- THREE -
By lunchtime, just thinking about a hot-air balloon ride with Jaxon had me feeling anxious and playful at the same time. Cole had caught up to me right outside of the cafeteria, so we went through the serving line together. Like a gentleman, he carried my tray for me toward our table. Since Cole was in a frat and played on the football team, he had a wide variety of friends that usually came and joined our long table and benches.
When we approached the table, Mason and Garrett simultaneously patted the seats next to them for me to come and sit. I liked to indulge them, but I usually sat next to Quinn and Cole. As I was walking past the guys already seated, I tapped them on the head while singing, “Duck . . . Duck . . . Duck . . .” A few of them started chuckling. Abruptly, I was grabbed by the hips and slung onto Micah’s lap. He placed me so I was sitting on him and facing forward toward the table.
“Goose,” he whispered in my ear from behind. “I liked you in my bed this morning,” he said as he put his hands around my waist just underneath my T-shirt.
“Micah . . .” I warned him. Cole walked past us, snickering, and he set my tray in front of me. “Thanks, Coley, you’re always such a gentleman, unlike some people I know,” I said, prodding my elbow into Micah’s ribs.
He placed his tray next to Quinn, who was laughing at Micah’s barbarian tactics. “Oh, God, Em, please stop calling me that,” Cole groaned with a wince.
I started eating my pasta salad, while Micah seemed to think that was a go-ahead to explore my body. At least he wasn’t conspicuous about it. I don’t think anyone even noticed. When he moved my hair away from my neck and started lightly kissing under my ear, I noticed Jaxon come in and sit down in front of Quinn. He took off his ball cap and put it back into his backpack. He was staring right at Micah and me. I was confused by the hard set of his jaw. All of a sudden, the last thing I wanted to be doing was sitting here on Micah’s lap with one of his hands drifting dangerously high up on my thigh.
“Micah, it’s too hard to eat like this,” I said with frustration, scooting down onto the bench next to him. I was looking directly at Jaxon, but he was talking to Cole now about furniture they were having delivered later.
Micah leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Stop staring at him. I hear he’s the male version of you; he doesn’t settle down. Although I’m hoping I can change that about you.” This was exactly why I needed to stop letting Micah touch me, because he thought he could convince me to change my rules for him. No one will convince me of that.
I looked down the table past Cole. “Hey, Quinn, I’m going to go ahead and go home.”
I made a face that I hoped would convey to her that I needed to get away from Micah; his behavior was scaring me. I didn’t like to be in this territory, where people started thinking you were in a relationship and they expected it from you.
“Emmy, I can’t give you the car. I still have class and I promised I would meet up with my study group later,” she replied with a regretful look.
Quinn was my stepsister, but we never used the word step. That would imply that she was less than what she was; she was my sister and I was hers. My parents got divorced when I was nine and my dad remarried. Thankfully, he married Ellie. She is the most amazing person I have ever met; she saved my life. When they got married, I got a sister, Quinn, who is exactly thirty-four days older than me. We were inseparable from the very beginning. Her dad was never in the picture, so she never had a dad’s house she had to go visit because of custody. Most of the time when I had to spend the weekend at my mom’s house, Quinn would spend the night with me.
When I was fifteen, I was sitting in my English class when Mr. Smith, our high school principal, walked in and asked if he could speak to me. I walked out into the hallway and saw Ellie and Quinn standing against the wall crying. I immediately ran to them to ask them what was wrong, ready to injure whoever had hurt these two very special people. In a blur I hardly remember, I found out that my mom and dad had been killed in a car wreck. Apparently, a driver in the oncoming traffic had fallen asleep, because she worked a late shift at the hospital. She hit them head-on. She lived, they didn’t. At first, I was confused and in denial; I mean, my parents would never be in a car together. They had to have made a mistake. When Ellie told me there was no mistake, I crumpled to the ground. It was the worst day of my life. That day I learned never to get too close to people. It was too late with Ellie and Quinn—we were already bonded—but I swore it would never happen again. There’s no point in having a relationship, because if they aren’t cheating, they’re dying. In my parent’s case, they were both.
My family attempted to fight for custody, since my aunt felt it would be best for me to be with a blood relative. It didn’t matter to her that I hadn’t seen her since I was seven years old. After I very passionately explained to her that I would run away every single day to Ellie’s until she let me go, she realized I wasn’t worth the fight. Ellie was beyond happy when I moved in. I’m grateful every day that she didn’t hold my dad’s affair with my mom against me. She never really spoke about it to Quinn or me.
