Chapter 34 Violet
VIOLET
“Wow, you were not kidding,” Lennox says, scanning the program in his hands. “There are two or three new songs, but this program could easily be from twenty years ago.”
“Probably printed on the same printer even,” Sawyer adds, reading over Lennox’s shoulder. “Good old Sweetwater Lake.”
We’re standing in the lobby of the small community theater, milling around with the other guests. The Annual Holiday Musical Revue is something of an event in town, so everyone is dressed up for the occasion.
Usually, everyone mingles with each other, but I notice that a lot of the people from town are giving me and the guys looks, instead of coming over to talk. Most of the older people probably remember the brothers from their younger years, but the looks they’re giving aren’t nostalgic ones.
There’s definitely a lot of gossip about us flying around in town, and showing up to this together is probably not helping.
I see Isabelle and Andrew in a cluster of other people a ways off. Isabelle is talking animatedly, making sure to move her hands enough that the sparkling lights in the lobby catch on her engagement ring. No doubt she’s regaling her captive audience with talk about the wedding.
My parents are probably also here somewhere, and I’m sure I’ll feel the judgmental gaze of my mother on me before the night is over.
I wave when I spot familiar faces, accepting compliments about my baking lately and promising a few people that they still have time to get in orders for holiday treats if they haven’t already.
The guys stand near me the whole time, speaking when they’re spoken to, but otherwise letting me handle the socializing aspect of the night.
They touch me in small ways, brushing the small of my back with their hands or leaning into me, and it feels natural to lean into them in return.
To anyone watching, it must really be selling the idea that I’m in three very happy relationships, but that’s because they don’t know the chaos in my head over it.
I try to just let myself relax and enjoy the touch, the connection, but it’s hard when I’m constantly wondering if they’re doing it for the fake dating lie or just because they want to.
It shouldn’t matter one way or another. The relationships between us aren’t real. It’s just for show, and they’re playing their roles well. Torturing myself by reading more into things or hoping for more than I can ever expect to have is just silly.
I should be living in the moment, not picking apart everything to see where it comes from.
“You okay?” Sawyer asks, leaning into me.
I nod, smiling at him. “Yup. Totally fine. Just lost in my own head.”
“Let me guess, you’re thinking about baking something when we get home.”
“I think you’re thinking about me baking something when we get home,” I counter, grinning.
He smiles innocently, draping an arm over my shoulder. “It’s possible. It’s definitely possible.”
The lights start flickering in the lobby, and we file into the theater with everyone else, finding our seats. I end up between Sawyer and Lennox, with Rhett on Sawyer’s other side.
It’s not a large theater by any means, not like some big, grand one in a city somewhere, but it’s packed tonight. Everyone has turned out for this tradition, and it makes me happy to see it.
There’s a quick announcement about silencing our phones and the proceeds from concessions going to keep music alive in Sweetwater Lake, and then the lights dim all the way and the show begins.
It’s always the same beginning, even though the faces have changed over the years. Three kids from town come out onto stage, dressed up as Christmas angels. They sing their way through a rendition of Silent Night, and what they lack in being on key, they make up for in being adorable.
People at the front, who can only be their parents, stand close to the stage with their phones, taking pictures and beaming.
It’s definitely cute, even if it’s not musically great.
There’s movement at my side, and I’m surprised when Lennox reaches across his body to take my hand. I glance down and realize that he’s using the one on the other side, because the hand closest to me is his injured one.
As always, that makes my heart ache for him. I don’t know if he doesn’t want to use that one because he’s afraid of it shaking or twitching while I’m holding it, or if he thinks I would be bothered by it, but either way I want to clear that up now.
I shake my hand free of his and then reach for his bad hand. I lace our fingers together, and Lennox looks at me with wide eyes.
He looks startled and a bit unsure in the darkness of the theater, but there’s something deeper there. Something that looks like gratitude. He squeezes my hand lightly, and leans down to brush his lips over my neck.
I shiver at the touch, goosebumps breaking out of my skin. Judging from the little huff of laughter that skates over my neck, Lennox definitely notices the reaction.
There’s a burst of applause when the kids finish their song, and then someone brings a large cello out onto the stage.
One of the kids from the high school comes out and sits at it and plays a fast, almost jazzy version of We Three Kings. He’s very good, and when he finishes, the applause is definitely more than polite.
From there, a keyboard is wheeled out, and I sit up straighter when Simon comes walking out onto the stage.
He looks good, dressed in a dark green suit with his silver hair slicked back. The theater claps for him before he even has a chance to sit down at the keyboard, and he laughs, bowing at the waist.
Then he sits with a flourish, putting his fingers to the keys.
I’ve known Simon was a gifted piano player for years. I remember him playing at my grandmother’s 70th birthday party years ago, taking requests from the guests and delighting all the other old ladies there.
Now he plays medleys of holiday songs, his fingers tripping lightly over the keys as he flows from one song to the next.
He’s usually my favorite part of the holiday revue, and I’m giving him my full attention. At least until Lennox lets go of my hand and starts sliding it up my leg a little.
On my other side, Sawyer glances over subtly, and I see the smirk on his face out of the corner of my eye. A few seconds later, his hand is on my other leg, and he starts sliding it upward bit by bit.
“What are you two doing?” I whisper, leaning into Lennox.
“I don’t know what you mean,” he whispers back. “You’re supposed to be watching the show.” He nods to the stage.
I give him a look, but turn my head back to the performance.
Lennox gives me a barely audible “good girl” and then lets his hand slide up higher.
