Twice Burned: An MMF Bisexual Romance Read online

  “She’s missing out on this?” Julian adds.

  Austin stares at us for a while, I can tell just from the deliberate expression on his face that he is baffled at something we are not aware of. Is it because of us?

  “Are you two getting blind or something?” Austin says. Then he turns his head to his side, to the woman beside him.

  As soon as we turn our heads to the woman, she has already snapped at us, “I’ve been here the whole time, and I can’t believe you don’t fucking remember me.”

  “Who,” Julian speaks, “are you?”

  I smack Julian’s arm for asking a deadly question, I can’t believe his audacity has reached a level that could almost pass as being obnoxious. “I’m sorry. Don’t mind him,” I tell the woman. “I know you.” I give her a smile, faking that I remember her and racking my brain with only the shortest time possible. “How have you been?”

  But the woman brushes off my question. Instead, she drops a bomb. “Tell me. Who am I?” she asks slowly, stretching her words.

  I shoot Austin a glance, asking for help, but he’s only laughing at us and this puzzling situation. I look at the woman again, scanning her face, recalling if I have encountered her before at the bar, or during a meeting, or an acquaintance from university, or don’t tell me, a booty call.

  “Oh, crap, I’m so—” Instead of pretending, I believe it’s better to be direct about this.

  But the woman quickly gets up from her seat and exclaims, “You two are awful for not remembering me.” She walks out, every step the sole of her high-heeled shoes hit the floor, producing a loud thump.

  Austin is still chuckling even after the woman has left, I hit him lightly on the back and say, "What the fuck was that?"

  I look at Julian, but he only shrugs his shoulder. “Beats me.”

  “Damn, that was entertaining. You really don’t recognize her?” Austin looks at us expectantly, his eyes a red sore from laughing. He sighs. “That was my sister.”

  “Sister?” Julian raises his voice in disbelief. “Your sister Aubrey?”

  Austin casually nods, and soon another series of chuckles leave his mouth for another time. “Now it makes me wonder how much Aubrey has changed.”

  “Well, damn, just by seeing her. She changed a lot,” Julian says.

  “She looks,” I pause, searching for the right word to describe her, as well as finding it hard to believe the words I am about to say, “stunning.”

  Julian firmly nods and says, “She has grown more beautiful, exquisite.”

  But Austin quickly brushes it off by saying, “You two have seriously gone blind. Did we see the same face? That long face?”

  “That pretty face, you mean,” Julian states.

  “You can’t deny that she’s really pretty now. Oh, what happened to our little Aubrey?” I say, mystified at the sudden change in her appearance.

  “She’s so cynical nowadays though. She’s been grumpy the whole day, it’s so hard to deal with her,” Austin announces.

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “She talks shit these days, mostly about love, like how misleading it is and some stuff,” Austin replies.

  “There must be a reason why. Did you even ask her?” I ask.

  “She just shrugs it off,” Austin says. “And I'm busy with work and the wedding. I can't give all my focus on her, she's a grown-up woman. She'll do just fine without me.”

  “Want me to talk some senses into her?” I say.

  “What will you do? Talk about love? You, of all people?” Julian interrupts. “I think that job suits me better. I’ll do something to make her feel better.”

  “You piece of shit,” Austin curses and clicks his tongue. “I know you and your ulterior motives.”

  “Can’t you at least believe in your future brother-in-law?” Julian asks.

  “Are you seriously going for that?” I say to Julian, amused at his blatant advances. “I don't think I'll allow myself to lose. I will go for your sister if Julian would.” I turn to look at Austin, whose face is distorted right after hearing the words come out of our mouths.

  “What the fuck? It’s my sister. Remember that it is damn Aubrey, that little girl who used to play outside in the neighborhood,” Austin discards our attempts.

  “And so? She’s fine as fuck now. If I get a chance I will tap that ass,” Julian states.

