As usual, I only wore one of the twins’ white t-shirts when at home. They were large and fit loosely over my frame, which made them airy and comfortable.
When I was checking on the sizzling eggs and bacon, the sharp sound of heels clicking on the marble flooring caught my attention. Shocked, I turned around. The twins didn’t mention inviting anybody over today. The high-tech systems made their house incredibly secure—no one could walk in without buzzing the intercom, unless they had the house card.
A svelte, middle-aged lady made her way toward me. The clothes and accessories hanging off her looked expensive. She wore a scarf over her head and chic sunglasses.
Without thinking, I asked, “Who the hell are you?”
She lowered her shades and studied me for a brief second. Before saying anything, she turned around, ignoring my question with the same level of rudeness I gave her.
I hated it when people ignored me. My annoyance started to bubble to the surface. “What a bitch,” I muttered, loud enough so she could hear. She didn’t react.
The eggs were already starting to brown at the sides, so I focused on cooking a delicious morning meal for the twins.
The woman sat down on the sofa, as if she owned the place. I wanted to tell her off and ask her to get out, but something about her irked me. She took off her scarf and let her velvety, brown hair fall to her shoulders before reaching into her purse for a mirror so she could reapply her lipstick.
Jealousy gripped at me as I examined her. I could tell that she was old because of the light wrinkles around her mouth and eyes, but despite her age, she was still beautiful. A regal air surrounded her. Maybe the twins had some fun with her in the past, when they had a thing for older women.
I was about to walk over and ask her what her purpose for being here was when Ryan emerged from the stairs. “Mom? Why are you here?”
Alarm bells started to ring in my head. No wonder she irked me and was so insanely gorgeous. She was the twins’ mother! Mentally, I bit my thumb, not sure about what to do. How could I even think the brothers had slept with her before? That was immensely disgusting.
Her cold, ice-queen attitude made a switch the minute she saw her darling son. “Fluffy bunny! Oh, how are you doing? Mumsy missed you so much.” She caught her son in a big, adorable hug and kissed him on both cheeks. “Have you been eating properly? How is your brother? I know you can be very reckless sometimes. Have you made sure you’ve been staying out of trouble? Have you been missing Papa and me? I know you used to get homesick all the time. My poor, poor darling.”
I stood there, trying to stop myself from falling to the floor in a laughing fit. Seeing the dominant, alpha-male Ryan getting babied like that was definitely something new. No wonder they used ‘fluffy bunny’ as the safe word and didn’t want me in a bunny suit—it reminded them of their mom.
“I’m fine, Mom,” Ryan said, abashedly rubbing the back of his head.
“I haven’t seen you in so long! Why haven’t you called? I’ve been worried for you.”
“Mom, can you give us a moment?” Ryan pried himself from his mother’s arms and made his way to me. “Scarlet, I wasn’t expecting this.” I could tell he was nervous. I’d never seen him like that before.
I looked over Ryan’s shoulder. “Your mom, she’s… she’s something.” Riley had just entered the living room and was getting the same treatment Ryan did.
“We need to talk to her first. Do you mind waiting for us in the bedroom?”
My shoulders sagged down. I expected to get introduced to their mother, but I shouldn’t have jumped the gun so quickly and as**sumed our relationship had gotten so intimate. “Yeah. Yeah, sure, I’ll do that.” I avoided his gaze, shrinking like a beat-up loser as I strode past him. I hoped our relationship had become a little more important. I got too confident with myself.
“Hey, don’t take it too hard.”
Was my disappointment that obvious? “I’m not.”
“She can be a little overbearing at times. We’re not ready to introduce you to her yet. That’s all.”
He tried to make me feel better, but each word he said only cut deeper into my wound. At that point, I wanted to crawl into a hole and hug myself to sleep. “I’m okay with it. Really. Go have fun talking to your mother.” I strained a smile.
Ryan gave me a playful slap on my behind, as he liked to do. “Wait for us. We’ll come to you after we’re done.” It hadn’t created a jolt of excitement as it used to do.
“Yep.” I attempted to act happy and grin at him.
He pressed his lips to my forehead then left to join his mother. I slipped past the trio quietly. They didn’t pay much attention to my presence, letting me go without even glancing my way.