I slip out of the apartment and run back down the stairs. Apollo arches an eyebrow at the extra stuff in my arms. “Can you keep this at your house?” I ask hesitantly. “Or Manny’s?”
“What’s going on, Sen?”
I shrug as I climb into the truck and fasten my seatbelt. “Something is weird. Mom is cleaning.” The shock on Apollo’s face mirrors my own. “I didn’t want her to get a burr up her ass and decide to move onto my room. These are the only things I really care about.” I nudge the crate with my toe.
“It’s not a problem.” He pauses as he reverses the huge truck. “Are you worried?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “It’s like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I thought she was on uppers or something, but she didn’t look that fucked up. Thanks for letting me stay tonight. I don’t think I want to go back right now.”
Apollo nods and reaches for me like he can’t bear to not touch me. I accept his hand willingly. “Maybe she had a come to Jesus moment?”
I snort. “That’s less likely than alien abduction.” As he drives me to work, I can’t get the strange image of my mom out of my head. Cleaning in a half-clean apartment, wearing actual clothes. Something is wrong, but I have no idea what.
I’m still distracted when Apollo stops the car. “Someone will pick you up. It might be Aric because Manny wants to talk to his stepmom tonight.”
Worry for Manny pushes aside the thoughts about Mom’s behavior. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Orion and I will be there to keep him from going Hulk. I have a feeling this will be good. His father is on his side, and he always liked you.”
I nod absently as I unclick my seatbelt.
Apollo tugs my hand, pulling me across the seat toward him. All thoughts flee my mind as his mouth meets mine, his lips firmer than our first hesitant kisses. When his hand cups the back of my neck and pulls me even closer, I moan against his lips and open my mouth. His tongue sweeps in, stroking against mine with steadfast heat. There’s no hesitation. His strength and power make my body tremble. His desire echoes within me, and my thighs clench together with needy hunger. When he finally releases me, my breathing is shallow and my breasts are heaving. He releases my neck, trailing his fingers down the side of my face, over my collarbone, and across the swell of cleavage that pushes above the unbuttoned collar of my shirt.
“Have a good night at work,” he whispers. His breath smelling of cinnamon and his body of citrus. It’s a strange combination, but I like it.
“After that kiss?” I joke. My voice is shaky. “I’m going to be distracted all night.”
“Good,” he replies with smug satisfaction. He shifts in the seat and adjusts the obvious bulge in his pants. My mouth dries when my gaze flickers in that direction. Is he as big there as he is everywhere else? It looks like it.
Shaking my head to clear it of the lustful thoughts, I give him a light smile and hitch my bag higher on my shoulder. “I’ll just leave this?” I motion to the crate.
“I’ll take care of it, baby. Now go to work before you’re late.”
“Fuck, you’re all bossy,” I mutter as I slide out of the truck. I liked it when he called me baby. I never thought I’d like that. I hope work goes by quickly. My brain is with four sexy men, not my job.
Chapter 20
Manny
Earlier today, I sent my dad a text telling him I needed to speak to him and Shelly. When he set up a time, I agreed and headed over to the brothers’ house. If I went home before the appointed time, my stepmother and stepsister would hound me incessantly. They’d push me over the edge before I got a chance to air my concerns. Aric is planning on meeting us here and then heading over to the shop until Sen gets off work.
When I enter the Tuckers’ house, Orion attacks me. “Fuck, Manny! I’m so bored! Tell me what happened today! Tell me everything!”
I note the empty soda cans and coffee cups on the kitchen table and eye Orion. His leg is bouncing erratically. “How much caffeine have you had today?”
“Um. Enough? Too much? I’ve been so bored,” he whines dramatically, making me roll my eyes. “I wrote two articles for our project, moved up seven levels in Skyrim, and read that stupid book for history. That’s why I needed all the caffeine. That shit is boring.”
