17
KEELY
On the way to my parents’ house, I stopped to buy a bottle of wine. Then I stopped to fill the car up with gas even though it was still half full. Then I went back to buy another bottle of wine for dessert. And finally, I drove around the block three times, trying to get rid of the permanent grin etched into my face. Trying to force the flush of warmth out of my cheeks because I knew it was going to be a dead giveaway. I knew if I didn’t get this glow of mine under control, my whole family would know exactly what I’d just been up to.
Except, there was no way for them to know. At least not anyone besides Kingston. But if I was being honest, he was the one I was most worried about. He was the one who was going to burn bridges with his best friends over this and it hurt my heart, but I wasn’t going to let him scare me away from the best thing that had happened to me in a long time.
Besides, what Kingston didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. I certainly wasn’t planning on letting the cat out of the bag, and Ryder and Mason didn’t seem too eager to spill the beans either. Until we knew for sure what was going on between us, it was probably for the best to keep it to ourselves.
But first, I had to stop grinning like I’d just been fucked ten ways to Sunday.
I worked on my breaths, focusing on long slow inhales and extended exhales. I tried to make my heart slow, tried to stop thinking about two sets of hands, two sets of lips, all over my body, making me writhe and moan like never before. I tried to stop thinking about two hard, throbbing cocks inside me, stretching me and taking me to unimaginable heights. But no matter how hard I tried to stop those thoughts, they just kept coming, piling up, making it impossible to think about anything else.
There was no getting around it, I was going to be thinking about Ryder and Mason the whole night.
I pulled into my parents’ driveway and brought out the bottle of wine, repeating my little breathing exercise quickly as I walked up to the front steps. It was going to be fine. I could get through one family dinner without giving everything away. I’d kept secrets before. Not any I could think of right off-hand, but I was sure they existed.
I walked right in through the front door and wiped my feet on the mat. “Ma! I brought wine,” I called through the house. I figured she was in the kitchen, and from the sounds of it, the whole family was already gathered in the dining room without me. Guess that third trip around the block was one too many.
Before I could head to the dining room though, my path was headed off by Kingston, his arms crossed, a scowl furrowing his brow.
“Let me by,” I said, not in the mood for his bull. Just seeing him and that dark look of his soured my mood and ruined the little pep in my step. Brothers were supposed to be supportive and loving, not controlling and overbearing.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“We really don’t,” I answered, shoving past him into the dining room. I ignored his looming presence behind me as I went around the table giving hugs and kisses to everyone. I handed the wine off to my mom and she raised her eyebrows at me, as if to ask ‘what’s the occasion?’ and I just shrugged. I couldn’t just tell her I was trying to kill time to get rid of my after-sex glow. Or that if there was an occasion worth celebrating, it would be that I was just in a threesome and it was the hottest damn sex of my life.
Not exactly the kind of thing you want to share with the whole family.
“Keely,” Kingston ground out through his clenched jaw.
I whirled around to face him, my hands balling into fists. “What?!”
“I need to talk to you.”
“No, you don’t. Whatever you have to say to me, I don’t want to hear it. I’m capable of making my own decisions and it’s none of your business.”
His face turned dark red, his body vibrating with rage.
“I came by your place earlier,” he said slowly, his voice a low growl. “Thought you might need a ride over here.”
I felt the blood draining from my face, but I tried to keep my expression neutral. I tried not to show how much that freaked me out. When had he come by? There was too much that had happened and I didn’t know which part of it he was mad about.
“You can’t just drop by unannounced whenever you damn well please,” I said, deflecting.
His brows knitted together, his eyes flashing dangerously. “I’m your brother and I’ll drop by unannounced if I want to. Especially when you’ve got my two best friends naked in your living room.”
Dad choked on his roll, sputtering and coughing as he reached for his water. Mom glared at us both, warning us with her eyes, but I didn’t care. I was done with Kingston invading my privacy and thinking he had any say over my life. Maybe when I lived here before and I was still a kid in high school things were different. But I was an adult now, and capable of making my own choices. I needed to make that clear right the fuck now before he got the wrong idea about how things were going to go from here on out.
“Who I have naked in my house is none of your damn business, Kingston.” Though I made a mental note to buy curtains. I’d hate to make the neighbors jealous.
