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Lily gripped Josh’s waist, careful not to hang on too tightly. The thrill of the speed, the rush of air, and the sense of freedom lifted her spirits, sweeping away the devastation of the morning.
When the twins brought motorbikes out of their garage, she’d been surprised. But as it dawned on her this was the mode of transport the surprise changed to horror. She knew nothing about bikes, except there were only two wheels, no seatbelts, and nothing between her and the hard road. She’d feigned an interest she didn’t have, and they’d named parts, and pointed at things that went right over her head. But it had given her time to plan how she was going to break it to them there was no way on earth she was getting on the back of one.
She’d finally decided on distraction as an escape when they’d handed her their present. A black helmet with orange and red flames, identical to theirs. The apprehension in their eyes when they gave it to her made her make a split decision. She’d kissed them both, stuck it on her head and asked where they were going to take her. It had been the right move; the look on their faces was worth every inch of fear that swamped her.
They’d leant her their mum’s leather jacket, made sure the helmet was secure, and talked her through how to follow Josh’s lead on bends. Then they’d helped her on and she’d spent the first couple of minutes with her eyes closed, an iron grip on Josh’s waist, and praying to any god that would listen.
Now, half an hour later, and out onto the main road she had both eyes open, a more relaxed grip on Josh and a big, stupid grin. There was nothing like zipping along on the back of a bike with nothing between her and the air. Cars were fun, but Lily knew she’d never love riding in cars as much as she loved riding behind the twins on their bikes. She’d never learn to ride one, she was content to ride pillion. Matt could keep his car.
Matt.
No matter how much she wanted it to work between them, it wasn’t going to. She knew the twins meant what they’d said, but they weren’t Matt or Nate. Matt had been cheated on before. Seeing her in Nate’s shirt must have been too close to home. She’d hurt him, and there was nothing she could do to make it better.
But it wasn’t just them, there was her mother as well. Her mother had made it clear she would never accept her magic, and Lily had made it clear she wouldn’t block it again. They were at a stalemate, and she was terrified where it would take them.
Her mother could enforce her right for Lily’s compliance while she lived with her. And if she did, Lily would have to make a choice, one she didn’t want to make. Anger and betrayal coursed through her. She’d never doubted her mother’s love before, but now she wasn’t so sure. If her love was conditional on Lily denying who she was, then it wasn’t real love.
Josh tapped her knee and pointed to the left. She pushed it all to the back of her mind. There was nothing she could do, except enjoy her time with the twins. It might be the last time she was able to be with them like this. Unhappiness swamped her, and tears blurred her vision.
She stamped hard on her emotions, blinking to clear her vision. This must be Bodmin Moor. It reminded her of the moor around Trenance, with its wild rugged landscape of gorse, heather, and moss-strewn stones. Tors rose high under a cloudy sky. Tall stone chimneys of old mine workings were dotted around, and she spotted a large pool of water in a disused quarry pit. She wondered if people swam in it, like they did back home.
Home. Trenance was home. She’d never felt so strongly for a place, but it wasn’t just the area, it was the boys who were her home. The tears returned, and she let them run down her face. She couldn’t lose it all now. She just couldn’t, she’d never be the same again.
A strange warmth tingled from her fingertips and up her arms. It travelled through her, soothing her, bringing her breathing and panic levels down until she was serene again. It was the weirdest feeling, and it confused her as much as it settled her.
They turned off the main road and swept around a bend onto a long, straight stretch. A dense pine forest dominated the left and open moorland the right. The road was narrow in places, but she trusted Josh, and remembered to lean with him on the bends. Through the trees, she caught glimpses of water that revealed itself to be a large lake that seemed to stretch on for miles. Jake was leading the way and although they passed a few parking spots, they didn’t stop.
Eventually the lake was hidden behind farming land with fields full of sheep and fluffy brown cows. She watched them as they shook their great heads, massive horns curling behind their ears. She lost sight of them as the wire barriers gave way to high hedges either side of the road. Josh slowed as Jake took a right turn into what looked like a farm track. It was narrow, muddy, and riddled with potholes, and she had to hang on tight. Josh finally rolled to a stop on a clearing. He put his feet down, switched off the engine and took off his helmet.
“You okay?” He turned to look back at her, concern in his eyes. “You were so sad.”
“How do you know that?” she asked in surprise, lifting the tinted visor on her helmet.
“We were touching, and it came through the bond.”
“Oh damn, I’m sorry.” She didn’t want them knowing her every emotion, it was invasive, unsettling, and not fair on them. “How do I stop it?”