I barely restrain my laughter. Apollo and Orion may look alike, but they’re so different it’s comical. “The day went well.” He sits down at the table with his chin perched on his hands like an eager puppy waiting for a treat. “Well, mostly well,” I amend. I tell him about the girls in the bathroom and the rumors flying around. When he starts getting angry, though, I change the subject to how Senya reacts to our touch.
“She wants you?”
“I’m pretty sure she wants all of us.” I don’t want to assume anything, but her body’s reactions weren’t faked. Now the four of us need to get on the same page. I don’t want to overwhelm her with options if we can’t handle sharing.
“All of us, hmmm?” he asks curiously. His mom left several containers of baked goods, and I’m certain the refrigerator is filled with food. I grab a cookie while I wait for his brain to catch up. “So, what are we going to do? How are we going to manage this?”
I shake my head. “We’re not talking about it until Aric and Apollo are here or we’ll just have to start all over.”
He pouts. “Fine.”
We don’t have to wait long. Apollo comes home about the same time as Aric’s bike pulls up and they come through the door together. Apollo carries an old milk crate that looks like it’s full of notebooks. “What’s that?”
Apollo shrugs. “They’re Senya’s. Her mom was acting weird, and she said she didn’t want to leave this there.”
“Weird how?” Unease buzzes through me.
“She was cleaning.”
My brows rise to my hairline. “Cleaning? Was she high?”
“That was Sen’s first thought, too. But she didn’t think so.”
I scrub a hand through my hair. “She’s not going home tonight. When she does go home, one of us should go with her just in case.” Orion tries to grab one of the notebooks, and I smack his hand. “No. You can’t look. She gave them to us to protect, not to snoop through.”
Orion pouts again. Every emotion is ten times more dramatic than usual since he didn’t have any attention all day. He’s a needy drama queen when he spends too much time on his own. “Okay, let’s talk!” He vaults over the back of the couch in the living room, landing perfectly reclined on his side. I share an exasperated look with Aric as I grab sodas from the refrigerator for both of us. Apollo sets a whole bowl of cookies in his lap like it isn’t weird that he’s planning on hoarding twenty cookies.
I sit in a comfortable armchair and open my soda. When I look up, everyone is looking at me. I groan. “I suppose I’m the lead on this?” The others nod. “Fine. We’ll try to make this easy. Do we all want Senya as more than a friend?”
“Fuck yeah,” Orion blurts. Apollo nods, his mouth full of cookie.
Aric scratches at his whiskered jaw. “Yes. I’ve been ignoring it for years, but yes.”
“You’re not saying something,” I accuse him.
The three guys and Senya still have the same tells they had when they were kids. Aric plays with his hair when he’s nervous. A blush steals across his cheeks as everyone looks in his direction. He takes another drink as we all wait for him to get the nerve to say whatever he’s going to say.
“I think I’m a little fucked up?” The words are more of a question than a statement.
“Explain,” I encourage him.
“The thought of being in a relationship with Senya, like just the two of us isn’t as attractive as all of us being with her? And I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about the relationship part. As long as I can remember, it’s always been all of us. When I was talking to her and you guys weren’t, it just felt wrong. It’s why I never acted on my attraction towards her.”
; I nod slowly. “I don’t think that’s fucked up. You might just have a more non-monogamous mindset.”
“Non-mono what?” Orion asks with a laugh.
I roll my eyes again. He’s the oldest but sometimes the most immature. “Non-monogamous. Monogamous people are more likely to only be attracted to one person at a time or gravitate toward traditional one-on-one relationships.”
“So, we’re polygamous? Like that sister wife show on Showtime or some shit? Always thought that was kind of weird,” Orion mutters.
“Polygamous refers to one man married to several women. This is the opposite, technically called polyandrous if we’re married, but we’re not. So, the accurate term is polyamorous. It’s when we’re in a relationship with more than one person and everyone knows. No one is cheating.”
“But we’re kind of not in a relationship with more than one person, Mr. Wikipedia. I don’t know about all y’all, but I only want Senya. Even when I was with other girls, I only wanted Senya.”
