Lost & Found: Contemporary Reverse Harem

by Serena Lindahl

  I shrug innocently, but the smile on my face is anything but. “Sometimes,” I agree. I pull my backpack on over the leather jacket and get on behind him. This time, when I wrap my arms around his waist, I slide my hands under his shirt. His skin is so warm, and I flatten my hands so I can feel as much of him as possible. The muscles of his abdomen flex under my fingers, and he sucks in a breath.

  “Don’t distract me while I’m driving,” he scolds sweetly. “I don’t want to crash.”

  I hold him tighter. “My hands will stay right here while you’re driving,” I promise. “Later, I make no promises.” For the moment, I’m just going to assume that they’ve all agreed to share me. If I have to face reality later, at least I’ll have these moments.

  He looks over his shoulder, his pale eyes glinting with fire. “Good,” he growls and starts the bike with a strong kick that only increases the need inside me. I’ve always been partial to guys on bikes, and Aric is no exception. I rest my cheek against his warm back and relax as he drives to the Tuckers’ house. Part of me is nervous, part of me is excited, but mostly I’m happy. The emotion is almost foreign. It’s been a long time, since before the accident when all five of us were together.

  Manny’s BMW is just pulling up to the Tucker house when Aric’s bike stops. I expect Manny to be in the car, but not all three of them. Orion runs toward us. He hauls me off the bike the minute my helmet comes off and swings me around with my feet above the ground.

  “Orion! What the hell are you doing?” I screech.

  He presses me against the top half of his body and plants a hard kiss on my lips. It’s a fairly chaste kiss, but it still steals my breath. “I missed you,” he whispers. Our faces are separated by mere centimeters. The gold flecks in his eyes, different from Apollo’s, shine under the streetlights. Somewhere down the street, a dog barks. My feet touch the ground, but he doesn’t let me go. “You’re going to stay the night, right?”

  I nod. His smile is blinding. I pull his hand to me, kissing the grazes across his busted knuckles, but I don’t say anything. Hopefully, the gesture tells him how much I appreciate him standing up for me.

  One of the others steps up behind me and kisses the side of my neck, just under the fall of my dark hair. I can tell it’s Apollo. All the light has been blocked out, and he has a steady, solid presence that seems to leak into the space around him. His silence is another clue. He slides my backpack from my shoulders, his fingers skimming along my skin as he does. When the pack is gone, Orion bends and, with one arm under the crook of my knees, picks me up.

  I squirm in his arms. “I’m perfectly capable of walking,” I protest.

  “I know you can, but I missed you. You also feel too good in my arms,” Orion says without a trace of embarrassment or uneasiness. My heart pounds in my chest. Manny watches with amusement, his lips tilted up at the corner. He appears relaxed. Everything points to them having had a good conversation about the whole sharing thing.

  Once we’re all inside, I wiggle out of Orion’s hold. “I have to change,” I whine when he doesn’t let me go right away. “I hate these clothes.” I wrinkle my nose.

  Orion’s eyes trail down my body. “Yeah, they’re not your style.”

  I shake my head and grab the backpack from Apollo, making my way to the downstairs bathroom. There’s nothing but silence, and I glance over my shoulder to see four pairs of eyes fixed on my ass.

  Orion is the one who catches me looking. He shrugs with a little smirk. “We never see your ass in those cute little skirts of yours.”

  I laugh. Boys. It doesn’t matter that I think my ass is bigger than it needs to be compared to the rest of me. None of them seem upset about it. I change, smooth down my frizzy hair, and pull on a loose tank top over my red bra and a pair of leggings. I debated on what to wear, but I finally went with comfort as I usually do. I’m still chilly though, and I feel more exposed than I do in school. I slip on a flannel shirt until I warm up and feel more comfortable.

  I follow the voices to the kitchen where Orion and Apollo are putting a tin foil container into the oven. Manny sits with Aric at the table. His eyes darken when I enter the room, and he catches my wrist. Before I can balance myself, he pulls me down on his lap. His thighs are strong and firm under me. He smells like mint and something woodsy I can’t name.