“And if you haven’t noticed, we’re all adults. We don’t need you babysitting or telling us we’re making a bad decision. We’re just having fun,” I said, my voice getting higher and more hysterical. I tried to keep it down, I tried to keep my tone even and neutral, but it wasn’t working. He just brought out the worst in me like that.
“You’re being stupid is what you’re doing. I know those guys and that’s not the kind of ‘fun’ you want to have.”
“How do you know what kind of fun I want to have? You don’t know everything about me.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” he snapped, and I knew he was right to an extent. But I also knew I wasn’t backing down. Not a chance.
“Just mind your own damn business and keep your nose out of my life,” I shouted, not even caring that we were in the dining room with the whole family privy to our fight.
“I’m just trying to look out for you. I know what assholes those two are and I know they’ll say anything to get—”
“Enough,” our mother bellowed, slamming a wooden spoon down on the tabletop. “You two are bickering like children. If you can’t act like adults at the table, you need to go outside and talk this out until you can.”
“But—” I tried protesting, my mouth opening without words.
“You can’t be serious,” said Kingston, but we didn’t have to wait for an answer. Mom was already shooing us out with that wooden spoon, clanging it against door jambs to corral us out of the house.
“And don’t even think about coming back in until you’ve sorted this out,” she said, slamming the door shut after us, the deadbolt sliding into place.
“Mom!” I yelled, banging on the door. “Mom, come on, this is ridiculous!”
But through the window, I could see her walking away into the dining room, leaving us on the front steps alone with our problems.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I barked, whirling on Kingston.
“With me? You’re the one fucking my friends. Do you know how stupid that is? Do you know how many girls they’ve been through and just discarded like it’s nothing? Do you really think I want to see that happen to you?”
I stopped, the anger slipping away. It was hard to stay pissed when it was obvious he was just trying to look out for me. That’s what big brothers were supposed to do. I just didn’t know how to tell him that I didn’t want him looking out for me in this instance. I had it under control.
Slowly, I sank to the front steps and sighed, hugging my knees to my chest.
“I get it, okay? I get what this looks like from your point of view.”
“Do you?” he asked. “Because from where I’m sitting it looks really—”
“Stupid, I know,” I finished for him. “Stupid and crazy and reckless and like I don’t give a shit about the future probably, right?”
He frowns, his brow furrowing. “Yeah…” he said, dragging the answer out to almost be a question.
“Well, believe it or not, big brother, it is possible for you to be wrong about something. I met Mason at that party and… I don’t know, something clicked. He was so nice to me, so sweet and genuine. It was obvious he wasn’t after something like so many other guys always were, but that just made me want to give it to him so much more. And God, it was so good—”
“Please,” Kingston said with a grimace, “spare me the details.”
I grinned, my cheeks flushing with warmth. “Well, suffice to say, it’s not out of nowhere. There’s really something there… I mean, I wasn’t completely sure. I thought maybe it was the thrill of being with a stranger or being at a party and the random hook-up factor… You know, there was a lot of things it could be. But then today…”
He made a face. “Mason I can understand, but Ryder?”
My grin grew and I shrugged. “I don’t know what it is about that cocky asshole, but he makes me want to fight in the best way. Like, he challenges me, but I send it right back his way and it’s just intoxicating…”
Kingston blew out a heavy breath, sinking down onto the steps next to me. “Fuck. You’re serious, aren’t you?”
I laughed and nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t know what is going to happen next. I don’t know where this is going to go, if it goes anywhere at all, but I want to see. I want to have the chance to find out. The two of them together make me feel… I don’t know, but it’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I wish I could explain it, King, it’s like magic.”
He frowned, shaking his head slowed. “Shit.”
“What?”
“I can’t believe I’m going to have to give those assholes my blessing.”
I grinned, nudging my shoulder into his. “Yeah?”
He sighed again, still shaking his head. “It’s obvious they make you happy. I can see it in your eyes. And I don’t know how this whole thing is going to work out with the three of you, but I guess it really isn’t any of my business.”
A smirk lifted the corners of my lips.
“Don’t think this means I’m happy about it, though. I’m not. I’m still fucking pissed. They should have known better. Maybe not the first time, but certainly the second time.”
I started to protest, but he just shook his head at me.
“That said, they are my two best friends, so I guess I really couldn’t imagine better guys for you. Just… try not to make this super awkward for me, could you?”
I laughed, draping an arm over my brother’s big broad shoulders, patting his arm gently. “No promises.”