19. Elias

Leaving her made me sick.

She's going to be there all alone. What if something happens? There's no one there to help her.

The only bright spot was we convinced her to message us throughout the night and before she went to bed so we'd know that she was okay.

We follow Jay to take his truck home, and when he climbs into the backseat of mine so we can go to work, I realize I need to tell my brothers what almost happened.

"Umm, I have something to tell you guys," I say as we head toward the station.

"I do too," Jay adds.

That's right, he did have something to say. I'd completely forgotten about it after spending the afternoon with Selena. Around four she started yawning, and we knew she was tired. She managed to go two hours without throwing up and was able to eat and drink a little more.

When we left, she was going to crawl into bed and go to sleep, promising again to message us when she woke up.

We weren't going to wait that long.

If we hadn't heard from her within four hours, we were going to call. In a perfect world, we'd ask her mother to check on her, but somehow we knew Julia wouldn't be doing that. It would be an imposition on her.

"Okay, so who's going first?" Zeke runs his hand through his hair as he shifts in his seat so he can look at both of us.

I tap my fingers on the steering wheel. Nervous as hell to tell them what I almost did. I'm not sure why it's bothering me. Knowing Selena was going to return the gesture should make me excited and ready to scream it from the rooftops.

But what if doing that fucked shit up worse for us?

"One of you needs to say something. I feel like I'm the only one without a secret and I'd bet my chores around the house for a month that both these secrets have to do with Selena. So fucking spill it," Zeke voices loudly, looking annoyed.

"Fine," I relent, pulling off the road into a gas station parking lot. I don't know how my news is going to go and I don't want to be driving when I deliver it.

Once I'm parked, I turn off the truck and turn sideways in my seat. Taking a deep breath, I shift my gaze between the two of them.

"So I went to check on Selena—"

"When she was getting sick in the bathroom. Come on, Eli, we know that already. That's not the bombshell news you seem to think it is." Zeke lets out a laugh as he shakes his head.

"You didn't let me finish, asshole," I say through gritted teeth.

"Can you hurry, Eli? I have something to tell both of you, too," Jay speaks up from the back seat.

"Fine. Anyway, she was getting sick, and I got a wet washcloth, trying to cool her off some. I helped her stand, and she lost her balance, falling into me. Her body pressed firmly against mine, and we locked gazes." I clear my throat.

Looking up at Zeke, I see him gesturing for me to finish it up.

"We almost kissed!" I blurt quickly.

"Almost, but didn't?" Jay asks.

"Did she want to be kissed?" Zeke's voice fills the cab of the truck.

I take a moment to collect my thoughts. So far, so good.

"No, we didn't, but I could tell she wanted to. If you hadn't called out to us, I think we would have." My gaze shifts to Jay on the last part.

We sit there for a moment. All of us processing what I just shared.

The corners of Zeke's mouth turn up. "She wants us."

Turning back to Jay, "Okay, what is it you have to tell us?"

"So when I was there today, she fell asleep, and I used the opportunity to look around after I got up to take a piss."

"You mean you were snooping," I interject.

"Call it what you like. I was just trying to find out what I could about her. She has a lot of pictures on her wall of her and her father. There are even ones with her mother. But it looks like once he passed away, that was it."

"Okay, but we knew that." Zeke shrugs, picking up his bottle of water, twisting off the top, and taking a drink.

"Zeke's right, man. None of that is news."

"I've not gotten to the interesting part yet. As I was looking at her pictures, I found ones with her and her boyfriend in them. They seem to be close, but something was missing; the chemistry. I kept looking, and I came to one that was a collage of multiple pictures. One in particular caught my eye."

He pauses, like he's going for some type of dramatic effect. All he's doing is pissing me off. We need to get to work and he's wasting time. He's like Mom in that manner. She always took the longest time to tell a story. She could never get to the meat of it, she had to add irrelevant information.

God, I miss her stories.

"Well, can you get to the point?" Zeke asks, pulling me from my walk down memory lane.

"Okay, fine. So I saw a picture of Sam and he was kissing someone. A male someone. Tongue and everything."

My eyes go wide at his words.

Her boyfriend was kissing another man. He wasn't kissing her.

"I think they're friends, but I fully believe that Sam is gay. He's her friend and was helping her to not make the situation weird."

"Selena was using him as a buffer since she found out we're step-siblings." I watch Jay nod.

"But what she doesn't understand is we don't care. Dad and Julia can be pissed if they want to. We met her prior to even knowing who she was. Plus, we're not blood related. She's going to be ours. We just need to convince her."

"We're in agreement she is ours. We now know, though not confirmed, that she's pretending to have a relationship with Sam. Which makes a little more sense that he's not here taking care of her while she's sick," Zeke adds.

