Lucky Between the Sheets: An Anthology of Stories that Get to the Point

by L. A. Boruff

  Dante is laughing as he pulls me from the room and into Logan’s glorious kitchen. I’ve only been here a handful of times but have never had the chance to cook in it. This is going to be great, especially cooking with Dante.

  I rub my hands together as I tell him, “All right. Ready when you are.” When the others walk in I ask them, “What will you two be doing while we cook?”

  They both smile and Logan replies, “Enjoying the scenery.”

  Oh lord, let’s hope this dinner turns out okay.

  An hour later and dinner is done. We went with classic Italian - spaghetti. It’s one of my favorites, I know how to make it, and Logan happened to have all the needed ingredients.

  “This is delicious. I missed having home cooked meals when I lived in Vegas.”

  Keegan’s on his third plate as he mentions this. I knew the man could eat but still! The others have each had two plates too, so I guess it’s not that farfetched. Plus, we did work up an appetite.

  “What’s the blush for, Chloe? Thinking about dessert?”

  Damn it all. Of course, Logan would notice. I didn't even feel my face heat up. Instead of backing down, I challenge him. “Actually, wondering who gets dessert first.” Ha! Take that.

  He stands from his chair and glides over to me. He doesn’t seem to be in a hurry. He leans down, wrapping his hands around my cheeks, to give me a thorough kiss. “Who do you want first? Who do you choose?”

  Without warning, it feels like the air around us changes. It’s silent but we are all aware of the shift by the sudden confusion on our faces. It’s like the bubble we’ve created around us has popped and our uninhibited time together is over. Gone is the carefree sex and companionship and in its place is awareness of reality. My heart is pounding and I’m breathing shallower as I try to fight off a panic attack thinking about everything we’ve said and done the last 24 hours.

  “What the fuck just happened?” Keegan stands up so forcibly he knocks the chair over and makes me jump. “I can’t believe—” He stops and just stares at Logan, then me. He does this back and forth a few times like he can’t make up his mind who to talk with. “Fuck.” He turns his back to us and rests his arms on the kitchen counter.

  “Kee, you okay?” I don’t know what to say or do and I’m freaking out on the inside, but I don’t ever want to see that look of sadness on his face again. But he doesn’t answer me.

  “Keegan, answer her,” Logan commands.

  With his back still to us, he calls out, “Fuck you.”

  Shit. Shit. Shit. This is so bad. This is why I never tried anything with them.

  Dante must see the panic on my face because he walks over and squeezes my hand. “It’ll be okay, Bella. Everyone just needs to settle down.” He keeps my hand in his as he tells the others, “You’re upsetting Chloe. Let’s sit back down and discuss it.”

  It. This weekend is an ‘it.’ We’ve ruined everything. I jerk my hand from his and, without waiting to see what the men will do, hightail it to the bedroom. My only thought is to leave. To get out of here before I admit I want more. More with them all. To admit that this weekend is my fairy tale.

  I make to the bedroom and throw on my jeans. I don’t take the time to look for my panties or bra and leave hastily with Logan’s shirt on. My purse in hand, I’m getting ready to walk out when Dante barrels into the room.

  “What are you doing?” He eyes my dressed form. “Are you leaving us?”

  With a steadying breath, I try to bottle up my out of control emotions so I don’t break until I’m alone. “Yes.” Afraid to say more I leave it at that.

  His eyes fill with sadness and longing. “Without telling me? Us? ‘No matter what’ is what we’ve always said and what we’ve always done as a group. I meant what I said to you, my Bella, and I know they did too.”

  Damn but those words almost break my silence. “Look, I just need some breathing room. Maybe we all do. This… Well, all this was unexpected. I know what we said when we were kids but we’re grownups now. No matter what isn’t the same.” I can’t help wanting one last moment, at least with one of them, so I walk over and give him a light kiss on the lips. “Please wait until I’m gone to tell the others. I don’t want a scene and we both know how those two can be. Tell them to give me time. Please.” When he nods yes, I relent and tell him, “Maybe I’ll be ready for you to call me later. Maybe it will all work out.”

  For the first time in my life, I just lied to one of my best friends. Because I don’t believe it will work out at all.

  * * *

  When I get back to my apartment, I lie in bed and cry. My heart breaks not just for myself but for the men I’ve loved most of my life. I still can’t understand how we let things get so far. They manage to give me until morning before they start trying to reach me, but start they do. I ignore their phone calls, texts, and basically all forms of social media. Damn technology for allowing so many ways for people to contact each other.

  I continue to avoid all contact with the guys over the next few weeks. Thank goodness my apartment building has a doorman. I order him not to let any of the guys in if they come by. Sure enough, the next day Logan comes and demands to see me. When he says he’ll stand there until I see him the super threatens to call the cops on him and he leaves without more protesting. Luckily, the guys haven’t bothered me in person at work or “accidentally” run into me anywhere else. I hadn’t put it past them to try.

  Since we first met as kids, I’ve talked to one of them at least every other day. Even if it’s just a text here or there or a random meme to make one of us laugh. Hell, even when he lived in Vegas Keegan called me once a week. When Dante’s on tour he texts me once a day to amuse me with the shenanigans of the band, usually telling me he misses me too. And I have lunch or dinner with Logan at least once a month though it’s normally more. This separation has been hard on me but I figured if I make the cut quick and complete it will hurt less in the long run.

