Chapter 4

I walked around campus for a long time thinking about the fairy tale they told me. I remembered telling Melisa I would take the weekend after Dr. Lawren's final paper was due off to unwind before finals. They must have started planning then.

I went back to the dorm and changed into my gym clothes.

I spent twenty minutes on the treadmill, thinking about Melisa and Doris Alex. I finished and moved to the weight area but was intercepted by Janet.

"You're looking intense," she said in a mildly flirtatious voice.

Janet was the girl who had been slapped on the bus. She had jet-black hair, warm brown eyes and was three inches shorter than Melisa. The other major difference between them was that while Melisa's curves were symmetrical, Janet had a plump behind and breasts. She was on the dance team so the rest of her body was tight but her curves defied any attempts at flattening.

"Hey," I said to her.

"What's got you all serious?" she asked me.

I shook my head and smiled at her.

"You know David, you're going to have to open up sometime," she admonished half-jokingly. She leaned a little closer and for the first time I did not take a step back. Janet played around the edges of wanting to express more gratitude for the bus incident. The playing was so subtle I had put it off to wishful thinking on my part. She raised an eyebrow at my not moving away. For the first time, she was the one that took the step backward.

We talked for a couple of minutes while I recovered from the harder than usual treadmill run. Except for those brief moments when she hinted at something more, Janet treated me like the rest of her sorority, as if I was Melisa's private domain.

I used the weights to push the Brotherhood out of my mind. I succeeded until I moved to the bench press. I prepared the weight on the bar after my warm-up set and looked around for a spotter. The gym was pretty empty and the student worker was helping someone else.

"I'll do it, David," Janet said from behind me.

I turned around to look at her. She smiled and mounted the stand behind the bar.

"You only need a little help at the end, right?" she said.

I nodded and lay down on the bench. The first and second sets were fine. On the third set, she had to help and ended up bent over the bar after it was on the rails. Her t-shirt was large and in our relative positions I could see into it; her juicy breasts overran the top of her sports bra.

She smiled down at me.

Her necklace fell out of where she tucked it into her t-shirt. The ring she had on it fell to a stop a couple of inches from my face.

It was the twin to Melisa and Doris Alex's.

I looked into her eyes when I recognized it. I forgot that Melisa said Janet was a Sibling. There was so much more than a hint of what she wanted in her eyes. She leaned farther down until her face was inches away from me.

"I've dreamt about you since that day," she whispered to me. "I just about came that night when Melisa told me you were a Brother candidate."

Later, I sat staring at the TV screen when Melisa opened the door and walked in.

"Hi!" she said leaning against my bed.

"Hello," I replied.

She watched me for a couple of minutes as I looked at the TV. She was wearing a t-shirt and shorts again; not as nice or as tight as the night before but I liked them.

"I'm guessing you have some questions," she said looking down at the mattress. I put my index finger under her chin and lifted her face so she would look at me.

I turned the TV off and looked at her.

"What's with the tails?" I asked her.

She looked at me confused. Deep in her green eyes, I could see the truth. She did not know what I was talking about.

The Brotherhood had people following me. They were probably very good but I could feel their focus as I walked around campus. More than likely, the sensitivity was an effect of extremely acute senses. My sergeants drilled into me to trust those feelings. Knowing when someone was focused on me caused the incident with the lieutenant that ended my military career. Feeling the eyes on the back of my head changed the complexion of the Brotherhood for me.

Whatever else was going on, they took secrecy seriously.

I smiled and shook my head at her.

"I talked to Janet this afternoon," I said. "How long have you known I was a Brother candidate?"

"All of my life," she said.

The answer confused me and my face must have shown it. She jumped up on the bed and sat facing me.

"My father beat my mother," she said softly. "My mom called the cops the first time he hit me instead of her. I was three years old; I still remember how it felt."

She stopped and put her hand in mine. I felt like she was drawing the strength to continue from me.

"One of the cops that answered the call was a Brother," she said. "Ronald didn't like my father at all; he sure liked mom though. He stopped by every day for six months to make sure we were okay. I think mom would have gone back to my father if it wasn't for him. He held my mom up when she needed it and she stuck the divorce out. A year later, we moved in with him. I knew there was something different about Ronald; there were other women but unlike with my father nobody said anything. I didn't care. I was happy. Mom was happy. I was ten when I witnessed my mom, Ronald and another Sibling having sex. I didn't ask my mom about it, I asked dad."

I looked confused for a second. She smiled and shook her head.

"My father died in prison but I never felt guilty about calling Ronald dad. I remember the first time I called him that. He held me so tight I knew I wanted someone just like him forever."

I nodded.

"I asked Ronald about what I saw between him, my mom and that woman. He told me the truth about Brothers and Siblings. My mom accepted a Sibling ring after the divorce. I asked him right there, what I had to do to be a Sibling. He laughed and said I was going to have to wait a long time to make that decision. I told him every morning for two years that I still wanted it. Something changed though; I think Ronald knew what would happen. I was in his study one night and there was a folder on his desk. My dad was the Brother assigned to keep tabs on you. He caught me reading your file but didn't say anything. He let me check your file every night for changes. I didn't ask about being a Sibling again until my sixteenth birthday. That morning, I walked naked into the kitchen. Ronald was having breakfast with my mother and his other crested Sibling, Joanne. I asked if you were a Brother candidate, he nodded. I said 'I want to be a Sibling and I want you to train me, Brother.' I gave him my virginity that night and lost my dad. Sunday night after they give you the ring, I want you to give my daddy back to me."

There was tear in her eye. I watched it trail down her cheek.

"That's not all your life, Melisa," I said gently.

"Yes, it is, David."

I sighed loudly.

"This is NOT what I expected," I said.

"We can change who trains you."

She snickered.

"Janet would love to be the one," she said with somewhat annoyed humor. "Or Doris if you prefer. I just want..."

I shook my head.

"That's not what I meant, Melisa," I assured her.

"Then?" she asked confused.

"You know I like Rachel," I said.

"David, Doris 'likes' you, Janet 'likes' you a LOT," she interrupted me, "You... a lot more than just like Rachel."

I laughed softly.

"Anyway," I continued, "I never thought Rachel and I would get together. I've known you as long as her. I got the feeling you were interested but with you it was different."

I stopped and she squeezed my hand.

"I knew we would be studying together someday and you would look up from your book to say something like, 'We should be together, David.' Just like that, we'd be a couple. I never thought you and I would NOT happen, Melisa, but I certainly did not imagine this."

She nodded.

"Do you want to change your mind?" she asked.

Those words would have convinced me Melisa did not know about the people following me if I had not already seen it in her eyes. I wondered what else Brothers did not tell Siblings, and if there were things Siblings did not tell Brothers.

"An orphan doesn't walk away from an offer of family," I whispered. "He might not believe it's real, but he doesn't walk away."

I lay down, and she followed to rest her head on my shoulder. She stroked my chest through the t-shirt. I turned into her so I could run my fingers up and down her spine.

She cuddled closer to me. I lay thinking about the Brotherhood for a long time.