  “We just got back from talking to my dad.” He adjusts me so that I’m reclining on his thighs with my back against his chest. His cheek rubs against the side of my head, just a little roughly, and he breathes in the scent of my hair like he’s never smelled anything better. His arms wrap around my waist. “My stepmom confessed to taking the letters.”

  I startle in his arms and turn my face a little to look at him. He’s so close, our lips are inches away. His dark eyes shine behind his glasses. “She did?”

  “Yep. She destroyed them all. My dad is not happy.”

  “I’m sorry, Manny. I didn’t want to cause any trouble for your dad.”

  Manny shakes his head. Although I can hear the others moving around, I don’t pay much attention. It’s just Manny and me right now. “That woman has been lying to him and bleeding him dry for years, Sen, and he knows it. This just drove home what a bitch she is. Her and my stepsister worked together.”

  “I’m sorry. I was feeling so sorry for myself, I didn’t realize you all were going through horrible things too.”

  “Don’t make excuses, not for me,” Manny says with the passion I love about him. “I should have tried harder to figure out what was wrong when I got back.”

  “I didn’t make it easy,” I whisper.

  His eyes drop to my mouth, and I close the distance between us before either of us changes our minds. His lips are soft and full, different from kissing the brothers. He tastes like spearmint, and when his tongue swipes across my bottom lip, a moan escapes my throat. His body is hard against mine, radiating warmth. His hands flatten on my stomach, his fingers brushing the undersides of my breasts and I shiver as he continues to explore my lips like he has all the time in the world. He’s thorough and commanding. He knows exactly what he wants and what he’s doing, and I wonder how many other girls he’s kissed.

  When someone loudly fake-coughs, I pull away with a blush on my cheeks. “Sorry,” I mutter. I’m not really, but I feel like I should say it. Aric watches us from across the table, color on his own cheeks and his hands clasped tight on the tabletop. Apollo is leaning over the bar watching us without any reservations. Orion seems confused, so he’s the one I focus on.

  “We should probably talk about what we were talking about – before,” Orion begins. “The food will be ready soon. Anyone want something to drink?” I think he means soda or water, but he waves a bottle of whiskey in the air. I consider it while Manny shifts me on his lap so I’m no longer fully reclined but straddling one of his legs, further forward. His hands continue to caress my skin, though, one on my waist and the other on my opposite thigh.

  Aric shakes his head. “I don’t drink. I don’t think it’s fair to my dad. Feels kind of hypocritical. I don’t care if y’all do, though.”

  I look behind me at Manny. There are so many things I know about them and so many things I don’t – things that have changed because we’re older now. Manny meets my questioning gaze; his eyes still burn with banked desire. “The brothers know I don’t drink either. I don’t want to find out I’m an angry drunk.”

  I understand his reasoning. My hand falls on top of the one he’s spread across my stomach. I link my fingers with his, squeezing lightly, and look at the brothers. “Are the stories true? Do you guys get wasted at parties?” I try to keep the judgment out of my voice. I don’t care if they drink, but I can’t help but wonder whether the rumors are true. What about the ones that have them hooking up over and over with random chicks?

  “We might have gotten drunk once or twice, but most of the rumors aren’t true. If no one else wants to drink, I’ll put it away,” Orion says. I can tell he doesn’t mind
one way or the other, and pleasure floods through me. Usually, there’s a lot of pressure for teenagers to drink like it’s a rite of passage. But Aric and Manny said they don’t drink without any shame or worry, and none of us minded. It just drives home how authentic we can be with each other.

  “I don’t drink often,” I say. “And I better not tonight.” If I do, there’s no way I won’t end up sleeping with one of them, maybe all of them. And that’s not something I want to do drunk, unlike my other hookups. I want to clearly experience every moment.

  Apollo nods. “Put it away, brother.”

  Orion puts the bottle back in the cabinet, and Apollo hands out sodas instead. I play with the bottle cap, worried for the first time about their conversation. What if they decided they don’t want me?

  Aric reaches across the table. I lean over to give him the hand I don’t have wrapped up with Manny’s. His fingers stroke my knuckles. Rough calluses send shivers down my spine with each pass, and I look for a distraction.

