The Boys Next Door: An MFM Menage Romance

by Miranda Silver

  “So tell me about those orgies,” he murmured.

  Before she could answer, Diana’s gaze landed on a pack of guys, sitting across the aisle and up a row. Surprise jolted her body. Her skin prickled. Quickly, she broke the kiss and pulled back.

  “Everything okay?” Alex whispered.

  “Fine,” she whispered back. Not fine. Her pulse had skyrocketed. She tried to breathe. Two familiar muscled males, lounging in those seats, here to watch things exploding with all their friends. She should have taken Alex to see a nice drama with subtitles at the independent theatre downtown, where she could count on neither O’Brian twin ever walking in the door. “I just saw some people I know.”

  “You’re afraid they’ll see us?” Alex smiled teasingly. One hand brushed back her dark hair.

  “No, no, it’s fine.”

  She’d spent enough time with the twins to read their body language, and she didn’t have to be up close to know that the twin leaning back in his seat, relaxed and wearing a baseball cap, was Brendan, and the twin slouched by the aisle, staring at them, was Ian.

  Her throat dry, she stared back. Why did he have to watch? He probably got off on it. He probably hoped the entire theatre would break out into one giant orgy. And dammit, his unsmiling stare made her feel slutty in a way she never had before.

  Trying to remember Ian as the kid who’d run around the O’Brians’ house in Spiderman pajamas shooting his fingers at her like guns, instead of the too-handsome guy who’d ripped her insides out and stomped on them, she gave him her stoniest glare.

  Unbelievably, Ian’s lips twitched. She hurriedly turned back to Alex, but her own mouth was dangerously close to a smile. When Alex’s lips slid down her neck, Diana’s eyes went back to the twin across the aisle.

  There was a certain face Ian had made when they were kids and he’d wanted to get a rise out of her: eyes crossed so far they practically disappeared, nostrils flaring, tongue sticking all the way out and waggling obscenely. It never failed. He was making that face now.

  Diana’s sudden explosion of laughter turned every head in the two rows in front of her. Alex pulled away, staring at her too. God. He’d been kissing her so nicely, and she’d just snorted in his face.

  “Sorry. Sorry,” she whispered, her face crimson.

  “What’s so funny?” Alex blinked at her like she’d grown three heads.

  “Not you,” she said quickly. “The movie. Bad timing. Sorry.”

  “You think things getting blown up are funny?”

  Right. A statue had just detonated on the screen, debris flying everywhere.

  “I have a quirky sense of humor.” Gulping, she tried to get a hold of herself. How dare Ian try to ruin her date? For the rest of the movie, she refused to look across the aisle. She could barely focus on the screen or on Alex. When he tried to take her glasses off and kiss her again, she whispered excuses. And wondering if Ian was watching, or not watching, with Brendan there too —

  As soon as the movie was over, she practically dragged Alex out of the theatre. No, she didn’t need to stay for the credits. But once they made it to the bright lights of the lobby, Alex said he'd be back in a minute and disappeared toward the restrooms.

  Diana buried her face in the fountain for a long drink. She needed to think straight. Keep her cool. When she stood, wiping the dripping water from her chin, a twin leaned against the wall next to her. Hands in his pockets, eyes on her face.

  Up close, Ian didn’t seem to have gotten a full night’s sleep in awhile. Still gorgeous, still athletic, but deep circles shadowed his eyes. He looked paler, and his dark freckle stood out against his skin. She steeled herself not to care. More than likely, he was out partying ’til all hours, boozing and smoking up and getting women to spread their legs for him.

  Behind him, she saw Brendan, standing by the popcorn counter with the twins’ friends, glancing casually at the two of them. When she met his eyes, he gave her a little half-wave. Probably expected the three of them to get all cozy again. She responded with a curt nod and turned back to Ian.

  “Don’t even think about ruining my date.”

  Ian ran a hand through his wavy brown hair, making it messier. Diana wished he hadn’t. It just made her want to grab his hair too, and pull, guiding his head down to— She shook her own head impatiently, and Ian shoved his hands in his pockets again.

  “Having fun?” he asked.

