Anita
Holy shit, she’s huge!” I called, running toward the front of Dan and Liz’s house and the woman standing there with a toddler in her arms.
I’d successfully avoided having any type of conversation with Dan since he’d lost it on me at family dinner, and I’d timed my arrival perfectly so that I wouldn’t be alone with him before Katie and Shane showed up with the kids. I was kind of a genius that way.
“Language,” Katie sang as I wrapped my arms around her and Iris, leaning down to give Iris a kiss on the back of her head. The one-year-old hadn’t seen me in months and had no idea who I was, so she was hiding her face in Katie’s neck.
“You look good, dude!” I said, taking a step back so I could look at her.
She was wearing a pair of brightly colored leggings with flip-flops and a tunic, her hair in a bun on top of her head and long, dangly earrings hanging from her ears. Comfortable but gorgeous¸ as usual.
“Yeah, yeah,” she griped, shaking her head. “My ass is still huge.”
“Turn around,” I ordered.
She turned her back toward me and shook her booty as she looked at me over her shoulder. “See? Huge.”
“It is pretty massive,” I replied, nodding my head while she scoffed. “But dudes dig chicks with ass. No joke. Tits and ass is a thing. Fat-bottomed girls and all that.”
“You’re lucky that’s a Queen song or I’d punch you,” she laughed as she turned toward the driveway. “Oh! Bram’s here!”
I swallowed hard as she began to wave at the truck pulling up the driveway.
I’d barely seen Bram except to fuck him for the last week. After his confusing signals the day we’d worked on the living room floor, I’d been keeping my distance. I wasn’t sure what to make of his sweet words followed by his standoffishness. It kept happening, so I decided to pull back a bit so he could figure his shit out.
We were circling each other, Bram and I. Pushing together and then, when things got a little too serious, pulling apart again.
“That mother-effer!” Katie hissed beside me, covering Iris’s ear with her palm.
“What?” I turned toward the truck, and my heart turned over in my chest.
Bram was climbing out the driver’s side, and Alex was dropping down from the passenger seat.
“Alex!” I screamed, jumping off the porch and running full tilt toward him.
“Surprise,” he called with a huge-ass smile on his face just as I jumped him.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were coming!” I yelled, hitting his arm before hugging him tightly.
It was an odd thing, hugging your lover’s twin. His body was really similar to Bram’s, though their muscles were made from different kinds of work and were shaped differently as a result. His voice was really close to Bram’s, and Alex’s smile was almost identical even without the beard.
I’d never mix the two of them up though, even with the physical similarities.
Alex didn’t smell the same. He wore cologne. He didn’t smell like deodorant and sawdust and the outdoors like Bram did. He didn’t breathe in the same cadence as Bram, or move his hands the same way.
He’d never made my heart race or my nipples pebble.
As much as I loved Alex, he just didn’t do it for me.
“You asshole!” Katie screeched, making me turn my head as she charged toward us. She must have set Iris inside because the baby wasn’t with her as she ran down the steps. “You stole my thunder!”
Alex set me down and pushed me to the side since it seemed as though Kate wasn’t going to stop running at us.
Bram caught me as I stumbled, squeezing my hips hard before quickly letting go. Yeah, we were going to have to be careful while everyone was home because that small touch had lit me up in a way that I knew would be easy to notice.
“Alexander?” Liz called from the front door as Katie tried her hardest to wrestle Alex to the ground.
“I’m going to hurt you,” Kate announced as Alex laughed, moving defensively against her but never overpowering her the way I knew he could.
“Aren’t you happy to see me, Katiebear?” he asked through his chuckles.
“Oh, fuck you!” she sniped at his teasing, curving her fingers in a way that warned me of the epic pinch she was going to land somewhere on his body.
“Jesus, you’ve turned into a psycho!” he yelped as her fingers made contact.
He jerked her arms out to the side, then bent at the waist, throwing her over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” Kate yelled, kicking her feet.
“Nope,” Alex answered. Then he took a few steps away from the truck and started to turn.
