Chapter 13

Jeff got up to go to the bathroom during the night. When he came back, Amy had rolled into his space on the crowded queen-sized bed they’d shared with Neal and Shelly. Their parents had obviously returned at some point because Uncle Bob ripped a muffled fart in the next room. Jeff chuckled silently as he padded softly to the other bed.

Lori sprawled there bonelessly, alone and wearing a long nightshirt, so he eased her over and joined her in the sheets. She made whiny objections to being moved but eventually rolled back to snuggle into his warm embrace with a sigh.

The familiar scent of sex still lingered when he pulled her close. It was strongest near her face. He smiled at the idea of Shawna being made helpless by his youngest cousin. As he drifted off to sleep, with Lori as his little spoon, he wondered briefly why Shawna had left.

Waking alone in the bed at dawn, Jeff yawned and stretched while Neal tugged on his shirt at the foot of the other bed. Both Amy and Shelly were still sleeping when Jeff glanced their way.

“Escape while you can,” Jeff whispered to Neal with a grin.

Neal grinned back and stood to slip on his flip-flops. “See you at breakfast,” Neal whispered in return and slipped quietly out the door.

The bathroom door opened and Lori plodded back to bed with tousled hair and squinted eyes. Crawling up from the foot of the bed on her hands and knees, she collapsed into the pillows with a huff. Jeff tugged the sheets over her body and kissed her forehead. A warm hum was her only response.

After a quick shower, Jeff got dressed and headed to breakfast just as his cousins and their parents were stirring. He spotted trouble the moment he saw Shawna sitting alone in the buffet dining room with her face over a coffee mug. A thin smile formed when she spotted him, but it didn’t quite reach her sleep-deprived eyes. He hurried through the buffet to get a large coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

“Hey,” he said as he sat down at the table next to her.

“Hey yerself,” Shawna said, then tipped her coffee cup to her lips.

“You didn’t stay last night.”

“Lori’s a bed hog,” Shawna said with a chuckle. “And there was no more room in yours.”

“Did everything go okay last night?” Jeff asked as he watched her face.

Raising her eyebrows and looking down, she shrugged. “It was ... enlightening.”

“Lori seemed fine this morning,” he added carefully.

“Oh, aye, that little minx would be,” Shawna said with a reflective smile. “Fucking insatiable.”

“You wanna talk about it?” Jeff offered.

“I’m not even sure what to say.” Shawna drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly while avoiding his eyes. “It was completely different than I expected.”

Jeff felt a tickle of worry. “What did you expect?”

“Something like when the three of us were together. Me leading her along the merry path. Intense, maybe, but still light and fun, ya know?”

“So what happened?”

“It started with that kiss during the fireworks by the lake.” Shawna laughed and looked away. Then she whispered, “Last night I utterly lost myself in her.”

Jeff sipped his coffee while he waited for Shawna to continue.

“She had me on my back foot from the first moment. Neither of us really knew what we were doing, so we just started, kind of, playing.” She looked upward with a thoughtful expression. “Remember the first time you were with someone? That shivery sense of wonder and exploration? It was like that times a thousand. She was so responsive and inquisitive and ... bloody joyful about the whole thing. It made me feel as sexy and daring as I’ve ever felt before.”

Jeff felt a tug of envy but pushed the feeling down to reach for Shawna’s hand to comfort her. She was clearly conflicted about what happened.

“I still can’t believe I did all those things with her.” Shawna rubbed her face with her free hand and chuckled. “God, I can still smell her on me, and I like it.” She continued in a whisper. “I never expected to like it so much.”

“I noticed Lori still smelled like you this morning, too,” Jeff said and tightened his grip on her hand.

Shawna turned to face him at last, worry creasing her brow. “Are you okay with all this?”

Jeff gave her question some thought before answering. He and Shawna had an undeniable connection, but it wasn’t deep enough to bridge the distance that separated their respective countries. Exploring with his cousins had inherent limitations as well, despite the excitement of being with them.

He smiled to reassure her and said, “Yeah, I really am. If you want to keep on without me, I’ll totally understand. Seriously. Take the time you need to figure this out while you have this opportunity.”

She hugged Jeff hard. “You’re the best.”

The remaining members of their group came into the dining area with a chorus of laughter and conversation. He noticed Shawna pull back and look for Lori with a beaming smile, all traces of her previous worry blown away when Lori waved excitedly.

Jeff returned to his breakfast sandwich and coffee while the rest joined them. Neal and Richard dragged tables together until there was enough room for them all. Amy plopped down next to Jeff and gave him a bright smile.

“Good morning,” Jeff said as he reflected her happiness with a smile of his own.

“Yes, it is,” she replied with a smirk. Her eyes darted over his shoulder with a knowing smile and Jeff turned to see Lori sit next to Shawna. “Lori floated around the room this morning. It may not be my kind of thing, but it’s clearly hers.”

“Yup,” Jeff agreed around a bite of his breakfast sandwich and lifted his chin to her other side. “Neal and Shelly seem more smitten than ever.”

The two of them were sharing a breakfast tray and couldn’t stop smiling at each other. Amy nodded and turned back. “Yeah, he really rang her bell last night. So it looks like it’s you and me today.”

“You’re not exactly a consolation prize,” Jeff said before leaning in to place a long, sensual kiss on her lips. He hadn’t considered their parents’ reaction to the display of affection between them until the murmur of conversation on that side of the table stopped.

Nessa rolled her eyes and whispered something to Richard, who tried not to smile. Uncle Bob sat red-faced as he stared down at his half-eaten breakfast. Aunt Jackie rubbed Mom’s shoulder and nodded toward Jeff, while Dad had a resigned expression and avoided looking at anyone.

