by C. L. Stone
“Twenty-ninth of this month,” Matt told him.
“Odd for her to suddenly be experiencing full visions before then. But you may have caused that, especially if you’re causing her to experience an emotional connection with you. Is one of you her boyfriend? Are you physical?” Jonas asked, looking between each of them.
Each of them started to say that they weren’t physical with her, but that they liked her. Jonas held up a hand for silence.
“You all like her, but you’re just friends?” he asked and watched four heads nod reluctantly.
“Oh, boy.” He snorted with laughter, rubbing at his eyes again. “Trust you lot to complicate things.”
“We hardly complicated things,” Nate said, getting defensive. “We’ve all agreed to be her friend.”
“Whatever. You’ll need to sort that out yourselves. Bring her here tomorrow to meet me. If she’s a Seer and she has no idea, she’s going to need help controlling it.”
“So she could be Fae, like us?” Josh asked him,
“Seers aren’t technically Fae. They come from another bloodline; one much darker than our own. They have their roots in a darker magic than ours, I’ve heard it said they are the human descendants of the first woman Lilith, but I’ve never been able to find the proof.”
“Oh, fuck,” Josh snorted, and covered his eyes with his hand. “That’s ironic,” he muttered.
“What’s ironic?” Jonas asked. “And watch your language!”
“Her full name is Lilith,” Nate said quietly, and Jonas stared at him.
“Ironic indeed,” Jonas replied. “Their roots are lost in history, much like our own. All I do know is that their roots aren’t Fae, but witch.”
“She’s a bloody witch?” Jake shot out, and thumped his head against the sofa.
“No, if she’s a Seer, then she’s a Seer, not a witch,” Jonas corrected him. “To have a Witch Seer is extremely rare. There would be other indications as well, she’d be able to do things that she couldn’t really explain. And she wouldn’t be confused thinking she had epilepsy. She would just know she was different, like you all did, even though you didn’t know why.”
“So what do we do?” Nate asked. “To help her?”
“Bring her to me, let me make absolutely sure she’s a Seer and not epileptic with a good imagination. We can go from there.” Jonas stood up. “You’re all welcome to camp out here if you want. Lord knows it won’t be the first time. I’m knackered; the little devils get worse each year. Or is it that I just get older?” he mused, making his way to the door. He hesitated in the doorway and looked back at them. “I’ve known you boys a long time now. You share everything, but you can’t share a girl,” he said quietly. “You’ll need to think on that.” He went out of the room and then stuck his head back around the door, a wicked smile on his lips. “Unless of course you don’t mind polyamory. Goodnight boys; if you’re up before me, leave me at least one egg and don’t drink all the milk this time, please. Mysty, c’mon,” he added. The cat leapt from Josh’s arms and trotted towards her owner. He closed the door, leaving them staring at each other.
“What the fuck is polyamory?” Jake muttered, digging out his phone from his jean pockets and bringing up a search app.
“You got that from what he said?” Nate demanded, making Jake look up at him.
“What? I thought we were pretty sure she’s a Seer? He’s going to double check, but he hasn’t told us anything new.”
“Except that she’s not Fae,” Matt pointed out, rubbing a hand down his face. “I’m knackered as well; it was an absolute nightmare watching her flip like that.”
“Matt, send out a group text to the mums letting them know where we are,” Nate spoke up. “I’m too tired to drag myself back to the village. Let’s crash here.”
“Well, bugger me.” Jake suddenly chuckled, shoving his phone under Josh’s nose. He took it and started to read.
“What?” Nate demanded.
“There’s a name to what we’ve been planning since we realised girls weren’t as gross as we first thought.” Jake chuckled again. “Polyamorous, like polygamy but reversed for us.”
“You mean one man and several girls in a relationship?” Matt asked in surprised.
“Yeah, but it’s one girl and several men,” Josh said, and lifting his hand he did a fist bump with Jake.
“What the fuck are you two on about?” Nate snapped, feeling frustrated as well as tired.
