Talk to Me (The Winner, Part II)

"Customers?"

She nodded. "I think Nicky and Sin could start being personal trainers for people who don't have the motivation to work out on their own but want results. Look at me, I'm living proof of how good they are. They could make a lot of money at it."

Oh, so that's what they'd been talking about yesterday. It was an interesting idea, but rather than discuss what I didn't really know anything about, I looked at the twins instead.

"Who won?"

Nicky thrust his fist into the air and yanked it back down again. "Winner!"

"Yeah, I don't get that. You had fewer faults so how come Nicky won?" Cricket turned to Sin as she asked. I answered on Sin's behalf when all she did was blink at Cricket with that vague look she got when she was already halfway into communing with Nicky.

"Nicky won because Sin couldn't tell him where the ball was as well as he could tell her. So he made more mistakes."

She looked confused so I gave more detail.

"It wasn't about how well they could hit the ball while blindfolded. The contest was about how well one could tell the other where the ball was and how to hit it. They had to listen and actually hit the ball correctly so it stayed in play. Athletics and their twin bond combined. The faults they called were actually the fault of the twin directing, not the one playing." I'd seen them do something similar to this with a basketball, throwing it back and forth through a swinging and spinning hula hoop while the throwing twin's eyes were closed and the receiving twin's eyes were open.

Crickets mouth dropped open and she stared at the twins.

"I told you to be prepared to be awed by what you'd see."

"How come I can't do that?" She put her fists on her hips and glared at her mother who looked totally confused by what she was hearing.

"And I told you how frustrated you'd be because of it." I reminded her as I gestured to Amelia to sit again.

"I want a do-over, I think somebody swiped my genetic lottery ticket. She glared at the twins this time but the two of them just looked at each other, Sin sliding her arm around Nicky's waist with a smile on her lips while Cricket tried to get their attention.

"I love you Nicky." The words were soft as Sin leaned closer.

"The locker room is that way." Quickly I hooked a thumb over my shoulder to get them moving before things went any further. "Don't forget, stinky clothes go into the wash right away."

"Dibs!" Cricket turned the twins around and pushed them before breaking into a trot to get there first. She had class and they didn't.

Amelia looked at me once the three of them vanished. "I don't understand; someone called your stepdaughter a whore? Why?"

"Sin and Nicky are very, very close. They compensate for losing their birth mother with a lot of physical contact between them; touching, hand holding, hugging, that sort of thing. Nicky's also very shy in public, so he leans on Sin for emotional support.

"People got the idea they're incestuous because they touch each other so much and sometimes Sin will kiss Nicky if he gets really stressed and needs reassurance. She doesn't care if anyone sees her kiss him, his need for someone to prove they love him takes precedence over optics."

Pointing at where they'd been standing just a minute ago I went on.

"You heard her, Sin loves Nicky very much and isn't shy about saying so whenever he needs to hear it. There isn't anyone closer to her than he is and there never will be because of their twin bond. Nicky feels the same way about Sin."

Amelia said nothing as I sighed and shifted a bit in my chair at how cruel people could be.

"They took a lot of abuse over it while they were growing up and there were even some complaints made to the authorities. There were a lot of emotional scars left behind from that but nothing else came of it. Except they also now have a false reputation for doing something they don't do."

I could see how shocked she was at the idea by how fast she looked where her daughter had vanished to.

"They don't. You can ask Cricket, she's talked to them about this and she'll tell you what I'm saying is the truth. They're very close because they're twins. The rest is because some people have dirty minds and nastier mouths."

"They're jealous." Cricket came out of Sin's bedroom toweling her hair. She handed her mother a wide toothed comb and thumped to the floor in front of her. "Would you? Please? I can't use the mirror in the bathroom because of the steam. And Nicky's in there right now anyway."

Which was probably code for Sin and Nicky were already in bed together. Cricket had most likely decided to leave them alone so she wouldn't disturb them while Sin talked to Nicky. But she couldn't actually say any of that with her mother there.

"Jealous?" Her mother asked the question after starting combing through Cricket's tangles.

