by Sam Crescent
“I’ve told you, guys are only after one thing—”
“Don’t, Lewis, don’t go into the guy thing.”
Kurtis took the phone from her hand, and started talking. “It’s an all-expenses-paid trip. She’ll be fine, and I’ll take care of her.”
She was so embarrassed.
“Kurtis Spencer.”
Tillie gritted her teeth as she listened to the one sided conversation. Why did this have to happen? She should have just said no, and been done with it. Instead, she’d wanted to go, and now she was listening to Kurtis talk to her brother.
“I’m paying.”
Seconds passed.
“No, just us. She won’t be put in harm’s way.”
Another couple of seconds passed. “Sure, we’ll be there tomorrow.”
He closed the cell phone, and handed it back to her.
“What? What’s going on?” she asked.
“Before we head to the beach, we’ve got to spend the night with your brothers at your place.”
“No, no, no, no, no, please, just go without me. I’m more than happy to stay at home with my brothers. They all live in the one house. The same house that we grew up in.”
“Do you want to come, I mean, really?”
“Yes.”
“Then we’ll deal with your brothers, and then go. Now, what’s their names?”
Letting out a breath, she told him their names. “Lewis, Craig, Brian, Mitchell, Tristan, and Jack.”
“We’re going to meet them, and then you’re coming with us to have some fun.”
She didn’t find it funny. There was no humor for her.
They were going to eat Kurtis alive, and she wasn’t even dating him. Her humiliation was complete.
Chapter Four
Kurtis had spent the whole of the drive toward Tillie’s home listening to his friends talk, and talk, and talk. The girls were following in Collette’s car, and when he pulled onto a dirt road, heading toward her home, he was surprised by how big the house was. It was a huge old style ranch house, and the grounds had to be situated on a couple of acres of land.
“Fuck me,” Steve said.
He turned to find all six men waiting on the porch, their arms folded, and he was sure he saw a couple of guns lying around. They glared at his car, and when they saw the car behind, their scowls turned into grins.
Tillie climbed out of the backseat of the car, wearing a pair of shorts and a crop top showing off her body. He wasn’t used to her wearing such revealing clothing. Most of the time, she wore baggy shirts and long jeans. Now he was seeing her in different clothes that showed off more of her body, though in the last three years he’d not seen her wear any skirts or dresses.
“Buttercup,” the men said. They walked down the porch steps and pulled her into a hug. Next, Cynthia and Collette each got a hug. While the good mood was going on, and the guns were nowhere in sight, they climbed out.
“Have you met them before?” Kurtis asked.
“No, this is a first for us as well,” Danny said.
Rounding his car, he watched the family reunion continue, and Tillie just grew redder. No wonder she was still a virgin. The men she called brothers could be fucking wrestling champions.
“Introduce us to the dickless wonders,” one brother said.
“Brian, enough,” Tillie said.
They all turned toward them, and Kurtis stared right back. The brother in the back, who seemed to be the tallest of them all, caught his attention. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was Lewis, the one in charge, the leader.
“This is Danny and Steve. They’re the ones dating Collette and Cynthia,” Tillie said.
“So keep your hands off,” Cynthia said, speaking up.
“That there is Kurtis. He’s the one that is, erm, taking us to the beach house.”
“Girls, go and put your stuff in the house.”
“What about the guys?” Collette asked.
“This is my house,” Lewis said, speaking up. “They don’t get to stay in the house at the same time.”
“Nothing will happen,” Cynthia said.
“I was a guy his age. Don’t try to piss me off. I’m not having any of you girls ending up pregnant while under my roof. My house, my rules. Deal with it, or I call your momma.”
“Lewis,” Tillie said.
There was no point in her arguing. Lewis shot them a look, and all three girls grabbed their bags, and headed into the house, leaving the guys alone with six brothers. Fuck, Kurtis knew he’d be able to put up a good fight, but three against six was not exactly going to be in their favor.
They faced off with the brothers, and all semblance of caring was gone.
“Cynthia and Collette are not my responsibility, nor are they my brothers’. You’re both twenty-one, right?” Lewis asked.
“Yes, sir.”
Kurtis had to give Danny and Steve props. They didn’t stutter, and they didn’t back down.
“You treat them right, and we won’t have a problem. They may not be our responsibility, but they’ve been attached to Tillie for as long as we can remember. They’re sisters to us, and you’ll take care of them. Otherwise you answer to us,” he said.
“I’m not going to hurt Cynthia. She’s my girl, and I love her, completely,” Danny said.
Steve said the same thing about Collette.
“Good. Now, you, what’s going on with this beach house shit?” Lewis asked.
“We’re going to the beach to celebrate the summer. Nothing is going on. We’re going to have some fun for our last year together.”
“That’s all that is happening?”
“Yes.”
Silence fell on the group, and Kurtis kept staring at Lewis. He wasn’t afraid of the brothers that faced him, but he did understand why any guy in high school would give her a wide berth.
They were a deadly force, protecting their sister.
“Okay. I expect Tillie to call me every day. We pay our own way, and you need money from me. Follow me,” Lewis said.