  I smack him so hard, his bones might even dislocate. I can’t believe he’s saying those sexual innuendos in front of Austin. At the time, Julian’s gut bothers me. I mean why would you say that in front of the brother? I wouldn’t dare to even if I feel the same. Oh, shit. Do I feel the same way? Well, I guess my hands on her ass sounds like a good idea.

  “You’re sick,” Austin says. “That’s my sister. I’d beat the hell out of you if you do that to her in public.”

  “I’m not saying in public though,” Julian says. “Privately, in bed, brother-in-law.” Julian gives Austin a wink.

  “Do you hear yourself?” Austin asks. “I don’t think you do. And there are other pretty girls out there, so much prettier than her.”

  “Why are you so bothered?” I ask Austin.

  “One, she’s my sister. Two, she’s my sister,” Austin answers but his protectiveness towards her sister still puzzles me if he’s going to talk about her otherwise the way he was. “She’s my sister and we’re like brothers!”

  “Sure, she is. But she’s not our sister,” I tell him.

  Because now I’m thinking about how that gorgeous mouth would look opening to suck my cock. Her eyes looking up at me…fuck. I’m getting hard. I shift a little hoping to hide it, but we’re men here and I don’t even know if there’s a point to trying to hide my obvious attraction.

  “So you, too, huh. Are you in this as well?" Austin asks, but then I don't answer him, only giving him a firm look.

  “Do whatever you want, then.” His words are dismissive and I sense exasperation in his voice. “You two are already grown-ass men,” he laughs, full of himself on his wedding day. “Just don’t hurt her or I’ll make you regret messing with the wrong brother. Because she is my sister.”

  Aubrey may be jaded toward love, and her brother may act nonchalant. I find myself realizing that even though I should stay away…I don’t think I will.

  I think I do want to know more. I shouldn’t care how much she seems resistant to being wooed, I should either fuck her and move on, or not bother at all.

  But we all know there’s door number three.

  Fuck, what has one look at her done to me?

  Aubrey

  The best thing about weddings is the overflowing alcohol, and that is the only thing I am thankful and satisfied with coming here. Not that I'm planning to attend another one in the future, if not for my brother I'd never see myself stand among the crowd of these nonsensical people who believes in such absurd concept as love.

  I crash the bar, taking the seat at the corner and planning to drown myself with alcohol—the best thing in this world. Love wouldn’t fill you up, but alcohol does. It makes you happy, makes you feel like you are in your own fantasy where bliss is the only emotion to feel. Alcohol fires you up, well, literally and figuratively, it helps you to live life productively. Unlike love which only has the purpose of binding you, tying you up with a single person’s mess, and pulling each other down.

  “Pretty lady, what do you want for tonight? Tequila, rum, gin, anything you like. I’ll give you our best stuff, only for you,” the bartender says behind the counter. He keeps a bottle in his hands and raises it up, waving it to me in the outright cheesiest way possible.

  “Give me a cocktail, for now, something that'll cheer me up,” I tell him. I think I need to refresh my mind and cool myself a little bit after bolting out on them.

  How could they forget about me? It’s not like we are strangers, even my brother, though their times of meeting each other have lessened, has remained to be their best friend, enduring time.

  Is i
t because they cared about me the least? Because I used to be little, and the girls they only care about are the matured looking ones, the curvy type, the domineering kind.

  The bartender makes my drink, he pours the liquid onto a steel mixing cup and closes the lid and shakes it brashly, snatching my attention. He displays a grin, the flirty kind of smile. I give him one as well, but inside I am getting the urge to smack him in the face.

  The moment he finishes making my drink, he hands it to me, brushing his finger against mine. “Here, beauty,” he slowly says while giving me a dirty look. “Enjoy your drink.” I must endure, I tell myself. Transferring to another bar is going to be a bother, and so I remain seated, keeping my fist in check beside me.

  I lift the glass to my mouth and let the liquid slide down my throat, a chill fills my mouth. I can feel myself start to be energized. This is what I deserve after all the mess this day has brought me. I can’t believe I spent my day enduring this wedding, and now with the situation with Julian and Lucas, I honestly commend myself. How would you feel if your huge crush in the past doesn’t remember you? Sucks, right?