“You can’t.” Jake came over, putting on the backpack that had been strapped to his bike.
“We formed the circle last night and, like we said, we were touching, there’s little you could do. Ordinarily, we wouldn’t pick up on it unless you deliberately wanted us too, or it was incredibly strong.” Josh held out a hand to her, and she took it. “Just put one foot down and swing your leg over the back, Jake will catch you if you fall.”
Doing as he said, she managed to get off, even if it was a bit ungainly and Jake had to support her weight as she hopped backwards to get her foot free.
Straightening she groaned loudly as the muscles in her thighs burned, making her legs shake. “Oh, my legs, my legs!”
Josh chuckled as he got off and kicked the stand down. “You get used to it after a while. Keep moving and you won’t seize up.”
“I feel ninety,” she wailed. “I’m never walking again. They hurt too much.”
“You have to move, or you’ll feel it even more.” Josh helped her unstrap her helmet.
“There is no more, this is it, this is agony,” she exclaimed. “Even my bum hurts.”
“C’mon, let’s keep moving, you’ll be okay soon.” Jake chuckled, taking her helmet and locking it to handlebars with theirs.
“Where are we moving to? I don’t see anything.”
“You will. We’re at Dozmary Pool.” Josh led the way up the lane.
“Pool? But the lake’s behind us.”
“That’s a man-made reservoir, it’s not a natural lake. The pool is special,” Jake said.
“Why?” She pulled a face as she carefully picked her way around the muddy potholes.
“King Arthur rowed out to the Lady of the Lake here, and she gave him Excalibur,” Josh replied. “It’s also where Bedivere returned Excalibur when Arthur was dying.”
“Really? Is that true, or just a legend? I know you said Merlin and Arthur were real.” Excitement sizzled through her.
“Yeah, it happened,” Jake said. “We’re nearly there. There’s a stile up ahead. It’s just down another lane then.”
“Have you seen her?”
“No, she only shows herself to the kings and queens that are fae or witch.” Jake touched her lower back and indicated an old wooden farm gate set in the hedge.
“Who was the last monarch to see her?” she asked.
“We don’t know for definite, but Jonas doesn’t think there’s been a magical monarch since Henry the Sixth.”
She saw the flicker of uncertainty in Josh when he said Jonas. Jake slung his arm around his shoulders.
“I’d love to see her,” Lily said, trying to break the mood that had fallen over them. “Who knows, maybe I’m the next British queen and we’ll see her today.”
“Queen Lily?” Josh laughed, the sparkle back in his eyes.
“Queen Lilith.” She held out her hand imperiously. “You may kiss my hand.”
“Oh, really?” Jake caught her hand and bent low. He puckered up his lips and at the last minute licked her, making her laugh.
“We’d be your royal consorts.” Josh kicked at a stone sending it into the grass verge.
“I’ll knight you. You’ll be Sir Joshua and Sir Jacob Nethercott.”
“There’s always the chance we’re the future monarchs and it’ll be us she appears to,” Jake pointed out.
“True. What would I be? You can’t knight a girl.”
“You’d get a damehood instead of a knighthood. You’d be Dame Lilith.”
“I don’t know. I’m not feeling it, boys. Dame Lilith?” She screwed her face up and shook her head. “Queen Lilith has a much nicer ring to it. I think we’ll stick with me being queen and you my lowly but faithful servants.”
“Well, Queenie. Can you climb up there or do you want me to throw you over?” Josh teased her.
“You’ll have a soft landing.” Jake pointed at the swath of mud on the other side.
“Thanks, but no thanks.” She pulled a face and then gave them a wide smile. “As my knights, this is where you take your cloaks off, lay them over the puddle and help me across.”
“Thank god, we don’t have cloaks,” Josh replied.
“Cloaks, coats, jackets, I’m not fussy.”
“No, but you are delusional,” Josh said, laughing.
“C’mon.” Jake climbed the stile and jumped, missing the puddle easily.
Lily climbed up after him, wincing as the muscles in her thighs complained. The mud was wider than she first thought, she wasn’t going to clear it if she tried jumping. She hesitated as Josh climbed up and straddled the gate beside her.
“Do you trust us?” he asked.
“Yes.” She didn’t even think about it. She didn’t need to.
He balanced himself, caught her up and without saying a word threw her towards Jake. He caught her before she’d even processed what Josh had done. She caught her breath and wound her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.
“Much better than a cloak, kind sirs.”
He set her on her feet and kissed her nose.
“C’mon, outta the way, or you’re gonna get splashed.”