“Oh, shit,” I said to Bram, my own laughter coming to a stop.
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to puke!” Kate yelled as Alex began spinning in the middle of the driveway with Kate over his shoulder. She’d been kicking her legs at one point, but she’d frozen completely when he began to move, and now the only thing on her body that wasn’t holding on for dear life was her long, auburn hair.
“Knock it off, you two!” Liz yelled, coming down the front steps. “I swear, you act like you’re twelve years old.”
“She started it!” Alex yelled, coming to a stop and stumbling slightly.
“Put her down before you fall down,” Kate’s husband Shane ordered from the porch.
I felt Bram stiffen next to me as I glanced at the porch and noticed everyone in the house had made their way outside.
Alex and Katie were both finally laughing, and I felt a grin tug at the corners of my mouth just as I caught sight of my niece and nephews milling around on the porch.
“Your auntie is here!” I announced loudly, stepping away from Bram. “Come to me, minions!”
Keller let out a war whoop as he jumped down the stairs and ran for me, Gavin and Sage following closely behind him with shouts of their own. Damn, I loved those kids.
They hit me hard in a tangle of arms and legs, and I felt Bram behind me once again to steady me on my feet.
“I missed you guys!” I laughed as all the kids started talking at once, telling me about the airplane and school and a million different other things. “We’re missing a couple.” I glanced at the porch where Dan was holding Iris. “Where’s Gunner?”
“He fell asleep on Grandma’s couch,” Sage said with a roll of her eyes.
“Well, we better not wake him up,” I said seriously with a wicked smile on my face.
“Don’t you dare,” Kate warned, coming up behind me to throw an arm over my shoulders. “He’s been up since five this morning. If he doesn’t nap, I’m sending him home with you.”
We made our way into the group of family, and Henry pulled me into a hug as the kids raced off to God knew where.
“No dramatic hello for me, Anita Bonita?” he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me into the air. “I’m hurt.”
“Aw. I missed you too, Hen,” I mocked, nodding my head. “I missed you most.”
“Damn right, you did.” Henry smacked my ass and let me down as I met Bram’s angry eyes over his shoulder.
“Hey, now. None of that,” Alex ordered, pulling me into his side. “We all know Ani missed me most.”
“Nuh uh!” Keller yelled as we went into the house. “She missed me the most!”
Gunner started crying from the couch.
“Son of a bitch,” Katie said under her breath, glancing at Shane before going to pick up their wailing son.
I laughed hard as chaos reigned around me.
* * *
“Stop staring at me,” I hissed at Bram hours later as we unloaded stacks of soda out of the back of Aunt Ellie’s SUV.
“I’m not staring at you,” he argued, stacking up four cases and lifting them into his arms.
“Uh, yeah. You are,” I argued quietly as I picked up another case.
“Why the hell is Henry all over you?” he asked, making my eyes grow wide.
“What? What the hell are you talking about?”
“He had his hands on your ass.”
“That’s probably the seventy-millionth time he’s slapped my ass since I met him,” I replied incredulously. “He slaps everyone’s ass!”
Bram glared at me and opened his mouth to reply, then snapped it shut again as Alex came around the side of the house.
“At each other’s throats again? Jesus,” Alex said jokingly. “Why don’t you just fuck already and get that shit out of your systems?”
My body completely froze, and beside me Bram dropped four cases of soda at our feet.
“Oh, no fucking way,” Alex breathed, looking back and forth between us. “You didn’t.”
I couldn’t make myself deny it. My tongue felt too thick in my mouth, and I knew my eyes were wide as saucers.
“You’re an idiot,” Bram finally replied, leaning down to grab the soda cans that were busted and fizzing and probably completely unsalvageable.
“You fucked Ani?” Alex asked incredulously.
“Hey!” I hissed, offended.
“No offense.”
“Your tone was pretty fucking offensive!”
“Oh, my tone was offensive?” Alex asked, his jaw tightening. “My tone was offensive but you letting Bram fuck you, even though he can’t stand you, isn’t?”
