“What did you learn in drama, Beni?” she cleared her throat as she tried not to look at their penises through their pants. If she were given a superpower, Juni was contemplating in this moment, she wanted x-ray vision.
“I learned I can’t sing. I have terrible stage fright unless Phineas talks me down from it and I also learned Phineas doesn’t always get his way.”
“Why?” she looked up at Phineas curiously.
“Because Joelle Peters had a college aged boyfriend who beat the shit out of me for asking to practice the kissing scene one too many times.” His smile held no remorse. “It was worth it because for all three nights of the show, she needed to kiss me while he watched from the audience, and I made it better every time.”
“She was in a relationship!” Juniper protested.
“I
“Ours was a performance for the arts.” He argued back. “I wasn’t trying to marry her. I only wanted to make it believable for the story.”
“Nasty,” she muttered.
“I was fifteen. Trust me, it wasn’t the nastiest thing I did.”
“No. Jerking off in our tent when you thought we were asleep might have been the nastiest thing you did that year.” Beni made a face as he crawled up on the bed to sit behind her. He leaned closer, “you smell better than you did.”
“Thank you.” She beamed at him and then looked at Phineas, “you jerked off with them in the same tent as you?”
“I was fifteen with raging hormones and there was a girl at the next campsite who wore a bikini far too small for her.”
“You could have done it in the woods when we weren’t around,” Beni griped.
“Or at least did it silently like I did,” Adil commented. “You groaned when you finished, and it haunted me for weeks.”
“You groaned?” she giggled at the comment from Adil.
“Loudly,” Beni shook his head in disgust.
“I hope you both stored that memory away for a long time because,” he shut the hair dryer off as he decided her hair was dry enough, “our girl here liked the idea we floated in front of
Kyst earlier. The one Suki planted in all of our heads like the best idea we’ve ever not had.”
“What idea?”
“A quartet, a quad, whatever the fuck we want to call it. The three of us and Juni. Forever.”
Beni and Adil both leaned together to look at Juniper.
Beni spoke first, “is this what you want?”
She shrugged wishing there were more alcohol in her system to answer the question as her bravery faded. “It’s so soon. It’s been a week or so since everything imploded but I do know I’m not ready to be pigeonholed into a relationship with one man ever again where I feel I need to limit myself in order to keep the peace. I want to explore all of who I am.”
“Then it’s a change for our plans,” Adil said quietly. “We were cach intending to woo you for ourselves, to let you choose one of us. Now, we’re going to come at you like a team effort.” He looked at Phineas, “are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“I think so. Beni?”
“If you’re both thinking of Operation Sandcastle, I’m in.”
“What is Operation Sandcastle?” Juniper asked seriously.
“That was when three sixteen-year-old boys asked their fathers each for startup money and were refused because one of our fathers said our plan was like building sandcastles on the beach. It looked pretty until the tide turned and wiped it all out.”
“We showed my dad.” Adil smirked. “Our sandcastle is still standing strong today.”
“What exactly are you talking about?”
“It was an idea we came up with in eleventh grade when we knew for our senior year project we’d need a business model. Three old men told us we couldn’t do it. We put our heads together and achieved the impossible; together. Sandcastle Resort.”
Her eyes widened as she thought of the exclusive resort where the rich and famous went to play in Niagara-On-The-Lake.
“We made the impossible happen by the time we were eighteen by securing all the investments and doing a lot of the heavy work ourselves. We renovated many of those rooms on our own. We put in blood, sweat, tears and equity and eventually paid back all our investors. It remains one of our best investments to date. You see Juniper, even as teenage boys there was nothing we couldn’t accomplish together. If you want an experimental life of love and happiness, then we’re going to give you the same dedication and drive we did back then.” Beni said seriously.
“Except,” Phineas grinned cockily, “we’re not eighteen-year-old boys anymore Juniper. We’re grown-thirty-five-year-old men and we are far better at team work now than we ever were.”
Juniper’s eyes were rounded as Beni pulled her backwards and Adil pulled the bedding back while Phineas shoved a pillow under her head and they did it as if they’d been practicing this move all their lives. True to his word, Phineas moved so his bicep was under her pillow and her head was against his chest. and his arm was around her waist. Adil was on the other side of him, and Beni was on the other side of her. Beni’s hand was on her hip and Adil stretched his arm out across Phineas’ chest to rest his hand on her shoulder.
“You’ve never done this before?” she asked quietly, unsure who would answer but unsurprised when they all offered their denials.
“Never.
“Not even once.”
“No way.”
“Then why now?” she asked curiously as Phineas’ hand played with the hair at the base of her scalp, massaging her slowly. Her eyes were growing heavier. The warmth of the bodies surrounding her, the alcohol in her system and the way he was touching her, making her sleepy. Despite the novelty, this felt comfortable and exactly what she needed to unwind after the day she’d spent. The two confrontations with the cheaters felt like distant memories as she was cuddled up in their arms. 1)
“Because for the right woman, a man will do anything.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.