by Terry Towers
~*~ TT ~*~
Eric
I sensed something was wrong when I saw Andrea getting up and rushing to the bathroom, as if the devil himself were on her heels.
For the love of God, what now, I thought, but I knew the answer even before I sat down next to Sam at the small table in front of the stage.
“Okay, spill it. What did you say to her?”
“Nothing man, she just got up and went to pee.”
“No, she was upset and practically ran to the bathroom. What were you two talking about?” As I awaited an answer, my eyes couldn’t help but shift their focus from Sam to the stage and to the woman on it. The woman was certainly flexible. Her body was arched so that she was in the formation of a near-perfect O, her breasts, while not overly large, seemed to shoot out, her large nipples nice and tight. They were the type of nipples that begged to be played with and sucked on.
Under different circumstances, I’d have been all over that woman, but not today. And not this particular one, for a list of reasons—the main one being I was still twisted in knots over Andrea. I’d been playing it cool, avoiding even mentioning our little escapade together or anything even remotely related to it, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t invading my thoughts every second that my mind wasn’t occupied with something else.
This wasn’t something that could be pushed under the rug, but by god, my brother and I were trying.
Sam frowned. “Gee, I don’t know.” He was lying, I didn’t have to be his twin to catch the look of guilt on his face.
“What did you say, Sam?” The music ended, and we both looked back up to the stage. The girl exited as we thanked her, and the next girl took her place. Once she started dancing, I looked back at Sam. “Fucking fess up.”
He let out a low groan of a sigh. “I might have mentioned that day where she and I…”
Putting up my hand, I stopped him from saying any more—we’d made an agreement not to discuss exactly what each of us had done with her. At the time, it seemed like the best way to keep jealousy from coming between us. We’d always been competitive, and Andrea wasn’t something either of us wanted to make a competition out of.
“Why in the hell would you bring that up?”
“I didn’t mean to. You know how I’ve always joked with her.” He kept his eyes glued on the stunning African American woman on stage.
“Right, but-” I raked a hand through my hair, my frustration growing. Sam was a fun guy to be with and a great friend and brother, but sometimes, he could be so damned oblivious. “–considering the circumstances… This situation is a boat that we’re trying not to rock right now.”
“She knows I was just pulling her chain.”
“Sam. Fuck. I don’t think she does.”
He looked over at me. “Considering what she did to us.”
I stared into his eyes and saw the hurt. It was then that I realized that he was just in much in love with her as I was. In the aftermath of the blow-up I hadn’t quite seen it, but now I did. And he was hurting badly.
Maybe I should give him the green light to be with her? I mused. He was my brother, after all. But I knew I couldn’t. And so we would remain at a standstill, at least for now.
~*~ TT ~*~
Andrea
I looked at my expression in the mirror. I didn’t look like I normally did, I looked old and worn out, much older than my age. Twenty-one years old, and I looked like I was well into my thirties. I swiped at a tear with the back of my hand. I’d brought this mess on myself, but at the same time, had it been really necessary for Sam to taunt me with what we’d done? Both men had decided I wasn’t good enough for them after all, so that was that. The only thing worse than being rejected by one man was getting shot down by two.
“Hi, you’re Andrea, right?”
I yelped hearing the female voice coming from the entrance of the washroom.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
I looked at the blonde who I’d watched dance earlier in the mirror. She’d put a tight t-shirt on and a knee-length black skirt. “It’s okay, I was just thinking. I’m not used to other women being in the bar in the afternoon.”
“Oh, so are you the manager?”
“Part owner. My brothers and I own the bar together.”
“Oh, so the guy at the table with you was your brother?” She smiled, showing off a row of perfect white teeth. The woman was a perfect 10, hands-down. She’d be perfect for the club. “You two looked so close, I would have guessed you to be a couple.
Laughing, I shook my head, a strand of blonde hair falling over my eye, and I brushed back. “Yeah, the twins are my stepbrothers.”
“You have one helluva sexy stepbrother. Is he single?”
I cocked a brow up at her, staring at her image in the mirror.
“Sorry.” She put up a hand and lowered her eyes. “If you guys hire me, then he’ll be my boss, and that’s completely inappropriate. Forget I asked. I need this job more.”
Straightening up, I turned to face Candy. “Why didn’t you get hired at the other club in town? I saw you dance, you’re really talented.”
“Thanks.” She blushed, just a little, enough to give an appealing glow to her cheeks. “I actually work there already, but the manager is an ass.”
“Really?” I almost let the words, he seemed like an okay guy, spill out, but stopped myself in time.
