Three. The Perfect Number

MADISON

Madison stormed toward Daniel, who was staggering drunkenly down the beach, still calling her name.

“Maaaadison!”

He better not have driven here in that state.

She walked faster, intent on keeping Daniel as far away from the bonfire as possible. If there was one thing she hated more than her ex at this moment, it was the thought of her brothers and friends witnessing an embarrassing scene.

It was bad enough that Ethan had been there at the dorm.

“There you are!” Daniel slurred. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, baby.”

“What the hell are you doing here, Daniel?” she hissed, clenching her fists.

“What, you’re not happy to see me?” He tried to close the gap between them, but Madison stepped aside, disgusted at even the thought of him touching her.

“Again. What the fuck are you doing here and why on earth would you think I’d be happy to see you?”

“If you had the decency to answer my texts,” he snapped, suddenly indignant, like he has any right to be angry, “you’d know exactly what I’m doing here.

“You were the one who told me you go to the beach for bonfires on Saturday nights, how we’d go together when I came home with you. So when you wouldn’t talk to me, I had no choice but to drive down here and find you.”

His eyes slid past her and over her shoulder. “But I see why you haven’t texted me back…” He sneered. “You’ve kept yourself busy, haven’t you? One man not enough?”

Madison followed his gaze and saw that the twins and her brothers were standing behind her, shoulder to shoulder, their arms crossed.

Sam was behind Ezra, peeking around him while he held out a protective arm, keeping her back.

Madison whipped her head around and glared at Daniel. “What I’ve been up to isn’t any of your concern. You lost any right to care about my life the moment you decided to fuck someone else.”

“Oh, come on…you can’t still be mad about that, babe…I told you it was meaningless.”

“What’s meaningless is you showing up here, Daniel. I thought not answering any of your stupid texts was already a clear sign of how much I don’t care about you or anything you have to say.”

“You can’t be serious right now, Madison! You know how much I love you.”

His words were so infuriating she was practically incandescent, but a pair of hands suddenly rested on her shoulders and a body like a solid wall pressed lightly against her back, easing her tension.

“Weird how love works these days, right ’Flake?” Ethan said from behind her, his voice reaching her like a caress. “You’d think cheating was a clear sign of someone not caring about you, but instead, look, it’s actually a sign of ~love~!”

The mockery in his tone was as clear as the fury on Daniel’s face.

“Who the fuck are you to talk to me like that? This has nothing to do with you, asshole, so mind your fucking business!”

“Everything ok here, sis?”

Liam stepped in front of Madison, followed closely by Ezra, and when Daniel got a clearer look at her brothers’ impressive physiques and imposing size, he lifted his hands.

“Look, I just wanted to talk to Madison, okay?”

“But I don’t want to talk to you,” she snapped. “Didn’t you say I’m uptight and frigid and a waste of your best college years? Besides, I’ve seen what you offer, and I need something that’s worth it…something I can feel if you know what I mean.”

Her words were meant to cut deep, and when Ethan squeezed her shoulder, she knew she did well. But before she could add her final goodbye, Daniel launched himself at her.

“You fucking bit—!”

His words found their end against Ezra’s fist, and the force sent him sprawling into the sand.

“Stay away from her!” Ezra growled, standing protectively in front of Madison.

As Daniel staggered back to his feet, Levi stepped forward to stand beside her, the usually playful glint in his eyes replaced by a grim fury. “You need to leave. Now.”

Her brothers flanked Daniel, who still looked stunned by Ezra’s right hook.

“Daniel, just leave,” Madison said, feeling weary. “It’s over. Go back to your life.”

Her ex threw her one last frustrated glance before stumbling away toward the bar, Liam and Ezra on either side, half-supporting, half-dragging him.

“Sam!” Ezra called over his shoulder. “Can you go find the Green Bay’s security guard? We need to make sure this fool doesn’t try to drive in this condition.”

Sam hurried off to do his bidding, and Madison was left alone with the twins. She felt the last of her defiance and anger drain out, and her shoulders slumped.

Levi turned to her, concern on his face. “Are you okay, ’Flake?”

“I am now,” she said, glancing at both twins. They were close, their shoulders brushing against each other as they faced her.

She felt something unspoken between them, some kind of shared understanding. Saw something different in their eyes.

“Madison…” Levi lifted a hand to her cheek. “We didn’t—”

Ethan cut in, his voice low. “We’d never let anyone hurt you. You know that, right?”

Her heart raced again, but not from fear.

“I know.”

***

It was just truth or dare.

What could go wrong?

The first few turns had gone just fine, kisses here and innocent truths there, nothing exciting or scandalous or scary.

But now that everyone’d had a bit more to drink, things were getting a bit…heated.

Madison didn’t even know how to do half of the things people were coming up with for dares, and she felt stuck in a weird place between amused and scared.

She shifted nervously on her seat between Ethan and Levi, suddenly second-guessing her decision to come out with the twins to another bonfire tonight.

Especially since she couldn’t stop thinking about the way they’d looked at her after the incident with Daniel.

But the week following that bonfire had been a quiet one. She’d barely seen her brothers—or the twins—just rattled around an empty house when she wasn’t shopping or going out for drinks with Sam.

As it turned out, the problem with the pool at the new gym wasn’t an easy fix, and the delay in the opening had a domino effect, drowning poor Liam in administrative tasks.

He and Ezra still insisted she continue with her plans to take time off before starting work, but she felt guiltier about it with every purposeless day that passed.

So when her brothers had bowed out of their usual Friday night debauchery, pleading exhaustion, she’d said yes when the twins offered to take her and Sam for a bonfire “do-over.”

She was even wearing almost the exact same outfit: a bikini and cut-offs.

Madison tried to peer around Levi and catch Sam’s eye—was her friend having misgivings about this game as well?—but his big shoulders were in the way.

“What’s up, ’Flake?” he whispered, leaning down close to her face, and his right brow was arched with such concern for her she could barely resist the urge to kiss him.

“Something wrong?” Ethan said behind her, and she felt him rub her back gently.

She shivered before she could suppress it. Seriously, the way her body reacted to their touches…

“You like that?” As innocent as it sounded, Ethan’s question only flustered her more.

But just as her mind touched on a naughty place, a girl called out her name and asked her to make her choice.

“Dare!” slipped out of her mouth before she had time to think.

The smirk on the girl’s face grew bigger.

“All right. We dare you to kiss the twins.

“Real kisses, on the lips.

“At least five seconds.”