by Demi Donovan
I chuckle and dad grins, shaking his head. It’s a running joke in the family that the only reason Austin got into finance was to make off with the family fortune in a legal way. I don’t think any of us have put that notion to bed entirely.
“And you, Austin? Any news from Selina, anything we should know?”
That smile Austin had been wearing is gone in an instant, replaced by the familiar storm cloud of a glower that he wears whenever someone brings up Selina. It’s a touchy topic and we all know it… I can only assume that’s why dad brought it up. Because he knows the rest of us have probably given up on it.
“I don’t think there’s anything to say about her anymore,” Austin says, tapping the fingers of his left hand on the table in a steady, fast rhythm.
The tan line around his finger is all the more prominent for it and I catch him glancing at it at least once. It’s like a constant reminder of what used to be.
It’s better now than it was before, though. It took us a while to convince him to take the ring off in the first place, though the marriage was over far before the divorce was settled.
“She’s a non-issue. She doesn’t exist,” he finishes, grimly stabbing at a piece of bacon on his plate.
“Well, just so you know, if you ever need to talk about it, I’m here for you, son,” Robert says, sipping on his coffee.
Austin nods dully and we all focus on our food for a minute or two.
“You know, it was about time, though,” dad suddenly speaks up, slouching one elbow on the table.
“About time for what?” Callum asks.
“For someone else in the family to start getting divorces. I felt like a damn outcast,” he says with a chuckle, prompting us to collectively sigh.
“I’m not exactly sure if that’s an example you want us to follow,” Callum interjects bemusedly.
“And besides, we’d have to get married before we could get divorced,” I offer.
The moment I’ve said that, I know I’ve made a grave mistake. When I look up and meet Callum’s gaze, I can basically read the ‘WHY!?’ in his eyes.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” dad says, slamming his hand flat on the table. “You two are old enough to get down that path. And you too, Austin. At your age, I was already a father. I know you found one bad apple but you have to remember that it doesn’t mean the whole tree is bad.”
Austin mouths the last part of dad’s wise saying. Robert’s been quoting it for years, so much so that it’s been worn into our brains despite the fact that we haven’t even shared a place of living for a long, long time.
“I’ll get right on that,” Austin says without any notable enthusiasm.
“Oh come on! You three have to be swimming in women,” dad says, giving us all measuring looks.
I notice how none of us really want to answer his questioning gaze. Not with what’s been going on, anyway…
“You three are hiding something from me, aren’t you?” he says suddenly, his pale blue eyes narrowing.
The old man always was smart as a fox. You would think that he was just some millionaire playboy, living off of the wealth he accumulated in his youth and now blowing it on any nice pair of legs that he came across, but Robert Stephenson is no simple man. He’s a shrewd businessman and the kind of man you want to stay on the good side of.
If for no other reason than the fact that if you did mess with him, you’d probably be getting into a fight with someone who could loop you three times intellectually without breaking a sweat. He’s an attentive, wise man and none of us have gotten through our youth without getting caught out by him repeatedly for stupid, and not so stupid lies.
“Spill it,” he says roughly, picking up his coffee cup and cradling it now as he rows his gaze from one to another. “Did you three get into some trouble?”
“It’s nothing,” I say, feeling obligated to talk us out of what I talked us into. “There might be a girl.”
“There might be a girl?” dad asks, quirking a brow, before realization hits him. “Oh for fuck’s sake! You three aren’t after the same dame again, are you?”
When we don’t answer, he lets out a groan and kicks back his coffee in one long gulp.
He gets up, shaking his head as he goes for a refill. There’s an army of servants nearby, ready to jump in if he just called, but despite his wealth, dad has always preferred doing things on his own. He taught us the same – there’s no reason to have someone do something for you that you can’t do for yourself.
It’s a motto that has served us well, I think.
“I thought you boys were over that now,” he says with some annoyance, though his tone softens.
I know he doesn’t really care about what we do in that regards. We’re old enough to fight our own battles and he knows it. As long as he doesn’t find out that it’s Lily, we’re going to be in the clear.
Considering Milan and everything that came with her, I think it’s best that our father doesn’t know that we’re all trying to fuck her lawyer. And maybe even go beyond that.
“And I thought you were over frivolous divorces,” Austin comments dryly, his tone sharp.
Dad and he look at one another and the expressions they’re wearing are copies of one another, both unwilling to back down. Dad doesn’t like to be reminded of his spotted past and Austin’s never approved of the come-and-go style of relationships that dad prefers. While Callum and I haven’t really cared, I think we were all hoping that Milan would be the last one.
The woman has problems, but she certainly made dad happy for a good number of years. And that marriage gave us Candice, who we’ve all been more than happy to have in our lives. That’s exactly what three brothers needed – a younger sister to look after.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business, son,” Robert says tensely.
The standoff lasts for a couple more seconds, before Callum butts in.
“Can we all agree to disagree? And eat our fucking pancakes?”