  Orion is moving around the kitchen, and I like watching him. Every step and motion is performed with purpose. His large body navigates the room with grace and ease. “Do you cook, Orion?”

  He glances back at me and nods. “Aric’s not the only one. I like to cook. I actually made this, not my mom. Just warming it up now.” He and Apollo work together to dish out the lasagna while Aric asks me about work.

  “The same as usual. Not bad. Belle was there. She’s kind of the only friend I have. She graduated last year. Chad didn’t say a word to me.” Aric and I share a glance and a laugh.

  Manny’s hand tightens around my waist. “The guy we saw in the library? What happened?”

  “Oh! We didn’t tell you! There was so much going on today.” I shake my head, my dark curls swinging. “Chad decided to come by my apartment this morning. He took one look at the apartment and ran away. He said it wasn’t actually going to work out between us like I’ve been the one chasing after him this whole time and he was trying to let me down gently.”

  Apollo chuckles.

  “Why did he come to your house?” Manny asks.

  I shrug. “The only thing I can figure is that he thought maybe if he asked me out outside of work, I wouldn’t think of him as my boss? I have no idea, and I don’t care. I’m just glad he’s leaving me alone now.”

  “Apollo said something about your mom?” Aric asks. He and I have to let go of each other when the brothers start filling the table with food and dishes. It feels cozy. For just a second, I allow myself to imagine us ten years from now doing the same thing after working all day instead of going to school. It’s a fantasy that’s too good to be true, but I allow it to settle in my mind for just a moment like a far-away promise.

  “Mom was cleaning,” I say. I’ve tried not to think about it because it makes me feel strange. There’s something definitely wrong with the picture, but I don’t know what it means. “I have no idea why. When I told her I wasn’t coming home tonight, she seemed happy about it.”

  “One of us should go with you when you go back,” Apollo grumbles in his low voice.

  “I don’t know. We’ll see. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. She might have actually met someone nice and decided to clean? Or maybe she was high and I couldn’t tell?” I shrug. “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it. What did you guys talk about?” The food is finally on the table. Manny reluctantly lets me sit in my own chair as the brothers join us.

  Orion leans over and nudges my shoulder with his. He’d claimed the chair on the other side of me, complaining that the others got to see me all day. “You.”

  I roll my eyes. “What about me?” I take a bite of the lasagna. The flavors burst across my tongue. I can’t help but moan. “You made this?” I ask Orion with my mouth still half full. My eyes are wide.

  “Mmmhmmm,” he hums, his eyes on my lips as I continue to chew.

  “It’s so good.” The food is practically orgasmic, but I never get home-cooked food anymore. I don’t know if my standards are really low or if Orion is actually that good. If Aric can cook this well, too, I’ll be in food heaven.

  “I love hearing you moan,” Orion whispers in my ear.

  Heat flares through my center. My cheeks color again as I duck my head to grab another bite. Something about these boys turns me back into a naïve fourteen-year-old. How men so young can act so carnal and sexual is beyond me. Is it something inherent within them, or is it just because I know them so well?

  “Anyway…” I’m getting impatient. The others are busy feeding their faces. I don’t blame them, but I can’t wait much longer. “What did you all decide?”

  “We’re keeping you,” Apollo grunts. His eyes shine as he gives me a weighted look.

  “You’re not getting away,” Orion chimes in with a crooked grin.

  “We all want to date you. We’d like you to be our girlfriend,” Aric adds.

  I glance at Manny. His eyes are serious and dark. “We all want you, Sen. We have for a long time. If you want us, we’ll share you.”

  Happiness and warmth bloom in my chest. I’d hoped, but it had been decided. My body is frozen for a minute as images cascade through my mind. What does this mean? What are the implications?

  Apollo clears his throat, and I look up from my plate to find them all staring at me.

  “Do you want us, Sen?” Orion asks.

  “Yes.” I nod after I clear my throat. “All of you. I want to try.”

  Apollo grunts, Aric smiles, Manny nods, and Orion’s lips brush across my bare shoulder where my flannel shirt has fallen down. “Good choice, pretty pixie.”

