“Oh my God,” Sara hisses under her breath. “Have you seen the wall of man over there?”
I don’t turn because my suitcases are approaching on the conveyor and they’re so heavy that I really need to concentrate on lifting them off before they go whizzing past.
Sara was sitting next to me on the flight, and she’s going to Eastern too. What are the chances? She made me laugh so much that I snorted tomato juice at one point. Not the most attractive thing that I’ve ever done in my life.
“Wall of man. Sounds like fun.” I grunt as I heft one suitcase, losing control of it and bashing my toes. I curse as it flops to the ground, and the other even-larger case passes me in a flash. I start to dash after it, and I’m not looking where I’m going at all, so when I bump into the back of a huge man, I’m sent reeling in shock with half the wind knocked from my lungs.
“Sorry,” I gasp, steadying myself on my feet, my hand reaching up to make sure my nose isn’t broken. Hell, this is nothing like I thought my arrival back in my home city would be.
The man grabs the handle of my moving suitcase and lifts it like it contains nothing but feathers. I hate him for his inhuman strength, and there is no way I’m letting Mr. Muscle run off with half my worldly possessions. “Hey!” I shout. “That bag’s mine.”
Mr. Muscle’s eyebrow raises as I reach for the handle that is still clasped in his ridiculously big hand. I swear if he wrapped those fingers around a bowling ball, he’d be able to crush it.
“I know,” he says slowly, as though I need help with the comprehension of simple things.
“So why the fuck are you running off with it?” I say, still trying to prise it from his iron fist with absolutely no success.
“Do you see me running?”
My eyes trail over at least six-foot-six of the biggest man I think I’ve ever seen, finally reaching his face. With shorn hair and a beard, he looks like an extra from Sons of Anarchy. His expression is impassive, his brows slightly raised. There’s a sparkle in his stunning green eyes, though. A sparkle that tells me that I’m amusing him. This pisses me off even more.
“Can I have my bag back? Like, now!”
“And how exactly are you planning on managing two huge bags all by yourself?” he says.
“I’m not sure why that’s your problem.”
“Yeah,” Sara says from behind me. “What’s your problem, dude? Give her her bag before I call security.”
Mr. Muscle struggles to hold back a smile that just dances across his lips. Then he’s joined by another big dude who’s practically a clone, except this one has hair and is clean-shaven. “What’s taking so long, Jameson? We’re gonna get a ticket if we don’t hurry up.”
Jameson. This guy has the same name as one of my stepbrothers.
And then I realize.
Mr. Muscle isn’t just a random biker wannabe trying to steal my hair straighteners and panties. He’s my actual stepbrother who’s come to collect me from the airport. I turn, scanning the arrivals area for my father. Surely he’s here too, but I don’t see him. Instead, I see more huge men who resemble Jameson.
The “wall of men” Sara was gushing about is my welcome committee. They were skinny teens when I last saw them, but now they’ve grown up. Like grown so much that I need panoramic vision to take them all in.
“I think she gets it,” Jameson says to the other guy, also my stepbrother.
“Took her long enough,” he says, rolling his eyes.
“You know these guys?” Sara asks, a wide grin spreading across her face. I think if we weren’t in such a public place, she’d be trying to climb my stepbrothers like a koala on a eucalyptus tree.
“My stepbrothers,” I say. “Jameson and…”
“Ooohh, twins!” she says, clapping her hands together excitedly.
“Triplets,” I say as the third one rocks up next to his brothers, equally large and equally amused.
“Little Maisie’s all grown up,” he says.
“Joshua?” I hazard a guess because I have no idea who is who.
“Jessie,” he grins, although he’s probably not telling the truth. They used to play this game with me when we were kids. He has a little scar above his eyebrow which is new, probably a result of a football injury. They’re obsessed. I make a mental note of this little imperfection, so I have a better chance of telling them apart later.
I turn to Sara, whose eyes are practically bugging out of her head. “Joshua and Jessie.”
“Wow.” She reaches out to shake their hands, and they politely engulf her hand in their giant palms.
Jessie grabs my other bag from the floor as more stepbrothers make their way toward us. Kameron and Kyle are even bigger than their triplet siblings. How is that even possible? They’re a year younger for goodness sakes. I feel like I’m surrounded by giants, or like Alice in Wonderland, have shrunk in size.
“There she is,” one of the K twins says. “Causing a scene as usual.”
“Can’t go anywhere without making yourself the center of attention, can you, Maisie?” the other K twin says.
My hands are on my hips before I can even think about how to react. I thought things would be different now we’re all adults, but it seems that I was very wrong about that. “Fuck off, all of you,” I just about resisting stamping my foot. I know that would make them laugh, and I’m not falling for that one within twenty seconds of being in their presence again. “Where’s my dad?” I say.
“He’s in a meeting, so he sent us to get you.”
