Page 12 of Getting Off

Brooklyn told herself to remain calm. Things would be okay.

Dylan and Lucas were right. It wasn’t as if they were alone in the Gobi Desert hundreds of miles from civilization.

If they didn’t have cell coverage and the truck was broken, they didn’t have a lot of options open to them.

They could either stay here until light or they could walk in the desert in the darkness.

She would rather not do that.

The strange thing was, she did feel calm. Or far calmer than she had at first. Of course, it might’ve been because she was in a three-way embrace that felt far more wonderful than she should’ve been comfortable with. That helped.

But she also believed what Dylan and Lucas had told her.

Oddly enough, she believed Dylan even more because he’d admitted to draining a battery trying to get laid with a guy he liked.

She didn’t know whether that was because his story seemed like such a stupid guy thing to do, or because he was open enough to admit that he was bisexual to them both.

Dylan headed for the back of the Bronco. “The supplies are back here. But if you give me a second, I’ll make a little nest for the three of us. It shouldn’t be difficult. I’ve got padding.”

“Come on, Brooklyn,” Lucas urged. “Let’s go see the five-star accommodations.” He paused dramatically. “I should warn you. I’m used to the best.”

She giggled. Listen to her. One of the best neurologists in the state, and she was giggling.

Dylan was already in the back of the Bronco.

As Brooklyn headed for the tailgate, she realized there was no way she could jump up inside the thing.

But she didn’t need to worry. Before she could even mention her problem, Lucas put his hands gently on either side of her waist and effortlessly lifted her up to sit on the tailgate.

“Sorry, that was rather presumptuous of me,” Lucas told her with a smile. “I’m not trying to take liberties. I promise.”

Brooklyn felt a crazy spike in her heart rate as she stared at him from this new vantage point. “I don’t mind. I wanted to say… Well, I admire the way you’ve handled the entire night.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me. I feel the same way about you. You’ve earned my respect, Dr. Foster.”

She felt her cheeks heating at the unexpected praise. She didn’t know what else to say, so she only sat there staring at him, her heart beating fast.

Lucas looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded to the cargo area. “Do you need anything else before you head in there?”

“Oh, you mean I should find a cactus and pee behind it?” Brooklyn found herself grinning in spite of things. “Maybe I should. I don’t want to be that annoying chick that waits until everyone gets settled and then announces that she has to go.”

Lucas was grinning back. His eyes seemed to dance in the starlight. He really was a handsome bastard. They both were. Some people might say Brooklyn had won the jackpot being stranded out here with the two of them.

Lucas put his hands on her waist and lifted her back down to the ground. She liked the way his hands felt on her waist.

She felt silly and strangely exposed as she hustled off to do her business—but not too far, because she didn’t want to get lost or anything crazy.

Nothing like trying to peel out of that stupid bodysuit to pee behind scrub brush in the desert.

It had been so long since she’d done anything like this—not even camping.

And yet, she felt strangely alive. This was so different from her usual world of the hospital and patients and seminars.

She didn’t know if that was good or bad, but it was definitely different.

It all felt like something she would’ve done when she was a kid. Back before she’d lost her brother. The thought of him made her feel a little sad and wistful.

Lucas was still waiting when Brooklyn got back to the Bronco. “Ready?”

She nodded. Her throat felt thick. There were so many memories bouncing around inside her head. Lucas lifted her once again onto the tailgate. Brooklyn turned and crawled into the cargo area.

Dylan was already there, reclining in what seemed to be a far too comfortable position against some gear bags. He patted the space in the center of the small square space. “You get the middle, sweetheart.”

Brooklyn bit her lip and thought about the moment of obvious sexual awareness that Dylan and Lucas had shared inside the locker room. And Dylan’s admission that he was bi. “Are you sure you don’t want to be in the middle?”

Dylan laughed, obviously taking her meaning. “I would, but this way it’s less likely you’ll end up squished against the wheel well.”

As soon as Lucas was inside the Bronco, Dylan fastened what looked to be a nylon curtain of sorts to the back of the Bronco’s cargo area. It created something that resembled a tent flap.

“I’m willing to bet,” Lucas said after a moment or two of comfortable silence had passed, “this is Brooklyn’s first time camping.”

Brooklyn smiled in the darkness and realized she was proud to be able to argue the opposite. “You lose. I did a lot of camping out when I was young.”

“Is that right?” Dylan’s interest was plain in his tone. “I thought you were a dancer.”

“I did dance. Ballet, tap, modern dance, I dabbled in all of it, but I really liked being outside too.”

“Where was this?”

“Wyoming. Not far from Jackson.” It was funny how confessions in the dark felt so much easier. “I…I had a twin. Colin and I were forever finding someplace to camp out. We’d take the quads out with tents and food for the weekend. Just the two of us.”

Dylan took her hand in his. Brooklyn suddenly wished they weren’t wearing these stupid suits. “How long ago was that?”

“Colin died when we were fourteen.” How could it be so easy to say that right now when she normally couldn’t talk about it at all? Brooklyn swallowed the lump in her throat. “He was the cautious one. I was the one who never thought about consequences.”

There was a rustle, and Brooklyn realized that Lucas had turned in her direction. He gently stroked her hair, the backs of his fingers brushing her face. The gesture wasn’t sexual. It was an offer of comfort. “I can’t even imagine how something like that would change your life.”

Brooklyn thought about the rest. About what had happened. “I made a bad decision. Colin paid the price.”

“Head trauma,” Dylan guessed. “Is that where your passion for treating brain injuries came from?”

“We weren’t wearing helmets. He came off the quad and hit his head.

” Brooklyn remembered the entire thing as though it had happened yesterday.

“Everything was normal. He was fine. We didn’t want our parents to be pissed.

So we didn’t tell anyone. And then two days later, he got the flu. At least, that’s what we thought.”

Brooklyn would never forget that morning.

The morning she woke up and found her twin dead.

“He died in the night. I could tell you right now exactly how and why it happened in every diagnostic detail, but back then, I didn’t know.

I woke up, and he was gone. He used to get up first. He was so much more responsible than I was.

And that morning, I woke up late and couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t gotten me up.

I was even mad at him because we were going to be late for school. ”

Now Dylan turned in the darkness. They were both cupping her between their big bodies.

Their warmth touched her on so many levels.

For the first time in a long while, Brooklyn didn’t feel alone.

They were stranded in the desert, and she had opened her heart, and she was not afraid.

She lay there in the darkness in the back of a Bronco and felt as though she were exactly where and when she needed to be.

They held her. She didn’t say anything else. She finally drifted off to sleep, and her dreams were sweet.