“We decided years ago that we were going to find a girl that would settle with both of us at the same time,” Josh said and handed the phone back to his twin.
“You can’t share the same girl!” Nate exclaimed, rubbing his forehead tiredly.
“Why not?” Jake demanded. “Think about it. If we both had girlfriends, they might not get on together. If they’re constantly fighting with each other how will we all live together? They might pull us apart as brothers.”
“We made a pact years ago, a blood pact that nothing will ever separate us,” Josh added. “Not time, not distance, and not a girl. The best way for us is to find a girl who will share us.”
“So you two really are okay with sharing Lily?” asked Matt incredulously. “Well, fuck you, she might not want you two! She already feels something with me, I can tell.”
“She reacts to me, too!” Nate shot to his feet. “I’m not standing back for you lot.”
“Hold on, hold on.” Josh jumped to his feet, followed quickly by Jake. “We thought you spouted all that shit about being her friend, not pushing her. Have you put the moves on her after telling us to hold back?”
“No, I haven’t put the moves on her! But I think she feels something for me, too. I think if I kissed her, she’d respond. I’ve held her hand, stroked her cheek. And she liked it.”
“I’ve held her hand, too,” Matt said to Nate. “And kissed her cheek. She responded to that. I saw it in her eyes.”
“Fuck you!” Josh spluttered, his voice rising. “She’s our girl! We saw her first! You can’t get all on it with her like that!”
“Your girl?” Matt and Nate turned to them, anger on their faces. “She’s not your girl! You can’t claim she’s yours just because you saw her first!” Nate shouted angrily.
“We really like her, but you’re both just all about lust because she’s pretty. We want more than just a one night stand with her,” Jake said sharply, his hands clenched into fists at his side.
“So do I!” Matt snapped. “I want more than that, and it isn’t just lust, Jake.”
“But you never date them beyond one night stands,” Nate sneered.
“Once!” Matt yelled. “I had a one night stand once, and you lot think I’m the next Casanova. I was with Connie for six months! Six months before she dropped me for that loser!”
“Rebound!” Jake and Josh shouted at the same time, pointing at him. “You don’t really like Lily, it’s rebound from Connie still!”
“Fuck off!” Matt shouted. The door slammed behind them, making them turn to see Jonas standing in the doorway, Mysty in his arms. She hissed at them, her ears back.
“Will you lot shut up or get out!” he snapped, not happy at all. “You’ll have Mrs Polden from next door complaining again.”
“She’s deaf,” Nate snapped, glaring at Matt.
“Well, I’m not!” Jonas replied tartly. “Look, I could hear every word you shouted at each other. And there’s one thing your tiny brains have forgotten.”
“What?” Matt asked, skimming his hands through his hair and sending it all over the place.
“That if she has any sense she won’t want any of you anyway! You’re all arguing over who gets her, boys, but the poor girl might not want to be got!”
“Shit.” Nate deflated as he realised the truth in Jonas's words. She was desperate for friends that was sure, but that didn’t mean that she wanted anything but friendship with them.
“Exactly. Now, please, shut up and let me sleep,” he said firmly. He
went back out, closing the door behind him. He opened it again and stuck his head around the door. “And I meant it about the milk. If it’s all gone when I get up, I will never let you set foot over my threshold again!” He shut the door, and they were left staring at each other still.
“Shit, we’ve let happen what we swore would never happen,” Matt muttered and slumped down onto the sofa, his legs apart and his hands in his hair.
“We’ve let something get between us,” Nate agreed, and dropped into Jonas's armchair. The fire was still lit and the heat was too much. He snapped his fingers, and it went out.
“You two have,” Josh snorted, and slapped his hand on Jake’s back. “We’re quite happy with sharing her. It’s nothing more than we hoped would happen anyway.”
“Yeah, but that was between the two of you,” Nate pointed out, toeing off his shoes and propping his feet on the coffee table. “There’s us now as well. Look, Jonas was right, we have no idea what she would want. She may not want any of us.”