“But if we’re okay with each other dating Senya, then we’re still not monogamous,” I tell Orion, but I’m a little confused on that part. I researched, but the kind of dynamic we’re thinking of isn’t that common. Usually, polyamorous relationships are more open. Anyone could act on an attraction to someone else as long as they’re all upfront and honest about it. However, the thought of Senya being with any man that isn’t currently in this room makes me contemplate murder.
“Are we okay with it?” Apollo asks. “I was really worried at first when we all started talking to her again. I thought it would ruin our friendship. But seeing how we react and watching her touch all of us the same way? It doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.”
“Only if it’s you three and no one else,” I say honestly. “I couldn’t trust or handle anyone else in the equation.”
“Same,” Aric agrees with a nod.
“I think so? I don’t know. It’s probably easier to think about than see,” Orion says seriously. I’m glad he’s actually considering it seriously instead of rushing headfirst into it.
“We need to be sure,” I point out. “Sen doesn’t need any more heartbreak. She made it seem like she’s okay with it, but she might not be. Because of the game last night, we know she’s not a virgin. She told me that the asshole she stabbed didn’t rape her, but he might have molested her.”
“Can’t think about that,” Apollo growls and slams the bowl of cookies on the table. One flies onto the floor in front of Orion’s couch. He snatches it and shoves it into his mouth.
“We need to be careful just in case,” I murmur. I can’t think about it either, not beyond how it should affect our approach to Senya.
“We should take our cues from her. We all know her well enough to know that Senya would have taken back her power the moment she healed a little. Her other sexual relationships were probably a little because of that. She was proving to herself that she has control and that it can be pleasurable. She didn’t talk about it much, but I got that impression,” Aric adds.
I nod. “Okay, that makes sense. She leads. But we still have to agree we’re not going to turn into jealous assholes the minute one of us touches her.”
“I’ve seen you and Apollo touch her all day. It doesn’t bother me,” Aric remarks, shifting in his chair.
“It turns you on, doesn’t it?” Orion asks with a smirk.
“It’s okay if it does,” I interject quickly before Aric can feel self-conscious. I glare at Orion. “Don’t kink-shame.”
“Oh yeah? What’s your kink?” he asks me. I’m thankful I don’t blush. If it were anyone else but these three guys, I wouldn’t answer.
Apollo snorts, drawing our attention. He shrugs. “Control, obviously.”
Orion’s gaze flies to me. “Is it true? Are you one of those BDSM kinksters? Do you want to tie Senya up and go all Fifty Shades on her?”
I take off my glasses and swipe a hand down my face. “We need to approach this maturely,” I respond. “We might just barely be adults, but we need to be able to talk about this with some maturity.”
“I think we are,” Aric objects. “Orion is incapable of talking without joking, but none of us have had that much experience. Maybe we don’t really know what we like yet. It would be good to have some idea of what to expect if we decide to share her.”
“He has a point,” Apollo grunts as he grabs another cookie.
I stand up so I can pace behind the chair, not looking at any of them. “First of all, Fifty Shades is not an accurate representation of BDSM culture, so don’t ever say that again. Yes, I do like control, but I don’t like pain. I don’t want to hurt her or me.”
“But you’d still tie her up,” Orion prods.
Just the thought sends a rush of blood to my cock, so I nod. “If she agrees. Nothing is done without consent. What’s your kink?” I shoot the question towards Orion to take the attention off me.
“How would I even know? I’ve been with three girls and the sex was bland and utterly normal.”
“What kind of porn do you watch?”
“Seriously? You’re going there? Why are we even discussing this?”
“Since when has anything ever been off-limits between us for discussion?” I counter. “Not everyone has a kink. There is such a thing as vanilla, which means just straight sex, but unless your go-to on Pornhub is straight couples having sex in missionary position on a bed, I’m willing to bet that’s not what you really want. Also, it’s good to know. If we’re all going to have sex with her, we should know. If she agrees to let me tie her up, for example; if she mentions it to one of you, I don’t want anyone flipping out and thinking I took advantage of her.”