  “None of your business.”

  “Seems like a nice guy.” Ian shrugged. “Put him on a leash and you'll have a cute pet.”

  “I didn't ask you.”

  “Come on, Diana.” A hint of dimple showed. “We both know you could eat him for breakfast.”

  “I’ll stick with Rice Krispies, thanks.” Dammit, she was not going to let Ian make her laugh again. “And I bet you don’t know when breakfast is anymore, ‘cause you’re not sleeping. You look like hell.”

  “Yeah. Someone keeps playing moody electronica next door.”

  Diana couldn’t hold back a smile now. “Well, your splashing is keeping me awake.”

  “Well,” he mimicked, “you should wear sunscreen when you lie out. All your skin’s gonna peel off.”

  Unbelievable. Ian was actually pulling a shred of skin off her bare shoulder. The brush of his thumb on her flushed skin sent a hot current of need through her body. Her nipples hardened, pressing against her sundress, and her pussy ached with sudden desire.

  “What’s the worst that can happen? My insides will fall out?” She slapped his hand away.

  “Diana, look—“ He fixed his eyes on hers. Oh God. That pleading gaze was going to melt her into a puddle, and it was probably all an act anyway — she’d seen the way he’d puppy-dogged her mom into believing they’d spent a completely platonic night together in her bed.

  “I am looking,” she said in a low voice. And she didn’t want to stop. Her hand was two seconds away from stroking the freckle under his eye.

  “Hey there,” said a voice behind her. She turned, so relieved Alex had shown up that she pecked his cheek.

  “Hey,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  But Alex wasn’t moving. “Are you…yeah, you’re one of the O’Brian twins,” he was saying to Ian, sounding…happy. Excited.

  “Yep. Ian.” And Ian was actually holding out his hand, giving Alex a firm handshake like he was a person with manners. “And you are?”

  “Sorry,” Diana said grudgingly. “I should have introduced you guys.” Clearly she was still a nice girl, too polite for her own good. “This is Alex Noriega. We just graduated together.”

  “Hey, you were responsible for that prank with the principal’s car and the pink spray paint, right? And the shrink wrap? People are still talking about it two years later. That was gold, man,” Alex gushed.

  Diana wanted to kick him. So much for Alex saving the day. Ian nodded modestly, then launched into a drawling story about covering some door on the UConn campus with marshmallows. That story turned into another story. Alex hung on to every word, while Diana could only seethe.

  Ian was doing it. Ruining her date — slowly, surely, and completely. Couldn’t he leave her alone? Did he consider every girl he’d fucked his property, so he couldn’t let her go have a good time with Alex in Mrs. Noriega’s minivan?

  And as Ian kept talking like he planned to be there all night, piling on details Diana never would have believed if she didn’t know he was capable of it all, was she really looking pleadingly over her shoulder at Brendan, who was watching the whole conversation with a look of amused interest? When she caught his eye, he just gave her an exaggerated shrug and mouthed something that looked an awful lot like “not my job”. Then he fucking winked.

  “You know what?” Diana shouldered her purse. “I’m just going to leave the two of you alone together and go get ice cream.”

  Ian raised an eyebrow at her — she wanted to tell him to put it back down again — but Alex looked abashed.

  “I’m kidding.
” She put her hand on Alex’s arm. A little part of her watched the whole scene in shock. She was putting her hand on a guy’s arm like it was nothing, when three weeks ago she wouldn’t have been able to really look him in the eye. She supposed she had the twins to thank.

  “So how do you guys know each other?” Alex finally asked.

  “The O’Brians live next door to me,” Diana said shortly. “Ian’s like my annoying older brother. Brendan, too. See you around,” she said to Ian, firmly steering Alex towards the door.

  But as they left the theatre, she looked over her shoulder. Brendan stood with an arm around his brother. While their friends laughed and talked, both twins watched her go.

  *

  She had to blame that look back. There was no make-out session with Alex in his mom’s minivan. Her glasses never came off. Instead, driving away from the movies, there was a passionate debate about some band she didn’t even like. Once Alex made a comment she mildly disagreed with, she began arguing harder and harder, just for the hell of it.

