I chance a glance at Chrissy. The curvy brunette is also seated in a chair, staring blankly ahead. Her eyes are red-rimmed and dry, and she seems hardly able to process the tumult that is our lives. We’ll definitely have to work things out, but right now, all eyes are on my dad.
After what feels like an eternity, a nurse calls us to a back room.
“Rick and Ryder Walsh?” she asks. “The doctor would like to see you.”
Giving my brother’s shoulder a calming squeeze, we follow the older woman down the hallway. Chrissy perks up, but doesn’t make a move to join us from her hospital chair and as the door closes, I catch a glimpse of the beautiful woman’s face, full of worry and heartbreak.
About ten minutes later, we emerge from the hospital room, still worried but also relieved.
“Well?” Chrissy asks, sitting up. “How is he?”
“He’s going to be fine,” Rick growls, still standing. “It was a minor heart attack and they say it doesn’t look like there’s any permanent damage to Fred’s heart muscle, but he’s going to stay in the ICU for a few days to make sure. He’s seventy, but he’s tough. Our dad will make it.”
Chrissy nods, her eyes wide.
“I’m sorry this happened,” she says in a quiet tone, looking down at the floor. “I wish I hadn’t brought this down on you guys. It’s my fault.”
That’s when I sit in the plastic orange seat next to her. I want to be delicate and refined, but the days of that are past.
“Why didn’t you tell us you were our stepsister?” I ask bluntly. “Why were you hiding that fact?”
She goes pale, but then composes herself. “I wanted to tell you at so many different times, but just kept putting it off,” she says in a slow but steady tone. “I know that’s no excuse but it got harder and harder to reveal the truth as more time went by. I was going to, I swear, although you don’t have to believe me.”
I nod, refraining from touching her.
“But why not come out and tell us from the beginning? At the reunion even? It makes no sense.”
She nods, pressing her lips together.
“Well, it’s hard to explain but here goes: I’ve had a crush on you guys ever since high school,” she confesses. “It was crazy. You guys were literally living in the same house, and I had the hugest crush on not one, but both of you.”
My eyebrows raise, but I merely shrug.
“That’s not such a big deal,” I say in an even tone. “We’ve had lots of girls have crushes on us. On both of us too, so it’s not like it’s never happened before.”
Chrissy nods, two dots of scarlet on her cheeks.
“Yes, but you see, I was bad,” she whispers. “Even worse than you can imagine.”
Rick and I share a glance as our eyebrows rise.
“How so?” he probes.
“Yes, what do you mean?” I ask.
She blushes crimson again, staring down at her hands.
“Well, I used to spy on you when we were living together,” she whispers. “Not when you were in the shower or anything like that, but even worse,” she admits. “When you … well, when you brought girls home.”
I share a confused look with my brother.
“We brought girls home a lot, from what I remember. Two or three times a week, sometimes, and different girls too. So we dated around. What’s the big deal?”
Chrissy shakes her head furiously, still unable to meet our eyes.
“No, it wasn’t just that. Yes, you were with different girls, but you see, I had the bedroom down the hall from you guys, and sometimes there were noises. And sometimes, I’d tiptoe down the hall to watch, and I’d get really into it. Too into it, if you understand what I mean. I was going to tell you all this eventually,” Chrissy says in a rush. “But it’s embarrassing! You guys didn’t even recognize me at the reunion, and back then, I was nothing but a piece of furniture. So to know that I was touching myself while watching you guys … well, it’s humiliating!” she blurts, her eyes brimming with tears.
Rick and I share another glance, and I can tell we’re on the same wavelength. This revelation isn’t embarrassing, it’s hot. Holy shit, we ensnared Chrissy way back when, and didn’t even know it. When she was nothing but a teen girl, she was already watching us double team women, and getting aroused by the action.
Suddenly, I know that everything we feel for Chrissy is right. Rick and I have met women before who think they’re into threesomes. They think they can handle the attentions of two brothers, but the fact is that not all women are cut out for the job. They get confused, emotionally angsty, and needy. The relationship doesn’t end well, to say the least, and we end up going our separate ways.