“Jeff?” Mom whispered to him after he and Amy parted. “Can I speak to you for a moment? In private?”

“Sure, Mom,” Jeff grumbled.

He knew it was too good to be true. Just the day before, their parents had agreed to allow them to have safe sex. Being confronted with evidence of their affection at breakfast must have crossed an invisible line. Jeff picked up his trash and coffee to follow her away from the table. Amy wrinkled her brow in puzzlement when he glanced back at her.

Mom led him away from the eating area and into the sprawling lobby of the resort. He dropped his trash in a nearby receptacle and sipped from his half-full coffee cup. Mom stopped in a secluded corner of the lobby with two chairs and a couch. She gestured to the couch and sat next to him when he sat.

“What’s up?” Jeff asked.

Mom shifted uncomfortably and avoided his eyes. “I need to talk to you about something important.”

“Okay,” he said and pushed the worry those words brought away.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before starting. “You obviously found out about Jackie and me the other night.”

Jeff felt his stomach tighten. He didn’t like being reminded of his mother and aunt as lovers. The comments he’d overheard through their adjoining door also leapt to mind. They had been talking about Jeff not knowing something.

He nodded, his mouth suddenly slick. “I really don’t want to talk about your sex life.”

“It’s something else.” She paused again to gather her thoughts.

“Or mine,” he said with a forceful tone and a significant look.

Mom swallowed. “This isn’t going the way I planned. What I need to talk to you about happened a long time ago.”

He leaned back as old memories surfaced again. “I remember running around naked when I was little with a bunch of other naked people.”

That comment made Mom sigh and look up at the ceiling to shake her head. “Jackie and Bill were right. They told us we should have stopped going sooner.”

“So we were all nudists or something?” he asked.

“Naturists,” Mom clarified with an embarrassed chuckle. “Nevermind. It was a phase we went through years ago.”

“Okay, that’s not so bad, I guess.” Jeff sighed at the revelation, hoping she was finished. “So that’s it?”

Her face tightened and she shut her eyes for a moment. “Your father is infertile,” she said in a rush as she wrung her hands nervously. “Something to do with enlarged veins.”

That news made Jeff’s skin prickle. The implication of what she was saying jumped out of his mouth in a gasp. “Uncle Bob?”

Mom nodded as tears filled her eyes. “We didn’t bother telling you about this before because it really doesn’t matter to us. The four of us all lived together for years before you were born. We even all slept in the same bed. We’d probably still live that way if Bob hadn’t gotten that fantastic job in Seattle.”

Jeff had to stand up to catch his breath. Dad wasn’t his biological father? Uncle Bob had gotten his mother pregnant before he and Aunt Jackie had even started their family. “The girls aren’t my cousins. They’re my half-sisters.”

“Since Jackie and I are identical twins, they’re closer to full sisters.” Mom said as she reached for his hand to tug him back down to the couch. “That’s another reason we’re worried.”

Jeff allowed her to pull him down, feeling numb as he tried to process what she was saying. “Why are you telling me this now?”

“Bob is having a really hard time with the girls growing up. For some reason, the fact that you’re his biological son is making it worse for him. Amy has always been his wild child but she never dated seriously. Shelly’s the quiet and playful homebody. Lori is curious and loves to explore. She’s his favorite, even if he won’t admit it. This is the first time he’s really been confronted with their sexuality. He’s mostly worried about you pushing them too fast.”

“He’s never liked me,” Jeff growled, his anger growing at all the games and lies. “I never really understood what his issue with me was, but now it makes a sick sort of sense. Why the fuck did you have to tell me about Uncle Bob?”

“Because their girls are younger than you and he’s worried about them being able to give consent,” Mom said, her own ire rising.

Her hypocrisy made his blood boil. “I never once initiated anything sexual with them and never pushed them to do anything,” he snapped. “I was perfectly happy chasing around Christina and Shawna. Amy was the one who started—” Jeff bit off his comment as he reined in his temper. “Nevermind. What happens between us is none of your business, any of you. Leave me out of your fucked up lives.”

His mother drew back with a creased brow. “Wait, we all assumed—”

“Fuck me,” Jeff muttered and pressed his palms into his closed eyes. “Why? Because I’m older and a guy, so obviously I’m the only one with a sex drive? Did you all somehow miss what happened between Amy and Mario Rivera? Or what’s going on with Shelly and Neal?”

Mom’s eyebrows drew together as her face paled in shock. “Are you saying—”

His temper boiled over as he lost control of his voice. “I never even wanted them to come on this fucking vacation in the first place! Now that we’ve finally worked through everything and found a connection with each other, you’re more worried about Uncle Bob’s feelings than you are about me finding out he’s my fucking sperm donor?” Jeff gave her a disbelieving shake of his head. “And to top it off, now you tell me you and I are both fucking our sisters!”

“Jeff, calm down,” Mom hissed as she looked around to see if anyone heard them arguing.

“No, fuck this and fuck you,” Jeff said as he stood to glare down at his stunned mother. “I can’t believe none of you simply asked us about what was going on. First, you tell me Dad isn’t my dad and then that Uncle Daddy can’t handle his three teenaged daughters growing up. Well, fuck him, too! He’s not my dad!” Jeff shook in rage as he stormed off.

“Jeff, wait,” his mother cried as she lunged to catch his arm. He jerked away from her grip and ran for the exit.

Hot tears seared his eyes and nose until he sniffed them away. He pushed through the glass doors to the outside and ran as fast as he could through the resort grounds, hoping to lose his mother and give himself time to think.

The curving paths eventually led him toward the rear of the resort. He pounded out on the wooden footbridge that spanned the lake connecting their resort to another one on the other side of the water. As the ache in his side spread to the middle of his chest, Jeff paused to lean over the bridge railing, heaving for breath and trying not to throw up.