All three of us moved out of my dad’s house and into a new three-bedroom home. The third bedroom was meant to be mine, but I basically moved into Quinn’s room. No one argued with me. A year and a half after my parent’s death, Ellie was remarried to Charles. He’s amazing; he loves Quinn and me and spoils us rotten. Quinn and I do have to have jobs while in school because Ellie and Charles felt it was important for us to know the value of college, but they help us with our bills for the most part. Quinn and I both had our own cars back home, but we decided only to bring one with us to college. It usually works out okay, since we’re almost always together, or one of us gets a ride from Cole. I usually give Quinn the car; I would rather be without it than for her to be without.
“Don’t stress, Quinn, I’ll be okay. I don’t mind walking. Besides, if I decide I don’t want to walk, the campus added that new bus line that stops right outside the apartment. I just need to go home.” She stood up as if she needed to reassure herself that I was okay and to see if I needed someone to talk to. I shook my head and said, “I’ll talk to you at home tonight after my shift, ’kay?”
“All right . . .” she said hesitantly, while sitting back down next to Cole. “Text me later.” I nodded and waved good-bye to the rest of the table. I tossed my entire pasta salad on my way out the door.
I didn’t know if I was going to walk home or ride the bus yet. I still had to walk across the campus, so I guess I would decide when I got there. I didn’t get more than twenty feet before I heard someone jogging up behind me. If this was Micah, I would seriously lose my manners and go crazy on him. Mercifully, it wasn’t Micah.
“Emerson, wait up,” Jaxon said, easily catching up next to me.
“So you’re sticking with the full first name thing, huh?” I teased, while continuing toward the other end of campus. The end of August was pretty warm in Southern California, but college kids don’t mind. There were girls lying out in the grass, working on their tans, and guys kicking a ball back and forth to one another.
“I was heading home anyway. Need a ride?” he asked while dodging my question. He pulled his backpack around to the front and unzipped it. He reached inside and pulled out that black ball cap. He grabbed the bill and slapped it lazily on top of his head.
“If you don’t mind. You should go finish your lunch, though; I saw that pile of food on your tray,” I joked with him.
“Yeah, I would have preferred if we both could have finished our lunches. But you seemed upset and since you said you were heading home, and I was going there after lunch, it made sense,” he said, eyeing me.
“Thanks. I just needed to get away from Micah.”
“So you two aren’t together?” he asked, looking confused.
“Never.”
“Seemed like you were having a good time with him when I walked up.” This guy was observant.
“That’s all I want, though . . . a good time. Nothing more. Micah is starting to think I’ll change my rules for him.”
He stumbled for a fraction of a second and turned to look at me. “You have rules?” He laughed and raised one of those sexy eyebrows at me.
“Only three, but they’re pretty important to me,” I said, feeling silly talking about this.
He gestured with his hand out in front of him. “Please, do share. I’m intrigued.”
He pulled his keys out of his pocket, and I was getting a little excited, because I’ve never been on a motorcycle before. But he pointed his keys at a massive four-door black truck and clicked the unlock button. He guided me to the passenger side and opened the door for me. I gaped at him and said, “What about the bike? I was excited to ride on it.”
“No motorcycle for you, babe. Besides, Jace took it today.” What did he mean by no motorcycle for me?
“Are you saying I’ll never get to ride on it?” He reached down and put both of his hands on each side of my waist. This unexpected contact caught me off guard. There was an exciting charge between us. My mind didn’t want to respond to him like this, but my body wasn’t listening.
When he leaned in toward my ear, my breath caught. I stared straight ahead so I wouldn’t get trapped in those blue eyes. “Motorcycles are dangerous. I would never put you in danger,” he whispered. Then he lifted me up onto the bench seat in the truck. His voice returned to its normal deep tone. “Besides, Cole would kill me. He threatened Jace and me if we put you or Quinn on the bike. Jace and I could take him, but I’m not trying to get on his bad side.” He winked and I knew he was kidding.
“Oh, I’m going to have to have a talk with Coley.”
He burst out laughing while he closed my door. I could see him laughing all the way around the front of the truck to his side. When he opened it to climb in, he said, “Please tell me you call him that in front of his lame-ass frat brothers.” He had a huge smile on his face.
“Of course I do. I’m not embarrassed.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’re not. I mean he must love it,” he stated sarcastically.
“So, this giant truck—I mean, is it necessary for college in Southern California?” I asked, trying to tease him.
Suddenly his face changed from teasing to a little sad, but he quickly pushed it away with a stiff smile. “It used to be my dad’s. But now Jace and I drive it. It was helpful for moving out here with all our stuff, and I could just put the motorcycle in the back.” He pulled out of the parking lot and turned toward our apartments. “You’re avoiding a serious topic here, though; I need to know these rules of yours.” He patted my thigh a couple of times.