“Wait a second.” Her blue eyes narrowed at me, and she took a step backwards and examined me long and hard. So long that I was actually starting to feel uncomfortable. Suddenly, a wide smile spread across her lips. “You’re the girl that danced one night last week and never came back, aren’t ya?”
I didn’t have to look in the mirror to know my cheeks were bright red from embarrassment.
“Ohmygod! Vince was so pissed you never came back,” she continued, “The crowd loved you! So are you going to be dancing too?”
Oh nononono. Placing my hand over my eyes, I blocked my vision of her. Great, give it one night, and all the dancers we hire will know. I supposed it didn’t really matter, but I was scared that if they got that image of me, that they’d see me as less of a boss figure and more as just one of them. Being that I was so young and a woman, having the staff take me seriously was always a challenge.
“No, I won’t be dancing. It was a one-time thing. It wasn’t even my idea. I was just, you know.” Ugh. I raked my fingers through my hair in frustration. I was about to start babbling. The more words that came out of my mouth the more confused she seemed to be—not that I blamed her.
“Okayyyy. Well, I really would like this job. I hate it at the other place, and it would be nice to work for another woman instead of being bossed around by a bunch of testosterone-filled asshats.”
“Are you available for our grand re-opening this Friday night?”
She smiled, the delight shining in her eyes. “I can make myself available. So, does that mean I’m hired?”
“You’re hired.”
Candy let out a little squeal of happiness, clapping her hands excitedly, then gave me a quick hug. Her reaction was a little unexpected, but welcomed.
“I just have one little request.”
“Okay,” Candy said, releasing me and taking a step back. “Anything, you name it.”
“Can we keep the fact I danced at the other club between you and me?” I scrunched my nose up. “Because, well, you know…”
“I get it. Your secret is safe with me.”
I sighed, relief washing over me. At least there was hope for the bar, but my relationship with Eric and Sam was still up for debate.
Chapter 16
Sam
“We’re screwed. Really screwed.” I looked out into the crowd, and all I could say was that I was shocked—but it was a good shocked. This was the largest crowd I’d ever seen at The Foxy. Correction, the bar was no longer called The Foxy, but now Foxy on Fire. I was a little against the name, but Eric and Andrea loved
it, and it ended up being two against one on the vote.
“But a really awesome-screwed,” Andy yelled in my ear so I could hear her over the beat of the music and hoots and cheers from the crowd.
I looked over at Andrea, and a smile spread across my lips. She was beaming, and her excitement was infectious. I didn’t think I could remember the last time I’d seen her happy like this—certainly not since our parents’ death, that was for sure. She reminded me of the Andy I’d known for years—happy and full of life.
“If this is a trend and not just a big turnout because we’re new, we’ll definitely have to hire more people.”
“And more dancers,” she added.
“I won’t argue with that.” My eyes scanned the bar, and was amazed at how a little facelift and some paint could make such a difference. It actually looked like a new place.
“I hope ladies’ night is this busy.”
“Hey you two, it’s busy, get your asses to work.” Eric growled as he passed by us on his way back to the bar, which was swamped with people waited to be served.
“We really didn’t prepare for this,” I yelled, following Eric behind the bar, Andy in tow to get more shooters. She was the designated shooter girl for the night.
As I served customers, trying to lighten Eric’s load at the bar, Andy prepared a tray of shooters beside me. “I swear, Sam, if I get asked for a lap dance one more time I’m going to lose my shit on someone.”
“Jack Daniels and coke and a draft beer.” The customer before me yelled across the bar.
“Coming up,” I answered. As I prepared the drink, I leaned into Andy. “Hey, nothing wrong with taking one for the team.”
I got a dirty look in response, but she couldn’t hold it for long. A wide smile broke her attempt to be stern. “You’re damned lucky I’m happy and it’s busy, otherwise you’d be paying for that.”
“Ohhh, Andy.” I gave her a wink and she giggled. “Don’t make promises you won’t keep.”
“What you want to be put over my knee and spanked, Sam?”
I didn’t respond, but wiggled my eyebrows at her, which got her laughing all over again. As I passed the customer his drinks and took a payment, I looked over at her again and watched her a moment. She looked so vibrant and alive in all her glory.
I took a mental snapshot of the moment. I didn’t think I’d forget this point in time for the rest of my life. This was when I knew, without a doubt, I was completely in love with this woman. Even if I had to share her with my brother, I didn’t care. All I knew is that she had to be mine, forever and ever, ‘till death do us part.
~*~ TT ~*~
Andrea
This was one of the best nights of my life. I really didn’t think I’d ever felt such sense of pride and accomplishment before. To some, this might have been just a strip club, but to me, it was a hell of a success. The biggest success of my life, in fact.
