Page 18 of An Unexpected Encounter

“Yeah, we did. It doesn’t happen again. She’s our sister now,” Zeke states half-assed. “We all need to agree, at least until we figure shit out.”

I can see the longing in their eyes, and how happy they were last night when they talked about their secret woman. If only we’d known how badly our world would come crashing down.

“But—” Jay 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. “It’s how we need to think about it. Any feelings for her we need to push down and forget. Now we need to talk to her and make sure she doesn’t let it slip about our encounters.”

Eli finally looks up at me. “So we lie and tell that bullshit story 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 talk with Selena,” I announce, as I 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 went looking for you but couldn’t find you. Come on over. We need to take pictures, then get 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 me and my brothers 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, 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. She always said the love bug would hit me one day and boy did it. She was a firm believer in instant love; she had it with Dad. Me and my brothers were always the skeptics. We were wrong.

“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 gets faster.

“What the fuck?” Jay 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 get her inside there and hit the stop button. We can talk in private and she can’t run.

“Let me fucking go,” she curses at Jay as he grabs hold of her arm, halting her movement.

“No, we need to talk,” he tells her.

“We have nothing to talk about,” she snaps back as Eli and I step up.

“Fucking twins,” she mutters under her breath.

“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.

“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 emotion except intense anger.

She pulls away from Jay, 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’ve 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.” I tell them, only that never happens. She doesn’t return to the party and when we check on her the next day, we find out she’s checked out.

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