16. Jay
Jay
“Ican’t believe it’s her!” Eli says from beside me, low enough that only we can hear.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Zeke whips his body around to face us.
“That’s my woman from the plane. Veronica. No, that’s the name she gave me. She’s Selena, and crap, she’s our new sister?”
“No, that’s my woman from the hallway,” I growl through gritted teeth.
“She’s the woman who ditched me in bed. Christ, instead of each of us finding the woman of our dreams, we found the same exact one.” Zeke sighs.
“And she’s off limits.” Elias slides his hands in his pockets as he rocks back and forth on his feet.
“We all slept with her!” I hiss. “And we all think she’s the one we want.” Then I add, “Our endgame.”
Both of them nod.
Mom always told us we’d know when we met the woman we’d want to spend the rest of our lives with. I just thought it was some kind of woman mushy stuff she was telling us, but it turns out she was right. I just didn’t expect all three of us to feel that way about the same person.
“Yeah, we did.” Eli finally speaks up as Zeke keeps glancing over to where she stands awkwardly with her mother as they take pictures.
“She’s…” Zeke starts to say but Eli speaks up.
“We can’t let it happen again. She’s our sister now,” Eli states half-assed. “We all need to agree, at least until we figure shit out, that we keep our hands off her and our dicks out of her.”
I can see the longing in their eyes, and how happy they were last night when they talked about their secret woman. Shit, I felt the same way. If only we’d known how badly our world would come crashing down.
“But—” Zeke starts, but I don’t let him finish.
“There’s no buts. Did you not see how happy Dad was? He hasn’t smiled like that since Mom, and it’s because of Julia. What do you think’s going to happen when we tell him we all fucked his new wife’s daughter?”
I hate saying the words, but it’s the truth. For once, we need to think about Dad’s happiness and not our own.
“She’s just a woman we all fucked. A slut who opened her legs for three men, two of them on the same day.
All of them, random strangers. Why would we even want anyone to know we stooped so low?
” I pause as I gaze between my brothers.
The words taste like poison and don’t reflect how I truly feel.
But, for now it’s how we need to see the situation.
“It’s how we need to think about it. Any feelings for her we need to push down and forget.
If we keep saying that to ourselves, maybe we will hold ourselves in check and no one will guess that we really want to drag her to the nearest closet and fuck her brains out.
Now we need to talk to her and make sure she doesn’t let it slip about our encounters. ”
Zeke finally looks up at me. “So we lie and tell that bullshit story to ourselves when we all know we want her.”
“That’s exactly what we do.” Then softer I add, “For now, anyway.”
“Then let’s get over there and take these pictures. Then we’ll pull Selena to the side and let her know for now what’s happened between us will remain our secret,” Eli announces. “But the three of us really need to have a serious conversation.”
“Agreed,” Zeke and I say in unison.
As we turn and walk away, heading straight for Dad, I can’t help but notice the glare Selena’s giving me. No, us.
“There you are, boys. Where were you hiding? Selena just came back from looking for you. She and her mother already took their pictures together, but we need to do the family ones, then head to the reception.”
“Sorry, Dad, we were just talking. But you’re right, let's get these pictures done. You have guests waiting and a honeymoon to get to,” I say cheerfully, trying my hardest not to make eye contact with Selena.
I know if I do, I’ll throw everything my brothers and I just agreed on right out the fucking door.
For the next thirty minutes, we take picture after picture until finally, Julia is happy with all the poses. I’m exhausted, fucking over this, and I need a drink. Several of them, in fact, and we need to get Selena alone and have the dreaded conversation.
My heart’s already aching over having to let her go before even getting a chance to know her. I bet my mother’s laughing in heaven right now. Wondering how her sons could be so stupid.
“Hey, she’s walking away, it's our chance,” Eli leans in and whispers.
We hurry away, chasing after her. She’s moving fast for someone in heels, straight for the bar.
“Selena!” I shout, but she keeps going, not stopping or even slowing her steps. “Selena!” I yell again, but nothing. In fact, I think she moves faster.
“What the fuck?” Zeke barks as he picks up his pace and begins to jog after her, catching her right as she passes the bar and heads for the elevator.
Perfect. We’ll get her inside there and hit the stop button. We can talk in private, and she can’t run. It’s as if the fates are handing us the perfect opportunity to talk to her where she has no option but to listen to what we have to say.
“Let me fucking go,” she curses as Zeke grabs hold of her arm, halting her movement.
“No, we need to talk,” Zeke tells her.
“We have nothing to talk about,” she snaps back as Eli and I step up.
“Fucking twins,” she mutters under her breath. “Should’ve caught the difference.”
“Selena, I’m Zeke. This is my twin, Jay, and my other brother, Eli.
I know we’ve all met and, well, yeah. Anyway, this is our formal introduction, and we need to talk about what’s happened and how we plan to handle it with the parents.
You know, since we’re step-siblings now.
” I take a deep breath as Zeke speaks to her.
“Don’t worry, our dirty little secret is safe with me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go to my room for a minute and make a phone call. I’d appreciate it if you let go of my arm.” Her eyes are fixed on us, devoid of any emotion except intense anger.
She pulls away from Zeke, stumbling slightly as she pushes the button for the elevator.
“Selena, it’s not like that,” Eli speaks up, just as the elevator doors open and she steps inside.
“Isn’t it?” She reaches out, pushing a button as we stare at her, eyes wide in surprise. Guess we weren’t anything to her. “I am, after all, just a slut who opened her legs for three men.” And the doors slide shut with her last word, cutting each of us to the quick.
She heard. But she must not have heard the whole conversation, or else she’d know that’s not how we feel.
We fucked up, but maybe it’s better this way. She hates us and there’s no chance of us getting together. How would we have chosen, anyway? There’s three of us and one of her.
“We’ll give her some time to cool off, then approach her again to address what she heard. We don’t want her talking to her mother, talking shit about us to cause issues with Dad,” Eli tells us.
We make our way to the reception and head straight for the bar. We’re going to have to give toasts soon and congratulate the happy couple.
“There you are, boys. Where’s your sister?” Dad asks as he steps up to us with Julia hanging off his arm.
“She had to go to her room for a moment.” I tell him, forcing a smile on my face. “I’m sure she will be back any minute.”
“I told you, Abel. She’s out to ruin my day. She’s embarrassed me already with the way she looked in that dress, and now the pictures will forever show how horribly it fit her. Now she’s disappeared right before the speeches.” Julia whines, as her hands grip my father’s arm tighter.
“Oh, Sweetheart. I’m sure she’ll be back. She knows how important today is to you.” Dad guides her away and we don’t hear the rest of what he says to her.
“She’s a fucking piece of work. Selena looked amazing.” Zeke shakes his head as he turns to pick up the drink the bartender sat on the counter.
“I tried to tell the two of you she was a class A bitch,” I remind them.
We wait. The time for the speeches comes and goes, and Selena never returns. When we check on her the next day, we find out she’s already checked out.