“How thoughtful of him.” That’s just typical of my dad. He knew I was coming, and he didn’t think my arrival was of enough importance to move a meeting. I can’t even find it in myself to be disappointed.
“He could have made you get a taxi,” Joshua says.
“Which would have been preferable.”
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” one of the K twins says. I can’t be bothered to ask who is who. For me, these five men are all cut from the same cloth. Spoiled assholes with a bitch of a mom and my dad indulging their privileged lifestyles. The whole setup makes me sick.
“Sara needs a ride, too,” I say. On the plane, she told me she was going to get the bus to her accommodation, but I really could do with her moral support right now.
“We’re not a fucking taxi service,” Joshua says. He was always the meanest of the brothers, and I can see that hasn’t changed.
“Wow…polite as well as handsome,” Sara says, her tone dripping with sarcasm. For a second, Joshua looks stumped as to how to respond.
“That’s fine,” Jameson says. “Just give me the details when we get to the truck.
Joshua takes hold of Sara’s luggage, his manners not slipping so far that he wouldn’t be a gentleman about that. I end up trailing behind the men who made the limited time I spent in my father’s home when I was a child pretty damn horrible.
Sara links arms with me and shakes her head. “So they’re your stepbrothers.”
“Yep,” I say mournfully.
“Well, you’re certainly in for an interesting time,” she says.
“I’m not sure that ‘interesting’ is the right word for what I have coming.”
“Well, you know you could always apply for accommodation at college,” she says.
“With what? Unless they’re accepting payment in beans, I’m stuck at my dad’s for the duration.”
“Yeah …it’s not cheap,” she says. “Wouldn’t your dad pay?”
“Why would he when he’s got a perfectly good room for me that’s been empty for years?”
“Wouldn’t he understand that you didn’t feel comfortable living with the big unfriendly giants?”
We both laugh at the image Sara’s created but, despite the laughter, I have a knot the size of a boulder in my stomach. Getting relentlessly teased as a teen was one thing, but it feels more overwhelming now they’re so much bigger than me. The giant comment wasn’t that far from the truth. And there are five of them: five huge men and just little ol’ me. My sass mouth can only go so far when just one of them could pick me up and throw me like a javelin.
It doesn’t take long to get to the car lot, and our cases are tossed into the trunk. “You girls can travel in the back,” Jameson instructs, jumping into the driver’s seat.
The truck is big, black, and menacing, which fits with my stepbrothers entirely. I feel like I’m being swallowed into the belly of a monster as I climb into its gloomy interior. The dark leather seats are cool against my skin, and the windows are fully tinted.
“This is some truck,” Sara says.
“Yeah. My dad likes to spend his money on toys for his boys,” I whisper.
Jameson switches on the radio, and the boys start to talk football, which is all they really care about. Sara chatters about the first day of college and all the plans she has for the first semester and I listen, grateful for a distraction. Even though Eastern was definitely not my first choice, I’m in awe as we make our way onto campus. There is so much charm about the old buildings and the sprawling green areas that are already peppered with students, moms, and dads. Sara squeals and claps her hands as we pass the imposing library building. She’s studying English lit with a minor in performing arts. It’s a place she’s going to be spending many hours.
“Your dorms aren’t far from here,” Jameson says.
“Yeah, Jameson knows all about those dorms.”
“Fuck you, Kyle,” Jameson says. So that’s Kyle. He has his hair styled a little different from his brother. Maybe I will be able to tell these goons apart after all.
“Careful,” Joshua warms from the passenger seat. “You don’t want to poke that particular sore spot today.”
Kyle laughs, and I get a new insight into their relationship. In the past, they were thick as thieves. Now it seems they have some noticeable divisions between them or are maybe starting to turn on each other. It wouldn’t surprise me. People who act like this to one person most often act badly toward everybody.
At the dorms, Jameson pulls up to the curb and jumps out of the car, retrieving Sara’s bag as she gets out too. I escape the car at the same time, taking a moment to breathe in the fresh air and get a feel for the college campus. It’s nicer than I thought it would be, and instead of feeling resentful about being here, I get a flutter of excitement in my belly.
“Thank you so much,” Sara gushes, hooking her hand around Jameson’s neck and tugging him down so she can kiss him on the cheek. He bends like a giant tree in a hurricane and looks very unamused, and I smirk at his discomfort.
“And thank you,” Sara says, pulling me into a fierce hug. “I know we just met, but…”
“I know exactly what you’re trying to say.”
We both grin at each other, happy to have made a friend before we’ve even started. “You’ve got my number,” she says. “Let’s meet up tomorrow.”
“Sure.”
Jameson rounds the car and takes his place, but I stay to watch Sara tugging her luggage toward the building that she will now be calling home. I wish I were doing the same, instead of riding with these arrogant men to stay with a father who didn’t even see me as important enough to collect at the airport.
College life definitely isn’t going to be what I was hoping for.
