The Confession

This isn’t what it looks like.

Yeah, that would never fly.

Fuck. “Let me explain.”

“Oh, we wanna hear this.” Jack sounded pissed.

Connor didn’t look any less furious. “Tell us how you’re not a hypocrite.”

As demands went, theirs was valid. As Seth tried to gather his thoughts, Beck cleared his throat. “I’ll take Heavenly and, um…”

Seth nodded. “Go inside.”

Neither of them should have to defend their relationship to his brothers. That was his cross to bear. And their tenderhearted girl didn’t belong in the middle of an argument. Knowing her, she would feel horrible about “causing” family strife.

Which she hadn’t.

Heavenly resisted Beck’s nudge toward the patio door and sent Seth a glance filled with concern and contrition.

“It’s okay, angel,” he assured her.

Beck would shelter her from whatever happened next. At least Seth had that assurance.

She nodded reluctantly, and silence prevailed as the two of them gathered more towels and their clothes, then sidled into the house, shutting the door behind them with a deafening click.

Those few seconds of reprieve weren’t enough for Seth to get his head together, but one glance told him the twins were ready to rumble.

“How long has this shit been going on?” Jack gestured to the back door where Beck and Heavenly had disappeared inside.

Seth hesitated and tried to think of the right thing to say. But his omissions and half-truths had landed him here. Yeah, he’d meant well when he’d tried to give the twins advice, but clearly they didn’t see it that way.

“Since I moved to LA.” Well, more or less. There had been six weeks between his impulsive relocation and the night he and Beck had first taken Heavenly to bed in a rush of pent-up desire and passion. But that distinction wasn’t important. What they wanted to know was whether he’d ever had a relationship with Heavenly alone. The answer was no.

Connor’s eyes bugged out. “You’ve been lying to everyone for nearly six months? The three of you have been fucking all this time? Wow, hypocritical much?”

His brothers’ anger wasn’t easy to take, but Seth tried to explain. “Not entirely, no.”

Jack snorted. “How do you figure that? Because after your little speech when you caught us with”—he turned to Connor—“what was her name?”

“How the fuck should I remember?” Connor shrugged.

“Emily,” Seth supplied.

“That’s right,” Connor put in.

“Yeah, so after your little speech, you told us it was irresponsible to fuck the same girl, despite the fact we like it and we’re goddamn happy doing it.” Jack crossed his arms over his chest. “But you’re doing it with your pal?”

“What I said was, that neither of you is mature enough to make a lasting relationship with three people work, and I know that because Beck, Heavenly, and I have to work constantly to keep ourselves together. It’s not fucking easy. We have to listen and compromise and—”

“We told you we’re not interested in anything beyond a few sweaty hours,” Jack shot back. “No offense, big brother, but we’re twenty-one. Adults. We don’t need your sanctimonious ass trying to inform what our dicks do.”

Ouch. Then again, he probably deserved that—and more—for not coming clean.

“Pardon me for trying to save you heartache. I know you two don’t care about keeping a girl for more than a night yet, but there may come a day when you do. And I’m telling you now, you won’t have the maturity or skills to handle it.”

“You don’t know that,” Jack defended.

“I do. Marriage to Autumn taught me a lot about commitment. Beck is divorced now, but he knows a lot about what it takes to make a relationship work, too. We understand the things you should—and shouldn’t—do to make love last. But you don’t have that experience to fall back on. If you two fall in love with a woman someday, you’re likely to run her over or run her off because you don’t fucking know how to behave.”