"Stop pacing you're giving me a headache," Nolan said to Vince as Vince wore a hole in the Audubon carpet. He lounged against the overstuffed chair, drumming his fingers lightly against the fine fabric. The situation with Dillon had gotten out of control but how did one stop a runaway train? Their sins were legion - the Buchanans excelled in debauchery not good deeds - but seeing Penny so destroyed plucked at a chord deep inside him that rang a little too closely to regret for his tastes. "Your anger is clouding your judgment. Stop plotting your revenge for a second and listen to me." Vince stopped but rewarded Nolan with a dark scowl. "We need to decide what the hell we're going to do about Penny."
At the mention of their succulent, yet soiled plaything, Vince snarled. "She broke the rules. She must pay the consequences."
"Come now brother, you and I both know Penny was no match for Dillon's charm. More sophisticated women than Penny have fallen for his honeyed words and been left broken-hearted for their troubles. Should we truly punish her for being outmatched? We're the ones who should accept the blame. We didn't prepare her adequately."
"He did this on purpose."
"Of course he did."
"So what are we going to do about him? Put him in the ground?" Vince growled.
Nolan made a sound of impatience. They couldn't kill their brother over a woman. Vince flopped onto the chaise, his dark hair mussed, his eyes glittering from beneath the dark strands. "What the fuck does he want aside from messing with our lives? Why couldn't he have stayed under whatever rock he'd crawled out from?" he muttered, closing his eyes with irritation. "He ruined our Penny. She was so perfect, so exquisite. You know that little breathy moan thing she does when your cock stretches her tight, little pussy? I can cum just hearing that little sound. It's the hottest thing I've ever experienced."
Nolan agreed. Plowing their pretty Penny had been a delight. But knowing that Dillon had touched her so intimately … argh! He wanted to punch that fucker in the mouth for taking what didn't belong to him! Nolan calmed himself before he became as riled as his twin. They didn't need to rage and bluster - they needed a plan. "Bottom line … do we still want her? Or do we turn her loose?" he asked.
Vince's eyes opened and his mouth tightened in a grim line. "I still want her."
Yeah, that was the crux of it. He wanted her, too. "She might not want us any longer. What do we do about that?"
"We could force her. She signed a legally binding contract."
Nolan shot his brother a look of contempt. "Seriously? Like that's going to hold up in court, not to mention it's illegal to buy another human being. I don't even want to think about how many laws we're breaking for our adventure. Besides, you and I both know the contract is more for the mental part of the game rather than anything truly binding."
"Yes, but Penny doesn't know that."
"I'm sure Dillon has told her by now. Likely he delighted in sharing how flimsy our hold is on her, the bastard," Vince muttered darkly. "Why couldn't he have contracted some grave illness while traipsing around the uncivilized world?"
"Because he has the luck of the Irish," Nolan answered, sighing as he flicked a tiny piece of lint from the arm of the chair. "You know," he mused quietly, not quite sure if he ought to voice his opinion on this particular score given how volatile Vince became whenever the past was brought up. "We've never tried sitting down and talking with Dillon about everything that happened with Isabel."
"Are you mad?" Vince barked and Nolan knew his twin was wrestling with the same hefty guilt as he but he showed it in a different way. "What good would that serve?"
"I don't know. It just seems we've let this terrible thing fester in our family … maybe it's time to let it go."
"Fuck, Nolan you sound like a woman. First of all, Dillon isn't going to just ‘let it go' so we can hold hands and sing Kumbayah around the campfire. He believes we murdered his ex-girlfriend. How do you get past that? He never will." Vince shifted and his gaze bounced away as he added with a shrug, "Maybe it's a blessing, you know? Isabel's death … I don't know. Fuck it, I don't know what I'm saying."
Nolan remained quiet. God, all their hands were filthy when it came to Isabel. How they'd fucked up. They'd been young, dumb and full of cum as the saying goes and no one had been more modeled after that saying than the Buchanan twins. And Isabel had been the prettiest girl they'd ever seen - almost ethereal with her fine-boned features, white-silk hair and delicate disposition … hell, they would've done just about anything to get their cocks inside that soft flesh. Only they'd realized too late that Isabel hadn't been playing a game, she'd been trying to secure a future for the baby inside her that none of them had known about. "Fuck," he murmured, rubbing at the sudden ache in his chest. The coroner's report had stated the fetus had been twelve weeks - which meant the baby had been Dillon's but she'd never said a word to any of them about being pregnant. Nolan wished he could say they would've cared. They'd been such selfish pricks - all of them.
