Forbidden

by R. R. Banks

  This wasn't the way that this was supposed to work out. We weren't supposed to just suddenly drop the bomb of this whole situation on Gabrielle. The four of us had agreed that we were going to spend some time with her, getting to know her, warming her up to the possibility of her being with all of us before the stakes were suddenly raised. Talon had always been the most impulsive and least patient of all of us, and he was showing it now. Though he has learned to control himself as he got older and became more involved in the business, there was always the sense that he was a coiled spring, ready to burst with the slightest cause. Now he was doing just that, completely ignoring the plan that we created, and rushing forward. I could see the nervousness in Gabrielle's eyes and I knew that we couldn't just pretend that he hadn't said anything, or come up with an excuse. If we tried to push away the situation now, we would only make it more difficult when we did tell her. She wouldn't be able to trust us and it was a possibility that we would never have this opportunity again.

  I looked at Jackson, trying to relay what I was thinking to him through my eyes. He seemed to understand and gave a small nod.

  "There's something that we were meaning to talk to you about," he said.

  "Alright," she said. "Is there something wrong?"

  "No," Lucas reassured her. "There's nothing wrong. There's just something very important that we wanted to discuss with you."

  She nodded.

  "OK," she said.

  "We can't talk about it here," I said. "We need to be somewhere more private."

  This made her eyes widen even further and I felt like we were already getting off to a bad start. Maybe Talon shouldn't have suggested her. Maybe he should have just let the relationship among the five of us develop as it was going to and let us realize how perfect she was on our own. But there was no use in thinking about that now. We were here and there was no turning back. Either we talked to her about it now and gave her the opportunity to make her decision, or who put the possibility of her being the right woman for us behind us and continued on looking for someone else. I wasn't willing to consider anyone else, so I knew that we just had to be as delicate and careful about the way that we approached her as we could.

  "Come back to our house with us," Talon said.

  "Your house?" She asked.

  "Yes," Jackson said. "That way we can talk without anybody interrupting us."

  She finally agreed and we all went back to her room to help her gather her belongings. She offered to follow us, but we told her it would be easier if she rode with us. We would make sure that she was brought back to the club to pick up her car when we were finished. She agreed and we all got into the backseat of the limo that we used when all of us wanted to travel together. Gabrielle sat with me on one side of her and Jackson on the other, looking around the interior of the car with a slight look of awe in her eyes. I could see that this was beyond anything that she had ever experienced, and that if she did agree to our arrangement, this lifestyle was something that she was going to have to become accustomed to over time. I knew that the four of us would be happy to do anything that we could to introduce her to it and make her feel comfortable in the world that we were opening up to her.

  An hour later we were sitting in the living room and I was watching Gabrielle's hand shake as she held a cup of coffee in front of her. She had only taken a few sips of it before Talon started talking, and now it seemed that she was holding onto it just to have something to grip. She was staring ahead of her, not really at any one of us, and her lips were slightly parted in surprise. After a few moments she seemed to snap back into reality and looked at each of us in turn.

  "I don't think that I really understand what you're telling me," she said.

  I looked at Jackson, who slid closer to the edge of the couch so that he could lean forward and look into her face.

  "We told you about our father," he said.

  Gabrielle nodded.

  "He died a few years ago," she said, recapping what we had told her. "His will had two sections, one for when he died and one to be read on Talon's thirtieth birthday."

  "If necessary," I added.

  "If necessary," she said. "And that became necessary because none of you had gotten married and had a child."

  Lucas shook his head.

  "Not married," he said. "That wasn't part of the specifications. It just said that we hadn't been given full access to our inheritance because none of us had had a child yet. Our father wanted to make sure that the legacy had somewhere to go after us, and if it wasn't going to, then he needed to make sure that there were arrangements in place for how to handle everything."

  She nodded again. It seemed to have become her go-to reaction when she wasn't sure what to say.

  "And so you want me to…"

  Her voice trailed off and Jackson leaned a little closer to her, reaching out to touch her knee to comfort her.

  "We know that this sounds crazy. We get that. But it could be so perfect. You already told me about how much your family wants you to have a child and a comfortable life."

  "I really don't think that this is what they had in mind," she said. "They want me to raise a family with someone, not to pop out a baby for a stranger to use as collateral to get money and control over a business."

  "I would hardly call us strangers," Lucas said.

  She turned toward him and I could see the way that they looked at each other. It was obvious that he had already touched her, tasted her, experienced her in the way that we all wanted to, and I felt a flicker of envy go through me. It wasn't that I minded. I was completely on board for the four of us getting to enjoy her and was happy for my brother, but it only made me want her more.

  "And that's exactly what we want to do," Jackson said. "This isn't just about you having a baby for us. We want you to be there to raise it with us. All of us together will take care of the baby and be its parents. We'll make sure that it is given all of the opportunities in life and that it will be prepared to take on the responsibility of the family legacy when the time comes."

