping Kim up off her feet and carrying her to her bed.
“Oh, you think you can handle taking care of me?” asked Kim. “Well…I think that maybe it’s time for round two.”
“Really? You’re not all about taking things slow now?” asked Jace.
“Definitely not,” said Kim. “I want you two, badly. I’m living in the same frikkin’ house as you. I need you, or I’m gonna go crazy with lust. Blue balls? That has nothing on blue ovaries.”
“Then what on earth are we waiting for?” asked Gabe. He took off his ratty plain shirt and threw it to the floor before starting to unbutton his pants.
“You two better not mess up my brand new bedroom,” teased Kim.
“Or what, you won’t do your homework?” asked Gabe.
“Be careful, make threats like that and people might start thinking you’re the one sleeping with me for the easy A,” said Kim.
“Definitely, because I need that easy A…that easy-to-squeezy ass,” said Gabe.
“The only thing you’re gonna get is a big, hard, permanently on your record…D,” said Jace, stepping out of his unbuttoned pants and getting onto the king sized bed with Gabe, taking off Kim’s shirt while Gabe handle her pants. Jace pulled Kim in for a kiss while Gabe made short work of her panties and unhooked her bra. Kim slid her bra off and laid back, ready to let her professors take her on one heck of a field trip.
Gabe entered her first, filling her pussy, but then, all of a sudden, right as Kim got used to the feeling of his thick cock, he turned over.
“Ooh, I didn’t realize this was a gymnastics class,” said Kim.
“You really want that D?” asked Jace.
“Definitely,” said Kim. “But I guess you’ll have to wait for Prof. Johnson to finish up with me, Prof. Clark.
“Well…I’m not a mathematician, but two holes plus two cocks equals double the fun, if I’m not mistaken,” said Jace.
“Then what are you waiting for?” asked Kim. “Professor, you don’t get graded based on the length of your, ahem, ‘argument’…it’s all about how you use it.”
“Oh, trust me…I know how to turn this D into an A, or rather, put this D in an A,” said Jace. He spit on his cock and lubed it up, before pressing it to Kim’s starfish pucker. “Hold tight, my ingenue…and start begging for extra credit.”
With a firm push, Jace entered her. Being filled in both holes for the first time was shocking to Kim. While she’d had a fuck buddy the summer before college started, just to ensure she didn’t have to go to WCS a virgin, nothing she’d done with the guy back home could’ve prepared her for being double penetrated…because it was absolutely frikkin’ awesome.
Kim breathed in deeply and slowly to force her body to relax, because she could tell that she was in for one heck of a ride. Jace slid deeper into her tight ass, squeezing her thick hips while Gabe kept his grip of her curvy waist, Jace and Gabe pulling out at the same time and pushing back in at the same time too. The pressure was too much for Kim. She’d never ever felt this, well, full by cock, and of course, double the cock meant double the pleasure…and half the time to get that pleasure.
As Kim came around Gabe and Jace, neither could hold back their own orgasm. Double penetration didn’t just mean that Kim was full. It meant that the seal between her ass and her honeypot and the dicks inside of them was twice as tight as normal, and all the friction drove the guys towards one thing: a big, hot load of cum, released at the same time into their fated mate.
“I’ve…got a weird question,” said Kim a few minutes later after catching her breath.
“Shoot,” said Gabe.
“How is, you know, this gonna work out anyway?” asked Kim
“What do you mean?” asked Jace.
“One of you said before that I don’t get a lot of things, because I’m not a shifter,” said Kim. “It’s true. I’m not a shifter. I’m not even from a town that had a lot of shifters. So what’s the next step? Where does this goes?”
“Well, we’ve already claimed you,” said Jace.
“Wait, claimed me? What does that mean?” asked Kim.
“It means that other shifters who want you, well, they’ll be able to sense that you’re already taken,” said Gabe. “Even if we aren’t around, they’ll know not to mess with you. Some think it’s instinct, other think it’s magic…I’m the scientist in this trio but even I think it might be a bit of column A, a bit of column B. You know how Jace and I met, right?”
“No, how?” asked Kim.
“There’s a database online, actually, there’s a couple, for people to register their mate marks and other personal details like, date of birth, species, you know, anything,” said Gabe. “For shits and giggles, I entered my name, and I found a match. There weren’t any details except for a name. It was somebody at my college. Jace. He was this preppy popular guy and I was a nerd who hung out in the science lab, but when we talked? We learned we had the same birthday, down to the minute. We both had floral mate marks that appeared on our eighteenth birthdays. We’re the same species, even though we’re from different clans. It was obvious we were meant to share a mate. After that, we made it our m
ission to find…well, you.”
“Okay, so we’ve done it, you two know I’m your fated mate, and you’ve claimed me…so what happens next?” asked Kim.
“We marry you, obviously,” said Gabe.
“Really?” asked Kim. “You’ve only known me for a while and…you already want to, y’know, marry me?”
“You were okay moving in with us, and you’ve only known us for a while,” said Jace. “The heart makes people do irrational things.”
“The heart…” said Kim softly. “Gosh. It must be nice being a shifter, knowing…knowing exactly who you’re meant to be with.”
“Trust me,” said Gabe. “Sometimes it feels like a curse, the fact that there’s only one person out there that we can fall in love with, the fact that there’s a possibility that we might not ever find that person.”
“And then other times, it feels like an absolute blessing,” said Jace. “Speaking of which…we have one more thing for your room, a thing we hope will get your blessing.”
“My blessing? What the heck did you get me, a frikkin’ ship?” joked Kim.
“Not quite,” said Gabe. “I’ll be right back.” Gabe got out of the bed and walked to his study and came back with a simple package, tied in brown paper with a plain twine ribbon.
“If this is too forward of us…let us know,” said Jace. “And, we apologize in advance. We just wanted you to have something to make the room yours.”
“I don’t know what you possibly could’ve gotten me that’s better than all the nice furniture and decor,” said Kim. She opened the package gingerly and carefully unfolded the leaves of brown paper.