Moving back, Lily watched as Josh flung himself from the stile, narrowly missing the puddle. The weight of the backpack pulled him backwards, but Josh caught his arms, stopping his fall.
“Close one, thanks.” Jake slapped Josh’s back and motioned Lily to keep going. “Onwards, Queen Lily Pad.”
Laughing, she headed on to where the track opened out into a field, and she got her first glance of the pool.
“It’s smaller than I thought.”
“Well, that would be why it’s called a pool and not a lake.” Josh nudged her shoulder, and she stuck her tongue out at him.
She watched the steel grey water, there were no ripples, no signs of fish jumping to catch the flies that skimmed low over the surface. The air was still, no birds were singing, there wasn’t even a slight breeze to tease the hedges or the few trees that grew in them. Enchantment held the area in a still silence, watchful, waiting, until need would awaken the magic that lay here.
“Can you feel the stillness?” Jake whispered, his breath hot against her ear.
“There’s magic here,” Josh whispered from her other side. “Magic that’s older than time.”
“Ancient, like the forest.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, peace settled over her.
“Most of the moors used to be forests. There are still some left, but this pool was in the middle of a large forest, and it was here King Arthur came.” Josh put his hand on her lower back. “It wasn’t this barren.”
She opened her eyes. Trees surrounded the pool, green and lofty. Their branches reaching, spiralling upwards, forming a wreath for the full moon that hung above. A shaft of moonlight illuminated the Lady of the Lake. She was beautiful, ethereal, with long golden hair and a kind face. Her slim form covered by a diaphanous gown that sparkled and shimmered as she held Excalibur in her hands. Arthur knelt in the prow of a small boat, his head bowed before the Lady. Movement around the pool revealed nymphs, sprites, elves, badgers, foxes, all sorts of creatures. All witnesses to the King of England accepting the sword in the fight for his country.
“I am bloody starving, what did you bring to eat, Joshua?”
The spell broke and only barren moorland remained, the trees cut down long ago by herdsmen for grazing. Loss swept over her, and she wrapped her arms around herself.
“Food, Jacob, food.” Josh winked at Lily. He tugged her to where Jake was spreading out a blanket that had been tied under the backpack.
“You’ve got a picnic?” She took off her jacket and put it with theirs on the blanket.
“Of course.” Jake took some foil packets from the bag.
She sat between them and took the sandwich he offered her.
“To be fair, we don’t go far without having food with us,” Josh said, taking out bottles of water and a bunch of bananas.
“How did you know to bring enough for all of us though?” she asked, taking a cheese and pickle sandwich out.
“I told him,” Jake said, opening his sandwich.
“What? When?” They hadn’t said anything when Josh had met them in the green or when they were at the garage.
“When we decided to go out on the bikes. We weren’t sure where we were going until we hit the A30.”
“You didn’t phone each other. You didn’t say anything, just got on the bikes and left.”
“Well, you know. Oh! Didn’t we tell you?” Josh pulled her legs over his and rested his sandwich on her thighs.
“Tell me what?”
Jake pulled her to lean against him, supporting her weight. “We talk to each other in our heads.”
“You can?” She looked between them. “And is this like your ability to tell when it’s going to rain?”
“Ouch. We deserved that, Jacob.” Josh chuckled and took a bite of his sandwich.
“Yeah, well, that was—what’d you call it again, Lily?” Jake poked her arm gently.
“Rubbish.”
“Nah, it wasn’t rubbish.” Josh took another bite, watching her through his fringe.
“If we remember correctly, and we do, you swore,” Jake said.
“I don’t swear,” she replied, before popping a bit of bread into her mouth.
“Bullshit.”
“That was it, Joshua. Bullshit!” Jake patted her thigh with his free hand.
“Are you deliberately changing the subject?”
“Nah, just teasing you.” Josh kissed her cheek quickly. “We thought we’d told you. We can feel each other.”
“You said that but not that you can talk to each other. Do you do it a lot?”
“Depends on where we are and what we’re doing. If we’re in a situation we can’t speak out loud, then yeah.” Josh picked some crumbs from her jeans and threw them onto the grass.
“Can the others do it?”
“No.” Jake balled up his now empty wrapper and put it into the pack. “Just us. A magic twin thing, I guess.”
“It must be really weird.” She finished her sandwich.
“Why?” Jake handed Josh a packet of crisps. “It’d be odd if we couldn’t hear each other.”
“We’re extensions of each other. If we’d not split in the womb we’d be one person. We’re still one person, just in two bodies,” Josh explained.