I’m wearing a dress tonight, but I have leggings on under it, so it’s not as easy for them as it would have been otherwise. That doesn’t stop them though.
Lennox’s hand dips under the skirt of my dress, pushing it up so he can walk his fingers up my thigh. Even through the thin fabric of my leggings I can feel the heat of his hand, and I have to bite my lip to keep from making a soft noise.
The two of them take advantage of the darkness, letting their hands slide higher and higher between my legs, until one of them, Lennox, I think, manages to cup my pussy with the palm of his hand.
I suck in a sharp breath, trying to subtly grind my hips to get more friction.
“Does that feel good?” Sawyer whispers in my ear. “Could you come like this? In the dark, while all these people sit around you?”
I bite my lip and nod because if they worked me up enough, I probably could.
I can feel rather than see the two brothers exchange smirks, and Lennox starts stroking my clit through the fabric of my thin leggings and panties. A whimper builds in my throat, and I smother it with a little cough, trying desperately not to make too much noise.
My breathing is ragged, and I know they can both tell the affect they’re having on me.
“Do you want us to stop?” Lennox asks, amusement coloring his tone.
I shake my head.
“Good girl,” he murmurs. He manages to get his hand inside my leggings, and then into my panties, and I swallow hard when his fingers find my clit, bare skin on bare skin.
“There you go,” he whispers. “Let me touch you.”
Sawyer drapes his jacket over my lap with a wink, and I slide down in the seat a bit, to give Lennox more room to work.
It’s a tight fit, being packed in this close in the small theater, but Lennox is clever.
He knows how to touch me, how to stroke my clit and run his finger against my slit to make me squirm and want more.
Sawyer’s hand works in time with his brothers, touching my thighs, dipping into me and then retreating. As they keep touching me, I start trembling, all that heat and pleasure building in my gut and spreading outwards.
I could definitely come like this, and they can tell.
“You’re getting close,” Sawyer whispers. “I love how it feels when you’re right there on the edge. It would be so easy to just push you over and make you come on our fingers.”
“Even right here in this theater, you’d get off for us, wouldn’t you?” Lennox teases. “So desperate for it.”
I glance over and see Rhett watching us, heat in his eyes.
It’s all so much, between their words and their hands and the fact that anyone could look closely enough and manage to figure out what we’re doing.
The pleasure builds, coiling tension in me like a spring. I could come undone at any point, helpless to resist the way they play my body with the same precision as Simon playing his keyboard.
I have to slap a hand over my mouth to keep the little begging sounds from spilling out, but right when I get to the point that I could come, the audience around us bursts into applause.
The lights come up, signaling the end of the first act.
Lennox and Sawyer pull their hands back, leaving me shocked and trembling on the edge. My pussy throbs, my clit aching with the need to come, but they just smile at me.
I give a disappointed groan, and Rhett laughs a little. “Can’t wait to see how act two plays out,” he says in an undertone.
I make a face at him—at all of them—but I can’t be too mad about it. It’s the first time I’ve ever been a part of something naughty at one of these revues, and just that has a thrill going through me.
They give me a second to put myself together, and then we get up and head to the lobby to stretch our legs.
There’s hot chocolate and cider at the concession stand, and Lennox and Rhett go to check it out while Sawyer heads for the bathroom.
I stand off to the side waiting for them, taking in the lovely way the lobby is decorated with the tree in one corner and the twinkling lights hanging above the doorways.
It’s like this every year, but it always makes me happy to see it.
While I’m standing there, a guy I don’t recognize comes out of the men’s room and walks over to me. He pushes his hands in his pockets, giving me a little smile, and I smile back, not sure why he’s coming over.
“Do you have someone in the show?” he asks.
“Sorry?”
“Like a friend or family member who’s performing.”
“Oh.” I smile. “Yeah, Simon, a friend of the family. He was on the keyboard just before the end of the first act.”
“He was really good,” the man says. “My little sister is doing the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy in act two.”
We chat for a while, and I learn that he’s never been to one of these before. His parents and younger sister moved to Sweetwater Lake in the spring, and this is his first time visiting.
“Well, I hope you enjoy it,” I tell him genuinely. “I’ve been coming to these my whole life pretty much, and it’s always a good time. Christmas is so much fun around here.”
“Yeah?” he asks. “What else should I make sure to see?”
“You missed the holiday market, but all the shops have specials and holiday treats leading up to the holiday. And there’s ice skating set up at the community center.”
He leans in a little closer, giving me a grin. “Maybe I need a tour guide. Someone who knows what’s going on and can show me the sights.”
“That could help for sure. It’s a small town, but we really go all in for the holidays.”
“Anyone you could recommend?” he asks. “I plan to visit a lot more now, so it would be nice to already know someone friendly and cute.”
Before I can respond, Lennox comes walking over. He drapes an arm around my shoulder, giving the guy I was chatting with a hard look. “There you are,” he says. “We’re ready to go back in.”
He pulls me away and off to the side, and I look up at him frowning. “What was that about?”
“That asshole was flirting with you like you’re not taken,” he says.
“I mean… I’m not taken.”
His eyes flash as he looks down at me. “Like hell you’re not.”
I blink, confused. But then nod. “Oh, right. For the purposes of the lie, I am taken.”
He gives me a strange look that I can’t interpret, then wraps a hand around my arm and starts tugging me toward the door. He jerks his chin at his brothers as we go, and we end up outside the theater.
People are definitely watching as we head out. The guy from earlier, everyone else in the lobby. I even get a glimpse of Andrew and Isabelle before the door bangs closed.