A murmur of agreement goes around the table but I’m left with an uneasy feeling from the conversation. It’s like dad isn’t telling us something and I can’t put my finger on what it could be.
One thing’s for sure, this week in Hawaii isn’t going to be just about a tropical getaway and family time. I can smell blood in the water and I can only hope it won’t be mine, or anyone else’s that I care about.
Fifteen
Callum
Finding Lily has been like a master class in tracking over the past few days. For a woman as striking and easily noticeable as she is, she’s damn good at making herself scarce when she wants to.
It’s incredibly annoying.
The last time I spent any time with her was at the beach two days ago and since then, I only managed to corner her at a brunch yesterday. We were at a table with six other people, most of whom were extended family members or business associates of my father, so telling Lily about all the deliciously disgusting things I wanted to do to her didn’t really seem… appropriate.
Something I’m generally very happy to not give a shit about, but will for now if it means keeping her as less of a flight risk,
I’m stalking through the large Oriental-style gardens that have been set up behind the main resort complex, knowing that Troy’s moving towards me in a wider arc from the opposite direction. My guess is that she’s here somewhere.
We’ve become increasingly more adept at guessing where she might be going, which has been born out of necessity. After finding out about the stunt Austin pulled with her in her bungalow, we agreed that no one would be spending time with her there alone, nor that we could go to find her there. It would set Austin at an unfair advantage because his bungalow is close to hers and ours is across the resort at the opposite end.
I’m mulling through the possible options of where she could be going for dinner tonight when I hear a familiar laugh that makes me move twice as fast.
Lily.
I round a corner
in the carefully manicured garden and find Lily sitting on a wide stone bench with her legs in Troy’s lap while she leans back. She’s smiling and laughing and she looks like she’s having fun.
Good.
“Aw, you two couldn’t have waited for me?” I protest loudly as I close in on them, sitting down next to Lily as I reach them.
The smile falters for a moment on her features but is back in full force then. It makes my heart leap. I don’t know what she’s done to me but I can safely say that I was smitten before and now I’m completely taken with her. That time we spent with her in the water… it’s been playing on a loop in my brain.
I have to fucking have her.
“I told her about our deal,” Troy says, rubbing her knee gently.
“Which deal?” I ask.
We’ve made more than I’d care to admit over the last few days, both between myself and Troy, as well as with Austin. Now that we’re older and wiser, apparently it’s important that there are rules governing what should be just a pure contest of the better man, or men, winning.
“The one about you not abducting me and… um, you know. Unless I ask you to.”
She’s burning bright red as she says it and it’s adorable. I grin at the sight of it.
“Oh, that one,” I say casually, leaving her wondering about what else we might have agreed on.
I prefer to keep her on her toes because she’s certainly keeping me running around like I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s not a very natural fit for me.
“I also told her that maybe if she spent more time with us, she’d see that we’re just normal guys,” Troy continues, giving Lily a look. “You know, no one to be… wary of.”
She laughs outright at that.
“I don’t think ‘wary’ quite covers the spectrum.”
“Why not?” I ask, throwing an arm over the back of the seat, my fingers inches from draping on her arm and pulling her into me.
It takes a lot of self-control to keep from doing that, I won’t lie. All I want is to have her next to me, to kiss her, to have her, to be in her… Just sitting next to her and inhaling her scent is making my cock rock hard and I’m going to do nothing to hide it.
I want her to know how she makes me feel, which is pretty much the same as what she’s doing to Troy, I think. We rarely talk about these things, mostly because we don’t need to. As different as we are, with Troy always having been the more serious, pessimistic one, while I’ve been the leading force in getting shit done, then I can be sure that we’re on the same page about things that matter.
And Lily matters. Lily matters a lot.
“Well, because I’ve had about three interactions with you, none of which I could describe as ‘normal’,” she starts, smiling. “As much as I enjoyed the… whatever happened on the beach,” Lily says, her voice breaking a little, “then I don’t think it can happen again.”
With that, my good mood’s virtually wiped out.
“Why not?” I ask, before Troy can do the same.
“Because…”
She presses her lips together and moves to pull her legs away from Troy’s lap, but he keeps his palm over her knees, not letting her run that easy.
“No, Lily,” he says tensely. “Don’t run. Talk to us. Whatever you think is wrong here or whatever makes you worry, maybe we can solve it.”
There’s a kind of sadness about her that I think I noticed the first time we met. Something about her makes me want to protect her from the world and whatever could possibly bring her harm. I want her hidden away from everything, kept for myself and Troy.
I’m stubborn enough to think that it would be a good idea, too.
“I know about you guys,” she says finally, focusing her eyes on her fingers in her lap, idly twisting her wrists. “I know that this is what you do.”
“What exactly?” I ask, urging her on as we share a quick look with Troy.
I think I know where this is going. And I wish I’d have something to tell her that could set her mind at ease immediately, but it isn’t that easy.