"Yeah. All you have to do is see how good looking they both are to know some people would feel that way. They can't handle that they're third rate in the looks department compared to the two of them, so they get jealous and make up lies to justify the fact they aren't getting any of the attention."

Amelia missed a stroke with the comb then started again. "You think Nicky is good looking?" Her voice went soft.

"Mom!" Cricket leaned forward and twisted to look up at her mother. "Stop trying to hook me up."

"You're going to have to give up your tomboy ways some day." She put her hand on the top of Cricket's head, twisting until Cricket faced forward again, and went back to combing until Cricket's hair was knot free.

"Some day. Maybe." Cricket rose and took the comb back before looking over at me. "I'll think about it when I can wear a bikini again without worrying I'm going to blow out a seam at the wrong time."

I nodded. "We will find a way."

"You bet we will." She grabbed the gym bag which was now holding her workout wear, putting the comb into a pocket inside before zipping it closed and hefting it up onto her shoulder. She gave me a light kiss on the lips while her astounded mother watched with big eyes.

"Bye mom, gotta go. Remember, finals are next week so I'm not going to be able to be here in the mornings until after that's over. Don't miss me too much, it'll only be a week before I'm back to using up all your hot water again. I am going to fit into a bikini by this summer or my name isn't Mickey The Wandering Minstrel."

I grinned at her and walked them out, her mother looking repeatedly at Cricket as they headed down the driveway toward their car.

"What?" Cricket looked at her mother who turned and looked up the driveway at me before glancing sideways at Cricket again. Cricket rolled her eyes. "Mom! Seriously, I can't take you anywhere."

The next morning Cricket told me that her mother thought she and I were having an affair. The twins looked at each other and broke into laughter. Cricket looked at both of them and then me, eyes taking in my whole body, including my protruding stomach. She jerked her chin down once firmly.

"Don't think things that aren't going to happen." I warned her.

She just raked me with her eyes again and wiggled in between Sin and Nicky, putting her arms around them both.

"We will find a way."

The word were low, but clear, and filled with intent. Nicky and Sin echoed them. I threw up my hands. Yoo hoo, Mrs. Frankenstein; your monsters are calling for you. The worst part was that I wanted to answer them.

The house felt empty without Cricket's energy filling it up every morning for the week she had exams. Even Tom felt her absence and he usually wasn't home when she was there except on the weekend.

On that Friday a woman named Minerva called and asked to talk to Nicky about helping her exercise. After the call ended they grabbed their computer, cables and gizmos and asked me to drive them to her office where they'd agreed to meet.

The office was in a glass and steel high-rise downtown. Minerva had an office on the third floor. We were shown in by her receptionist and it soon became obvious from the way she was panting after Nicky that the exercise she was interested in wasn't fitness training. Especially after she tried to kiss Nicky when she thought I wasn't watching.

It didn't matter if I was or wasn't, Sin always was. She snapped the laptop closed and stood up, her cables trailing behind her as she and Nicky walked out without speaking. I heaved myself up from the chair I'd been sitting in and followed them out.

"Everyone must be right, they have to be fucking each other." Minerva yelled through her open door as I caught up to the twins in the front reception area. "They are, aren't they? The little whore and her brother. Tell me, is he any good or did you use him just to get pregnant?"

I stopped and turned around, my voice level but colder than deep space.

"They work as personal fitness trainers. You called them and asked for their help in losing weight. You lied to get them to come here. You didn't want any help with your fitness or weight loss, you only wanted to sexually assault them. If that's what you had in mind, you could have easily hired a male stripper and gotten the cheap thrill you were craving that way without harming anyone or making a fool of yourself."

We were waiting for the elevator when the woman who'd been at the reception desk in Minerva's front office cracked opened the outer office door and hurried over. She handed Sin a slip of paper and scurried back to where she came from, slipping through and silently closing the door without so much as a squeak to indicate she'd been gone from her desk.

Sin handed me the note. It said Adrienne. There was a phone number written underneath the name.

