by Ivy Fox
I try to lift myself up, but then think better of it. I don’t want my mom or my dad seeing me prancing through our backyard, while they believe that I’m safely tucked in my room. So I crawl. Like an honest-to-God GI Jane, I crawl until I reach the bushes separating both yards. I study the best point of entry and see a little hole just big enough for me to squeeze through. Of course, when I actually try, the branches scratch my skin leaving marks on my arms and legs. But who cares? A little bit of pain is nothing compared to the one on the horizon if I miss my shot at telling the boys how I really feel.
Once I’m finally inside the boys’ backyard, I stand on both feet. I look down at my white top and jean shorts, only to see they have grass and dirt stains all over them. My untamed hair also has some green leaves in it. If I was to look in a mirror right now, I am sure I’d cringe at the crazy hot mess I resemble.
Well, I got this far. No chickening out now.
I pass the pool and go to one screen door. The first one is of the kitchen, where I see Anna, the boys’ mom, cooking and badly singing away to whatever eighties tune is coming out of her radio. I’m relieved to see her alone. It’s still only four o’clock, so their dad must still be at work. Making as little noise possible, I go over to the other wall-to-wall screen window. The one with a perfect view of the living room, and the one that has all my men staring at the TV screen with blank expressions. My smile is a mile wide when I knock on the window, ever so gently, to grab their attention.
“Freya?” Carter yelps and I place one finger over my lips, to indicated that my visit should not be advertised to the rest of the house. I point to the gaming room, and one by one, they fly from their seats. By the time I reach the window in question, all five boys eagerly await my entry. I step inside, and before I know it, I’m being tossed from embrace to embrace from each one of my men.
“We were so worried,” Mason hums in my ear.
“What happened? You look like you just came from a battlefield?” Chaz sings in my ear.
“Jesus, Freya, we fucking missed you,” Tyler groans in my arms.
“Your mom wouldn’t let us visit. We were going insane,” Carter whispers, stroking my hair.
“We’re so glad you’re here, Princess.” Drew smiles, relieved.
After all of them get a minute to certify that I’m really there with them and not a figment of their imagination, the room turns quiet. Their cheer is replaced with anticipation and a bit of fear. I hate seeing how these strong men are reduced to being insecure because of my foolish fears. No more.
“I have something to say.” I start, but Tyler quickly interrupts me.
“No, Freya, us first,” he declares, taking one last look at his brothers, who seem to be in sync with whatever he’s about to say. I give him my warmest smile and he takes one long breath before he utters a word.
“Princess, I know that a lot of shit has gone down and maybe it has severed enough for you to want nothing to do with us anymore. Too many ugly memories clouding the good thing we had going, but we’ve got to come clean and tell you once and for all what you mean to us,” he starts, and it’s probably the first time I’ve ever seen Tyler emotional enough that his eyes seem to water. I put both my hands on my heart as the sucker appears to want to leap out of my chest, just by the way all of them are looking at me.
“Freya, we love you. We’ve always loved you. Don’t you see? That’s why when you pulled away you killed something in us. When you said that it was over the minute our parents came back, well, all those feelings of abandonment hit us like a ton of bricks. We’re sorry, Princess, for running out the way we did. Thinking that maybe if we had just been here all along instead…instead…” Tyler chokes, and it’s too much for me to handle. I go to him and hug his midriff tight.
“We can’t go back now. We’ve had you, and now we won’t let you go.” Drew finishes for his brother.
“Your ours, Freya. Ours! And whether you think it’s right or not, scared that the outside world is going to judge us, we just don’t care,” Mason adds, with his own voice strained.
“We want you, Princess. We always have,” Carter says, not hiding his emotions any longer.
“So man the fuck up and admit that you love us too,” Chaz demands, shaking.
I let go of Tyler and take one long look at each of the men that hold my heart. My own eyes water, but it’s out of joy. I feel the love underneath each word they pronounce. I feel it bleeding out of them, waiting for my answer. Begging me to take their suffering away. I deprived us for years of this, and now we’ve come to the point that there is no turning back. We crossed that line, and our previous bond is now a million times stronger. I can’t hide the way I feel for them anymore.
I don’t want to.
So I walk over to Mason first. I pick up his hand and place it on my cheek staring into the starlit skies that his eyes resemble.
“Mason Perry, you are the strongest, most protective man I know. When I’m with you, I feel as if nothing can hurt me. As if being under your protective shadow makes me gain the courage to do the unimaginable. I have loved you all my life, and I will love you to my dying day.” I take his hand and place a small tender kiss on his palm. I feel the slight trembling of his body as my words sink in. I lean into him, melting in his strong embrace as I kiss the underside of his jaw. My heart leaps into my throat seeing how this amazing man loves me just as much.
I then move over to Tyler, who has his arms crossed over his chest, trying to hold himself together, instead of breaking apart for all of us to witness. I uncross his hands and place them on my waist. I grab his face in my hands and fix my attention on his teary aquamarine eyes.
