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“I feel like I’m in a parallel universe.”
“I told you things are going to be different now. Come.”Mama gestured with her chin.“Show me to my rooms.”
* * *
A little after eleven in the evening, after changing into my pajamas, I took the hidden passageways leading to my mother’s room. Hopefully, she remembered to unlock the latch from her side. It was how we’d always said good night before our world had turned upside down.
The good thing about this new area, unless opened from a special access point, the hidden pathways behind our bedrooms were only connected to each other. Papa had installed a sliding panel to give him some way to connect to the main passageways. Still, the reinforced wooden and metal door had an old-school style dial lock on it, and Mama and I were the only people who knew the combination.
I was sure if people thought hard and long enough, they’d figure out it was the date Papa had married Mama in Greece, but it would take some time. They’d only ever celebrated the date of their stateside wedding since that was the one considered legal in the US.
I never understood all the details behind why they’d had two weddings. All Mama said was something about stupid people not filing the correct paperwork and making it look like she was living in sin with her mother-in-law.
I loved myyia yia,but the woman was a battle-ax, and she’d made Mama’s life hard until I came along. Then she’d spent all her time feeding me and left her poor haggard daughter-in-law alone.
As I neared the outer wall on one side of Mama’s room, I heard echoes of a discussion. It sounded like the people in the room with her were men.
Oh, the conversation she’d planned with Theo and Xander.
The right thing to do would be to turn around, hang out with one of the girls, and wait for Mama to find me.
But curiosity got the better of me. Besides, one never learned anything useful by being a good girl.
I inched closer. Hopefully, the skills Lilly and Devani taught me worked to keep Theo’s stealthy hearing from detecting me. As I approached the section with the sliding panel that opened into Mama’s closet, I noticed the wall was still closed.
What the hell?
Mama knew it was our ritual to say good night. The rule was to leave it cracked. She’d broken the rules.
I scowled at the wall.
I wouldn’t hear anything from the closet. I might as well go back where I could listen to some of the conversations.
“I trust you two with her. She likes to pretend she isn’t, but she is fragile.”
“She is stronger than you believe,”Xander defended me.
Of course, the guys would indulge her need to speak Greek after what I’d said earlier. I’d forgotten how Mama was modern in so many things but very traditional when it came to preserving our Greek culture, one of them being the family speaking our language at all times while in the house.
Then Theo said,“If you only knew half of the things she endured, you wouldn’t put fragile in any context to describe her.”
Their confidence in me settled the uncertainty I’d felt ever since I learned of the rumors about the three of us.
“I know a lot more than you believe. I have eyes in place, even if physically my body lived in a villa overseas.”The clang of decanters told me Mama poured drinks.“Here, I need to say something, and you’ll need this to handle it.”
“If you are planning to tell us to walk away, our answer is no.”Theo’s direct approach to Mama surprised me.
He was the eloquent one. He used tact and the right words with everyone but me. For me, he took the in-your-face, I-want-to-throw-you-over-my-knee-and-spank-your-ass approach.
My pussy quivered at the thought. Then I pushed it away. If only Theo would do that instead of holding it in. Over the last few days, since we’d reconnected into our unit of three, I’d seen it. The beast was waiting for Theo to set him free.
“I have to concur with Theo’s sentiment.”
Xander was the dominant and passionate lover. He gave me tenderness, emotion, gentleness. It was what he needed to do. The outside world only saw this beast of a man, all muscles and with a do-as-I-say attitude that took no one’s shit. With me, he let down his guard. He softened.
No, he wouldn’t allow me to run all over him, and he would force me to answer his questions as he’d done in the library this afternoon. But with him, I could talk to him about nothing and everything for hours.
Theo, on the other hand, kept his fire hidden from the world, rarely unleashing it unless it was on the poor souls who fucked with him in the Caves. However, with me, he pushed all my buttons. He jacked with me for the sake of annoying me. It was a game, foreplay. Domination was part of it, but I also needed to defy and goad him into reacting.