  I savor the lasagna, aware that the guys are almost done eating. They always did eat faster than me. As a kid, I had to be careful or they’d steal all my food before I could finish. “What does it mean? To share me? And have you ever done this before?”

  Manny shakes his head. “No. None of us have done this before. We’re new just the same as you. We talked about it a little. We’re letting you lead, and we agreed to talk if jealousy or other problems come up.”

  I take a long drink of my water, and my leg jiggles under the table. Orion’s hand creeps down and clasps my thigh. “What’s going on in that beautiful mind?”

  “So…you all share me. Do I share you? Like, are you free to date others?”

  Silence surrounds the table, but eventually, everyone looks at Manny. Evidently, he’s become the spokesperson. That hasn’t changed since we were kids. “We’d prefer it if it were just us five,” Manny answers diplomatically.

  I breathe a sigh of relief. “Good. Because that’s the way I want it. I don’t want any other guys, and it may be selfish, but I don’t want you to date either. Not right now, anyway.”

  Four heads nod. “Sounds like a good plan,” Orion says. “Any more questions or should we go upstairs?” My mouth dries as I stare at him, and he laughs at the expression on my face. “For movies and relaxing. We’re not going to tag-team you – yet.”

  His words travel straight to my center and steal my breath. I can’t move as the guys start to hustle around me, rinsing dishes and putting them in the dishwasher as they clear the table. Do I want them to ‘tag-team’ me? I’d never thought about it before this week. As I watch how the guys move around – joking and laughing as they each do something different or cooperate while doing the chores, I think I might be into it. They work like a well-oiled machine. Aric fits perfectly, even though he hasn’t been hanging out with the other three for the last four years.

  “I might have more questions later,” I say as I stand up. I go to help, but Aric takes my plate with a little smile.

  “We’ll answer them the best we can.” Manny drops a kiss on my forehead as he walks by. The heat within me is not only desire. It’s joy and excitement. This might not be everyone’s idea of domestic bliss, but the situation makes me feel safe, protected, and happy.

  Apollo grabs my hand when they’re all done, snagging my backpack on my way up the
stairs as he tugs me along. “I put your other stuff in my room,” he tells me before leading me to the game room we were in the other night. It’s changed. I stand in the doorway, laughter bubbling through my chest. The boys had moved two double mattresses and wedged them into one end of the room, with a twin perpendicular. The result is a massive bed on the floor, piled with blankets and pillows. They’d moved the TV to the opposite wall.

  “What?” Orion asks innocently when I look at him with my eyebrows raised. “This is more comfortable than trying to balance on beanbags or sit on the floor.” He lifts my hand and caresses my knuckles with his lips. “We won’t push you, Senya. It might be a bed, but we don’t expect anything from you.” He leans over, his greenish-gold eyes flashing. His gentle kiss brushes the corner of my upturned mouth. “I missed your smile, pretty pixie.” Pain and honest yearning coat his voice, and I know without a doubt that he’s telling the truth. I’m ashamed about all the times I avoided them.

  Aric’s arms are full of snacks, and Manny hauls up a cooler. The room is soon transformed into a den of gluttony and sloth. I haven’t had so much fun in ages. I never participated in the sleepovers that other teenagers did and I rarely went to parties. The guys take turns leaving the room and return dressed in more comfortable clothes. I can’t concentrate on all of their tank tops and sleep pants without wanting to jump them, so I try not to look at all of them at once.

  “No eating anything crumby on the mattresses,” Manny orders in his authoritarian tone. “I’m not sleeping with chips sticking to my legs.”

  I laugh at his bossy tone and the image. Orion pulls me down onto the mattresses with him. The others soon join us. He’s placed me between his outstretched legs, and I’m snuggled up to his chest. He feels like a warm wall behind me – hard and hot.

  “Before we watch a movie, I have a confession!” Orion announces loudly when everyone is in the room. “But because I’m a selfish ass, I think if I have to tell a confession, you all should too. So we’re playing truth because we didn’t play it last night – well except for Apollo. We’ll just forget that.” His hand rests on my shoulder, the other arm around my waist with his back against the wall behind us. His thumb strokes the bare skin revealed by my flannel. I lean forward a little before removing the extra shirt. His heat is already transferring to me.