“Tyler Perry, you are the most fearless and adventurous man I have ever met. You take action when most would be too scared even to try. You take what you want, when you want, without fear. Your bravery inspires me to be better. I want to feel what you feel every day. See life for the possibilities it has, and not the fear it may cause. I have loved you all my life, and I will love you to my dying day.”
One arm falls to his side, while the other pulls me into him tighter, sliding his tongue down my throat in dominance. With just one kiss, I feel myself getting wet with a desire to have him in me again. The look of lust swirled with rays of love hold steady in his stare, makes my knees grow weak. I count to five, knowing I am not done with this confession, and the men that hold my heart need to hear every word.
I pull away from Tyler, and he reluctantly lets me go. I immediately latch onto Chaz. His abyss-blue eyes looking back at me with a mischievous grin plastered on his face. He holds me in his arms and places one finger under my chin so that we are face to face.
“Chaz Perry.” I start, and the glee his name on my lips brings out of him is enough to make me giggle like a school girl with her first crush.
“You’re wild and free. You say what is in your heart without fearing the consequence. You teach me every day that it’s best to live life unafraid and true to my inner self than fake at being happy just to please others. Your taste for life is intoxicating, and I get drunk just off of you. You’re my biggest adrenaline kick. The biggest high that I will ever experience and the one I will grab onto with all my heart. I have loved you all my life, and I will love you to my dying day.”
“Shit, Princess,” he mumbles before catching my lips with his. Like the hurricane that is Chaz, he kisses me, raising my temperature and heartbeat to insane levels. I am breathless and panting by the time he’s through with me. The cocky son of a gun, even throws in a satisfied wink, knowing full well what his one kiss did to my libido.
But then his mirror image pulls my hand and turns me in one fast swoop into his amorous grasp. My heart flies to the heavens, with this beautiful man looking down at me as if I’m the most precious thing alive. My hands cradle his neck, as the look of love warms me.
“Carter Perry, your kind heart, and sweet nature make me believe in miracles. You are the embodiment of good. When I’m
with you, I grow into a better version of myself. Into someone I can be proud of. Someone you will be proud of. My life would have no meaning if you weren’t a part of it. I’d be lost without the sun that you provide. I have loved you all my life, and I will love you to my dying day.”
Carter presses his full drawn lips to mine, promising tenderness and devotion with each second that passes by. This kiss is so pure that I want to weep with how blessed I am to find this type of love at all. When he lets me go, I am replenished with a fullness that not many will ever feel in their lifetime. Love is not for the weak, and at that moment, I vow to fight with everything I have in me to preserve this gift bestowed upon me.
I turn to the last man standing. The one who has been my rock as well as my best friend for as long as I can remember. My fingers entangle themselves in his hair, while he steadies me in his arms. I close in and whisper in his ear.
“Drew Perry, you are the reason I think the world still holds beauty in it. You are my anchor and my port. You are the beacon of light that shows me the way. You are my home.”
His arms hold me so fiercely that my tears start falling down on the crook of his neck. My words were uttered for just the two of us, but I can feel the brotherly love surge from the men at my back.
“I have loved you all my life, and I will love you to my dying day, Drew. Until my very last breath.”
“I love you,” he whispers back to me, and my heart both shatters and rejoices. I should have said this years ago, but I’m glad that I did not let another day pass without each one knowing how I felt for them. And I will repeat these same words over and over again until they are as engraved in their souls as the tattoos they have inked on their skin.
Drew turns me around to face each one of my loves. All of them, showcasing the raw emotions of the magnitude of this moment. I don’t want to shatter it, but one doubt still persists.
“So where do we go from here?”
“It’s not where we go that matters, Princess. It’s that we’re going together that counts for shit,” Chaz answers.
Epilogue
Tyler
Five Years Later
“What should we do today? Should we try the Louvre again? I know it takes forever to get in, but it is so worth it.” Freya eagerly says.
“I was thinking maybe we should grab something to eat first, before adventuring for two hours waiting to see some painting from the twelfth century, that you probably already saw when we lived here,” Chaz says, eyeing Freya’s naked breast hungrily.
“Okay. Food sounds good.” She sprawls on the bed.
“I don’t think Chaz was talking about food right now, Princess, although you do look good enough to eat.” I wink my intention abundantly clear.
“I could definitely get a bite out of that ass, this morning.” Mason joins in, turning Freya over and biting her perfect smooth cheek. The years pass, and this woman just seems to get hotter. Freya giggles into the pillow, and looks back to us with her vixen smolder.
“Aren’t you boys tired from last night?” she asks, her brow raised up high. She knows better than to ask such a foolish question. We can be bone-tired and still want to fuck her brains out.
“Princess, we have years to make up for.” Is my only reply. Hell, I’m sure we’ve far surpassed the years we had gone without her, but just mentioning it makes her go all swoony like. And I love that look on her.
“Where are Drew and Carter?” she asks huskily, as I spread her legs wide for Mason to lick that glorious pussy of hers, to her heart’s content. Chaz is already feasting on her pebbled nipples, getting them nice and hard until she’s moaning for more.
“Went to get actual food,” I tell her, enjoying the show. I pull my boxers down my thighs and stroke my cock in appreciation for such a beautiful sight.