My jaw dropped as hurt seemed to seep into my skin.
Before I could reply, Bram’s fist was sailing out and clipping Alex on the jaw, causing him to stumble back a few steps.
“This was fun,” I said woodenly, gripping the case of soda still in my arms.
I turned on my heel and walked toward the house, my entire body singing with humiliation.
“Ani, you know I didn’t—” Alex’s words cut off, but I didn’t turn around to see why.
“Oh, good, you got the soda. We never buy any at home, and I’ve been craving it all day,” Kate called out as I made my way in the back door.
She was standing in the kitchen making sandwiches, and I could hear the rest of the family in the living room talking loudly over one another as they caught up.
“I fucked Bram,” I said baldly, setting the case on the kitchen counter.
Kate almost dropped the butter knife in her hand and scrambled to catch it.
“Say again?” she asked, looking at me like I had two heads.
“I fucked Bram. A lot. All over his house…and my house. A lot—”
“Yeah, I get it,” she cut me off, her face pulled up in disgust.
“Alex just figured it out, and he has a big fucking mouth, so I’m telling you before he does.” I nodded once for emphasis.
“Why the hell would you sleep with Bram?” she hissed, glancing over my shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
“Because he’s sexy.” I shrugged nonchalantly, hiding the way my skin crawled over our conversation. “And because he’s got a big—”
“Ew! Jesus, Ani!”
“So now you know,” I said, opening up the soda and carrying it to the fridge. We would have had to use the cooler for all of it, but since Bram had essentially ruined four cases with his butterfingers, we’d have room in the fridge.
“So are you guys together now? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“We’re not together,” I replied before she could start dreaming up fairy tales in her head.
“What?” she said, her voice growing hard.
“Leave it, Katie. We’re not together.”
“But—”
“Did I give you shit when Shane was fucking you around?”
“Yes.”
“Exactly.” I ignored her affirmative answer. “So drop it.”
I finished unloading the soda in the bottom of the fridge and got to my feet as Kate stared at me.
“Ani—” Bram called as he stomped in the back door. His eyes met Kate’s for one second, and that’s all it took. “Motherfuck,” he hissed, turning to me. “Thought we weren’t spreading that shit around.”
“It’s Katie,” I argued dully.
“And we fucking agreed—”
“Alex was going to tell her anyway!” I said, wrapping my arms around my waist as he glared at me.
“I just spent the last ten minutes talking Alex into keeping his fucking mouth shut!”
“Charming,” Katie drawled, snapping our attention to where she was watching our conversation with a pissed look on her face. “It’s a secret then?”
“Yes,” Bram said immediately, while I bit the inside of my cheek.
“Why, Bram?” Kate needled snidely. “You doing something you shouldn’t be?”
I inhaled sharply at her tone.
“Don’t act like I’m the asshole here—”
“If the boot fits,” Kate cut in.
“—we both agreed we were going to keep it quiet.”
“It’s fine, Katiebear,” I said, setting my hand on her back as she grew even more worked up. “We both agreed that we weren’t going to tell anyone.”
“That’s bullshit,” she argued. “I’m your best friend—”
“It’s just sex.” I shrugged.
“Well, what if you got pregnant or something? It’s never just sex—”
“Not sure how I could knock her up when she’s missing most of her parts,” Bram said snidely.
I closed my eyes in defeat and dropped my chin to my chest.
“Oh, fuck,” Bram muttered quietly into the suddenly silent room.
“What?” Kate asked in confusion beside me.
“Ani—” Bram called, his voice dripping with apology.
“It’s nothing. I finally had the hysterectomy,” I said, opening my eyes and waving my hands in front of me. “Go me!”
“You did?” Kate breathed, her eyes filling with tears. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“That,” I said sharply, pointing to her eyes, which had begun to overflow. “That’s the reason. It’s fine, Katie. I’m fine. Stop crying.”
