Page 1 of Daddies’ Little Cubs (Ivory Mountain Daddies #3)

JESSA

Six Months Before

T his was the craziest idea that she had ever had. When Destiny found out about everything Jessa had done, there was no telling how she was going to react.

Ever since they were little, the twins knew that there was something different about them. Something that was exactly like their older sister.

The twins were Littles and that was something that had been hard for them to come to terms with. Jessa knew that their parents had kicked out their older sister for the same reason when they were twelve.

That was almost six years ago and Jessa was tired of missing her big sister. All she wanted was to make sure she was okay and had landed on her feet happy.

Jessa might have only been twelve when she saw Raelyn for the last time, but that didn’t stop her from looking her up as soon as she could. There might have been some stalking ever since Jessa found out where Raelyn lived.

Looking down at the letter in her shaking hands, she was afraid to open it. Jessa might have broken the law slightly when she applied for Ivory Mountain University.

Technically Destiny didn’t apply for the college herself, but the girls had talked about going to the same college since they were little. That was always the plan, so Jessa didn’t feel as bad as she probably should have for forging the application for Destiny.

Taking a deep breath, Jessa slowly opened the big envelope. She had to believe that the size of the envelope meant good things.

Glancing down, she started to read…

Dear Applicant,

We want to congratulate you on your acceptance to the undergrad program at Ivory Mountain University. Kindly report to the admissions office no later than Wednesday, July twenty-fourth with all of the required documents to complete your admission process.

At Ivory Mountain University, we pride ourselves in providing the best for our students. Our university provides a state-of-the-art infrastructure, library, and world-renowned professors.

Based on your application and reference letters, you qualify for a scholarship that will cover all tuition and living expenses. Please read the attached documents and bring the required material to the finance office no later than July twenty-fourth.

Thank you for choosing Ivory Mountain University! We look forward to a long and prosperous journey together.

Sincerely,

Dr. John Willimas

Dean of Ivory Mountain University

Jessa couldn’t believe it. She had done it! She got accepted into Ivory Mountain University. It had been a last minute submission and Jessa didn’t think that anything would come from it.

Flipping to the next envelope, Jessa noted that it was addressed to Destiny and it was the same size as the letter she had received. That could only mean that they both had managed to get accepted into the college in Raelyn’s home town.

This was it, this was going to be a step into the right direction for them to finally be reunited with their sister. The only thing Jessa needed to do now was let Destiny know what she had done and make the decision with her about what they were going to do.

Jessa waited all day long to share the news with Destiny about their acceptance into IMU. Partly because she was a little scared about how she was going to react, but also because Destiny was working tonight until ten and was just getting home.

“Hey Sissy. How was work?”

Destiny grunted at her question. Jessa knew that she didn’t like her job at the frozen yogurt shop in their tiny town, but there weren't many places that they could work.

It’s not like their town was super big. There were only two stop lights, three schools, a grocery store, a gas station, and the tiny strip mall that held the most basic necessities including the froyo shop the twins worked at.

“It was about as exciting as your morning shift was today. I think the most interesting thing that happened was Mrs. Betty got strawberry yogurt instead of her usual butter pecan.”

Jessa laughed at her sister's commentary. Working at the shop meant that after about two weeks you knew everyone who came in and what their regular order would be.

Giggling Jessa responded, “Wow! Go Mrs. Betty. Really stepping out the box there.” Destiny cracked a smile at her joke and walked over to put her stuff on the desk they shared.

“Jessa, what’s this letter on the desk and why is it addressed to me?”

“Okay, so I did something. Really it’s not that big of a thing. Totally nothing major at all.”

“Stop stalling and spit it out. What the heck did you do.”

“IappliedatIvoryMountainUniversityforthebothofus.” Jessa rapidly fired out of her mouth not stopping long enough for Destiny to question what she stated.

“I’m sorry? I don’t think I heard you right.”

“I uh.. Well you see…”

“JESSA!”

“Fine! I applied at IMU for the both of us. We got accepted and a full ride scholarship. We could go to Ivory Mountain University together.”

Jessa stared at Destiny waiting for her to say something.

“Ivory Mountain University? Why does that name sound so familiar?”

“That’s where Raelyn lives.” Jessa mumbled under her breath.

Destiny knew that Jessa had been stalking their older sister. She had told her many times before that if Raelyn wanted to have a relationship with them she would have found a way to contact them, but she never did.

Jessa didn’t believe her for a second. She believed that Rae kept her distance because she knew that their parents would have had a fit if she had tried to reach out. When they were little all of them were the bestest of friends.

She wouldn’t have just abandoned them with no thought to ever return. That just wasn’t like the Raelyn that Jessa remembered.

“I’m sorry? I don’t think I heard you correctly. You said that Raelyn lives there? In Ivory Mountain?”

“Ummmmm, yeah?”

“Is that a question or a statement Jessa?”

“A statement. Raelyn settled in Ivory Mountain after the wardens kicked her out all those years ago. She's done well for herself.”

“J! I thought I told you that it was wrong to stalk Rae. She didn’t want us then, and she’s not going to want us now. Give it up and move on.”

“I just don’t believe that and I know you don’t either, D.”

Destiny was quiet and Jessa knew she had hit the spot. She knew that her twin didn’t want to believe any more than she did that Raelyn just left, forgot about them, and never looked back.

Jessa watched Destiny settle on her bed and pull her stuffed wolf into her lap. Looking down in her own lap at her stuffed black panther that Jessa had named Bagheera after her favorite childhood movie, she couldn’t help but long for the day that they both could be free.