“So how much did we make tonight, Eric?” I asked, sitting down on a bar stool next to him as he counted the cash and prepared the night’s deposit drop.
He looked up from the computer and met my gaze. His expression appeared dour, and for a moment, I was actually a little scared. Maybe we didn’t make as much as I thought. My spirits fell a smidge as I held my breath.
“Well, Andrea… It’s not what we hoped for. There was additional wages. The dancers wages. Liquor costs.”
My heart sunk into my stomach. I suddenly felt ill. If tonight wasn’t enough to start bringing things around, then we might as well throw in the towel now. “Oh.”
Then a wide grin emerged on his lips. “We did so much better than we ever thought we would!”
“Oh my fuck!” My words came out in one loud breath. “Seriously?”
“We made rent with just tonight.”
My entire body was vibrating from my excitement, and leaping from the stool, I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. I didn’t even think about it, and maybe if I had given it some forethought, I might have held myself back, but I couldn’t and didn’t. My lips pressed to his, and there was only a moment’s hesitation before he responded.
His response shocked me even more than my own. Eric slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me into him. I melted against him. This past week had been so hard, it had felt like I’d lost my best friends. Even though Eric and Sam had been friendly, I could feel a barrier between us, but the barrier was finally down, and I was being pulled into his world.
“Eric,” I gasped just before our kiss deepened, his tongue seeking out mine. My hands tightened around his neck and I pressed myself into him. The smell of his cologne was intoxicating—it drifted to my nose and pulled me in. This was so nice, so damned nice, and I didn’t want it to end—but it did.
Eric’s hands moved up my body and to my shoulders, pushing me away.
Oh no! I frowned as I stared up into his dark eyes. “Eric?”
“No, Andrea. It’s not what you think.” He slipped a hand up the side of my neck and cupped my chin in his hand. “We need to talk.”
My head fell forward in defeat, a lock of hair falling over my eyes. Things were just starting to get better, and here I went and fucked it all up again. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I was excited, and…”
“Sam and I had a talk earlier today, and we need to discuss something with you. And we need to do it sooner rather than later.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s talking about the situation with the three of us, Andy.”
I spun around, turning my back to Eric to see Sam approaching us. “What do you mean?” I knew damned well what he meant, but for lack of anything else to say, I asked the question anyhow.
Eric’s arms slipped around my waist, and he pulled me back into him, my back against his hard wall of a chest. Then I felt his lips on me, grazing across my cheek. “Don’t worry. It’s not bad,” Eric whispered in my ear.
Sam came to a stop before me and slid onto the stool I’d just vacated. “We’ve been doing a lot of talking this past week, since the fight.”
“Uh-huh.” I had no idea where this was going. Both men seemed calm and reassuring, but fear crept up within me regardless. “You guys have no idea how sorry I’ve been over what I did, I don’t-”
Sam reached out and placed his index finger over my lips. “Shhh. My god woman. Do you ever stop talking? Just shush for a minute and let us speak.”
He didn’t remove his finger until I nodded my compliance. Eric’s arms tightened around my waist, and I gained strength from him.
“Right, so as I said, Eric and I have been doing a lot of soul-searching, and we have a proposition for you.”
“Uh-huh.”
“The bottom line is that we’re both in love with you.” Eric said into my ear. His statement sent me reeling. Both of these strong, beautiful, talented men were in love with me? I must be dreaming.
“You guys mean, in love as, like…in love?” I looked over my shoulder at Eric, and he nodded.
Sam continued, “There’s no way to sugar coat it and there’s no point in pretending it’s not true, because it is. Our first impulse was to ignore it. There’s two of us and only one of you, it could never work, it’s not like we could clone you and each have one.”
“I understand.” So they were letting me down easy. Okay, I get it. That’s fair. What else was I to expect?
With a smile, Sam responded, “I don’t think you do.”
Cocking my head to the side, I studied him, hoping to see the whole story in his eyes. I couldn’t, so I waited impatiently.
“We’ve agreed that as long as you’ll have us, we both want to be with you.”
“Both?” My brow creased as I mulled over what he was trying to say to me. “I don’t understand. How can that work?”
“Unless, of course, you’d prefer to be with just one of us. We decided we’d let you make the decision and respect it, whatever that decision is. We’d rather at least one of us be happy with
you than you find some other asshole because we were to prideful to step back and accept it.”
“So…” My mind was whirling. This was craziness. But then again, making out with both brothers all within a span of one week wasn’t exactly sane or proper. “One night, Eric would be my boyfriend, and then the next, you would be?”
Sam and Eric both laughed.