“So we still stick with the friendship?” Matt asked unhappily.
“It’ll have to be if she doesn’t want you as anything more than a friend,” Nate said quietly and rubbed his eyes. He swore when he dislodged a contact lens. He stood up, took both of them out, and set them on the mantelpiece above the fire.
“It’s going to have to be good enough for all of us if she only wants us as friends,” Nate said, his eyes watering as he sat back down.
“Hypothetically speaking,” Matt said slowly and they all looked at him. “If she likes us all, agrees to date us all, but couldn’t choose who she wanted a serious relationship with, what would we do?”
No one said anything. Matt closed his eyes and stretched out along the sofa he was sitting on. Josh and Jake laid themselves out on the other sofa, turning on their sides and facing outwards, pressed together tightly.
“It’s been less than a week, and she’s all I can think of. It’s stupid, I know it is. Completely unrealistic, but I like her a lot,” Matt murmured into the cushions.
“It’s not just you,” Jake murmured. “Perhaps Jonas has it all wrong and she is a witch, casting some sort of spell over us.”
“For what reason?” Nate snorted, putting a cushion behind his head.
“Because she knows we’re awesome and can’t choose already?” Josh suggested.
“Well, I’m awesome,” Matt muttered, half asleep. “You lot are passable.”
“Fuck you,” Josh murmured. “We’re going to have to play this one by ear. To be honest, there’s one other thing that we’ve forgotten in all this.”
“What?” Jake asked.
“We’re going to have to tell her what she is,” Josh answered him. “That’s going to blow her mind. She won’t even be thinking of how great we all are.”
“Oh, bugger,” Nate grunted. “That is not going to be easy. I’m voting for letting Jonas deal with it.”
“That’s a cop out, Nate.” Matt lifted his head, his eyes already bleary from tiredness.
“Nope, that’s self-preservation. She’s going to flip out on him, but we’ll be there to pick up the pieces and help her cope.”
“Point,” Matt agreed, his head flopping back down. “I can help her deal with it.”
“We all can,” Nate said and shifted on the armchair. “Has he made this smaller?”
“Shut up and come over here,” Matt muttered and turned to face the back of the sofa, leaving enough space for Nate to lie on his side. “Just face outwards, back to back.”
“She’s going to come between us,” Nate murmured as he got up and then settled down in front of Matt, facing the room. He snapped his fingers and the gas lamps went out, leaving them in darkness.
“Only if we let her,” Josh spoke up. “You two are our family. It’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to share her with you all.”
“Have you really decided to do that with a girl? You never said anything before,” Matt muttered.
“We didn’t know what you would think,” Jake murmured, his voice rough with sleep. “It just seems natural to us.”
“You do know you’re not one person, don’t you?” Nate said dryly, but neither of them answered him, just sniggered quietly.
Peace settled over the room, the clock on the wall ticked, and the walls creaked around them, but no other sounds were heard as they fell asleep.
15
SHARING
“You left me some milk; colour me impressed,” Jonas drawled, coming into the kitchen, Mysty ahead of him, tail in the air.
“And we made you breakfast,” Nate said, turning with a frying pan in his hand. He slid eggs and bacon onto an empty plate at the small table and then slid the pan into the sink. It sizzled as the heat of the pan hit the warm water, steam rising from the bowl.
“You can move in, boys.” Jonas sat at the table, pulling the plate towards him and picking up a fork. “If you promise not to kill each other at midnight again.”
“We didn’t even come to blows,” Matt said from the other side of the table, hidden behind the newspaper he was reading. “We were far too tired. Thanks for the loan of your sofas.”
“You didn’t even make it to the bedroom?” Jonas asked, with a roll of his eyes. “Why did I put beds in there if you won’t even get that far? Do you kids realise what an excellent library or study that room would make?”
“We’ve made it that far before,” Nate pointed out, scrubbing at the pan. “And we probably will again.”
