Double the Fun

She sighed and nodded. She heard him exhale loudly before turning and picking up his trunks off the floor. When he was dressed, he led them out of the room quietly. At least he knew she couldn’t talk to Rys about this. She didn’t even know if she could talk to William about it. Rys would be able to draw the confession from her. They walked outside to the front porch. It was still stifling out, but with the sun setting, the night would soon cool considerably. They sat side by side on the swing and looked out on the twenty-five acres the twins owned. Their property and home were beautiful. They had built the two-story cabin two years ago on the property their parents had owned.

When Margi and Clive Holden had died five years ago in a car accident, she had never seen Rys and William look so lost. They had spent months together doing nothing but walking around this property. It wasn’t like they had never seen it before. They had been working on it with their parents since they could walk. She knew they wanted to see every square inch of it, to have the memories of their parents again. They’d always known this would be their land someday, but they hadn’t expected to inherit it at such a young age.

There was a small pond in the farthest part of the property surrounded by thick trees. She had never seen the twins cry, not even when the sheriff told them about the accident, but when they had come across the pond that day, both of them had burst into tears. The flowers their mama had planted the previous fall had just started coming into bloom. Hard, wracking sobs had overtaken both of them, bringing them to their knees right in front of those flowers.

She had been helpless as she watched their big bodies hunch over, their pain washing through them and shaking their whole beings. It had only taken her a moment before she went to them. They had immediately wrapped their arms around her, and the three of them had cried. They had cried until the sun had set and the night chill washed through them. That had been the one and only time she had seen them show their pain.

“It’s so beautiful here.” Jane brought her feet beneath her bottom and watched the wind sway the leaves of the trees. Even though she had just slept with her best friends, there was no discomfort sitting beside William. There was a peace inside her. It was freeing.

“Yeah. It takes your breath away.” The way he said it had her turning toward him. Her breath hitched at the expression on his face. He cupped her cheek. “I just love you so damn much, Janey.”

Tears welled in her eyes at the almost desperation in his voice. She knew why he sounded like that, why he was looking at her like he was about to lose her. He thought what they had done had ruined everything, and although initially she had feared that, sitting beside him on their property, looking at his face, she knew what she had with Rys and William could never be broken.

Chapter 15

“Have we ruined everything, Janey? Did we push you too far, too hard?”

Jane looked over at William. He took her hand in his and held it in his lap. She smiled at him. “Nothing is ruined, William. I wanted to do it just as much as you two.” The sound of crickets singing in the distance filled the silence.

“Are things weird for you now?”

It was strange having this conversation with him. An after-sex talk was not what she envisioned after sleeping with William and Rys. She felt the same emotions and, surprisingly, she didn’t feel the discomfort she was positive she would feel afterward. The shame and fear that things were different didn’t surface.

“No, everything is fine. I feel fine.” Tightening her hold on his hand, she rested her head on his shoulder. “I still love both of you guys more than anything.” Closing her eyes, she pulled up the strength inside her. She needed to talk to someone about what really happened, and William would let her talk and comfort her. “William?”

“Yeah, sweetheart?” His thumb was drawing lazy circles on the back of her hand. She watched a butterfly land on one of the red roses lining the porch. It was a beautiful shade of blue, and just as quickly as it landed, it was gone. Sometimes she wished she could be gone like that. Sometimes she wished she could flit to different places without a care in the world. She wanted her past to disappear. She wanted to make sure her mom was safe and run away with Rys and William.

“Let’s run away together, just the three of us. Let’s put everything behind us.”