  So much for being afraid she’d run out of things to say on a date. It wasn’t until she came up for air at a stoplight that she noticed Alex looked a little scared of her, even though he was still sneaking peeks at her breasts. A guy? Scared of her?

  The date ended with an awkward elbowy hug in front of her house — or so she thought, until Alex’s rambling postmortem via text showed up half an hour later, right before she dropped the needle on her record and climbed into her sleeping bag. Maybe Ian had been right about the leash. And that was the absolute last time she was going to think about him tonight.

  As Diana’s eyelids drifted closed, the shine of the stars and the flash of fireflies kept her company. It was nice outside. Peaceful. The one thing she could count on to make sense. She could see herself spending every night out here until she left for Yale.

  Deep into the night, she rolled over and stirred awake, sleepily taking in the whispering trees and the damp grass against her hand. The needle scratched the record. The air had cooled down from the humid heat of the day.

  Something lay in her field of vision, a lumpy pile on the grass that hadn’t been there when she’d fallen asleep.

  Curious, she crawled out of her sleeping bag, dew on the grass getting her legs wet, and knelt in front of the pile, shivering a little in the night air.

  Fleece met her hands. A blanket. A Huskies blanket. She recognized it from the O’Brians’ den. Maybe it had cushioned her back when she’d lost her virginity to Ian in the treehouse. And taken Brendan right after that…

  Next to the blanket was a thermos. Probably spiked, she thought wryly, but she unscrewed the lid. Steam rose to meet her. Little marshmallows bobbed on top. The smell brought back every cup of Swiss Miss she’d ever drunk.

  A piece of paper lay on the blanket. She unfolded it. Three words: Can we talk? The messy, spiky handwriting didn’t leave any doubt who’d written it.

  Who the hell was we? Her and Ian? Brendan too? Could she honestly sit down and talk with either of them without wanting to jump them? Or yell at them, or both?

  She pressed the blanket against her cheek, running her hand over the fuzzy fleece, and sniffed the hot chocolate again, closing her eyes at the warm scent. There was no way this could work. Brendan had told her to trust them, but right now, she didn’t trust herself.

  Chapter Eight

  Saturday afternoon, Diana sprawled on her bed, reading in her underwear. She’d fallen asleep wrapped in the blanket the night before, still smelling hot chocolate. But when the sun rose, she’d folded the blanket neatly, set the thermos and note on top of it, and tiptoed inside her sleeping house.

  She couldn’t bring herself to go out today or see her friends. Can we talk? tugged at the inside of her head. She saw the twins’ hazel eyes on her as she left the movie theatre, felt their solid bodies surrounding her in the club, in her bed, in the treehouse, heard their whispers urging her to do everything she’d always wanted to do. She smelled smoke and beer and the twins’ male sweat, tasted Ian’s hot mouth as his lips closed over hers in front of everybody.

  Voices and laughter floated through her open window from the party next door. Mr. and Mrs. O’Brian were gone for the weekend again — Diana had to wonder what they thought the twins did when their parents were out of town — and her own parents were off at a lecture somewhere.

  After an especially loud shriek, Diana couldn’t help it. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, rolled off her bed, and went to the window.

  A twin lay in a chair on the O’Brians’ patio, beer bottle dangling from one hand, staring out at the pool.

  Girls came up to him, and he ignored them.

  From this distance, Diana could tell who it was. She didn’t need chin clefts or freckles as guides anymore.

  And suddenly, she knew what to do. Throwing down her book, she unhooked her black bra, wriggled out of her damp panties, and let them all drop to the floor. She took just a second to turn a full circle in front of her mirror, eyeing the new tan lines on her body that outlined the full pale globes of her breasts and pointed to the velvety patch between her legs. The sunburn was calming down, but her skin still prickled, making her very aware of every touch — the lace on her bra, the breeze from the window, her dark hair tickling her shoulders.

  One quick tug and her underwear drawer was open. On went her yellow swimsuit. She tied the red bows tightly on the sides, adjusted her deep cleavage in the top, smoothed her bangs, and slipped on a sundress.