Kate’s mouth trembled as she searched my gaze, then her breath hitched as she pulled me toward her, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling my face into her shoulder.
I shuddered as I felt my own tears rise to the surface. This was why I hadn’t told her. She made me weak when I wanted to be strong, because I couldn’t hide from her. Kate knew just by looking at me what I was feeling, and she wouldn’t let me brazen my way through acting like the whole thing wasn’t a big deal.
It was a big deal, and she knew it. She wouldn’t pretend like it wasn’t.
“I’m so sorry, Ani,” she whispered into my ear. “That sucks.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m still sorry.”
“I know.”
She held me close for another minute, and when she let me go, Liz and Ellie were standing in the doorway and Bram was gone.
“So you finally told her,” Liz said with a small smile, swatting us as she pushed by us to get to the fridge. “Good. We don’t need secrets in this family.”
I looked up, meeting Kate’s narrowed eyes, and barely held back the nervous laugh that was bubbling up inside me.
* * *
“Look, I got you a pretty new couch to sleep on,” I announced later that night, leading Henry into my house.
“Aw, I hate pullouts,” Henry complained jokingly.
“Wear a condom and you don’t have to,” I said back, making him laugh. “Sorry, I don’t have any other furniture, and there’s no TV out here.”
“No problem, I’ll probably just crash here anyway. I’ve got plans with Trev and the ’rents pretty much every day.”
“Oh good. I didn’t want you all up in my shit all the time anyway,” I mumbled.
“Aw, don’t worry, Anita Bonita. I’ll have plenty of time for you,” he shot back, ruffling my hair as he passed me. “We’ll go out this week and hit the bar. I won’t be up in your shit…unless you’re into anal.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I choked on a laugh.
“No really, I’d be down for anal.”
“Not happening.”
“My heart is broken.”
“I’m going to break your dick in a minute.”
Henry cupped his junk in his hands in fear. “Fine, no anal.”
“Jesus,” I muttered, shaking my head as I moved toward the kitchen. “You want a beer?”
“Sure,” he called back as he riffled around in his bag. “Where’s your—”
His words cut off as someone started knocking on my door.
“Who the hell is that?” I asked, even though I didn’t expect him to answer. I carried the two open beer bottles to the front door and swung it open.
“For me? Thanks,” Alex said as he stepped in my front door, snagging a beer out of my hand. “Love what you’ve done with the place.”
“What are you doing here?” I blustered as Bram followed him inside, taking the second beer from my hands.
“What the fuck?” Bram snarled as he moved past me.
“What?” I spun around as I closed the door and saw Henry standing naked in my living room. “Are you out of your fucking mind?” I screamed, covering my eyes.
“I was getting fucking pajama pants on! You’re welcome!” Henry yelled back.
“Dude. No one wants to see your baby junk,” Alex laughed.
“You couldn’t change in the bathroom?” I practically screeched with my hands still covering my eyes.
“You were getting beer. I thought I had time to change real quick,” Henry snapped back. “You can uncover your face, asshole.”
“Seriously? You couldn’t even keep underwear on?” I sniped as I dropped my hands, very aware of the way Bram was glaring as he chugged the beer he’d stolen out of my hand.
“I don’t wear underwear,” Henry said flatly.
“Oh, hell,” Alex gasped, his face getting redder and redder as he laughed. “This shit just keeps getting better.”
“Fuck all of you. I’m going to bed.” I threw my hands in the air and stormed to my room. I really hadn’t wanted to see Henry’s closely shaved blond pubic hair or frank and beans. If I’d had any inkling that I was going to have to deal with that shit, I would have told him he couldn’t stay with me. I shuddered.
Before I could slam the door to my room, making my point even more firmly, Bram was pushing in behind me and closing us in.
“What are you doing?” I asked incredulously as he pushed us farther into the room. “Henry doesn’t know, jackass.”
“He’s about to,” Bram replied roughly, pushing his hands into my hair.
“Uh, no,” I muttered, dodging his lips.