“Okay, I kind of see the point in that, but are we going to share every detail?”
“No, we don’t have to,” I agree. “Just the things that might get misinterpreted.”
“I like group sex,” Apollo says hastily. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen the big guy flustered. “That’s my go-to. I like watching several people having sex together. Doesn’t matter if it’s guys or girls.”
“Well, that might come in handy if all four of us end up with her. Maybe you and Aric are meant to be in a multi-person relationship.”
“I like watching more than one girl,” Orion says with a shrug. After his brother confessed, he seems more apt to contribute.
“Sen’s straight. She told me,” Aric says.
“Maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t want to think about her with another girl either, regardless of what I watch for porn. It fills me with the same jealousy as another guy would – except you three. That’s probably weird because every man has the two girl fantasy, but she’s the only girl I want.” Orion shrugs. “Other than that, I think I might be a little bit vanilla.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Aric says softly, and Apollo nods in agreement.
“Yeah, but I’m supposed to be the adventurous one,” Orion whines. “I might enjoy group or watching, but if I end up running out of there, don’t make fun of me.”
“Never,” I say. “We respect each other and our separate relationships with Senya. If she decides she wants to go all the way with one of us and not another of us, we shouldn’t take that personally either. She sets the pace, and it might be different with each of us.”
“Right,” Orion nods. “Are we going to continue to talk this to death, or is that just the gist of it? We don’t even know if this is what Sen wants.”
“Pretty sure she does,” Aric murmurs. “When Apollo and Manny were on either side of her at lunch, she was so turned on.”
“She was?” Orion asks curiously. The gears are moving in his mind. He might actually be more into the group thing than he thinks.
“She was.” I smile smugly. Her body vibrated against mine when I touched her. When Apollo’s hand rested on her other thigh, her breath hitched in her chest. I swore I could almost smell her arousal, which was hotter than fuck. It took
every ounce of my control not to slide my fingers further up her thigh and under her panties to see how wet she actually was.
“Earth to Manny!” Orion shouts. I snap out of my little daydream, leaning over the back of the recliner to hide my hard-on. “Let’s recap and go deal with the stepwitch.” And there goes my erection. Just the mention of my stepmother makes my balls want to crawl into my body.
I nod. “So we move at Senya’s pace, nothing happens without her consent, and we respect each other’s boundaries. No one else is involved and we agree to talk if we get jealous or have other problems. All agreed?”
The other three agree and I breathe a sigh of relief. Since the moment I realized I was a boy and I liked girls, I’ve wanted to do more than just hold hands with Senya. My other girlfriends were practice fucks to ease the anger I felt toward Senya’s rejection. Maybe that makes me obsessive, but I don’t care. I’ve also known that I might have to share with these three. I can handle that. But no one else. Senya needs more than I can give her anyway. She needs Apollo’s steady strength, Orion’s fun-loving nature, and Aric’s gentleness.
“All right. That’s covered. Now, let’s go find justice.” Orion adds an evil cartoon cackle, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes again. I need their fun, too, or my life would be tedious and strict. I’ve always known this.
Aric stands with us. “Do you need me along? If not, I might go to the shop for a while before I pick Senya up.”
“That’s fine. I know my dad wants to see you again, though. He asks about you a lot.”
Aric nods and pulls me into a bro hug as we walk toward the front door. “I’d like to see your dad again too. But your stepsister kind of has a crush on me.” He shudders dramatically. Who doesn’t Claire have a crush on? I recall all the times Claire has asked about Aric because she knew we grew up together. Her crush on the brothers is obvious, but I hadn’t noticed the one on Aric. I note everything at school, but I never pay attention to Claire because I’d rather pretend she doesn’t exist.
Lost & Found: Contemporary Reverse Harem Page 16