In three different cabs sat the men who were sure they were all going to get lucky, it was just a matter of who got to who first. Each one had a strong opinion it would be he who struck gold before the others.

They texted one another with taunts and jibes, meant to demoralize their opponents. And it was Ethan who first asked the others if they thought thirty minutes was a bit too long for the women to be freshening up.

Getting out of the cabs, the men met at the entrance to the pub to find it was locked. They walked around the building to find the back parking lot was empty and the rear entrance was also locked.

“They ditched us!” Phoenix said as his face fell. “Why would they all three run off?”

“I have no idea,” Ethan said as he pulled out his cell. “I have Kel’s number and I’m damn well going to ask her where the hell she is and go find her ass. She told me point blank that she’d go with me to a hotel.”

“Jess told me that too,” Griffin said with kind of a weepy tone to his deep voice. “I can’t understand this at all.”

“Cait was all over me. There was never any doubt that she was as into it as I was,” Phoenix moaned as they went back to where the cabs were waiting on them.

Ethan swiped the screen of his cell as he frowned, “It went to voicemail. Kel’s not going to answer me tonight. I just can’t understand it at all. I told her we’d still see each other. I knew she’d been hurt before and that she was still healing. I didn’t mean to stop seeing her after our bet was done. Why the hell would she just leave me like this?”

The men let the other two cabs go and got into the one that took them back to the bed and breakfast. No one wanted to talk as they rode back. All were completely perplexed by what the women they thought they were getting to know pretty well had done to them.

As they walked up the stairs, Ethan took out the card with the keypad code on it. “This just means we have to work that much harder to get them into our beds, guys. We knew this might not happen on the first night. Tomorrow is a new day and this place is small enough someone will know each of them. We’ll find our girls and let them know we’re not about to give up.”

Griffin gave him a nod then took the card out of his hand and punched in the number. “Let’s be quiet. I don’t want to wake the old couple up.”

When they got inside, they saw gray light coming from what must be a television in the living room. A man came out of it, wearing an old brown terry cloth robe. “Hello, gents. My wife told me you all were going to be coming in late. I’m Mr. O’Toole.”

Ethan shook the man’s hand. “Ethan Southern, sir. Happy to meet you.”

Griffin was next to shake the owner of the bed and breakfast’s hand. “Griffin Houser. A pleasure, sir.”

“And I’m Phoenix Nelson,” Phoenix said as he took the older man’s hand in a firm shake. “Thank you for being such a good host.”

“Not a problem,” Mr. O’Toole said. “I can’t imagine why you three look so grim. Didn’t you have a nice time while you were out?”

“A very nice time,” Ethan said. “But our girls left us hanging.”

“You had dates?” he asked them.

“Kind of,” Phoenix said. “We met three of the most amazing women any of us has ever met. And we all thought they liked us, but they must’ve been playing us all.”

“Where’d you go, might I ask.”

“Flannigan’s,” Griffin answered.

“My nephews own that place. A couple of brothers, my sister’s kids. I know most who go in there. What were the names of the women? I’ll probably be able to tell you if you dodged a bullet with them and got lucky they left you out in the cold.”

“Mine was named Kel,” Ethen said as he frowned. “She was a gorgeous little thing. I thought she was the beauty to my beast.”

“That’s not like her,” the man said. “Not one bit. And the girl you fancied, Griffin?”

“Her name’s Jess. She’s tall and blonde.”

“Yep, and she’s my great niece too. So’s Kel,” Mr. O’Toole said. “How about your girl, Phoenix?”

“Cait,” he said and was a bit surprised when he found the man nodding.

“That’s the other two’s sister. She’s the middle girl. They have a younger brother, named Scott. He’s still in high school. Those girls are all pretty good girls. All hard workers, all go to college. I can’t see them ditching you three. They must’ve had their reasons.”

“Sisters, huh?” Ethan said. “They never mentioned that fact to us. That’s odd, don’t you think?”

“A bit,” Mr. O’Toole agreed. “They work the weekends at the pub. You could go back tomorrow night to see if you could find out what happened. Maybe there’s a logical explanation, after all.”

“Maybe,” Griffin said. “Goodnight, sir. We’ll see you at breakfast at ten.”

“Night boys. See you then.”

The men headed up the stairs, each wondering why the girls hadn’t bothered to let them in on the fact they were sisters and that they all worked at the pub. The numbers weren’t adding up in any of their heads. And that was a thing they all decided had to be dealt with.

It was one thing to leave them without a word. It was a whole new ball game to cover up the facts they had. That night the men all had trouble sleeping as they couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened to them all.

Had they all been played by the sisters?