“What, you won’t kiss me now?”
“Not when you’re being a jackass,” I mocked. “Henry was being Henry—this jealousy bullshit is misplaced.”
“Jealousy?” Bram barked out a laugh. “Henry’s hung like a twelve-year-old.”
“Actually—”
“You really don’t want to finish that sentence,” he said darkly.
I scoffed. Stupid boys and their appendages. It was all ridiculous.
“I’ve been with you all day,” Bram said in annoyance, tightening his hands in my hair. “And I haven’t been able to touch you once.”
My entire body seemed to soften at his words.
“Oh,” I sighed, reaching up to rest my hands on his forearms.
“The kids know—”
“I’m sorry I didn’t realize that you’d keep Alex quiet,” I apologized, grimacing.
“—so I’m staying the night.”
“Wait, what?”
His mouth covered mine, and I groaned as my hands slid off his arms and went straight to the bottom of his shirt, sliding under it so I could feel the soft, warm skin of his stomach.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” he said against my lips as my fingers found his nipples, making him shudder.
I lifted my arms above my head so he could pull off my T-shirt, and before the fabric had even hit the floor, my bra was gone, too.
“I hate it when you wear a bra,” he grumbled, making me giggle.
“T-shirts require a bra—even for me,” I informed him as he tore off his own T-shirt.
“Bullshit,” he argued with a grin. Then he tackled me to the bed, making me laugh. “You’re missing a few things,” he said suddenly, pulling his face from mine.
“What?” I looked down at my bare chest and denim-covered legs.
“This,” he murmured, tickling my nose as he pulled my septum ring down until it was visible. “And this.” He slid a finger into my mouth, rubbing it over my tongue, his hips jerking as I sucked.
“Tongue ring is in my purse,” I said after he’d pulled his finger away. “In the living room.”
Bram paused for a second, then a small smile pulled at his lips as he yanked me off the bed. Before I knew what he was doing, his T-shirt was being pulled over my head and my jeans were whisked down my legs.
“Now go get it,” Bram ordered, his gaze roaming up my body and pausing at my hard nipples beneath the thin cotton.
“Are you serious?”
“I wanna feel that ring tonight,” he said huskily, making my stomach clench in need.
“Okay,” I whispered back.
I took a deep breath and opened my bedroom door as Bram started unbuttoning his jeans. Jesus, he was hot.
As quietly as I could, I walked out into the living room, where Alex and Henry were spread out on the sofa bed drinking my beer and chatting. I was hoping to make it to the entryway where I’d left my purse without notice, but Alex caught me sneaking by and a wicked grin spread over his face.
“Nice shirt,” Alex called out, catching Henry’s attention.
“Good color on you,” Henry said, nodding his head.
“The white T-shirt is ‘in’ this season,” Alex agreed, tilting his head to the side like he was trying to get the perfect angle.
“Is this an invitation?” Henry asked with a completely straight face. “I’ll come to the party.”
I gritted my teeth at their teasing and crouched down carefully at my purse, fishing through the side pocket for my tongue ring. As soon as it was in my hand, I raised it to my mouth and secured it on my tongue.
“No,” I said huskily, rising as I turned back toward them. “Bram just asked me to put in my tongue ring.” I shrugged and stuck out my tongue, making their eyes widen. “He likes it on his dick.”
Both guys groaned as I laughed.
“I think she just schooled us,” I heard Alex say from the living room as I got to my bedroom doorway.
“I think I just came,” Henry bitched back.
I giggled, glancing behind me as a strong hand reached through the doorway and pulled me inside.
* * *
“Shit,” I murmured groggily the next morning as my phone rang on the nightstand table.
“Whose phone is that?” A voice startled me from the floor, making me jerk back into Bram’s warm body.
“What the hell?” I asked, leaning over the bed to find Alex and Henry asleep on my floor.
“It was cold in your living room,” Alex mumbled, turning his head away from my glare. “You need new windows.”
I just got new windows. Ugh. My phone stopped ringing, then started up again.