“I’ve met identical twins before.” Lily took the crisps Jake offered her and opened them. “They were adamant they were different people. They never dressed the same, didn’t like the same things.”
Josh shrugged. “Maybe it’s because we’re fae. We don’t know, but we do know we don’t want it any other way.”
“I guess you’re never lonely. Not even when you aren’t together.”
“Exactly.” Jake brushed some crumbs from her arm. “We talk a lot even when we’re together.”
A comfortable silence fell as they finished eating. Lily watched the water, looking for any movement at all, but there was none. It was like a mirror reflecting the sky above.
Josh began to pack up the food, so she drew her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and leant forward, still studying the water.
“Are you cold?” Jake nudged her shoulder with his.
“No, I’m fine, thanks.” She nodded towards the water. “It never moves. Are there fish in there?”
“Probably.” Josh got to his feet and stretched his arms above his head.
“Can you whisper with fish?”
“Whisper?” Josh frowned at her.
“Yeah, y’know, like some people are dog whisperers, or horse whisperers. You’re animal whisperers in general, aren’t you?”
“Well, that’s a first.” Jake pushed the backpack over to their jackets. “Never thought of it like that.”
“We don’t talk to them or whisper.” Josh laughed and went to the edge of the pool. “And we can’t say we’ve ever tried with fish anyway.”
“What about your own?”
“What about them?” Jake looked puzzled.
“Well, y’know, haven’t you sat there and tried to get them to—I don’t know, swim in synchronisation or something.”
“Um, no.” Jake looked at Josh and circled his finger by his head.
She laughed, pushing his shoulder. “C’mon, don’t tell me you haven’t tried to get ants to march in twos or get your cat to sit on Nate’s head or something.”
“Bloody hell.” Josh hooted with laughter. “It’s almost worth it just to see his reaction.”
“I can’t believe you haven’t.” She got up, brushing crumbs onto the grass. “I’d be all over it. I’d tell bees never to sting so they didn’t die. Spiders would be permanently banished from the country.”
“If spiders left the country we’d be drowning in flies. Think Drew’s room but multiply it by a billion or so.” Josh crouched by the edge of the water, peering into it.
“Well, I’d banish them as well.”
“Babe, you couldn’t do that. We can’t do that.” Jake shook his head. “We can communicate with them because we’re fae. We’re supposed to protect them, look after them, not change the order of things. Everything works in symbiosis. We literally can’t change anything, or the entire system fucks up.”
Pulling a face, she nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But it’s a shame you can’t banish spiders.”
“Misunderstood,” Josh muttered.
“What?”
“Spiders. They’re misunderstood.”
“Freaky things, why so many eyes? Why so many legs? And why can they move that fast? That sort of speed is not natural.”
“It is to them.” Jake crouched next to Josh. “See anything?”
“No.” Josh shook his head. “Spiders are more afraid of you than you are of them.”
“Yeah, right.” Lily joined them, going onto her knees. “Which is why they run towards me and not away from me.” She peered into the water, but all she could see was their reflections.
“They just want a cuddle,” Josh teased her.
“Can you blame them?” Jake gently touched the surface with his fingertip, sending a ripple outward, distorting their faces.
“I was beginning to think it was a mirror, and if I threw a stone it would bounce.” She watched the ripple spread farther across the pool.
“Well, let’s see.” Josh picked up a small stone and raised his hand above his head.
“No!” She grabbed his wrist. “Don’t.”
“Nothing will throw it back. The Lady won’t be in the water,” he said. “She’ll have become pure magic until needed.”
Lily looked out over the pool and shook her head. “No, she’s still here. She may be sleeping, but she’s here.” She didn’t know how she knew. It was a feeling, a whisper in the back of her mind.
“Can you feel her?” Josh dropped the stone to the ground.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I can’t explain it. It’s just a feeling we mustn’t disturb the water so violently. Maybe I’m being silly.”
“Not silly,” Jake said. “You connect with magic. We’ve seen it. You connect more than we do.”
“The nymphs called me a little hedge witch. When I said I was supposed to be a seer not a witch, they told me I was both.”
“We know you are.” Josh sat back on the blanket, pulling her with him. “Jonas thinks you’re only a Seer.”
“Drew said I was a witch, he doesn’t think I’m a Seer.”
“They both think you’re different things. Best to leave it like that for now.” Jake moved to sit on her other side. “Don’t tell either of them about the nymphs.”
“Can we ask you a question?” Josh turned to look at her.
“Of course.” She lay back and closed her eyes.