The twins had lived in hell the past few years after the wardens, that’s what they had taken to calling their parents, kicked out Rae. When everything went down, the twins didn’t understand much.

Not long later their mom had gone through the girls room and threw out all of their childhood toys and stuffies. They didn’t own a single thing from their childhood and that broke their hearts.

It didn’t make sense then, but it did now. It’s like their parents thought that if they got rid of all the things from their childhood they wouldn’t go down the path that their sister did. Which made Jessa giggle because it turned out they both were Littles. She loved the irony of the situation.

Jessa didn’t understand at first what it meant to be a Little. Then she found one of the books that Rae had hidden in the floorboards of her room and she fell in love with it and everything made sense. Things clicked into place about who she was as a person and she felt peaceful ever since.

Jessa knew that Destiny felt the same. Yeah, was it a little strange knowing her twin was a Little like her? At first, but then after they talked it out, they knew it made sense. The girls knew that they never wanted to be apart, even after they graduated college.

They always joked that they would need to find a man that would date both of them, but that only happened in fairytales and their lives were far from being a fairytale. Jessa was letting her thoughts run and she needed to try to focus again on the topic at hand.

“So, what do you think? Care to become a Cub at Ivory Mountain University and maybe find our sister while there?”

“This is totally crazy. We should just let her continue to live her life without us being involved.”

“But you’re considering it right? Do you really want to continue through life with the ‘what if’. This might be our only chance Destiny. We don’t want to miss it.”

“We have a few weeks before we have to give them an answer. Let’s just think about it. I don’t want to make any rash decisions. We were accepted into a lot of colleges.”

“But you’ll consider it?”

“Yes, J. I’ll consider it.”

Jessa took that as a win. She knew that Destiny would come to the right decision and they would be proud future students of Ivory Mountain University.

That was the easy part though. The hard part would be convincing her that they could reach out to their sister and maybe mend the broken relationship that they had.

It had been four days since Jessa told Destiny about their acceptance to IMU and she was starting to grow slightly impatient that D wouldn’t give her an answer yet. Not for lack of trying either.

Jessa would ask her everyday if she knew what her decision was. She knew that D was growing tired of hearing the question, but Jessa would stop as soon as she got the answer she wanted.

During the past four days, the twins had been accepted into another three colleges. All over the country, but Jessa’s heart was set on going to Ivory Mountain University.

She couldn’t stomach the idea of going to a different college than her twin, but that was a decision she was prepared to make if that’s what it came to. Jessa refused to let go of the idea of having Rae back in her life.

Pulling out her phone she shot a text to D. Jessa knew that she was at work right now, but she knew that her sister would have her phone on her.

Jessa: Please tell me that you have finally come to a decision.

Destiny: Really J? You know I am at work right now.

Jessa: Ik, but idc. I really need an answer D. I’m tired of waiting.

Destiny: I have my decision, but we aren’t talking about this until after I get off work.

Jessa: FINALLY! I thought you would never make up your mind.

Destiny: Oh whatever, brat. Go away, I’m trying to convince Mr. Tom to pick something besides caramel yogurt.

Jessa giggled and put her phone away after looking at the time and realizing that there were still two hours in Destiny’s shift. She knew that Destiny was fighting a losing battle and that Mr. Tom would never cheat on his beloved caramel yogurt.

Deciding that she was going to ignore the homework she knew she had in English, Jessa curled up on her bed with Bagheera and turned on The Jungle Book again and watched it for what must have been the two hundredth time.

That was the twins’ favorite movie. It’s even where they had gotten the names of their stuffies. Jessa had a black panther named Bagheera and Destiny had an Indian wolf named Leela.

They had bought them for their seventeenth birthday and that was the best decision they had made. It was something that their mom couldn’t take away from them since they had bought it with their own money which made them so much sweeter to own.

“Jessa, wake up. I’m home from work and I thought you wanted to talk.”

Jessa didn’t even realize that she had dozed off during the movie. Glancing at the alarm on their bedside table she noted that it was after ten.

The girls still shared a room even at the age of eighteen. When Rae left, that opened up another room in their house and their parents had offered to help turn it into a bedroom for one of them so they no longer needed to share a room.

Neither of them wanted to be away from the other though and hated the idea of sleeping alone. Call it a twin thing, but they had no desire to sleep in separate rooms. So instead they traded their bunk beds in for a queen size they shared.

Her impromptu nap had helped her pass the time and now she was wide awake biting at the bit to talk to Destiny about her decision.

“I’m up! I’m up! Let’s do this.” Jessa said, bouncing on the bed as she leaned forward toward where her sister sat at the end.

Destiny rolled her eyes at her antics. It's not like she could help it. Destiny was known for taking her sweet time making decisions, but in Jessa’s mind this was a no brainer.

“Sooooooo…are we going to be Cubs at IMU?”

“I just want the record to show that I still believe that this is an absolutely crazy idea, but I’m in. Let’s go to Ivory Mountain University, but I’m still on the fence about disrupting our sister’s life.”

Jessa rolled her eyes. Getting her to agree to going to IMU was a step in the right direction. She knew that it would take no time to convince her of the other plan.

Grabbing Destiny in a big hug, she whispered a small thanks in her ear before switching the subject to focus on the rest of her shift at the froyo shop. Ending their night in a fit of giggles, the twins settled in for bed and Jessa dreamed of what their future was going to be.