  "We'll also take care of you," Talon added. "You won't ever have to struggle again. If you want to keep running your chocolate shop, we'll make sure that you have the money to do that. If you don't, you'll be provided for completely. It's up to you."

  Gabrielle looked stunned and for a moment I wondered if anything that we were saying to her was actually getting through to her or if she had shut off somewhere in the conversation. I couldn't really blame her. I knew that this was a lot to try to take in and that it had come at her suddenly and shockingly. If Talon had given us more time with her, maybe it would have been easier to talk to her about it. Maybe it would have come up in a smoother, gentler way and she would have been more receptive.

  "If a baby is all that you wanted, why did you use condoms?" she asked, looking at Jackson and Lucas. "Why didn't you just go for it and hope it worked out for you?"

  I was slightly taken aback by the boldness of her question. I didn't expect her to be timid or shy about the situation. That was a major part of why we wanted her to be the one. She was upfront and honest, vibrant and full of life. She didn't seem like one to wither or shy away from what she was feeling. But the question had felt raw, like there was emotion in it driven by a story that we didn't know.

  "That's not what we want, Gabrielle," Jackson said. "We didn't want our child to be looked at as some kind of one night stand accident. We chose you for a reason and it's important that you are in agreement. You have to admit that there is something between us. You can feel it as much as we do. But that might not be enough. We wanted to be totally transparent with you so that we could have your complete and unwavering agreement. This has to be something that is in your heart. You have to believe in it as much as we do. What has already happened between us wasn't about this. That was something that I would have wanted whether we were considering having a child or not."

  "Me, too," Lucas said.

/>   Gabrielle looked at each of us again. I could see all of the questions in her eyes, but I could also still see the need, the powerful draw that she felt toward each of us. Even though Talon and I hadn't had the chance to be with her yet, the heat between us was still obvious and I couldn't wait for my turn to experience every inch of her luscious body. Now I felt like I may never have that opportunity and the thought made my chest tight.

  "I need to think about all of this," she said. "Can I have some time to think it over?"

  "Of course," Jackson said.

  "I'll have a car bring you back to the Club," Lucas said. "Take as much time as you need. You know where to find us."

  Gabrielle placed her cup on the table in front of her before standing. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if she wasn't sure how she should leave. Finally she turned and walked out of the room toward the front door, disappearing out onto the porch to wait for the car without saying another word. I waited until I heard the car drive out of the driveway before I looked at Talon.

  "Great fucking job," I said.

  He glared at me.

  "What do you mean?" he asked.

  "You know exactly what he means," Lucas said. "You weren't supposed to just spring it on her. We agreed that we were going to take our time and try to get to know her before we even brought it up with her."

  "Why?" Talon asked. "Why should we bother doing that? I'm positive about her. I don't need any more time to think about it and I don't want to consider anybody else." His voice had dropped lower, taking on the deeper, more serious tone that it carried when he felt that there was no room for discussion in a situation. "I don't want to wait. I want her and I want to know that she's ours. If we had waited and danced around the reality of the situation, it would have just seemed like we were manipulating her when we finally did talk about it. At least this way she knows that we're going to be honest with her. She doesn't have to worry that we're hiding something or lying to her."

  That was something that I hadn't considered. I had been thinking so much about us learning more about her before bringing the baby up that it hadn't occurred to me how it might impact her when she found out. Rather than feeling as though we were trying to make the situation easier, it could seem like we were trying to trap her, that we had lied to her and were taking advantage of her. That wasn't something that I ever wanted her to feel.

  "What are we going to do if she says no?" Lucas asked.

  "Let's not think about that unless it happens," Jackson said. "We did what we needed to do. Now all we can do is wait."

  Chapter Ten

  Gabrielle

  I took several wrong turns on the way back to my apartment from the Club and when I eventually made it, I felt like I couldn't remember getting there. My brain was too full of thoughts about what the men had asked me to hold anything else. I walked into the apartment and dropped down on my living room couch. I stared ahead of me at the blank TV screen, hoping that it would give me some sort of insight. I was obviously incredibly attracted to the men and enjoyed spending time with them, but did that mean that I could have a child with them? Would I really be able to raise a child with four fathers, but without the promise of a committed relationship? Could I actually do this?

  That was the question that was still on my mind the next day when I arrived at the chocolate shop to clean up. I hadn't had a chance to before leaving for the gala and I hoped that the task of putting everything back together after the week of constant work would help me to think through the decision that I was facing. I had been wiping the same section of counter for nearly an hour when my phone rang. I picked it up without looking to see who it was.

  "Hello?"

  "I need to have lunch."

  Skylar's voice brought a smile to my lips.

  "Is that husband of yours forgetting to feed you again?"

  "He said something about feeding the children and taking them to the dentist."

  "In that order? I don't think that you're supposed to do that."