“You two are playboys, for lack of a better word,” she says, looking to me first and then to Troy. “You’re all over the tabloids all the time. Always with a new woman, always together. I don’t want to be that for someone, just someone to be used and then tossed away.”
Her voice breaks as she says that and a massive jolt of protectiveness runs through me. I can’t put my finger on it but I’m immediately certain that someone’s hurt her somehow. I pull her into me and Troy shifts closer, enclosing her in a shielding cocoon even though there’s no one but us in the garden.
“Lily, listen,” I say, putting a finger under her chin and making her look at me. “I wish I could say that the things you’ve read or seen are a lie, but they’re not. That’s what we’ve been, me and Troy. But that’s not what we want from you, why we’re so interested in you.”
As I speak the words, I know I’m telling her the truth. I think it surprises me as much as it does her.
Troy picks up where I left off.
“Yes, we’ve slept around. Yes, we’re notorious for it. But it’s not like that with you. I don’t know what it is about you, but you make us crazy. All of us. Not just me and Callum, but Austin as well. You’re smart, sophisticated, so pure and good… and yet I can tell that you’re dirty inside, the best kind of dirty.
“I’ve never felt so compelled to know more about a woman than I am with you and it’s far from being just physical.”
I nod as Lily looks at me, confirming Troy’s words. When did he get so damn eloquent? Apparently the right woman really can make a man do anything, including… grow as a human being. Imagine that.
“We don’t want to push you into anything you don’t want to do, Lily. That’s what we’ve talked about with Austin as well. We want to give you time to get to know us, to see if you’re as interested in us as we are in you… and I think you are. We can move at your pace, whatever that might be,” I tell her, squeezing her shoulder gently.
A little frown crosses over her brow as she processes that information. I want to reach out so bad and smooth the worry from her features, but I don’t want to drive her away again. Both Troy and I are hanging off our seats, waiting for her answer, even though we’re trying to pretend like we’re totally calm and collected.
“Whatever you want, you can have. If it’s nothing, well… we won’t be happy about it, but we’ll respect your decision. You’re safe with us, Lily,” Troy says softly.
That seems to strike a chord with her. She looks up sharply and now I have no doubt that someone’s done something to her before. Rage fills me out of nowhere and I have to bottle it down. I have to restrain myself from asking what happened to her, and who do I have to fucking kill to make her feel better.
“How about a kiss?” she asks, and all my anger disappears as quickly as it appeared.
Sixteen
Lily
I can’t believe I’m asking for it, but I am.
I want to kiss them.
I’m going to kiss them.
And I’ve never been so scared about something my whole life.
Callum grins at me, that smile warping into something predatory slowly, like Austin’s did. But I can see the surprise in his eyes and I know he isn’t as control of the situation as he’s used to being. That’s so exciting!
Knowing that I can throw these impossible men for a loop, surprise them… It makes me feel like I have some power in this as well, even if I’m incredibly eager to relinquish most of it to them.
“What the lady wants, the lady will have,” Callum says.
He puts one hand behind my neck and pulls me closer to him. Unlike Austin, he doesn’t waste any time, he doesn’t let me start. He goes for what he wants immediately.
Our lips touch and he tastes bitter, in a good way. Like dark chocolate. Our tongues intertwine and I inhale sharply through my nose, shocked that this is actually happening. I’m kissing Callum while T
roy runs his hands gently along my legs, reminding me that I’m here with the both of them… with twins who want me. Me!
I could just about explode.
Callum’s tongue dances into my mouth and I suck on it eagerly as he kisses me harder, maybe even too hard. But I like it.
It’s not long until Troy wants his own and I reluctantly pull away from Callum, my lips a little puffy from kissing him so hard. I know my eyes are clouded over but so are his and I can’t help but smile at that.
Troy snatches me up from the bench and plants me on his lap, having me straddle him. I gasp, feeling the hardness of his cock through the loose pants he is wearing. It’s massive and I can’t help but buck against it once or twice, just to try out how big he is… Oh my god.
When he kisses me, he’s a lot gentler than Austin or Callum were. I can’t even believe that I’ve kissed one of them, let alone three, and yet I have! I’ve never felt this turned on or this naughty in my life and I just want more.
This time it’s me who gets rougher. I nip at Troy’s lower lip and he growls at that, obviously enjoying what I’m doing. My hands go into his blond hair and I run my nails down his neck. He tastes so good and he feels even better. I only got to feel his mouth on my tits the last time, but now I am sure that I want more of him. And more of Callum.
My head’s spinning and I’m grinding against Troy again. When I feel Callum’s hands around my waist I snap out of it, pulling back from the kiss.
Shit. It was supposed to be just a kiss.
Instead, I’ve practically been dryhumping one of the twins and my panties are soaked through completely. If I don’t get myself out of here really fast, I’m just going to end up letting them do whatever they want to me again in a place where anyone could walk in on us.
A little voice in my head asks me if that would really be that bad of an idea. I don’t stick around long enough to allow myself to start arguing the sides.