“In me. Now.”
I did as she asked, holding her hips, planting my feet on the bed and hitching my hips up as she lowered herself.
We started slow, much like she had with Carl, taking the time to really enjoy it, not just rushing to the finish. Then she leaned down, melding our lips, keeping up the slow rhythm. It wasn’t just fucking, basically what we’d been doing before. Fucking was simple, but I could tell the difference between that and making love.
Our mouths were locked in a languid, wet kiss, my hand around her back, holding her to me as we both came at what felt like over an hour later. She slid off me, slipping to the side so she wasn’t leaning on my injured arm, her head on my shoulder.
We should have moved to get cleaned up. Our two hours must have been up, but she didn’t seem to care. Her eyes weren’t closed, so I knew she hadn’t fallen asleep. I wrapped my arm around her, held her body close.
I met my brother’s eyes. We were both thinking the same thing, that we were saying goodbye. It was easy to tell he hated it just as much as I did.
Chapter Eighteen
Emma
I had passed my exams and my internship was over. I was now a qualified medical practitioner.
I kept repeating the words in my head, but they didn’t mean as much as they should have, not just then. Maybe four weeks ago, before I went home, before the argument with my mom and meeting the twins.
Before I heard about the wedding.
My mother was actually getting married. The twins I’d spent three different, mind-blowing nights with, were going to be my stepbrothers. It sounded like some nightmare I couldn’t seem to wake up from.
“You should be happy.”
I looked across my little table at Brandi. We were at my place again, having more of the ice cream she’d brought and left at my place the last time. I’d called her this time, and she’d come almost running when I told her the news and my tone didn’t match what I was saying.
“I…” but I couldn’t exactly say I was happy. I wasn’t unhappy, just… it felt like things were moving a little too fast.
“So, why aren’t you? You’ve been free for a few days now, right? You can’t still be stressing over your exams.”
No, I wasn’t. I had too much else to stress over.
“Brandi, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I said mournfully, taking a mouthful of ice cream. “The tests were fine, I don’t even remember what was in the papers, what my answers were. I can’t think about it, and I know I should be happy, but… I’m miserable.”
The word summed everything up nicely. Miserable. I thought I’d felt it before, but it had never been like this. I had to struggle to get up in the morning, I went through the day, dazed, and I couldn’t remember half of it by evening. And every time I tried to sleep, I kept thinking it was too cold, even when I buried myself under all my blankets. I was also turning into a bit of an insomniac. I wasn’t eating days, so I’d keep waking up in the middle of the night for a snack.
I couldn’t go on as I had been. It wasn’t healthy, and considering my job track, I would have other people’s lives in my hands. I couldn’t take care of patients when I couldn’t even look after myself. But I wasn’t even thinking about looking for a job just yet. I’d have to, eventually, before my funds dried up and I didn’t even have money for food and rent.
“Well, I’m happy for you. You’ve been working hard for this and you deserve it. And… you should think about maybe changing hospitals. I don’t think Central General is for you.”
Yeah. I’d made a few mistakes near the end of my internship. Nothing too bad that would ruin my reputation or put any lives at risk, but it probably meant I wouldn’t be happy there if I kept thinking about what I did in that hospital room with the twins. Now that I wouldn’t be doing it again.
I hadn’t told Brandi about it and I wasn’t going to, but she had known the twins ended up there after the accident. Either she guessed something had happened, or she’d noticed how unhappy and distracted I was the days we met when I got off work.
“I have the wedding to think about. It’s pretty much taking up all of my time, I was almost too distracted to go through my exams.”
Until I took to studying as a way to keep my mind busy. So, I wouldn’t think about them. I wasn’t sure if I would ace my exams, but I was pretty confident I wouldn’t fail.
But now that I had that, and the internship out of the way, they were all I could think about. I hadn’t seen the guys since they were discharged from the hospital, but they were expected to be at the wedding, and I was really looking forward to it. More than I probably should, considering.
Brandi could see that on my face.
“You should try to hook up with them.”
I stuffed ice cream in my mouth, giving her a baleful glare. I didn’t bother swallowing first when I spoke. “You keep saying that.”
She wrinkled her nose at me, but she didn’t drop the subject. “Because I’ve been watching you and I can tell how badly you want to, even though you refuse to admit it to yourself. Emma, you clearly like them, more than just a little I’ve never seen you so happy before, and that’s just when you’re talking about them. I don’t understand why you’re denying how you feel about the twins.”
“How I feel…”
I didn’t want to think about how I felt. It only depressed me further, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.
“You’ll only be related by marriage and it seems like the brothers miss you, too. They’ve been keeping in contact with you, right? And it’s pretty frequent.”
I glanced guiltily at my phone on the table beside my bowl of ice cream. They sent me texts, mostly, and they asked when it was a good time to call. I worked weird hours and they were so considerate about it. It also wasn’t helping me with the ‘need to forget’ part of the plan, but I didn’t want to cut them out of my life.