“What was going down between you and your mum?”
“You heard?” Tension crept back in.
“Sorry, babe, sound travels.” Jake propped himself on his elbow beside her and ran his fingertip down her nose.
“She wanted me to take the tablets again.” Lily scrunched her nose up against the tickle.
“Shit.” Josh mirrored his brother and lay facing her.
“She won’t accept it. Her house, her rules, she said as much.”
“But not something dangerous,” Josh argued. “They made you ill.”
“She won’t accept it.” She clenched her fists against the pain and sat up.
“She hates magic that much?” Josh asked, sitting up with her.
“She said it’s evil. I have evil in me.” She tried to smile at him but failed.
“Hey. Hey. It’s okay, baby.” He put his arm around her waist. “You don’t have evil in you.”
Jake sat up and put his arm around her shoulders. “Magic isn’t evil. None of us are evil, especially not you.”
“She said it’s all been a waste of her time. Shielding me from it was a waste of time, all the sacrifices she made for me.” It burnt inside, stripping away the peace from her.
“She can’t put that on you.” Josh shook his head. “Anything she chose to do she can’t blame you for.”
“It was her choice to hide you,” Jake added.
“She lied to you, for whatever reason, right or wrong.” Josh moved his fingers into her hair. “We don’t know how she expected to keep it from you.”
“She must have known you’d find out sooner or later, or that Drew would turn up when you were eighteen.” Jake lowered his arm and stroked his hand up and down her back.
“It’s probably panic talking. She can’t blame you, baby. Magic is a bit like money. It can be used for good or bad. Money itself isn’t bad.”
“Magic is the same,” Jake carried on. “It’s not good or bad, it just is. How it’s used is the kicker.”
“My head knows. My heart knows,” she admitted. “But it hurts. She’s scared of me.”
“She’s lived with you for eighteen years and doesn’t see you. We’ve known you for a couple of months and know there isn’t an evil bone in your body.”
“I broke the mirror and didn’t even know it,” she reminded them.
“Exactly, you didn’t know. She’d have something to worry about if you’d done it deliberately. You can’t control something you don’t know you have. Now you can control it, you won’t do it again.”
“She doesn’t know that.”
“She should.” Jake snorted.
“Do you think she’s going to make good on her threat to leave?” Josh asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope not.”
“We don’t think she’ll go if you stand firm,” Josh said. “We don’t want you to go.”
“I don’t want to go. I don’t want to leave you, any of you.”
But if Nate and Matt couldn’t work things out, she wouldn’t be able to stay with them either. She rested her chin on her knees. It was too much, with no way to turn.
“It’s going to be okay.” Jake moved his hand to the back of her neck.
“What about Nate and Matt? What if they can’t—”
“They will,” Josh said. “You need to stop worrying and thinking.”
“Just for now at least,” Jake added. “We can help with that.”
“Yeah?” She looked at him sideways and caught the gleam in his eyes. She smiled despite herself. “How?”
“Well, we can play a game of eye spy,” Jake suggested.
“Eye spy?” She lifted her head, raising an eyebrow at him. He was trying so hard to look innocent and failing completely, and it lifted her spirits slightly. Maybe they were right, maybe Matt and Nate would sort it out. As for her mother, she’d do what they suggested and stop thinking about it. She was with them and she wasn’t going to spoil it by pouting.
“Or we could play hide and seek,” Josh said.
She looked around her pointedly. “Not that many areas to hide.”
“What was it Lily suggested the other night, Jacob?”
“Oh, yes. Something about skinny dipping?”
“That’s right. We’re game, Lil.”
“You’re mad.” She snorted. “I’m not going in there. It’s far too cold.”
They went silent then Jake sniggered, and she knew they’d been conversing in their heads.
“You do realise it could be considered rude, don’t you?” she said. The clouds were breaking up and patches of blue appeared on the smooth surface of the water.
“What?” asked Josh.
“You were talking to each other silently.”
“Would you like to know what we were saying?” Jake sidled closer, rested his chin on her shoulder and brushed his lips against her ear.
“Is it interesting?” She tried to hide the shiver his lips created.
“Oh, very.” Josh rested his chin on her other shoulder. “We were debating if that was a Freudian slip.”
“You said you wouldn’t go skinny dipping in there.” Josh slid a finger around her ear, pushing her hair behind it.
Goosebumps broke out on her skin. “So that’s—” She cleared her throat. Jake copied Josh’s actions on her other ear and the sensation intensified.
“Which means you’d go skinny dipping with us somewhere else.” Josh stroked a finger around the shell of her ear.