"Let's ask Cricket tomorrow what she thinks." I gave the paper back to Sin.

Cricket was livid. I had to physically take the phone away from her and erase the answering machine message to get her to stop trying to call Minerva's number to tell her off.

"And you are going to promise me, promise me, that you aren't going anywhere near there or I'll tell your mother." I made my own threats of imminent retaliation if she even thought about showing up at Minerva's office. "I'm serious, don't do it."

"Snitch." She crossed her arms and flopped onto the couch.

The twins cuddled against her while she fumed and pouted. I cleared my throat after a couple of minutes.

"What now?" She looked at me.

"I'm waiting."

"For what?"

Sin whispered into Cricket's ear.

"Oh." Cricket looked up at me and sighed. "Ok, I promise I won't go to her office and I won't try to call her on the phone even if she deserves everything I'd say to her. That good enough for you?"

"Good enough." I held out the note.

She looked at it then raised an eyebrow to the twins who shrugged that they didn't know what to think either. Holding out one hand toward me she flexed her fingers while flapping the slip of paper in the other hand.

"Phone. Gimme."

Sin poked her hard enough to make her jump.

Cricket rubbed her ribs then held out her hand again. "Can I have the phone please?"

We waited while she dialed.

"Hello? My name's Cricket. I was given this number and told to ask for Adrienne. It's about someone wanting some fitness training."

We waited some more while she listened, shifting forward on the couch and concentrating on what she was being told.

"Ok, yes, that's Nicky and Sin, I just handle the business end. If you're interested in joining our client list they'll need an initial appointment where they can do a physical assessment of your fitness level and discuss your goals. That way they can create a training and nutrition program for your specific needs. Once that's done, they'll make another appointment to go over it with you so you'll know what to expect and whether you want to go forward or not. The only thing we need to do right now is set up a time and place for you to meet with them and we can get that started. It'll take about an hour and you should be ready for a short but intense workout."

She made writing motions and Nicky got her a notepad and a pencil. She began writing as she listened.

"Ok. That actually fits into their current schedule. Unless something comes up they'll be there. If something does, I'll call you and reschedule, ok? Otherwise, they'll see you then."

She hung up and gave the twins a high-five.

"Woot! A real live customer!"

"Was it the woman at Minerva's office?"

I asked because I didn't know if I trusted anyone who worked there. This could be a second attempt by Minerva to hurt the twins. Cricket shook her head.

"Her daughter-in-law. She has a desk job that comes with a free gym membership but she never uses it." Cricket tore off the sheet of tablet paper and handed it to Sin. "She's the kind of client I told you that you guys can probably help. She doesn't have anyone to push her into doing her workout so that's why she doesn't go. Her mother-in-law called her right after that woman did what she did to Nicky to see if Adrienne would be interested in what you guys can do for her."

After the call to Adrienne, two more potential clients also called about wanting to work with the twins. Cricket turned one of them down right off the bat, saying that he'd made some comments about one-on-one training with Sin that didn't sound like he was interested in anything but trying to pick her up. And those were just the beginning, it wasn't long before the message machine started filling up every day with calls for the twins.

Cricket started driving them to their appointments with clients too far for them to walk or take the bus conveniently because the twins didn't drive. They couldn't be apart far enough or long enough to take the test. Knowing them like I did, I also didn't trust them to be safe behind the wheel, sometimes they weren't aware enough of what was going on around them. Cricket drove so I didn't have to overwork myself. I told her I was fine with driving but she kissed my stomach and told the baby not to worry, she was on the job now.

She also stopped accepting new clients when they had six confirmed and actually in training routines with the twins, telling the prospects that Sin and Nicky's training calendar was full and they couldn't accept more people without short changing the clients they already had. Some weren't happy about it but others asked to be put on the waiting list for when they had an opening.

"A waiting list?" I asked Cricket about it one afternoon while the twins were with a client almost right around the corner. The house right next door to where Mrs. Grouchypants lived as a matter of fact. We'd laughed about it after he called for an assessment appointment.