I turn back in my seat and start the truck back up. It's time to go to work. Tomorrow we are showing up at our girl's door.

The night has been crazy as hell and we've only been at work for three hours.

But we've finally reached a lull, and it's time to talk to the captain about the building Selena's living in.

She doesn't know it, but when we go see her tomorrow, she's coming home with us. Until the violations in the building are fixed and she's feeling better, she's our newest roommate.

We finish up with the rig and head over to his office, knocking on the door when we get there.

"Come in," he calls from the other side.

We open it and step inside, pushing it shut behind us.

"All three of you at once. Please don't tell me my newest firefighters are leaving me already."

"No, not that," I tell him, the three of us smiling.

Captain smiles back and closes the folder on his desk. "Then how can I help you boys?"

We move further inside, Zeke and Jay taking a seat in front of his desk, and I move to stand between them.

"So there's a building that we've been visiting a friend at with a multitude of fire code violations we've noticed. We were hoping you could make sure an inspection is done."

Captain clears his throat, as he leans back in his chair. "What's the address? I can check to see when the last annual inspection was completed. If it's time, then I can request that it's moved up. If it's not, then we'd need to know what the violations are."

My brothers all look at each other before turning our eyes back to him.

"We can give you a list of issues wrong with this building. We just know they need to be fixed right away for the safety of the occupants." He doesn't need to know who it is I'm specifically worried about. Once we're together, then we can explain to people that our relationship isn't incest—taboo possibly, but totally fine. Even if it wasn't, it's our lives and everyone else can fuck off.

"I agree with you one hundred percent, but I need the address, boys."

"Oh, sorry. Let me write it down for you."

Captain hands Zeke a pen and piece of paper and he quickly writes down the address, checking his phone to be sure he wrote it correctly.

I can feel his eyes on us, but I don't look up.

"One of you wouldn't have a lady living there, would you?"

My body tenses. It's not that I'm ashamed, but this is unconventional. Is there a way to say I'm fucking head over heels for my stepsister? I didn't know who she was when I met her and oh yeah, my brothers want her, too, but we plan to share.

It's not exactly the normal conversation you have with people. Especially your boss.

"We all do," Jay speaks up before I have a chance to complete my thoughts, much less form an answer.

He lets out a laugh as he shifts in his seat. "Okay, then. I think there's more to that story, but I won't press you for it. I'll check on the inspection for you, but it may be a day or two before I have an answer. Now get back to work. The way the night's going, I have a feeling there's going to be more time spent on calls than here at the station."

"Thank you, sir." I turn and head to the door, my brothers falling in step behind me.

When we're outside of his office, I let out the breath I didn't realize I had been holding.

"Come on, let"s text Selena and see how she's doing." Zeke pats me on the back as he heads off to the kitchen area. If I know my brother and I do, he's going to get something to eat while he's at it.

Jay and I run to catch up with him. Zeke's fingers are already flying over the keyboard just before my phone vibrates in my pocket. From the look on Jay's face, he got one too.

Pulling it out, I see it's Zeke's messaging in a group chat with Selena.

Zeke: Hey Cupcake sleep well?

Zeke: Are you still asleep and if so I'm sorry I'm waking you

Selena: What's with these nicknames?

Selena: I do have a real name and no I wasn't asleep. I've been up for about 15 minutes

Selena: Shouldn't you be working saving lives and all that shit?

Jay: We are just on a break

Zeke: Have you been able to eat anymore?

Me: Are you still getting sick? We can come by in the morning

She doesn't need to know we already plan to do that. We're going to pack a bag and take her home with us. Then we're going to make sure she calls her doctor and gets an appointment.

Selena: Meh. If I don't move eat or drink anything then I'm peachy keen.

Me: Do you need one of us to come there?

Me: We can talk to our captain and see if one of us can leave.

Selena: No don't do that

Zeke: What about Sam?

Zeke: He should be here taking care of you instead of on a vacation.

Got to hand it to Zeke. He's not going to let it rest. We know she's lying about her relationship with Sam, but let's see if she takes the bait he's throwing out there and confesses, or if she's going to continue with the lie.

Selena: Sam is fine. He's my boyfriend not my husband. Besides it's a stomach bug not a terminal illness.

Selena: I am capable of taking care of myself. Now go back to work. Save some lives. Rescue some cats from trees. Isn't that what firemen do anyways?

Me: Princess has some jokes but we'll let you go

Jay: Bye Babygirl!

Zeke: Sweet dreams Cupcake. I'll make sure to cuddle that rescued kitten to my bare chest and send you a picture.

She doesn't respond, but I don't expect her to.

Our plan to wear Selena down until she falls head over heels in love with us and ditch this pretend boyfriend story is in full effect.

I've barely slid my phone back into my pocket before the alarms go off, alerting us to another call.