Jake traced his fingers down the side of her neck, making her whimper. “You’re ganging up on me.”
“No, sweetheart, we’re making out with you,” Jake whispered. His lips took the place of his fingers, and she bit her lip against the moan that threatened to spill from her.
Josh licked the curve of her ear and her head went back, her eyes shutting as warmth spread through her. He slid in behind her, pulling her back against his chest, his legs either side of her. She dragged her eyes open as Jake knelt in front of her raised knees and caught hold of her ankles. Pushing her feet apart he shuffled forward until he was kneeling between her legs. His gaze held hers as he lowered his face towards her. Her breathing stopped, anticipation building until his lips grazed against hers. It wasn’t enough, it would never be enough. She moaned low in her throat as his tongue darted out, tracing her lips. She lifted her head, responding to him urgently, and Josh groaned behind her as if it were him she was kissing. He caught hold of her wrists and guided her hands to Jake’s upper arms.
“You feel so good.” Josh buried his nose into her neck and nipped her skin. It sent a bolt of lust through her so strong she jerked, and her teeth clashed against Jake’s.
“Oh, shit, sorry. Are you okay?” Jake peered at her lips.
She caught his head, tugging him towards her, and he got the message. Running her hand through Jake’s hair, she gripped Josh’s thigh with her other hand, needing to anchor herself to them. Josh skimmed his hands up and down her arms, his nose buried in her neck, his teeth and tongue devouring her.
Jake pulled back, letting them both breathe, and her head flopped back onto Josh’s shoulder. She looked at Jake through hazy eyes, her uneven breathing matching his.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “She is.”
“What?” She squirmed as Josh trailed his fingers across her breastbone.
“Joshua said you’re perfect. We want to touch you. Can we touch you, please?”
She nodded, expecting him to stroke her arms, or her face. But it was a green light to them and she cried out, arching upwards when Josh slid his hands inside her top and over her cotton covered breasts. Josh swore, desperately trying to get to her mouth. She turned into him, opening her mouth to him straight away. His hands stayed still on her breasts, he didn’t squeeze, or stroke, he just held her, and it wasn’t enough.
Jake found the exposed skin of her neck and his teeth nipped at her, making her squirm. His fingers trailed a path of fire up the bare flesh of her belly. Josh moved one of his hands up her throat, and she moaned at the loss. Jake’s fingers inched over her heated skin until his hand covered the breast that Josh had abandoned. She shifted from side to side, creating a friction between her and their palms.
Jake swore and between them they pulled the cotton of her bra down and her bare flesh met their warm, gentle hands. She cried out, bringing her hand to back of Josh’s neck. He groaned and buried his face into her shoulder as he tentatively squeezed her flesh.
“Yes, do that again, please,” she pleaded. Heat flooded through her, and she arched into their hands. They lost any tentativeness they had and explored her, stroking, rolling, and tugging until all she could do was tangle her fingers in their hair and hang on. Her toes curled, tingles spread up her legs making her ache deep inside.
She was moved onto her back and they were kneeling over her, inching her top up till she was bare to them. Forcing her eyes open, she saw the pure lust on their faces as they gazed at her, and her insides clenched. Jake dipped his tongue into her belly button, and the zap of electricity had her hips bucking. Their mouths took the place of their hands, and she arched into them, tugging on their hair, holding them against her. They were baptising her with fire, licking her with pure flames, dragging her closer to an edge that scared her. She struggled to hang onto the edge of reason that was slowly slipping away from her. So close to the point of no return that nothing registered except them.
“Bloody hell.” Josh’s palm took the place his lips had been. “You’re beautiful.”
She arched into his touch, unable to form a coherent sentence.
His gaze moved to where he was touching her. They were both studying her response to their touch, and it amplified the pleasure zipping through her. Dark hair fell forward into their eyes but neither of them moved it or took their gaze away from her.
“We need to slow down,” Jake whispered.
“We know, we know,” Josh grumbled.
“What?” She shuddered deeply as they moved her bra to cover her.
“We need to stop.” Josh placed a kiss on her breast.
“We don’t want to,” Jake whispered as he tugged her shirt into place and linked his fingers with hers.
“But we’ve waited a long time for you. We aren’t fucking it up by scaring you away,” Josh said.
“You weren’t scaring me. I trust you. If it gets too much I’ll say.”
“And we’ll always listen,” Josh promised her.
They shifted until Josh had his head resting on her chest and Jake’s head on her stomach. She stroked her fingers through their hair making them hum contentedly. It was like having two big panthers lying on her, purring.