  It doesn’t take me that long before I finish the cocktail. It is, after all, an easy, light drink. The bartender, on the far side of the counter, notices the empty glass in front of me. He slides across to my side and places his elbow on the counter. “Ready for the next one? Something hard.”

  “Bring it out,” I say, telling him that I can handle my alcohol just fine.

  He turns around—his back is facing me—and scans the bottles of liquors until he finds the one he is looking for. He takes a whiskey with him and shows me the bottle, motioning if I prefer the kind. “You fancy this one?”

  “I can handle anything. I’m not a sissy.”

  “You’re one fine woman,” he says.

  “Just pour me a drink.”

  Right away, he gives me a glass of whiskey without uttering any word. I immediately put the glass to my mouth and tip it impatiently. A stream of hot and musky liquid flows into my mouth and down to my throat, the burning sensation arrives shortly, making my body a bit warm.

  Once the warmness rushes through my body, it reminds me how Julian and Lucas have kept their hot appearance, now with the amount of work they get. I have seen articles about them on the internet, and I bet their schedule is more loaded than what I imagine.

  I remember the playfulness on their face, their young mischievous look is now replaced with their current scorching hot and matured appearance. I have always thought that one of them is going to be the first one to be married, and now look what happened. Well, I can't deny that the never-ending scandal with different women is the reason why they can't settle down.

  And the two of them playing around doesn’t really help my situation, to be honest. This is why I am certain that love is only temporary.

  But now that we are talking about love, probably it is real after all. Look at my brother gushing over the snake, I mean bitch. I mean Diana, whatever.

  Perhaps I could discard the nickname I have given her, but I don't think I have the guts to call her my sister-in-law.

  She's still the bitch I know and hate, and her being the wife of my brother doesn't change that.

  I don’t think I can even give her an ounce of my care, not that I chose to, well, partially, devious interest is the only thing she’ll get from me. But I have to give props to Diana, there I said it right, for achieving success at making my brother fall for her.

  Her being a complete bitch and still finding love, and not just love, with the best person to be married with, gives me a little hope that maybe things could work out, only if you make it possible to work out.

  But I am still not sold, love is, all together, a delirious thing that gets your hopes high and then shoves you down until you have reached the bottom pit.

  The squabble in my head gives me an impulse to down every bottle of liquor in this bar. I call the bartender, asking for another glass. He immediately comes and asks me what kind, with a bit of flirting on the side. I brush off all the advances he makes, and soon I snap, "Just fucking do your job, and get me my damn drink.”

  The sudden change in tone of my voice catches him off guard, and so he just nods and says okay. He immediately pours me another drink and leaves right after. I drink, and then he pours me a drink again. I gulp down quickly several glasses of whiskey.

  It must be either the alcohol or the icky fleeting feels of the wedding, but I sort of feel somehow sappy and kind of lonely. I turn around, observing the people and I notice everyone has worn their best-looking smiles. I look at the reflection of myself on the glass, and even though I look dolled up, the pain in my eyes is visible. I wonder if love will ever come knocking at my door?

  But, honestly, I surely don’t mind if it’s a hot dude from next door who just moved in and wanted to say hello. Well, as long as he is hot.

  My head is already spinning, but not enough to stop me from downing every bottle of alcohol in this bar. It is my goal, I say to myself and laugh internally.

  I remain slumped on the bar, drinking more whiskey. The bartender has now left the bottle for me to pour it myself. The company should give him a raise for doing that.

  All of a sudden, a guy sits down on a seat to my left while the other guy to my right. I raise my head to look at them. The guy with the blue suit tilts his head and smiles. “Hey, Aubrey.”

  I look at him properly, but my vision has become blurry to even tell. All I can grasp is that the guy who is now talking to me looks hot, I’d jump on him any time. “Do I know you?”

  “Is this revenge for what we have done to you earlier?” the guy wearing a dark suit says, putting his hand on my back. “I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just that you’ve changed a lot.”