“I don’t need money,” Kurtis said.
This was his idea, and he didn’t want Tillie to be out of money. He had a lot of it. His grandparents had set him up a trust fund when he was born, and he was a millionaire in his own right.
They entered an office, and Lewis closed the door.
“I’ve never heard your name before, not from Tillie.”
“We’re friends,” Kurtis said, fisting his hands at his sides.
“Do you want it to be more?”
Kurtis didn’t say anything, and stared at the brother.
“Fine, you hurt her, in any way, and I will hurt you.”
“She’s old enough to make her own choices,” Kurtis said.
“I don’t give a fuck. I mean it. Tillie was our responsibility from a baby. I’ve done everything I can to take care of her. I was sixteen when she was born, and I consider her care and safety my top priority. She didn’t get a chance to know our parents. We’re all the family she’s known.”
“Tillie’s not alone. She’s got friends as well. None of us would ever hurt her.”
“Good, I don’t want her to be hurt, and I will do everything in my power to make sure she’s not.”
Kurtis reached out to shake his hand. “I care about Tillie. It’s not my intention to hurt her.”
“Good.” Lewis shook his hand, gripping it hard. “I’ve got a lot of guns, and I’m not afraid to use them.”
****
Dinner was taken out in the garden, and Tillie looked out of the window to see her brothers talking with her friends. Cynthia and Collette were playing on the swing like they used to when they were growing up.
“It’s good to see you, buttercup,” Lewis said, moving to stand beside her.
“I come home for every holiday season.”
“I know. This summer, it’s going to be different. Kurtis, tell me about him.” He took a grape from the pile she’d pulled off the stem, and ate
it.
Rolling her eyes, she smiled over at him. “There’s nothing to say. We’re friends mainly because of our friends dating. We’re put together, nothing else.”
“You’ve got to open your eyes, Tillie.”
“Why?”
“Kurtis is wanting a lot more than that from you.”
She dropped the cup she was holding into the sink, smashing it. The way Kurtis had been around her had changed a lot in the last couple of weeks, and she didn’t understand it.
“Hey, is he making you uncomfortable?”
“No, it’s not like that. I just don’t think I’m ready to date.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to do this, but it’s time for you to live a little, and have some fun. The guys and I were talking a couple of weeks back, reminiscing to be honest. If our parents had done to us what we did to you, we’d have been mortified. We stopped you from dating, scared all the guys away.”
Tillie chuckled. “You did. If it wasn’t for Cynthia and Collette, I wouldn’t have been able to go to school. It was so damn horrible.”
“Have you been with guys?”
“Damn, Lewis, I don’t want to talk about this.”
“I’m the only damn father figure you’ve got. Now, I talked to you about sex and all that crap growing up. This is serious. You’re older now.”
“I’m twenty-one, I know about sex, and protection. I don’t need you to give me the warning speech. This is embarrassing.”
“Reading about it and doing it are two different things.”
“I’m still a virgin, Lewis. Please, stop talking.”
She pressed a hand to her face, wondering if they were as bright red as she imagined. This had to the world’s worst conversation ever.
“I figured you were. Don’t rush it, Tillie.”
“I think I’ve proven to you that I’m not going to be rushing anything. I’m twenty-one and a virgin. I’m good. It’s not going to change.”
She picked out the broken cup, cleaning the sink. On her way out to the yard she picked up the grapes.
“Your first time needs to be special, and even if you don’t see it, there’s something going on between you and Kurtis. You may not even see it, but we do. Even your friends do. You gravitate toward each other without realizing it.”
Tillie turned to look at her brother.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Be ready for falling in love, buttercup. I’ll be here to catch you, always.”
“I’m not going to fall in love.”
He smiled. “This summer is going to be one hell of a summer for you.” He kissed her temple, and walked away.
Frowning, she watched him go into the garden, heading toward the barbeque where Craig was flipping burgers.
What the hell did that mean?
Kurtis was the first guy to stand up to her brothers, or at least face them, and come out breathing properly.
Running fingers through her hair, she made her way out toward the garden. She made every effort to stay away from Kurtis. It was nice to be with her brothers, enjoying some good food and some good memories.
They had all relaxed a little with a couple of beers when the stories started.
“Do you remember the time that the three girls got stranded at the lake near Old Kilmy’s place?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, some douchebag had stolen their clothing and they’d gone swimming. They weren’t nude, but they’d brought all of their school to mock them, laughing as they stayed in the water for a good hour,” Craig said, laughing his ass off. “I was at the fucking bank, standing in a damn queue when I heard it.”
Tillie, Cynthia, and Collette groaned, remembering the memory.
They had decided to go to the lake that Old Kilmy owned. He didn’t mind kids taking a swim providing they didn’t litter or cause any problems to his fish. Tillie figured the old man was a little cuckoo as there were no fish in the lake. Anyway, they’d stripped down to their underwear as it was a hot day, too damn hot, and even Tillie hadn’t minded being semi-nude.