“Okay, fine,” I said grumpily. “I don’t plan on ever actually being with anyone permanently. My parents taught me that it only leads to heartbreak. I like having fun, and I’m not sure I’m strong enough to come back from something like a broken heart. So my rules are: I don’t sleep with anyone that I know one of my friends likes, I don’t sleep with anyone’s boyfriend, and I never sleep with someone more than three times.”
After a couple of truly uncomfortable seconds he uttered, “I think you’re wrong, you know.”
“I don’t think it’s wrong; I think it protects everyone involved. No one thinks that I’m going to give them more than I have to give. I also don’t want to make any enemies by sleeping with someone’s boyfriend,” I replied softly.
“Not about the rules. About not being strong enough. I can tell you are.”
I sat there with really nothing to say back to that. He didn’t know me. He didn’t know what my parents did to me, to each other, or to Ellie. People break each other’s hearts. It’s hard to believe I’d only just met Jax this morning. I felt as if we’d already said so much to each other—maybe a little too much.
“Well, all I do know is that I don’t require daily phone calls, mushy love notes, bouquets of roses, or cuddles every night.”
“A low-maintenance chick. I can dig that,” he chuckled.
When we pulled up outside of our building, I unbuckled my seat belt and lunged for the door. I felt naked around this guy; he saw too much or thought too highly of me, and I couldn’t figure out which one. I just wanted to get to my apartment, take a shower, and get in a nap before my shift tonight. When I came around the front of the truck to walk up the stairs, Jax met me with our bags. He let me walk up ahead of him and he followed me to my door.
Our apartments are pretty decent. I don’t think any other college kids live here. Quinn and I pitch in to help pay for rent and bills, but Ellie and Charles usually cover the majority of it. I don’t know anything about Jace and Jaxon’s family, but I do know that Cole’s dad will basically pay for anything if he stays in the frat and plays football. His dad is a politician, so he likes his son to present a “well-rounded” image. The apartments in this building all have three bedrooms. While the boys will use their third room as something practical and boring like a bedroom, Quinn and I turned ours into a closet. It’s mostly for Quinn, though. I don’t have much of a wardrobe, although Q and I wear the same size, so I guess all the clothes are as much mine as hers.
When I got to my door, Jax walked past me to his door. “Thanks for the ride; I appreciated not having to walk all the way in the heat,” I called down to him.
He stuck the keys in his door and turned to unlock it. “Not a problem. I think we basically have the same schedule on these days. Next time, let’s stay for lunch, though.” He smiled at me and started to walk into his apartment.
“Hey, do you want to come in here for lunch? I’ll cook. I feel bad that you dumped your food as well.”
“I never say no to a home-cooked meal,” he said, smiling.
“Well, I’m no Food Network chef, but I can make us some lunch.”
After I had made chicken wings, he helped me to scrape all the dishes off and put them in the dishwasher. We sat on the couch afterward, watching TV.
“Damn, you can cook. That was delicious. We should just eat here for lunch from now on,” he said with a laugh, and I thanked him.
I sat on the couch, leaning up against him. Then he grabbed my hips and pulled me across his lap so I was sitting on the other side of him, but my legs were lying across his. He grabbed the foot I had hurt this morning.
“Are your feet ticklish?” he softly asked.
“No.”
Then he tenderly started running his fingers down the sole of my foot and I realized he was searching. He found where the beer bottle cap had cut me and left an indention. He made slow, soft circles around it and then over it. The movement was mesmerizing.
“I noticed you limping on it today, and this morning you were rubbing it,” he whispered.
I didn’t feel like explaining that I hurt it getting out of Micah’s bed. I’m sure he knew exactly what I was doing coming out that frat house this morning anyway.
“That feels wonderful,” I sighed lazily. It was really hard to continue watching TV after he started that. I got lost in the soft circles around and over, around and over.
Later that week, Jax and I were hanging out in my room comparing notes for journalism class, and I found out we had media law together as well. Studying with him was fun; we usually veered way off topic and just started joking around, pushing our textbooks aside.
“Are you guys doing anything tonight? I don’t think Quinn and I have plans.”
“I have to work; I’m not sure about Jace and Cole, though,” he answered, looking bummed.
“So is the radio station meeting your internship requirement?” I asked him.
“Yeah, it is. At first, I was leaning more toward broadcast journalism, so that’s why I took it. All of these classes are kind of opening my eyes to more areas, so now I’m not so sure what area I want to major in,” he responded.
“I wish I could get my internship done with over the school year, but I’m excited for it this coming summer.”
He set down his pen to look at me. “Where is yours at?”
“I’m majoring in humanitarian journalism, so mine is abroad this summer.”
“No shit? Aren’t they going to like Prague, Salzburg, or some other amazing European city?”
“Nothing so glamorous. We’re going to Africa.” I was still really nervous, but I knew it would be a great opportunity.