  The other guy says, “Yeah, a lot prettier.”

  “I don’t get what you are talking about, but you two are hot, so I’ll keep you company,” I sluggishly tell them.

  Strangely, the two chuckles, their smiles are making them look a million times hotter.

  "Wait, she's drunk." I hear the good-looking smurf say. I let out a laugh, I can’t believe I called a gorgeous guy a smurf, well his suit makes him look like one.

  “I figured. Look at her laugh,” the guy in a white suit says. He looks like a fluffy white cat, I want to caress his skin.

  Julian

  “Man, do you remember her first college party?” I ask Lucas, I can’t help but laugh as I remember that night. It is still so vivid in my mind that every time I remember Aubrey, this memory unconsciously emerges and I would always get a good laugh.

  It was a night in March; the frat party was starting to get lit as the night progressed, bottles of alcohols were out, it was crowded, our elbows were almost touching. Lucas was on a corner with a busty red-haired girl. His hands were on her waist, but it was obvious that the girl was more into Lucas than he was into her, as the girl kept on touching him everywhere, gushing over him unceasingly in the most ridiculous way.

  I had been checking out girls to hit on the moment I arrived, but every girl seemed to fail to meet my standards, and so I tapped the girl beside me on her arm and smiled after she turned around. One smile and she’s all over me.

  She’s wearing a thin shirt cut to expose her belly button. She kept on fidgeting her hair then she started to talk to me. “I go by the name of Miranda,” she said slowly like this was an enticing rather than odd utterance.

  I was about to stroke her cheek and fall her weak ass game when my phone suddenly rang, I backed away from her and grabbed the phone in my pocket. It was Austin, the asshole who didn’t turn up. “Dude, I need you to fetch my sister right now. She’s drunk as hell,” he said frantically.

  “Fetch your own sister, asshole,” I retorted.

  “I can’t. I’m caught up in the middle of something important. I can’t leave right now.”

  “Damn, the party is just getting started.”

  “Just this once,
Julian. I’ll return the favor sometime next week.”

  “That came out of your mouth, huh,” I said. “Alpha Nightclub next week, deal?”

  “Deal, deal, whatever club you want to go to. I’ll come with you, ” Austin answered. “Now pick up my sister.”

  “I’ll bring Lucas then,” I told him.

  “Bring whoever you want, just get my sister home,” he responded. “I’m dropping the call.” He hung up on me as promised.

  I gave Miranda a coy smile and walked away, a frustration surfaced on her face. I marched toward the corner where Lucas and the red-haired girl stood. An idea popped into my head, and so I grabbed Lucas's hand on her waist and glared at the girl whose hands were now in Lucas' cheeks. "He's gay."

  The girl was shocked, but she didn't remove her hands from him. "Fuck off," she barked.

  But then Lucas said, “Sorry, Katie. We’re dating.” He pointed at me and then at him, back and forth, gesturing that we were a thing.

  Katie removed her hands on Lucas and retreated at once. The features of her face are distorted. Frowning and in disgust, she exclaimed at Lucas, “Why didn’t you say so?”

  “I thought you were a dude,” Lucas says, his eyes blinking as if seeing her face for the first time.

  The red-haired Katie flipped off and left after shouting at us, “Fuck you two.”

  “Man, you ruined it,” Lucas casually said, but I brushed him off with a shrug of the shoulders.

  “A prettier girl needs her knights in shining armor to pick her up,” I told him. “Austin just called. Apparently, Aubrey is drunk.”

  “That fucker has the guts to call us.”

  “Some stuff he can’t miss on I guess. He’s coming with us to Alpha next week in exchange though.”

  “Well, the knights in shining armor shall leave now,” Lucas announced and marched out of the house. We walked over to my car and drive to the freshmen’s party two blocks from our frat party.

  When we arrived at the freshmen’s party, Aubrey was already rolling outside on the grass, with a bottle of liquor in her hand. A girl had her hands grasped on her arm, assisting her to stand up. “Wow, this is so tragic. She really needs some saving,” I muttered.