Chapter 11: Chapter Eleven

Bexley

It was a race to see who would finish first. Both Dominic and Asher’s faces scrunched with pleasure, their cocks thick and hard, like silk and steel beneath my fingers.

“Bex,” Dominic’s voice sounded breathy.

Lust swirled like a storm in their eyes. Asher’s groans were getting desperate. It was only a matter of time before ecstasy engulfed them, reaching the height of their climaxes. My arm muscles burned with the effort, but it was worth it to see the end result. They were putty in my hands, their hips jerking in their seats as hot strands of cum erupted from the tips of their cocks and splashed onto their stomachs, some seeping over my hands.

“Uh,” Asher groaned, slumping back in his chair. “Fuck, Bexley. Your touch is like magic.”

“I thought we needed to clear the air after last night,” I mentioned. “It wasn’t a no — it was a “let me speak to my father first”,” I reinforced.

“So, it would be a “yes” if your dad approves?” Dominic asked, panting for air.

The elated smile on his face aroused my suspicions. It wasn’t going to be as simple as getting his blessing. Maybe one of them could achieve it, but not all four. My dad would have a stroke if he knew I had slept with them all. Mum helped to change their nappies for fuck’s sake. He considered them his nephews.

“Do you know something that I don’t?” I challenged, darting my eyes between them.

“Save it,” Asher interrupted. “There isn’t time for this. I just got off the phone with Dad. We need to work out how we’re going to unlock the files because the Chameleon has fled Moscow. He could be headed to the United Kingdom for all we know.”

Dominic and Asher left to clean up while I washed my hands in the sink. When they returned wearing lounge shorts and casual t-shirts, we settled around the computer monitor and watched as Dominic worked.

I glanced at my pendant, noticing the six different markings matched the symbols on the screen. There were many more. To anyone who didn’t know better, they looked like ancient runes, but I knew differently. It was a language my mother developed long before I was born. I studied the screen, realizing that she had arranged them into sentences, just like the ones she used to give me to solve.

“I know this,” I mentioned, pointing at the screen. “My mother came up with those symbols as a way of talking in code. Those are messages. Each one means something unique. It’s not so much an alphabet, but the ones with dots and dashes represent numbers. This one represents “home”.” I pointed to a triangular marking, then explained a few more that represented “night” and “day”. I held up my pendant. “It is the same with the symbols on my necklace,” I told them. “The first four sections represent the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water. Mum said she chose those particular symbols to represent you.”

Braxton had to be the water element. Cruz was definitely fire. Dominic was best suited to air, leaving Asher as earth. There were two more, but I wasn’t sure which one of them applied to me. The universe and life. My mother told me that one day, I would figure it out.

Asher peered at the screen with intrigue. “They have to mean something. Maybe she left a trail of clues to follow.” He handed me a pad of paper and a pen. “Try to remember what each symbol means and write them down in that same sequence. We might just be on to something here.”

I did as he instructed, jotting down all that I could think of. At first, it didn’t make sense, but then Asher spotted something that I didn’t.

“What is this? These are all numerals, star constellations, and a load of old waffle. What was my mother thinking when she came up with this?” I complained, feeling like I had wasted the afternoon going around in circles.

“I think that was her point. Only someone who knew what they were looking for would figure it out,” Asher explained. “I think it’s a genius idea. Even if the enemy tortured you for this information, they wouldn’t know what to do with it. These are codes inside codes, and I have a hunch that they represent coordinates. It’s as I thought; she left us a trail of clues to follow.”

“So, why are we trying to break it if it’s so well protected?” I questioned. “We could leave it be and the Chameleon will never get his hands on it.”

Asher sighed. “It isn’t as simple as that. Some powerful people will stop at nothing to get their hands on them. Thanks to the Chameleon, they knew your mother was the key to obtaining the files. When she died, she entrusted her secrets to you. As long as those files exist, Bexley, your life is in danger.”

The severity hit home, leaving me no other choice than to end this once and for all. The alternative would be to do nothing and die. That didn’t sound very heroic to me.

“If we follow the clues, mum will lead us to the location of the real code,” I realized, astounded at all the thought my mother had put into all of this.

“Bravo, Mrs Barker,” Dominic praised her memory. “Your mum was a phenomenal woman.”

“You’re telling me,” I agreed. “Home-maker by day, and code-breaker by night. I hope you’re not measuring me by her standard or you’ll be very disappointed.”

“I think we should share this information with Braxton and Cruz,” Asher suggested, not wanting to waste any time. “This is huge. We are one step closer to destroying the files, then we can put this nightmare behind us.”

Dominic winced. “Actually . . . there are six steps before we can put an end to this.” He tapped his finger against the pad of paper. “We have five locations to visit before we obtain the last clue,” he reminded us, pointing out that we still had a long way to go until we reach our goal.

We shared the frustration, mirroring the same pained expression. This would be the perfect opportunity for me to open a bottle of wine and finish it within the hour, but thanks to Asher’s ‘clean living’ rule, alcohol was out of the question. I would kill for a large glass of Malbec and a slice of chocolate fudge cake right about now. Maybe the boys would bend the rules if I brought a jar of Nutella into the bedroom and offered to use their cocks as spoons. A girl could dream.

“Will you excuse me for a moment?” I said, getting up and stretching my arms with a yawn. “I need to go to the loo.”

“We’ll be in the den if you need us,” Asher mentioned, getting up to take a bottle of water from the fridge.

