Undeniable: Reverse Harem Story #3 Page 3

  * * *

  Walking sucked like big hairy balls. I’d never used that expression before or even thought it and yet it was all I could fathom when I slowly handled the massive staircase in Chance’s Upper East Side townhome. It was eight in the morning, and I’d been sleeping alone in bed. I heard voices downstairs and it seemed odd they were all awake.

  Unless it was a weekday and Chance had to work. He wanted to go to medical school, but he’d put it off a year to work in a lab before going. He was going to start working soon. I just didn’t know if that had started this week. I’d lost track of time. Banyan was painting all the time. He hoped to do it for a living and Maven started law school sometime at the end of August.

  I limped into the kitchen and they all jumped up from where they sat around the kitchen table. Banyan’s eyebrows shot up. “Did we wake you?”

  Chance was suddenly at my side, holding onto my back with support. “Come sit down.”

  “You guys are all awake.” That seemed a little asinine, but there, I said it.

  Maven grinned. “We are. We’re trying to do this. Like we’re all going to have to start acting like adults shortly so we might as well get to it now. Easier than me having to do this in August. And Chance starts work next week.”

  Banyan yawned. “They’re dragging me into adulthood with them whether I like it or not. I explained that I paint best at night, but they let me know I would not be seeing them if I kept frat hours. I am therefore reluctantly changing my tune. You are seeing us on day one of the new regime.”

  Chance helped me sit down. “I don’t think he’s been to bed at all.”

  “I’m going to have to stay up for thirty some odd hours to make this work. I can’t just start sleeping at night unless we all want me to drink my way there, and thanks, but I don’t need that either.”

  Chance handed me a pill and a glass of water. I took the offering and drank it down with my medicine. “Not drinking, too?”

  “I gave it up after the incident with my big mouth at the frat.” Chance shrugged. “I don’t think Banyan is giving it up entirely. Just not drinking himself into a stupor.”

  Banyan sipped his coffee. “Ding ding.”

  “It’s really great to see you all this morning. I feel like I woke up to such a gift. You guys, I’m not sure how to say thank you for what you did. I mean, how do I adequately express to you what it means that you traveled the world to rescue me like knights on a proverbial horse?”

  “Oh.” Banyan bounced now. “I get to be a hero. I like that.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You were always my hero. All three of you.”

  “You’re going to be okay.” Maven let out a sigh. “I keep having to say it. We were here and we got your text and then nothing. Now you’re here and you’re going to be okay. I have to keep believing it.”

  I squeezed his hand. “I’m going to find a job.”

  “Not today.” Chance shook his head. His phone buzzed, and he looked down at it, frowning. He swiped away whoever had texted him and turned his focus back to me. “Not for a very long time.”

  “Well, I have to do something.”

  Banyan jumped up. “What you have to do today is watch movies on the couch with us. We’ve got Chance for a little while now before he has to go be respectable.”

  I smiled. “Yes, we do. Movies today.” But I wouldn’t be what my mother thought I was. I wasn’t going to sit here and live like I didn’t need to do anything at all while they spent money on me like some kind of kept woman. When I was better, I was going to find my way. I grabbed Chance’s hand. “You okay?”

  “What? Yes, sure. Just a nothing text I don’t want to deal with.”

  Maven got to his feet. “Let’s feed Giovanna before we sit her down on the couch and make her watch movies she hates all day.”

  “Do you guys miss it?” It was a random question but then again I’d always been sort of that way. The meds were still keeping my thoughts a bit cloudy, too. “School? Your fraternity?”

  Chance shook his head. “Maybe there will come a time that I miss it, but as far as I’m concerned, it kept me from you the last year and it kept us from all being together. The only brothers I need are right here. My own sucks. I’m good without it.”

  Banyan shrugged. “Not really. Not yet anyway.”

  Maven didn’t answer right away. “There are things I will miss. I’m heading into my first year of law school. That’s going to be really hard. I will miss knowing that I have my footing, so to speak.”