More of the grey clouds had broken away, revealing the blue sky above. She inhaled deeply and let it go slowly. They’d strung her tight with kisses and touches but holding and being held was relaxing her into a comfortable lethargy.
“It’s beautiful here, thanks for bringing me. Was this where we were all going today?” she asked.
“Dunno, hadn’t got that far,” Jake mumbled.
“Matt wants us to take you to the Jamaica Inn. He’s been dying to take you there. There’s a smuggler’s exhibition he wants to drag you around.”
“I’ve always wanted to go there. He remembered.”
“Yeah, he said you’d told him about it.” Josh shifted, scratched the side of his nose, and wrapped his arm around her. “We can go next weekend.”
Excitement rippled through her then dropped away. “If everything is okay by then.”
“Look.” Josh spoke firmly, but he didn’t move. “We’ll get through whatever Drew throws at us. Even if Jonas had betrayed us. The five of us together is all we need.”
“If Matt and Nate can work it out,” she reminded them.
“Teething problems,” Josh replied. “No one here is perfect. But those morons are forgetting one thing; it’s your decision, not theirs or ours.”
“And they’re assuming a bloody lot,” Jake added.
“What?”
“That you want to take our relationship with you that far. It could be too soon for you.”
“Are you?”
“Are we what?” asked Josh.
“Are you wanting to get more intimate with me?” Lily rolled her eyes. “That sounds like some sort of therapist’s line.”
“We wanted to get down and dirty with you thirty seconds after seeing you in class the first time.” Jake laughed. “You were fucking gorgeous. All neat, prim, and proper, just begging for us to mess you up.”
“Ah, so it’s lust that’s the drawing factor.” She poked them both in the shoulder and went back to stroking through their hair.
“There’s an order to it,” Josh said. “Lust. Then lust and like. Then lust, like, and love.”
She held her breath, her fingers stilling in their hair. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? What she desperately wanted him to say? Because it was too late for her, they already held her heart and always would.
“In that exact order?” she asked, trying hard to sound casual as she slid her fingers through their hair again.
“Yeah. For us, yeah,” Josh whispered. They dislodged her hands, sitting up to look down at her. “We’ve worked through the list, Lily. We’re on the last step.”
“But we don’t want to frighten you,” Jake added.
“What are you saying?” She needed to hear them say it.
“We love you,” Josh said.
“We’ll never give you up,” Jake added.
She searched their eyes for the truth and found it there. Relief, love, delight, happiness. They all flooded through her. “I love you both too.”
They high fived each other and then kissed her cheeks.
“You call the shots on this, Lily. We go at your speed,” Josh said.
Nate had said the same, and it filled her heart to the bursting point.
She needed to be as honest and as open as she’d been with Nate. “I’m not ready yet, my body obviously is, but it still scares me a little.”
“We won’t push you, we promise.”
“I know,” she reassured them, touching their cheeks as they hovered above her.
“Baby, this isn’t just about sex, it’s you we want, all of you,” Jake said. “We aren’t going to push you, but it won’t be a one-time shag. You’re it for us.”
“You haven’t had girlfriends before, have you?”
“No. Why?”
“No one you fancied before? No one fancied you?” she asked, not understanding why not.
“Well, there have been girls we’ve liked, but it wasn’t returned. Amy Dewhurst was sort of a girlfriend when we were about nine. But our marble collection was the attraction for her. And she hated rats.” Josh sat back on his heels, looking at Jake.
“Rats?” She stared at them.
“Yeah, we had rats.” Jake scratched his chin.
“Did your parents get a trap or call in the pest people?”
Josh stared at her as if she’d just suggested something truly horrific. “Why would we do that? They were family. Bill and Ben.”
“Oh! You mean you had pet rats. Ewww!” She screwed up her face. “Isn’t that asking for the plague or something?”
“What the fuck? Joshua, we have to educate her.”
“Rats are—”
“Highly intelligent, incredibly clean, and make great pets,” Josh interjected. “Especially for kids. They rarely, if ever, bite and they love human interaction.”
She pulled a face in revulsion.
“We have to let you see one.”
“Oh god, no. It’s the tails, the tails are super creepy.”
“Joshua, we may have to re-think this whole relationship thing.”
She narrowed her eyes. “So, you like me, but you like rats more?”
“Do we have to answer that today? Can we think about it for a bit?” Josh teased her.
“Ah, I see.” She made to get up, but they pushed her back down.