And Dillon seemed hell-bent on rewriting history, a history where he came out the victim instead of one of the people who'd had a hand in Isabel's death.
"Stop thinking about her," Vince warned in weary tone as if he only knew Nolan was stuck in the past because he was replaying a nightmare reel as well. "Nothing we do or say will bring her back."
"Yeah. I know. Are we making the same mistake? Penny isn't like Isabel but she's fragile, too."
"We're not making the same mistake," Vince assured him. "Penny knew the stakes when she signed on the dotted line. We never played with her heart, ever. We can't say the same for Isabel."
Nolan nodded but still felt like shit. "We need to woo Penny. She's been through a lot and it's our faults. We can't punish her for what happened."
"She's in love with Dillon," Vince said. "What do we do about that?"
Nolan winced. "Do you think it's love?"
"Did you see how cozy they were playing house? It might not have been real for Dillon but it sure as well was for her. She's totally in love with him."
"Damn, you're right." Nolan hadn't wanted to admit it but he'd seen the glow in Penny's expression right before Dillon had revealed his true nature and she'd been near blissful. It'd been the first time he'd seen her like that and he was certain she'd never looked that way with either of them. The realization twinged a bit but Nolan wasn't ready to concede defeat just yet. He sat up and a slow smile spread across his face. "The answer to our problem is simple."
"Yeah?" Vince retorted dryly. "Lay it on me."
"We need to remind Penny what she loved about us. At one time, she was our girl. It's time we remind her why."
Vince returned his brother's smile as he warmed to the idea. "Are we talking wine and dine, pamper her like a princess and then fuck her raw?" Nolan's grin was answer enough and Vince's bad mood began to dissipate. "Hell yeah. I'm on board with that plan. When do we start?"
Nolan fished his phone from his trousers and dialed a florist. "We start now." He waited a minute and then said to the awaiting florist. "I'd like two dozen fire and ice roses delivered, please. Put on the card, ‘To our darling Penny … all is forgiven … '
Nolan disconnected the call and he and Vince shared a laugh as they jumped from their chairs to prepare for the most epic of all rebounds.
When the doorbell rang Penny nearly skittered out of her skin as her hand fluttered to her chest to calm her wildly beating heart. Good God. Her first thought was Dillon and she hated herself for the hopeful leap in her pulse that followed. Stop it, Penny. He's not coming back for you.
When the florist stood with the most brilliant, breath-taking array of red and white variegated roses, she couldn't speak for a moment and simply gestured to the table. The florist smiled and placed the flowers on the table, saying, "Someone thinks you're special. These are very hard to come by. And very expensive," she added with a wink.
Penny nodded but she couldn't get her throat to work. Could the flowers be from Dillon? Flowers didn't seem his style but then, she didn't really know his true style as he'd likely been playing a part the whole time he'd been with her. Tears stung her eyes fresh and she ripped open the card, half-hoping they were from Dillon so she could shred the card into a million pieces. But when she read that the exquisite flowers were from Vince and Nolan, she broke down completely. Damn it, why couldn't Dillon care? She sobbed into her arms, not sure what to do with herself when she felt so completely lost and alone. Dillon didn't want her. Plain and simple. But the twins were trying to make amends. She lifted her head and wiped her nose to stare at the blood-red and stark-white blend of roses. Just like the twins to send the very best. She plucked a single rose from the vase and inhaled its sweet scent. Papa, what should I do? She had no right to seek the wisdom of her Papa when she knew full well what he would've thought of her arrangement with the twins but she missed his firm voice advising her, helping her choose from right or wrong. It was all wrong but the pleasure was sinful, she sighed unhappily. She was a slave to her body's needs now that the Buchanans had awakened that sleeping part of her. She deserved punishment for how she'd grievously betrayed the twins when they'd been so good to her. Vince was the best at exacting the most mind-blowing pleasure from carefully orchestrated pain. Nolan's touch was sweet and more giving. She refused to remember how Dillon's touch had made her forget that anyone else had ever known her body but the memory singed her thoughts.