“Their loss,” Chaz mumbles, enraptured with her magnificent globes. I continue to stroke the dick in my hands, while I crawl in closer to her face.
“Where’s my morning kiss, Princess?”
“Waiting for you to take it,” she teases back.
And without further provocation, I take what’s mine by right. This woman will probably be the death of my brothers and me, but what a fantastic way to go. All three of us showing her what she means to us, with our bodies and words. She is our air. Our fire. Life only started the day she came back into our lives. I’m not saying it was always easy. Shit, it fucking begun with a rocky start. But we pulled through. Once we spread our cards on the table, there was no turning back.
Chaz accepted his enrolment in a prestigious culinary school in Paris his freshman year, and we fucking followed the lucky SOB the whole way. All six of us made the trip and took online courses to appease the parentals.
Yeah, it was a hard sell to make on our folks, but after the break-in at our house, I think they would have said yes to anything we asked, just as long as we were safe. The year in Paris was domestic bliss. We lived all under the same roof, and our bond seemed to unify even more, if that was at all possible.
When the year was through, no way were we going back to living in separate houses. We all decided to do our folks a solid and went to college like they wanted. Of course, they didn’t specify which, so while Chaz went to continue his cooking degree back stateside, Freya, Drew, and Carter, attended the same one in the city that Mason and I had been already enrolled in. Chaz’s school being close too meant we could all live under the same roof, just like we had done in Paris. What was once a bachelor pad, became our home. Our sanctuary. The place where love blossomed even further.
The first couple of years in college was a bit tricky to master. We were no longer abroad in a different country where people didn’t speak our language. Now we were stateside, where everyone understood damn well when we told Freya we loved her. That we weren’t just saying it platonically.
I couldn’t give a rat’s ass what people thought, but I did have to punch a few faces at times. Freya got pointed at by some, called names by others, but in the end, despite all the whispers and judgment behind her back, it was worthwhile. I knew she wasn’t bullshitting, but still, it irked me to no end, hence the few broken noses to make me feel better.
When we all graduated and enlisted in the Peace Corp together, our parents were more difficult to convince that what we all had together was mere friendship.
Guess who popped their bubble?
Yep, my girl! I was so fucking proud of her that day. She was no longer a frail girl, but a damn fearless queen. She outed us loud and proud. Her mother wept, mine froze still, and her father went ballistic.
The only one who didn’t seem to be surprised was my own pop. He admitted to us that he already knew his sons were in love with her since the first time we saw her. He worried that his sons would lose each other for good, if Freya had chosen only one of them. He accepted our love, even if a bit unconventional, but he was the one who supported us from the get-go. Freya’s dad hasn’t spoken to her since that day, but her mom has come to understand what Freya means to us and what we mean to her.
After our first volunteer excursion, we decided that a small vacation in the City of Love was the perfect place to recharge our batteries. Of course, there is an ulterior motive for my brothers and me to have chosen this city as our vacation. Later on tonight, we will all ask this perfect creature to make one more wish turn real. The one that will imply her binding her life with ours forever, by accepting our hand as well as our last name. By the end of the week, I want her in white and a ring on her damn finger. We’ve been patient long enough, so what better place to propose and get hitched than Paris? It’ll be the best honeymoon ever too.
Our next stop will be Haiti, where we will be working alongside fellow minded people that want to help the world be a little better one step at a time. To others, we might seem like freaks of nature, but the volunteers that have previously worked with us side by side, understand that what we have is stronger than any earthquake that can destroy a village. Stronger than any
tsunami or tornado.
Our love is so much more than a mere catastrophic occurrence.
It is beautiful.
It is real.
And most importantly, it is ours.
The End
Author Notes
Hi!
As you’ve probably guessed, my name isn’t really Ivy Fox, but a pen name I chose to write under instead of my real one. You might wonder why and I’m going to be completely honest here. Up to this point, I have only written YA/NA novels and writing anything different, scared the bejesus out of me. Sure my books are raunchier than most, but I was still on the fence if I could write a steamy love scene. The will was there, banging away at my head, though. Telling me to stop being a scaredy-cat and just do it.
With the support and encouragement of my wonderful husband, I decided to give it my all and try to write something I was passionate about and would enjoy putting to paper. So my first attempt was this Reverse Harem series. Why reverse harem, you might ask? Well, first and foremost, I am a reader. I love all things romance, and in books, I was always eager to read about unique types of relationships. What’s more unique then falling in love with a bunch of hot guys, right?! Hehehe! I think I’ve read most everything that’s out there, especially in regards to contemporary romance, and fell in love with the genre. So I asked myself, what can I bring to the table? What do I want my stories to be mainly about? And the answer was easy.
Love.
I wanted my books to not only take a reader on a whirlwind adventure but also bring that level of tenderness which leaves us all gooey inside. So I focused my first attempt at a steamy reverse harem where I hope I was able, to not only get you hot and bothered but also showed you the love this group of people felt for each other was real. Maybe I hit the mark, or perhaps I missed it altogether, but I’m going to keep trying until I get this mix just right.