“Hello?” I answered quietly. I didn’t want to wake Bram up, but I was naked under the blankets. There was no way I was going to get out of bed before Thing One and Thing Two left the room.
“Anita?” a woman’s voice asked.
“Yep. This is her. Who’s this?”
“Hey, um, it’s Beth. Bethy. Your sister?”
I stopped breathing.
“Yeah, Bethy. I know who you are, kid. What’s up?”
I hadn’t talked to her since my birth mom had called to tell me Bethy was pregnant, and I so badly wanted to rip her a new one for being so stupid—but I didn’t. The milk was spilled at that point. The only thing left to do was try and clean it up.
Bram’s hand slid around my waist as he sleepily curled closer, his palm resting on my stomach.
“Well, um, Mom told you that I’m pregnant, right?” she asked tentatively.
“Yeah, dude. She did.” Why the fuck didn’t you make him put on a condom?
“Well, I’m almost due. You know, with the baby.” Her last words were sort of muffled, and in that moment, I fully understood how very young and immature my fifteen-year-old sister was.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked, wondering where she was going with the conversation. I sent presents to her and my brothers on their birthdays and Christmas, and I tried to call at least once every couple months but none of them had ever called me.
“I-was-wondering-if-you-could-take-it,” she rushed out.
She said it so fast that, for a moment, I didn’t understand the words, but when I did, my world narrowed down to just me and the phone in my hand.
“What?” I rasped out.
“I was hoping you could adopt it.”
“What?”
“Stop saying ‘what.’ Just tell me no if you don’t want to,” she snapped. “I can find someone else.”
“I—” I swallowed hard. “You dropped a bomb here. Can I have a second to process?”
“I need to know soon. I’m due in two weeks so it could be coming out at any time. Someone needs to be here to take it home.” She sounded so detached from the whole thing that it made my stomach churn with nausea. It? She kept calling the baby it.
“Can I call you back?” I asked, pressing my fingertips to my forehead as my head started to ache.
“Yeah, let me know.”
She hung up without saying good-bye and before I could ask any more questions.
“Who was that?” Bram asked, his beard brushing my shoulder as he kissed it softly.
“My little sister,” I replied, relaxing as he pulled me tighter against him.
“The one that’s having a baby?”
“Yeah.” I rested my hand on his and changed the subject. “Do you know that Alex and Hen are on the floor?”
“Yeah, idiots came in after you passed out last night, drunk as shit and freezing. Told them they could sleep on the floor.” His sleep-roughened voice was amused, and I couldn’t help the way my lips twitched in response.
“I hope you kept me covered up,” I whispered lightly.
“Yeah.” His hand smoothed up my torso and crossed over my chest, his forearm hiding one breast and his hand covering the other. “Like this,” he chuckled. “You sleep hot so, when they came in the door, the blankets were pushed down to our waists.”
“Great,” I mumbled, making his body shake with laughter.
“They didn’t see anything,” he whispered, kissing my ear softly, then taking the lobe between his lips. “Wish they’d wake up and get out so I could fuck you.”
“Henry! Alexander!” I yelled loudly, making Bram jerk behind me and the guys on the floor moan. “Get the fuck up and get the fuck out!”
Bram laughed as Henry pushed himself up on his hands and knees, crawling out of the bedroom and dragging his blanket with him.
“Go ahead. We’re brothers. I’ll just pretend I’m not here,” Alex said, pushing his head farther into the throw pillow he was sleeping on.
Bram laughed harder.
“Not going to happen!” I yelled again, making Alex’s hand fly to cover his ear. “Get out!”
“Assholes,” Alex hissed, climbing to his feet and stomping out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
“Problem solved,” I murmured as Bram’s hips rolled against my ass.
My stomach was still in knots over the phone call with my sister, but I wasn’t going to get any thinking done with my house full of hungover men. Instead, I closed my eyes and arched my neck as Bram’s fingers pinched my nipple, then moved farther south. Then my mind went completely blank.