One of the jocks at the school stole their clothes, and they’d been stranded in the lake. It would have been easy for them to climb out, only they would have had to walk home in their underwear. Tillie couldn’t do it. To make matters worse, half the school had descended on them, and the tormenting began.
“What happened?” Kurtis asked.
“I rounded up the guys. We were all fucking busy, it was too hot, but no one messed with our sister and her friends,” Tristan said.
“We got to the lake, and I’d brought some clothes for the girls,” Lewis said.
“However, we made the girls stand and watch as we got the guys who’d bullied them to hand over all of their clothes. Then we tossed the guys into the lake, and took their clothes with us. I handed them to the sheriff, and they made sure the boys had to do the walk of shame through town. No one messes with girls like that, not even as a joke.”
Tillie shook her head.
“It wasn’t funny. No guys asked us to prom.”
“You were never stuck in a lake pretty much naked either, Collette,” Lewis said.
“That’s true.”
The sun had long since set in the sky. After clearing up the dishes, Tillie waited her turn to have a shower, and went back outside to look up at the moon. They only had two showers in the house, and with all of them, Tillie wasn’t prepared to fight for it. She lay down on the grass, and stared up at the sky. When she was younger, she’d spend hours looking up at the sky wondering if her parents were watching her.
“Hey there,” Kurtis said, sitting down, then lying next to her.
“Hey.”
“You’ve got a good family here.”
“I know. My brothers can be nightmares, but they make me belong.” She stared up at the moon, watching the stars twinkle.
“Do you do this often?”
She chuckled. “Growing up I’d spend hours watching the sky.” Tillie surprised herself by telling him why.
“It must have sucked not having your parents around.”
“My brothers are awesome. I’d have loved to know my mother and father, but I can’t remember them. They were very protective. It must be hard being a lonely child,” she said. “You don’t have any brothers or sisters.”
“I know. Mom wanted more kids, but years of dieting to fit into the model lifestyle made it hard for her. She was lucky to get me. It’s why she’s never gone back to modeling. She doesn’t agree with it, and believes that more girls need to be made aware of the damage they’re doing to their bodies by starving themselves.”
He took her hand, and when she was about to pull away, he tightened his hold on her.
“How did your mom and dad meet?” she asked.
“At a charity event. It was some kind of big deal with celebrities. My father was there for the firm, offering a donation. It was good for business to get his name out there. He only deals in wealthy clients. He’s the best, so he can charge the best rates.”
“Must be nice,” she said.
“Anyway, they met, and it was love, my mom tells me. She was hating her life with modeling, and my father didn’t like her fighting the life to get noticed. After a year of dating, and defying the odds of her being a gold-digger, they got married, with a pre-nup, insisted on by my mother. They’ve been together twenty-two years.”
“It sounds romantic.”
“It was. They’ve had good and bad days like all marriages. They love each other, so they fight to stay together.” His thumb had started to stroke the inside of her wrist.
“So, if your parents have the perfect marriage, why do you screw everything in sight?” she asked.
He released a sigh. “Do you really want to know?”
“Yeah.”
“I liked sex from an early age. I lost my virginity at thirteen to a girl that was older than me. I loved it, and from then, I found that I preferred not to tell lies to get what I want. There were more th
an enough girls to give me what I wanted. I never forced anyone, and I never took anyone that was younger than me.”
“Have you been with a virgin?” she asked.
“No. Out of all of the girls I’ve been with, I’ve never been with a virgin. Never wanted to.”
She nodded, and turned her attention back to the sky. “Thank you for bringing me here today. I missed my brothers. I just didn’t realize how much I’d missed them.”
“I get that.”
In that moment, she really believed he did.
Chapter Five
They finally made it to the beach house, and Kurtis was just happy to have made it out of Tillie’s family home alive. Her brothers were seriously deadly. He had to admire them for taking care of her. It must have been hard growing up without parents.
“This is it,” he said, opening the door to paradise as far as he was concerned.
“Oh my God,” Cynthia said, rushing past him. “This place fucking rocks.”
Everyone apart from him and Tillie rushed into the room. Tillie stayed back, holding her bag, and looking around.
“You’ve got a beautiful place,” she said.
“This is mine. My folks bought it for me when I was eighteen.”
“They bought you a beach house?”
“Well, they gave this to me.”
“They gave it to you?”
Her eyes were wide as if she didn’t believe him.
“Yeah.”
“Wow, that has to be amazing.” She looked around the open space, but Kurtis was far more interested in watching her. She was beautiful, and even though she was still wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, he still found her sexy. In fact, he found her far sexier than the girls who wore pretty much nothing. Tillie kept herself covered and away from the limelight. “Why do you even go to college?”
“I still want to learn something and do something with my life.”
“I think this is amazing. Your parents must really trust you.”
Kurtis chuckled. “I’m a guy, and I do a lot of guy things.”
“Did you ever have parties they hadn’t agreed to?” she asked.
“Of course. It was a given, I’m a guy. Dad was far more lenient than Mom though. She didn’t like it, and if she ever thought for a second drugs were involved she’d have called the cops.”