  "I'm sure he'll figure it out. The point is, the smell of the dentist office makes me sick, so he's going to do it and I have the afternoon to myself. Which brings me back to… I need to have lunch."

  "The smell of the dentist office makes you sick?"

  "One of the many joys of pregnancy. They say that the whole sickness thing only lasts for the first trimester. Lies. I still can't get near onions or eggs."

  "Well, to be fair, you've never liked onions."

  "That's true. Come on. Meet me at that awesome burger place."

  I knew that I still had so much to do around the shop, but I wasn't making any progress. Taking a break and spending some time with my sister may be the perfect way to shake my brain into thinking more clearly. Skylar was already eating when I sat down across from her.

  "Thank you so much for waiting for me."

  "Sorry," she said. "This baby has got to be a boy. I'm starving all the time." She looked at me strangely. "Is something wrong? You look upset."

  I shook my head.

  "Not upset," I said. "I just have a lot on my mind."

  "Anything that I can help you with?"

  I thought about the text that I had gotten from Jackson earlier in the day asking that I not talk about them or what they had asked me with anyone. Somehow that made facing this decision so much harder than it already was. I already felt like I was out on a limb that no one had ever been on, completely unsure of what I should do, and now they had taken away my ability to talk it over with anyone who might be able to help me get through it. I understood why they were doing it, though. They were powerful and well-known in the Club, which meant that there were always going to be people who didn't like them and who would try to make things harder on them. If they heard that the Griffin brothers were looking for a woman to have a child for them, they could use that information to their own advantage. I wasn't sure in what ways, but the ways that people could hurt other people never ceased to amaze me.

  But I still wanted to talk to somebody. I wanted to talk to my sister. Like she should have been, she had always been there for me when I was going through difficult things. Just as she had come to work at the chocolate shop to help me, even without telling our parents, Skylar had always been there to help me even when she didn't fully agree with what she was helping me to do. I wanted her to help me through this. Even if I couldn't tell her exactly what was going on, maybe I could find a way to skirt around it, to ask her about it without really asking about it.

  I let out a resolute sigh.

  "All right," I said. "What would you tell someone who was trying to make a decision and they didn't know which way to go?"

  "Well, I would want to know more about the decision that they're making. What are the good and bad parts of each side of it?"

  "One side of the decision would be the easy way to go. It would be basically staying on the same path to that they are already on and just kind of trying to figure out things one step at a time. They are kind of struggling right now, and going with the other side decision could stop that struggling, but they aren't entirely sure that it's the right thing to do. The other side of decision would be a major change in their life and would be huge for them. It would literally change their life completely. It's something that they would never have considered, but it sounds exciting and may be really great for them."

  "That was fantastically vague."

  "I know," I said. "But that's really all I can say right now. What do you think? What would you tell somebody who was trying to make a decision like that?"

  "I would tell them that it sounds like they don't really know yet what they want to do and that they should take some more time to think about it. Sometimes it seems like the easy way might be the right way just because it's more comfortable, but that's not always the case. Sometimes something is worth doing because it's so hard. The thought of doing something that completely changes your life can be really scary, but if
their life is worth changing, then maybe that's something to think about."

  For the next several days I couldn't get the men off my mind. That wasn't so unusual, I hadn't been able to stop thinking about them since I met the four of them, but it was different now. I wasn't just thinking about how attracted I was to them or how much I wanted them. Now I was thinking about the possibility of crafting my entire future around them, but not in the way that other women think about crafting their futures around men. I wasn't thinking about falling in love with them. I wasn't thinking about having a relationship with them or maybe one day marrying them. I was thinking about having a child with them and enjoying an indulgent and privileged lifestyle as I helped them raise that child. It was something that was so hard to wrap my head around. Yet, at the same time, it felt thrilling to think about. It was obvious that they felt the same way about me that I felt about them, and it was exciting and flattering that they would have chosen me.

  I was still thinking about it, still trying to envision myself as the mother to a child who had four fathers, raising the child in a world that I was just beginning to experience. It was still hard to think about, but I was starting to realize just how appealing this possibility could be. I had always known that I would be a mother, but I never had any prospects, and I had been too focused on my own life and my own dreams to even consider trying to find someone to marry and have a child with. Now I was being offered the opportunity to experience motherhood while also pursuing my dreams and living a life that I could never have imagined. Though I knew it was odd to think about these four exceptionally wealthy men, who had never known anything but luxury, as people who were in need of help, the reality was also in the back of my mind. If I agreed to this, if I committed myself to this arrangement, I was helping people who needed it. It wasn't just about them getting the rest of their money. I knew that. I could see it in their eyes when they were talking to me about their family’s legacy and their need for it to carry on. I could see that each and every one of them wanted this child. They wanted another generation who they could raise and shape, and who they knew would carry the bloodline on in a way that would make their father proud.