Page 4 of Fight Or Flight

“No!” they shout simultaneously.

“Shit, lady, anything but that,” Rob says. “Our parents are nuts and while Eric may be the one behind the wheel, I’ll somehow get blamed for it too. Our mom swears we’re in cahoots to give her a heart attack.” He shakes his head. “Yeah, no thank you. Call Uncle Gangster.”

Okay, so I tried not to laugh, really, I did.

But c’mon… Uncle Gangster? I’m not only amused, I’m mildly intrigued. However, the laughter dies as soon as I see the look on my mother’s face.

“Mom?” I choke.

She continues to stare at the two brothers with a blank expression on her face, so I take a step closer and lay a hand on her shoulder. Before I can call out to her again, she speaks, pointing a finger between the two boys.

“I’m sorry, did you say his name was Eric? And… your name … it’s Rob? As in Robert?”

As soon as she asks them to confirm their names, I make the connection too, and a gasp flies out of my mouth. Eric is my sperm donor’s name and their best friend was Robert.

That is like way too coincidental.

“Uh, yeah…” Rob says, eyeing Eric. By the look on his face, I can tell the younger brother thinks my mom is crazy.

“What’s your last name?” Mom blurts.

Before either of them can answer her, a loud roar rumbles through the street. Both boys flinch at the sound and a moment later, a motorcycle pulls up beside us. The engine dies and Eric mutters a curse. I stare at him, watching as he roughly drags his fingers through his dark brown hair for the third time and a daunting thought crosses my mind. What if this boy is my brother? It’s a stretch, I’m sure, but isn’t that why my mother looks so spooked?

Oh my God, what if I was just crushing on my biological brother?

They can arrest me for that, can’t they? I mean, that’s a form of incest, isn’t it?

“We’re dead,” Rob declares. “I swore I wasn’t going to die a virgin.” He smacks his brother on the back of his head. “This is all your fault.”

The engine dies on the motorcycle and it suddenly becomes incredibly quiet as the man straddling it reaches to pull the helmet from his head. Wearing only a pair of dark aviator sunglasses and a smirk, he stares at Eric and Robert.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

“It was all his idea, I swear!” Rob blurts. “If you’re going to kill anyone, it should be him. He’s not a virgin.”

Eric grimaces, smacking the palm of his hand to his forehead.

“Fuck, Rob, can you shut your mouth for five seconds?”

“Not a virgin, huh?” the man questions, raising his hand high. “My man put it there.”

Eric’s cheeks blush as he rolls his eyes and obliges, giving the strange guy a high-five. I didn’t know losing your virginity was cause for applause. I guess you learn something new every day.

“Robert?” my mom whispers as the man high-fiving Eric suddenly turns to face her.

Wait a minute.

Thisis Robert?

The smirk falls from his lips as he plucks the sunglasses from his face, and a gasp sounds from my mom as she brings her palm to her mouth.

“Oh my God, Robert!”

“Joss?”

He shakes his head in disbelief as my mom nods. Everything that comes next happens in a flash and before I know it, my mom is hugging the man and they’re both laughing.

“Oh, good, everyone is friends. Does that mean this idiot gets to live another day?” Rob asks.

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