Yeah, I liked them, and it went far beyond the amazing sex. I liked being around them, we weren’t talking often but I practically lived for the little texts they send me every day. I wanted nothing more than to be with them. But that didn’t mean I could have it just because it was something I wanted. Life wasn’t so easy, or fair.
“I’ll think about it.”
She must have heard the reluctance in my voice, but she didn’t try to get me to commit to doing it. I would think on it, but we both knew that I might as well have said no.
Now all I had to do was get ready for the wedding. I still couldn’t believe it would be happening the day after tomorrow. I had put off going down to the last minute, but Mom insisted I had to be there the day before the wedding so I could fit my dress. I would be waking up early to make the drive there, and I was feeling excitement mixed with trepidation as I thought about going back to Libreville.
Chapter Nineteen
Carl
I was feeling a little grumpy, dressed in a suit and standing out in the sunlight because dad and his bride wanted a garden wedding. I tugged at my throat, wanting to pull off the ridiculous bow tie.
Abe knowing what I was thinking, reached for my hand and tugged it down. I growled at him, but he just gave me a look, and I sighed.
I shifted on my feet, winced a little as my leg ached. We’d been standing way too long, waiting for the damn wedding to start already. I didn’t particularly care about the proceedings, I just wanted it all over with. But I knew Emma would be coming, so, of course, I was going to wait like a good little boy.
Dad could have been considerate, though. I was the one that broke a leg, after all.
His response when I told him: “You got yourself into an accident, you little shit. I’m not going to go easy on you. You can stand all day, for all I care. Maybe it will teach you a lesson about being more careful when you drive.”
Abe, the bastard, just stood there. When I gave him a wounded look, he just shrugged.
“I’m with him on this one. I broke an arm because of you, remember?”
/> I’d grimaced and dropped it, guilt stopping me from complaining anymore, although I really wanted to.
I was lucky to be something of a fast healer, but four weeks was too soon; I had a brace on my leg, and it helped, but it still hurt. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, we’d been doing physical therapy since we left the hospital, though I had more days than my brother. I didn’t even complain because we both got our casts removed after two weeks. No bones had actually been broken, just fractured, and we would need to have frequent checkups for a few months to be sure healing was going on the way it should be, but other than that, we would recover enough to go back to racing, and just in time, too.
I’d been cleared to stand or I would have had to miss the wedding, spent the day at Dad’s place sleeping. But I knew the ache I felt then would only get worse the next day, and I’d have to walk through it instead of lying down.
I winced, this time more for what I knew I’d be feeling tomorrow instead of the ache steadily growing in my leg.
I felt a nudge against my side, and I turned to my twin, glaring until I saw the real concern in his eyes. “If your leg is really bothering you, just go sit your ass down. I doubt they’d stop the ceremony for just that.”
I shifted to the other foot, winced again, even though the weight was now off my hurt leg. “Thanks, but I’m fine. We’re just waiting for the bride, right? I can hold it till then.”
He didn’t look like he believed me, but he dropped it.
Just as well. I didn’t plan on going to sit down. We were right at the front, as far as we could get without getting too close to Dad. But I’d angled just right so I could see when the bridal party showed up. I didn’t particularly care to see Sharon Davis in a wedding dress, but Emma was coming as a bridesmaid.
Since we’d left the hospital, we’d kept in touch, but I hadn’t seen her. Four weeks was a long time. Too long. Knowing I would see her was the only reason I was still there. Dad had told us a month ago, the date when he’d been planning for it several months ago; I wouldn’t even feel guilty skipping. If he wanted to brag about it, he could have sent me the photos after.
After what felt like ages, the bride, and the bridesmaids, arrived, and the wedding finally started. I didn’t even bother looking at anyone else as they found a male partner from the groom’s party and started to march to the front. Emma was the last one, but I got to see her.
It was definitely worth the wait.
All the bridesmaids were wearing pink dresses, but I thought the designs were different—I didn’t really look at the others to see how different. Emma was wearing a halter dress, with straps holding it up the front and wrapping around her neck, showing her chest. It fell to her ankles but there was a slit at the side that ran up to just above her knee. When she turned around for a moment, I could see the dress dipping down to the small of her back. Her hair was held up with pins and flowers.
I had seen women dressed in clothes that flashed a lot more skin, that left nothing to the imagination. But seeing Emma dressed like that, sexy but elegant, made me want to get her alone and rip the dress right off her.
Even though we’d said the last night at the hospital would be the last night, I could not think of anything better than having sex with her one more time as a means of farewell. Because after this, we would all be going our separate ways.
I glanced discreetly around, folded my hands in front of my crotch so no one would see the growing bulge there. Then I looked at Abe, seeing him take a similar stance, eyes trained on Emma and swallowing. I smirked, even though he couldn’t see to appreciate it.
“Hey, Abe.” I nudged him in the side when he didn’t seem to hear me.
“What?” he muttered, distracted, but turning in my direction.
“We should go ask Emma to meet us. Even if it’s just one more time. What do you think?” I asked though I could guess what his answer would be.
His eyes cut back to Emma. I nudged him again.
“So?” I prompted. “Are you game?”