“Don’t be silly, of course, we like rats better than we like you, but if you repent, it’ll raise you to an almost equal status with them.” Jake waggled his eyebrows.
“I don’t have to like you, y’know.”
“But you do anyway, because we are irresistible and meant for you, babe.” Josh lowered his head and kissed her.
“And you are meant for us,” Jake added, stealing a kiss after Josh sat up.
Josh lay on his back and lifted Lily to rest on his arm. He turned into her, his hand going to her hip. Jake rested his cheek on her chest and wrapped an arm around her stomach.
“Did you really have rats for pets?” she asked, stroking one hand through Jake’s hair and holding onto Josh’s hand with her other.
“Yeah, we were in primary. Took them to school and everything. They’d stay in our pockets and weren’t a problem,” Josh said.
“Could you, well, whisper to them?”
Josh snorted into her hair, but it was Jake who answered her.
“We could.” Jake yawned. “We’d know if they were happy, or hurt, or hungry. We knew when they were dying.”
“Aww, that’s sad.”
“We got Pyewacket after that. Mum wasn’t having rats in the house again,” Josh said.
“She doesn’t like them either?”
“She didn’t mind them when they were in their cage, but they didn’t like being confined. Rats are normally nocturnal, so she thought they were asleep under the newspaper and straw. She didn’t know we let them out before she came down in the morning. They were sneaky little things; they knew to hide from her.”
“They were sneaky little things? Don’t you mean you were sneaky little things?”
“You try living in a cage,” Josh grumbled. “They didn’t do any harm.”
“Except for when they’d chew up Dad’s newspapers,” Jake said.
“Yeah, and the time Mum found them in her underwear drawer making a nest from her tights.”
“They didn’t mean to put holes in all of them,” Jake muttered.
“And they never meant to scare Aunt June.” Josh stroked his fingers across her palm as he spoke.
“What happened?”
“She came over the day after we got them. Mum must have forgotten to tell her about them.”
“She didn’t know either, Joshua,” Jake said. “She found out at the same time. That was when dad brought the cage home for us.”
“Oh, yeah. Anyway, Aunt June was sitting in the front room. They only wanted to know who she was.”
“They’d been hiding inside the curtains. They must have climbed up and then jumped onto her shoulders.” Jake sniggered.
“Unfortunately, she had a cup of tea in her hand. She screamed like the hounds of hell were after her, and sent the tea everywhere,” Josh carried on.
“Mum was screaming, Aunt June was screaming, Bill and Ben were screaming and absolutely terrified. The back door was open, and half the fucking village could hear. Aunt May came rushing up and the three of them were trying to get us to catch them and drown them.”
Lily could hear the horror in Jake’s voice, and she couldn’t help but giggle at the mental image.
“Did you just laugh?” Jake demanded and poked her side.
“Sorry, it’s just, I can see them scrambling over chairs.”
“You’re about right. You’d have thought it was a major infestation of demons the way they carried on. Took us ages to get Bill and Ben to calm down.”
“What about your mum and aunts?”
“What about them?” Josh asked.
“How long did it take them to calm down from the fright?”
They went silent, and Lily couldn’t help but snort. “You didn’t realise they were terrified too?”
“Well, it was only Bill and Ben,” Jake hedged. “We did apologise. We also rang Dad and he brought the cage home and took Mum out to dinner as well. So, it wasn’t all that bad for her.”
“And we brought her flowers from the woods.”
“Your dad sounds nice. He didn’t mind them?”
“No, he’s quite laid back, bit like Nate’s dad, but without the whacky upbringing.”
“We miss Bill and Ben,” Jake said through a yawn.
It set Lily yawning, and almost instantly, Josh was yawning.
“Are you comfortable?” Jake asked her.
“Yeah.” She closed her eyes, turning her head to tuck her forehead into Josh’s neck.
“Let’s lie here for a bit, make our way back later,” Josh said.
Maybe she could buy them some pet rats for their birthday at the end of the month. She’d need to make sure April was okay with it first. An image of kissing them and a rat appearing on their shoulder popped into her head. No, maybe something else instead. She needed to think about Nate first, and it made her eyes fly open.
“Nate’s birthday is Wednesday.”
“Yeah.” Jake sounded half a sleep.
“I need to get him something. Can we go into town after college tomorrow if we ask Matt? Oh.” She’d forgotten about their argument.
“Yeah, good idea. We’ll sort it when we see Matt tonight.”
“Thanks.” Lily didn’t say anything, but she wasn’t as confident as they were. She settled closer into Josh, Jake moving with her. She yawned and let the peace around them settle her.
