Page 22 of Double XL Mountain Men
“Hey Cindy!” she chirps in a cheerful voice. “Glad you’re home.”
Then, my buddy gestures for me to come inside and quickly shuts the door behind me.
“What’s going on?” I ask. “Why the secrecy?”
But Kiki doesn’t have to say anything because suddenly, Brandon and Brent materialize from my bedroom. I’m stock still for a moment before launching myself at their massive forms.
“Oh my god!” I half-cry, half-laugh before wrapping my arms around their necks and peppering them with kisses. “I can’t believe what’s happened! Why aren’t you with Coach and the Title IX rep? I thought you had to do some kind of formal interview with them?”
The men kiss me passionately, running their big hands down the steep curve of my back before settling firmly on my rear end.
“It’s because it’s done,” Brandon says in a throaty voice. “There wasn’t that much to discuss.”
“What?” I ask in a startled tone while pulling back. “How can that be? I must have talked to Susan Carroll for hours. She kept saying all these nasty things about you guys?—”
“Shhhh,” Brent rasps before gently placing a big finger over my lips. “It’s bullshit, but we need to tell you more.”
Kiki takes the hint. My pretty friend grabs her jacket and makes for the door.
“I’m just going to meet my study group!” she calls. “It was great seeing you, Brandon and Brent! Bye, have a good time!” Then, my buddy disappears, leaving me in the silent suite with the handsome twins.
“Why were your interviews done so early?” I ask in a slow voice, taking in the football players’ somber expressions. “I kept telling Susan Carroll that everything was legit, and that I wasn’t coerced into being with you guys. I wanted it.”
Brandon and Brent look incredibly weary all of a sudden, and lead me to the couch in the common area before sitting.
“Yes, but this is the problem, sweetheart,” Brent says in a low voice, his blue eyes fatigued. “We were already on probation at Western. One more infraction and we were out. We’ve been expelled.”
“Wait,what?” I gasp. “How can that be? They can’t do that without you going before the academic board, or some kind of tribunal, or the board of overseers, right?”
Brandon looks grim, the skin around his eyes tight and his lips pressed into a thin line.
“No, they can because we were already on probation, so there’s no more due process. One small slip and boom! We’re out of Western.”
I gape at them.
“No way,” I whisper. “We need to hire an attorney. We need to press the issue because this isn’t fair!”
“It’s not,” acknowledges Brent with a disgusted twist to his lips. “But nothing’s ever “fair” in life. Even our original “infraction” was completely bullshit and made-up.”
I shake my head.
“What happened?” I ask in an almost-whisper. “Why were you on probation?”
The twins’ broad shoulders slump, their huge forms taking on an air of defeat.
“It happened sophomore year,” Brent begins in a low tone. “We were living with a bunch of athletes in a suite and got drunk one Friday night. We were being dumb and had one of those huge Batman paper cut-outs from the movie theater in our common area, and decided to play a prank.”
I look on, confused.
“What prank?”
Brandon sighs while gently rubbing my knee with a big hand.
“A woman we know was walking past the building in the darkness, and we had the shitty idea of taking the paper cut-outand hiding in the bushes with it. When she went past, we had Batman talk.”
I squint at the twins.
“Well, what did Batman say?”