"Yep. It shows they're in high demand and that there's a customer base out there that wants them and not just any coach." She jotted another name and the contact information onto the list as she explained. "Most of it is the way they look, but the fact that they deliver what they promise is really what's behind the referrals. For instance, two of the names on the waiting list are friends of Adrienne. They called because she's already lost five pounds, even though it's only been a couple of weeks, and she's actually glowing from how much better she's feeling now. Plus, summer is almost here so everyone is thinking about their physical appearance."

She held out the list to me.

"For now I want to keep the active client list at no more than six, which is me and five others, because it's a good number that gives them enough time between sessions they aren't constantly running from one client to another every day. It works out to three per day, alternating who they're working with every other day, with one day off per week where they don't work with anyone. That's only three hours of working with clients every day so they also get to have fun and do other things too.

"Six of the new names on the waiting list are friends of current clients and five are from people who asked directly because they saw them training with me. I can probably work all of these new clients into the schedule, one at a time, as the current ones finish their programs and drop into maintenance routines on their own. So these people are a future revenue stream that's just waiting to be tapped."

I scanned the list looking at the names. The first one at the top said MOM. It was underlined twice and had several stars next to it. I looked up at Cricket when I saw it there. She tapped the page over my name.

"Double priority client, that's what the underlines mean. One for each priority level from Nicky and Sin. The stars mean that an opening will be made for the client whenever she is available. She's currently unavailable for personal reasons but she has a bikini showcase event tentatively scheduled for next summer, though it could be the one after that depending on circumstances beyond anyone's control." Her eyes got huge suddenly.

"That reminds me!" She dashed into Sin's room and then ran back out again holding up the bottle of oil Sin used on me every day. Uncapping it, she motioned for me to lift my shirt as she sat down next to me, waggling her eyebrows comically at me. "They asked me to do this because they're busy today."

"I can do it." I held out my hand for the oil.

"Oh no you don't." She snatched the bottle away before I could grab it. "I was told to do this and I'm not going to be deprived of finally getting to put my hands all over you."

"Cricket . . ."

"No. Nicky and Sin want to be sure you and the baby are taken care of. They love you." She suddenly looked at her lap. After a short pause she mumbled. "I do too."

I didn't know what to say. Up to this point it'd been almost like a running joke with her making outrageous comments about how she'd find a way to get me in bed with her and the twins. But this . . . this was something else.

"Please?" Her face was blotchy when she looked up at me again. I watched as a tear slid down her cheek. "I'm in love with them and they love you and I don't want to be left out anymore."

I brushed the tear away. "You are not left out."

She shook her head in denial of what I said.

"You aren't. I love you too."

She sniffed.

"I do. But you don't need me like they do. You have a mother, they don't. I'm only their stepmother."

She shook her head again. "You're mom. Their mom. They can tell you anything and you'll still love them."

"It's different."

"No it isn't. You talk to them. You understand and never get mad when they do crazy weird things or when they sleep together or with you. I love both of them and you know I have sex with them and you don't say anything about that either. I can't tell any of that to my mom, she'd freak out."

"Have you tried?"

I moved a strand of her hair away from her eyes. She shook her head no.

"You should."

"I can't." Her voice went soft and she ducked her head again. Another tear dripped off the end of her nose. She sniffed and shook her head again even though I hadn't said anything.

"Cricket." I stood up and held out my hand. She looked up after a minute. "Come talk to me."

Her eyes were hopeful then she blushed and looked down once more.

"Just talk. It's easier to put oil on me if I'm lying down anyway. We can talk at the same time." I wiggled my fingers until she gave in and put her hand in mine.

I took the oil away from her, putting it on the bedside table before sitting on the bed. I patted the mattress.

"Just talking."

She hesitated slightly but sat down on the edge of the corner furthest from me.

"I'm not going to bite you." I plumped both pillows before stuffing them behind my back and leaning on them. Once I was comfortable I held up my arms. "Talk to me. Ask me anything, no limits. I won't get mad, I won't make any judgements, and I won't ever repeat what you say to anyone. Not even to Nicky and Sin."