  “You’ll have your footing in no time.” I really believed that. “I get the anxiety. I was reading about law school in my endless free time over the last few weeks. You get one exam, right? At the end of the semester. That’s pressure. You don’t really know how you did for some time.”

  “Right, and we’re graded on a curve. But I want this, and I figure if my mother can do it, I can do it. If you want something in life, you throw yourself in and hope you can swim the waters. So off I will go.” He set a piece of toast down in front of me and proceeded to start buttering it.

  I grabbed his hand. “I can do that.”

  “Sure you can but don’t things taste better when someone else makes them for you?”

  He was right and I couldn’t help grinning. “All right, I’ll tell you what. We’ll all make each other’s breakfasts. We can rotate who does who. Just for the sake of having it made from someone else. And thank you, Maven.”

  He kissed my cheek. “Anytime, Library. Anytime. Sure. I call you again tomorrow. Then we can rotate.”

  “Something with action.” Banyan sounded nonsensical until I followed his mind-jump back to the movies we were going to watch. “I’ve spent nearly a week with my father. I want to see things blow up.”

  I took a bite of my toast. It did taste better because Maven had buttered it. “Maybe something with a tower. Or an airplane, now that I’m off of it.”

  Chance nudged my leg. “And a tough kick butt woman who takes no prisoners.”

  “I think we might need to write this movie since I’m not sure it exists at all.” Chance grinned. “You write it, Vonni. We’ll get it produced.”

  My fingers tingled. Now that we were talking about writing, the bug hit me again. It had been hard with my parents, but with these three it always felt like I could do anything, even write a book that people might care to read in their spare time. That was really something. The idea that strangers I’d never met could read my words? It was almost overwhelming except that with these three I believed I could do anything I wanted.

  “I do need to contact my parents and get my stuff. I want my laptop and the dress that Kay and Connie gave me.” It had sort of been my inspiration for this wild journey I was on.

  “Nope.” Banyan grinned. “I think if you go to your room then you will find those things are already there. Maven made sure he emptied your room before we left.”

  Of course he had. That was incredibly thoughtful. “Thank you.”

  “You needed to come home. You had to have your stuff here.” Maven sipped his coffee. “Now you’re home.”

  I was, and just for today, I was going to enjoy every second of it and not overthink tomorrow. That would take care of itself. My mother had registered me for classes online. I’d fought back but maybe that was something I should do. I could get some help with the math. I’d write my book, live here with them, and get a job. It would be a lot, but I’d get to come home and sit on the couch and watch movies with the three best men I’d ever known.

  They’d traveled across the world for me. For some reason, they thought I was worth it. That would forever blow my mind.

  Chapter 3

  I walked out of the doctor’s office and tried to quicken my step. He’d said I was cleared for more activity and to add things back into my routine bit-by-bit. It was funny how quickly I’d lost my stamina but then again my appendix had burst.

  “Hey, wait.” Chance’s voice halted my steps. What was he doing
there?

  He reached me, and I stopped, moving to the side to let people get by. The Upper West Side was slightly busier than the Upper East Side in terms of pedestrian traffic. But even by the house, I couldn’t have stopped in the middle of the street and not expected to get run over. Someone was always going somewhere in Manhattan.

  He kissed me. “What did the doctor say?”

  “I… How are you?” He’d been at work for several days. The hours weren’t bad, and he said every night that he’d learned something new. As far as first jobs went, Chance had a pretty good one. I wasn’t surprised. He was smart and hard working. He was going to have to apply to medical school soon.

  Chance seemed like he could handle a million things at a time.

  And maybe he could.

  I believed there wasn’t much Chance couldn’t undertake if he wanted to.

  “Lunch break. I thought I could catch the appointment. What did he say?” He linked our arms and walked with me, actually slowing me down when I would go faster.

  I sped up, insisting on the quicker gait. “He says I’m healing pretty well. To take it step by step but that everything looks good. He took my sutures out. I guess two weeks post operation I’m doing pretty well.”