I used the downstairs toilet, then crept back into the kitchen in search of a chocolate biscuit. What could I say? I was weak-willed. I savoured every lip-smacking morsel of that Kit-Kat. It was so good, I dived back into the cupboard for another one, then hid the evidence beneath a discarded newspaper in the rubbish bin. The only clean-eating I could think of was checking the corners of my lips for crumbs. There was no way I could live on salads for the next few weeks. I wasn’t a rabbit, although I had been behaving like one recently.

As I approached the den, I heard them mention my name. Pausing to listen, I strained to hear what they were all squabbling about.

They weren’t still upset about last night, were they?

“She’s going to go off her tits when she finds out about this,” Cruz expressed, keeping the volume of his voice to a minimum. “Why can’t we just tell her the truth?”

My heart jumped in my chest, wondering what they were keeping from me this time. It was typical of me to assume the worst. I could hardly breathe as I waited, my fingers trembling against my lips.

“She’s one of us now,” Braxton spoke up, easing my worries. “She loves us and we love her. What is there to worry about?”

How sweet?

Someone exhaled a sigh, then I recognized Asher’s voice next. “I know, but what if it ruins things?”

“What if it doesn’t?” Dominic stated his point. “You heard what she said.” He must have been expected to elaborate because he began to explain, “The only reason she turned down our proposal was that she was afraid of what her dad might say.”

“Yeah, she told me the same thing,” Cruz mentioned.

“But it’s nuts. Our parents planned for this to happen. It was all part of their master plan,” Dominic continued, rendering me dumbstruck. “It was the reason we were born.”

What the hell did he just say?

I pushed the door open and stumbled into the room. The dazed look on my face told them I had heard everything.

“Bexley?” Asher’s eyes flared wide with shock.

I held out my hand, signalling him to keep his distance. This was a lot of information to take in. I just needed a moment to process this. Fuck the rules. I needed hard liquor in my system because this news was a hard pill to swallow. None of them stopped me as I stalked to the bar and helped myself to a large brandy. I gulped it down, grimacing as it burned my throat.

“Start from the beginning,” I urged, topping up my glass. “I’m all fucking ears.”

Their Adam’s apples bobbed in their throats like a game of ping-pong. Why was it that a riled female could instil the fear of God in a man, just by demanding information?

Braxton scowled at his feet with his fingers stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. Cruz slouched against the pool table, folding his arms across his chest. Dominic winced his eyes, giving me the injured puppy look. Asher took another step toward me, his eyes planted on me the entire time.

“Do you want the short version or the long version?” he offered, taking a seat on the barstool.

“Just give it to me straight and leave out the bullshit,” I remarked, preferring nothing but the truth or so help me God, they were going to get it.

“Before we start, I just want you to know that your parents loved you very much. Your situation was nothing like ours. You were born out of love.”

I frowned at that. “What do you mean ‘I was born out of love’? Your dad wanted kids but just never met the right woman.”

Braxton chuckled, but the bitterness in his tone suggested he disagreed with that.

“Our father did love someone once. Long before we were born. She was killed in active service, just like your mother was,” Asher explained.

His brothers were happy to let him take the lead, taking charge like he always does.

“They wanted a team of elites, and who better than to raise their soldiers from infancy? Our biological mother harvested her eggs so that in the event of her death, Dad could still carry out their plan. He used surrogates and paid them off as soon as we were born. They didn’t mind leaving behind children they had no biological ties to. Dad got what he wanted. His soldiers were born.”

“But where do I fit into all of this?” I asked, urging him to get to the point.

“Regardless of whether you were male or female, we were all going to form part of a team. The arrangements would have been different, but when your parents found out they were having a girl, our fathers came up with a contingency plan. It was their way of ensuring your safety. You would be the key to all of your mother’s secrets, and we would fight to the bitter end to protect you,” he held my gaze as he delivered the final part of his speech, showing me that he meant every word.

“So, you’re saying they wanted us to be together?” I asked, getting my head around that concept. “My father, who hated every man I ever dated, wanted me to shack-up with four blokes?”

Asher winced at my indelicate comment. “We’re not shacking-up, it’s a marriage contract,” he corrected me.

Was this why they resented me so much when we were kids? It was because of me they had to be the best at everything. They were unable to go to school like regular children, confined here in this house like lab rats. No wonder they envied me for having a stable family unit. Each time they saw me it must have been a huge slap in the face. So, what changed to make them feel differently about me? I behaved like a brat, so why would they want to go along with this contingency plan when they could go off and lead separate lives? Marry one woman each, and defy their father’s wishes.

“Why would you want me when you could have any other woman?” I directed that question at each of them.

Asher huffed a smirk. “Because, we could have any other woman, but she wouldn’t be you, Bexley. Even if there was no plan, we would still want you to be our wife. You’re the glue that binds us together. You are our universe.”

Their universe? Just like the symbol on my mother’s pendant. Is that how they saw me?

I blushed, managing a shy smile. My heart swelled with so much love, it was fit to burst.

“When can I sign this contract?” I expressed, keen to get things rolling.

It was Braxton who answered, “We need to sign it in the presence of a solicitor because it's a cohabitation contract. It’s the only legal way you can marry all four of us without having to choose.”

“Like I could ever choose,” I spoke fondly. “Come here,” I dragged them all into a group hug, kissing them each in turn. “Of course, I will marry you. You’re stuck with me forever.”

“We can live with that,” they muttered in response.