“So, if you haven’t killed the twins and buried them at the bottom of my garden, where are the little miscreants?”
The back door opened on cue and they came in. Bags of shopping in their hands.
“Did you miss us?” Josh asked happily, setting milk, eggs, bacon, and a loaf of bread on the side.
“Like a hole in the head,” Nate said, and flicked water at him from the sink.
“As badly as you’d miss your mouth? Nate, we love you too, buddy.” Jake put him in a headlock and ruffled his hair affectionately before landing a big kiss on the top.
“Fuck off! I haven’t had my vaccinations yet,” Nate roared, his voice muffled under Jake’s arm.
“Language! So what are you all doing today?” Jonas asked loudly, pushing his fork handle against the edge of the newspaper to get Matt to hold it straighter so he could read the sports on the back page.
“We’re taking Lily swimming at the quarry,” Matt murmured, and turned the page.
“He’ll never get another season playing like that,” Jonas snorted, cutting into his bacon. “Well, I’ll be here all day, so bring her over whenever you’re ready.”
Matt closed up the paper and Jonas glared at him, picked it up, and concentrated on the back page again.
“About that,” Matt said slowly, and Jonas looked up. One eyebrow rose as he chewed his bacon. “What are we going to tell her?”
“Let me play that by ear,” Jonas said, wiping his mouth on a napkin. “I want to see just how much she knows already.”
“She’s clueless,” Matt said, running a hand through his hair.
“So you say,” Jonas drawled casually, and finished up his eggs.
“What do you mean by that?” Nate demanded.
“Just that I want to make sure she is what we think she is before we leap to any conclusions.”
“You think she knows? You think she’s playing us?” Josh asked quietly.
“I have no idea, and I won’t until I meet her. Go! Swim in ridiculously cold water and bring her in later.” He dismissed them with a wave of his hand. “Give me a little bit of peace to think as well.”
Nate dried his hands on the towel as Matt scraped his chair back and got up.
“We’ll bring her in about three-ish,” Nate said, opening up the back door. Jonas waved a hand at him, his attention back on the sports section of the paper. They went out, closing the door behind them and crossed to where Matt’s Land Rover was parked beside the classic MG Road
ster that belonged to Jonas.
“I need to know something before we pick up Lily.” Matt stopped by the door and folded his arms over his chest. “Last night we were all stressed and knackered. What are we going to do? I’m serious about her being my girl. I’m just putting that out there for you.”
“I am too,” Nate said clearly, and looked over at the twins.
“So are we, you know that already,” Josh said warily, folding his arms. Jake moved to stand next to him, his stance identical to his twin as he watched Nate and Matt.
“So what do we do? Fight for her? Pistols at dawn?” Matt sighed heavily. “We can’t let her come between us.” He gestured at the defensive stances they’d taken. “But that’s exactly what we’re doing. We can’t let this happen. We swore we’d stick together no matter what.”
“What are you saying, Matt?” Nate asked, sticking his hands into his pockets, his head tilted as he studied him.
“I’m saying that we should re-think that whole business of sharing her.” He drew in a deep breath. “If—and that’s a big if—but if she does like us all, maybe we can convince her to stay with all of us.”
“I think we need to get today out of the way,” Nate murmured, his eyes on Matt’s slightly rounded shoulders. “I think we need to listen to what Jonas makes of her, and then we need to figure out how we’re going to help her. We’ve been fucking about here, thinking only of ourselves. We’re about to drop a bomb on her that’s going to shake everything she’s ever known or believed in. Which one of us gets to fuck her is probably not what we ought to be concentrating on right now.”
“It’s not about fucking her, Nate!” Matt spat angrily.
“I know it’s not, but I think we need to put her first. We promised to look after her, and we’d better make sure we hold up to that. We can’t let her down now.”
“And if she’s something we’re not expecting?” Jake asked. “If she’s playing with us?”
“She’s not.” Matt shook his head, his hair falling into his eyes. He swept it sideways impatiently. “I know she’s not.”