  “Sounds that way. A few years from now I’ll know this stuff.”

  I squeezed his side. “That’s right. We’ll be calling you Doctor.”

  He lifted his arm to call a taxi. “Are you okay to get home on your own? How did Maven and Banyan let you out of the house with no one with you?”

  They’d been very attentive the last week. I wasn’t allowed, per doctor’s orders, to lift anything heavy. That had meant in their mind that I couldn’t even lift my hairbrush. I wasn’t used to being babied.

  “I may have sort of just walked out. Maven was on the phone with his mother and not sounding happy about it while Banyan caught a bug of an idea and was sketching on the house. Literally the wall of his room. I left him to it. I hailed a cab and got in.”

  He rolled his eyes. “He can do whatever he wants with his wall. As long as it doesn’t spill out to the living room. Did you pay for your own taxi?”

  “I did. Chance.” I sighed. “You guys have to let me talk about what my mother said to me. Every time I take any money…”

  “Okay.” The cab stopped in front of us, and Chance opened the door. “The big point here is that you are going to be fine. We can talk tonight about whatever disgusting thing your mother said to you. Here.” He pulled out two twenties from his wallet and handed them to me. Okay. Forty dollars.

  “Hey.” He tapped my chin. “I saw that thought. Are you keeping a tab of what you owe me?”

  I got into the taxi and would have shut the door if he hadn’t stopped me. “You’re my girlfriend. I’m in love with you. No tabs between us. In anything. You’re taking me to the Grand Canyon, remember? I love you. Don’t make me mad by remembering something that is very unimportant to me. There is no quid pro quo here, Vonni.” He turned to the driver. “Get her home safe.”

  I slumped down in my seat as he slammed the door. I knew there wasn’t a tally with love. I’d gotten over this before school ended. They wanted to help me and battling them on it did nothing for anyone. This was about me. I wasn’t a prostitute. These guys loved me, and if it lasted one more day or one hundred years, I wasn’t going to apologize for how we were.

  Not even to myself. My mother and father could get out of my head. They had no place there anymore.

  * * *

  I walked into the house to find Maven and Banyan both sitting on the couch staring at me. They raised their gazes in unison, and I suddenly felt like I was a teenager sneaking back in the house. I sighed. “You’re mad.”

  “You left without us.” Maven shook his head. “Two weeks ago you were dying in India. Now you’re leaving us here.”

  Banyan shook his head. “I expected to go with you.”

  I walked forward and sat down so I could place my hands on both their knees. “I’m okay. You were both busy. I’m doing well. They took my sutures out. I’m on the mend. And I don’t think I was dying although I know that I scared you. And Chance met me outside. I’m sorry. I’m trying to figure this out. As I told Chance, I have to get over something my mother said that made me feel… yucky. I have ideas about that.”

  Maven rose, drawing me to him. “You’re okay?”

  “I’m okay.” I nodded as Banyan embraced me from behind. He breathed on my neck, and I shuddered. Maybe I really was okay. The guys had been sleeping next to me like they were afraid to touch me, and I’d not given a thought to sex. Now? My libido seemed to have flared to life.

  “Maybe not both of us at once.” Banyan kissed my ear. “Unless you’re up for it?”

  Maven kissed the end of my nose. “We can take it easy on her. Be gentle.”

  “I would love to be gentle with you, Giovanna.” There words were like caresses. “Would you let us be that way right now?”

  I nodded. “I would.”

  “And she’ll tell us if anything is too much.” Banyan nibbled my neck, and the feeling went right to my core. Oh, how I loved these guys. Five weeks since we’d touched each other.

  Maven picked me up like a prince from some old fashioned movie. I yelped, and he winced. “Too much? Did I hurt you?”

  “You didn’t hurt me, just surprised me.”

  Banyan grinned. “We aim to do just that, Giovanna. And don’t you think you’re getting away with the disappearing act from earlier. A few more weeks and I’m going to punish you in some delicious way.”