  Three weeks ago, she’d quaked at going over to the O’Brians’ and walking in on their party. Three weeks ago, she’d been afraid.

  She didn’t need to toss back a shot of vodka for courage now. She didn’t need to pace and argue with herself while school and shyness and lust pulled her in all directions. A text to her parents that she was heading to the O’Brians’, a scramble onto her desk and up to the window frame, a deep breath, and she was in the tree outside her window.

  The smell of cut grass filled her nose. Wind set the branches swaying, the bark rough against her palms and bare feet. And God, saying she wasn’t afraid right now would be a lie, but if the tree could hold two muscular guys, it could hold her. She half-climbed, half-slid down the thick trunk, scraping her legs, breathless and laughing when her feet hit the ground.

  Her pulse pounded as she ran over her lawn, wet from the sprinklers. Years ago, she and the twins had lined up rocks on the grass to show the exact boundary between their houses. The rocks were gone now, but she’d crossed the line a long time ago, and she had no plans to turn back.

  Walking right through the O’Brians’ unlocked front door, she stopped short, her heart beating faster, when she saw a half-naked twin in the kitchen getting ice.

  He looked up, startled. Then a pleased smile broke across his face.

  “Hey, Di,” he said softly. “I won’t bite.”

  Brendan. “No, that’s not your style,” she managed.

  He laughed — a genuine laugh. Diana started laughing too. Before she could think twice, she crossed the kitchen and impulsively grabbed him in a tight hug. Brendan’s arms wrapped firmly around her, pulling her close. She could tell herself his hug felt brotherly. Almost.

  “We missed you, Di.”

  “We?” She repeated.

  He shook his head above her. “I promised I’d stop talking for Ian. I missed you. But I know he did too.”

  “You guys are talking again,” she murmured into his shoulder. “To each other. I heard you weren’t.”

  “Yeah,” Brendan said quietly. He squeezed her waist. “Mad at me?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Good, Di. I’m really glad.” She could feel the relief in the muscular body close to hers.

  “Missed you too,” she whispered. She let her cheek rest against his chest, her skin stirring when Brendan’s hand brushed her hair off her neck and forehead. “Look, Brendan —“

  The kitchen was starting to feel much warmer, and s
he had to stay strong in her resolve for which twin she was here to see.

  “Ian’s out back.” His thumb was rubbing her shoulder blade idly now. Maybe he really didn’t notice that kind of thing. Maybe she could get used to it. “I think he’ll be really glad to see you.” And before she was ready to brave the backyard, he’d put a drink in her hand and walked her outside.

  The O’Brians’ backyard spilled over with people in swimsuits: yelling, laughing, scarfing chips, guzzling beer, playing ping-pong. Music vibrated the air. Diana walked right through the crowd. Nervousness pricked her skin, but it didn’t stop her from looking around, smiling, even saying hi to the people she passed.

  Those sleek tanned bodies frolicking around the pool belonged to people, just people like her. If she’d learned anything from putting her head between the legs of the kind of girl who’d always scared her, it had been that.

  “Hey, you gave that speech at graduation, right?” one girl called out. “My little brother’s in your class…we all really liked it…”

  Calling back a thanks, amazed that she wasn’t blushing, Diana stopped short at the edge of the pool.

  A lone figure cut through the water, sending up furious splashes on either side as he zoomed from one end to the other. One glimpse of his back, wet and slick, and she shimmied out of her sundress, not caring who saw her curves on display or where that low whistle came from. Her glasses went on top of her clothes.

  She jumped into the pool, not with a sleek dive, but a kid’s belly flop. If the music hadn’t been loud already, she would have cranked it up. Swimming as fast as she could toward the twin in the water, she took a deep breath and grabbed his ankle, hard.

  Ian twisted to glare over his shoulder.

  “What the fuck—“

  He broke off.

  “You’re in my lane,” Diana said in a low voice.

  Hazel eyes widened. Ian turned to face her, water dripping off his cheeks and clinging to his eyelashes and broad shoulders. She’d never seen him quiet like this before. “Really glad to see you” was not the dominant expression on his face. It was more like, “What the hell are you doing here?”