His mouth gaped open. “Africa? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“I think that’s kind of the point. Going out there and getting the story that needs to be told about the people that have been forgotten.”
He blew out a long breath. “Wow, you’re amazing.”
Uncomfortable with his compliment, I replied, “No, I’m not. I haven’t even done anything.”
“You will. You’re going to do great things. One day, we’ll hear all about the great Emerson Moore: humanitarian journalist.”
When I came back from work one night, I sat down on the couch and realized Quinn wasn’t home. She usually shouts for me when she hears me walk in. Right as I was pulling out my phone to text her, she sent me one.
Quinn: I’m down at the guys’ place. Come down when you get here. We’re watching movies.
I was exhausted; all I wanted was a shower and my bed. But I thought I should at least go down and say hi to everyone. I slipped off my shoes and walked down the hall barefoot.
When I walked into their place, I saw them all sitting in the pitch dark watching a movie, but I could barely see all their faces. Cole had bought this huge sectional couch that could easily fit ten people. “Hey, Emmy,” Quinn and Cole said at the same time. I turned to where I heard their voices and noticed that Quinn was lying with her head on Cole’s lap. I walked over to her and gave her a half hug since I couldn’t get my arms all the way around her while she was lying down. Jaxon was sitting down past Quinn’s feet. I figured if we were cuddling up on the couch together, what I wanted to sit next to was his hunky body.
I sat down next to him and leaned into him to lay my head on his shoulder. “Hey, handsome, long time, no see. Thanks again for helping me with those notes. Oh, and the rides home as well.” I patted his rock-hard stomach and took an extra second before lifting it off of him.
“Well, hello to you too, gorgeous. I would love to see you anytime, but trust me, I think I would remember if I gave you a ride and that is something I don’t remember doing.” His tone was slightly off and extremely flirtatious. I sat up, giving him a puzzled look. What was he talking about?
As I was staring into his gorgeous blue eyes, I heard someone clear his throat from the other side of the couch. “I think you were looking for me?” There’s that voice I wish I could cuddle inside of and hear all day. I turned around and looked right at Jaxon with the blue glow of the movie on his face.
I jumped up and ran across the room to flip the light switch on. When I turned around, my mouth hit the floor. It wasn’t my most attractive moment. Twins. Identical twins. Identical freaking hot-as-hell twins. Oh, I would kill Cole later for not telling me about this. “What? How? Why didn’t you tell me there was a smoking-hot carbon copy of you? How have I been right down the hall and never known there were two of you?” I hollered at Jaxon while looking back and forth to him and Jace. Jace sat there with a smug smile on his face, looking pretty pleased with himself. It was crazy how much they looked alike. Jace even had that imperfection I loved on Jaxon: the slightly turned-in front tooth. The only difference I could notice so far was that Jace didn’t get the sex-god voice like Jaxon was blessed with.
Everyone was covering their eyes with their hands and trying to adjust to my assault of sudden brightness. “Emmy, so what if they’re twins. It’s not a big deal. Turn the lights off; we were watching a movie,” Cole said impatiently, and I noticed Quinn had sat up straight.
“My life just got a little more amazing here, Coley. Quinn, a little heads up next time would be awesome. You know, just a little text message saying, ‘Oh, by the way, when you get home, there will be two way-too-hot-for-humankind identical freaking twins, living right next door.’ Something like that, no big deal,” I scolded her while my finger was pointing to my phone.
Quinn had a huge grin on her face. “I would not have missed this reaction for the world. I mean, what a way to introduce yourself to Jace.”
“Trust me; my introduction was a thousand times better,” Jaxon said to her with a smirk on his face.
Quinn was about to ask what he was talking about when I slapped the lights back off and went to sit between Jaxon and Cole. Quinn laid her head back down on Cole’s lap, but I knew she would ask later. I left a gap between myself and the guy on each side of me. “Em, you’re more than welcome to come back down here with me. I thought we were getting pretty cozy,” Jace loudly whispered over to me.
I started laughing but Jaxon answered for me, “She’s good right where she is, dude.”
Once everyone settled down and got back into the movie again, I rested my head on the cushion behind me. I felt an arm come around my shoulders and pull me into a hard chest.
“You smell like an ashtray and beer,” Jaxon whispered into my ear.
“That happens when you work in a pool hall as a bartender. Sorry,” I murmured against his chest.
Unlike me, he smelled delicious—freshly showered and manly. I tried silently to inhale, but the way his hand slightly tightened on my shoulders, I think he knew what I was doing. My head slowly drifted down to his lap as the movie went on. I don’t even know what we were watching. When my head hit his legs, he started running his hands through my hair. He grabbed my ponytail holder and gently tugged it out, without pulling any hair. When my hair had been released, his fingers began massaging my scalp. I faded to sleep with his fingers moving around my head.