  The thrill those words brought me wasn’t something I was going to overanalyze. I liked everything they did; I was sure I’d enjoy whatever punishment he laid out for me. They set me down in Maven’s bed. It was the closest to the stairs. Both of them stared down at me from where they kneeled on the bed.

  I swallowed. “Presumably you guys know how to do this? The last time we were multiple together you arranged the whole thing. I still feel like a novice on this subject.”

  “Well, since we’re going to be gentle with you, I think what we’re looking at is just loving you one at a time while the other one sort of adds to the experience.” Banyan seemed like he had more experience with this or at least he was being more vocal. I really didn’t want to know. I preferred thinking that we’d all just popped into existence together and never had anyone else, ever. Or at least I preferred that right now.

  Maven leaned down, kissing me. He kept his weight off my body. His mouth was firm but soft. I melted into the bed. Had there ever been anything in the world as wonderful as this. He sighed against my mouth. “Fuck, have I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too.”

  “Long nights,” Banyan whispered. “Thinking about you.”

  We undressed each other slowly. I didn’t know if a person could really put on muscle in five weeks, but I swore it looked like Banyan had. Maven was long and lean. I ran my fingers over Maven’s abs, feeling the distinction there. He was skinny but strong. Would he always be? Or was that something that ten years from now would look quite different?

  I hoped I could be there to see it. I wasn’t going to get caught up in that right now. Not when Banyan’s steady hands undid my button-down shirt. I had worn it specifically for easy access for the doctor to see my incisions. Now, it made for the same ease for Maven and Banyan. I had on a pink bra and matching underwear, the clasp for the former in the front. Maven’s gaze roamed my body until he looked down, catching sight of the scar from my incision. If they’d caught the problem before it had ruptured they could have removed it laparoscopically. As it was, they’d had to open me up. The surgeon here in New York had complimented the job they’d done based on the healing of the skin.

  Banyan flared his nostrils. “I hate that.”

  “Yes, well, it may keep me out of bikinis. I can obviously not go sunning around in one anymore. Not that I ever did. I’m big on the cover up. If it’s gross to you, we can go
ahead and stop this…”

  Banyan shook his head. “It’s not gross. It makes me mad because it’s a physical reminder of how close… never mind. You’re beautiful. And you can rock a bikini. You are rocking one before this summer is up.”

  Maven nodded. “Yes. It doesn’t break the Grand Canyon dream if we just take you to the beach. A drive that is less than a few hours away doesn’t negate the rule. And I think that this will go better with you on top. That way there’s no risk of us hurting you at all.”

  “Ooh, our hot girlfriend on top, yes.” Banyan’s eyes seemed to sparkle. Or maybe it was just because this moment was magical.

  We turned around until I was on top and Maven was on the bottom. Banyan moved off to the side. He leaned on his hand like he was content to watch. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d gotten some popcorn. I grinned at him, and he winked at me.

  Taking off my clothes seemed more like a show. My pants followed, and I discarded them to the side. Maven’s shorts tented out, showing me just how much he wanted this. I guessed my scar wasn’t too bad to look at. Even if I’d nearly fallen off the table when I saw it.

  I didn’t do great with medical things, particularly my own.

  I forced those thoughts away. They had no place in the bedroom. I managed to get Maven’s pants off as Banyan removed his own. Despite what he’d said, I doubted very much he was going to keep his hands to himself for very long. Whatever it was, I trusted him.

  I was desperate for something, and Maven seemed to read my body language completely. He kissed me hard, our tongues dancing together. I managed somehow through the kisses to get on top of him, pressing my weight on him as I kissed him back. My nipples hardened as I leaned down, touching his skin.

  I loved the way he held me: one hand on my back, one on my hip but at no point pushing so I had any discomfort from the stiff skin over my scar. Hell, I couldn’t think about that at all.

  Not when everything inside of me was warm and readying.