He scowled at me, and I thought that if dad hadn’t given express orders that we behaved like perfect little angels—heh, did he think we were still toddlers—or else, he would probably have hit me.
“Do you even need to ask?” his eyes slid back to where Emma was coming up the aisle in front of her mother, with whomever she’d been partnered with. It was a guy we both knew from high school, but he’d been older. Abe frowned, and then turned to me. “My answer is hell yes, and you should know that already. I feel the same way about her, too. But I don’t know if we could convince her.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, frowning at the procession. I knew they had to touch each other, but I didn’t miss the proprietary hand he placed on the small of her back, above the low cut of the dress, and I wanted to go over there and rip him off her. “I know she came here yesterday morning. I went to her mom’s place to look for her, but the bridesmaids wouldn’t let her come out.”
Abe turned his frown to me. “You went without me?”
“I would have dragged you along, but you were off with dad doing I don’t know what. Still, my point is, if she’d really wanted to come out and see me, she would have.”
“So, she’s avoiding us.”
“Yeah.”
But there was no way she could anymore. As she marched down the front, the bride coming up behind her, she saw us, and I could see her eyes go wide. Had she expected us to not be there? Or did she want to see us, just as much as we wanted to see her?
Then everybody was sitting down and the ceremony was starting.
I didn’t pay attention to most of it. I wanted to keep my eyes on Emma the whole time, but she sat in the aisle opposite ours, a couple of seats behind. So, I couldn’t exactly look at her without being obvious about it. I behaved like a good little boy the entire time, Dad would have been proud, but by the time the bride and groom said ‘I do’ and went to sign their certificate, I was more than ready to bolt out of my seat, drag my brother with me and go get Emma so we could all leave and go do something more exciting.
But finally, we were all standing again, screams and shouts celebrating the newly wedded couple. I looked around for Emma, but she was moving with the other bridesmaids, following in her mother’s wake, about half the guests already moving and blocking her from sight in seconds.
I cursed under my breath, feeling a little frustrated. Abe did hit me, cuffing me in the back of the head, but I didn’t think anyone else noticed.
“Calm down, all right? After this is the reception. Emma’s definitely going to be there so just wait a bit.”
I didn’t want to calm down. But I didn’t want to make a scene either. I stuck to my brother, and we mingled with the crowd, also part of Dad’s orders. I smiled the entire time and played the part of the charming twin. Some friends from high school were there for the wedding, pretty much the whole town had been invited, actually. Everyone even chipped in after Dad stopped keeping it a secret, though we did give him the money he’d asked us for.
We made our way to the reception with everyone else. It’s not like it was even far, just on the other side of the garden where the wedding had taken place, but I was looking around for Emma the entire time. Photos were being taken, and we got cornered to take some with Dad and his bride, but she wasn’t there, and we moved on.
Finally, after what felt like too long, I saw her. She was dancing with the guy she’d been matched with. They were one of a few couples moving in the space left around the arranged tables. We both saw her, but Abe was faster getting to her, moving away from me as I followed at a slower pace. He got to them while I was still a few feet away, so I didn’t get to hear what he said after cutting them off. Whatever it was, the other guy suddenly realized he had to be somewhere else.
I limped a little, trying not to make it obvious until I got to them. Luckily, we were at the edge, close to a tent, so none of the other dancers got closer, and no one approached us.
Emma looked
up at both of us, nervously licking her lips, looking like a woman cornered. I didn’t like it, that we had to resort to those sorts of tactics just to see her.
“Hey, Emma.”
“You look beautiful,” I told her sincerely, instead of all the words I wanted to say, that sounded vaguely like accusations in my head.
“Hey, guys,” she murmured, glancing around, before looking up at us again. “Um, so how have you guys been the past few weeks?”
“We’ve been fine.” It wasn’t a total lie.
“I see your casts were taken off.”
“It might have been a little too early for Carl,” Abe said, and I glared at him, the damn traitor. “He got a brace for the leg so the injury doesn’t get aggravated, but we met with a physical therapist and the prognosis is he should be fine unless he does something too strenuous too soon.”
“What about your jobs? Racing?”
“We do have something on the schedule, but we have time. Hopefully, we’ll be good enough to go by then. If not, we’ll have to cancel.”
I didn’t like it. We’d never had a cancellation, unless it was because of bad weather, in the seven years we’d been racing competitively. Our team was keeping the news of our injuries low until we absolutely had to make it public in the circuit. At least, we hadn’t gotten any calls from our sponsors about their concerns.
“Look, Emma,” I cut in over whatever she’d been about to say. “To be entirely honest, I wouldn’t be here even for my dad’s wedding, all I wanted was to see you.”
“I probably would have come anyway, but we’ve wanted to see you for a month, now. Since our last night at the hospital.”
She shushed us, taking another quick look around. “You guys shouldn’t be talking about that.”
“There’s no one close enough to us to hear. A lot of the people here are getting too hungry to be nosy, waiting for the food. They won’t care what we’re talking about.”
“But you don’t know that,” she shot back. “This town is all about the latest news and rumors. Remember the first night you guys approached me? I said we had to be discreet. Especially in this town.”
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