  Though in reality, I keep telling myself I am full of shit and this is such bullshit.

  Shannon repeatedly calls me out too and the she-devil hasn’t left me alone. She’s the only one I haven’t been avoiding. She was there when I cried about getting my damn period. None of us had used protection or even thought about it. Being as I am very regular, it was a blessing when it came. It was even a little early and mercifully short and light. Bringing a baby into this mess wouldn’t be fair to him or her, or to us. I mean, we wouldn't even know who my baby daddy was. How Jerry Springer of me, but I can’t lie, there was a part of me that was disappointed when I saw the blood.

  My shred of disappointment has made her even more absolute and now she’s determined. She argues that I must talk to the guys to at least see what they think or want and has been threatening to call them if I didn’t grow some woman balls and do it myself.

  But I need time.

  Time to think. To plan. To reflect. To mourn. And time to love them from afar without their influence, or worse, possible rejection. Those men already had my mind and soul before that night, but how they worshiped my body, well how the hell does one recover from that? I had already compared every man I dated to one or all of them, but to know what it’s like to have their undivided attention…

  Eventually, I finally realize I am screwed, that dwelling on every detail and possibility of us by myself is pointless. I know I need to talk with them so I won’t always wonder what might’ve been. So I can say I at least tried. Shannon happily gloats when I finally admitted that to her during our latest phone call.

  However, I told her I won’t be the one to call first. They have stopped trying to contact me as much after I had Shan call them last week and let them know I was okay and needed some more alone time. But I knew one of them would eventually call me. Probably Dante, my sweet musician, he feels with the depth of his soul.

  As if it’s fate, less than an hour after my talk with Shan, he calls. It’s so good to hear his voice that tears of relief come t
o my eyes. I try to keep the emotion from my tone so he doesn’t know how much I miss him or the others.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi,” he replies back.

  Shit. I don’t know what to say.

  “We miss you, Bella.”

  Fuck my heart. I will not break. I will not break. I will not break.

  “I miss you guys too.” I break and my voice quivers and I give up trying to sound detached. He knows me too well anyway.

  “Will you come see us on Friday afternoon, around 4?” I hear the need in his voice.

  “Yes,” is all I can manage before he says goodbye and hangs up. I guess he didn’t want to give me a chance to change my mind.

  I have four days to see the doctor and get on birth control. I know it won’t take effect immediately, but the sooner the better, and we’ll have to use condoms until it does. Over a month without them, their sweet, caring words and their bodies touching mine. I doubt we make it to Keegan’s office before they have me stripped bare.

  At least, that’s what I’m hoping once we work everything out; if we can work everything out. Maybe I can have my fairy tale after all. But unlike Cindy, I’m taking the glass slipper to them.

  11

  Dante

  This song was forming in my mind before that night even happened but in the days since it has taken on new life. I’ve spent every day since she walked out of our lives pouring these words from my soul. I’ve tweaked each word, each phrase, each melody, and each chord change. I have agonized over every imperceptible detail until it became the song I am about to sing for her today, no matter if she is here or not.

  I texted Chloe earlier asking her to come a few minutes early but I haven’t seen her yet. My heart thrums like it’s the first time performing, not like the decently successful musician that spends half his time in the spotlight. But today I decided to strip myself bare on this stage without my band with only my guitar and the song to support me.

  The soft glare of the lonely, dull spotlight hits me and I close my eyes. If she is here I hope everything I have is conveyed to her with my song. I need my voice and words intertwined with my strumming to win her heart. To wake her up to the love she’s been hiding from.

  My fingers move over the stings of the worn, well-loved acoustic guitar. This is the only guitar that means anything to me. It is the one she, Keegan, and Logan saved all year to buy me for my 18th birthday, and I can feel the love they’ve always had for me rise through it and into me with every vibration. My only desire is that I give as much back as I’ve gotten. With a shaky breath, I open my mouth and sing the words.

  “My Bella”

  You were standing on the playground

  The sun shining down

  With purple ribbons in your copper curls

  At that moment, our hearts were bound

  There will never be another that can compare, my Bella

  Your beauty and your grace

  The absent way you twirl your hair

  There will never be another that can compare, my Bella

  The years have passed

  And up we’ve grown

  In all tears and fears and joys

  It’s only you that has ever belonged

  There will never be another that can compare, my Bella

  Your beauty and your grace

  The absent way you twirl your hair

  There will never be another that can compare, my Bella

  Through others, our oats we’ve sown

  But it’s you that’s always been the one

  Not to him or me but to us all

  It’s to you that we belong

  There will never be another that can compare, my Bella

  Your beauty and your grace

  The absent way you twirl your hair

  There will never be another that can compare, our Bella

  The clapping of the bar’s patrons wakes me from the movie playing in my head. A film reel of our lives, our love story. When I finally look up and into the crowd, I can barely contain my emotions as I see her in the corner wiping tears from her face as she looks longingly at me.

  I hope it was enough. I hope we’re enough.

  12

  Chloe

  Walking through the doors, the first thing I hear is Dante’s voice. I stay in the shadows to let his words wash over me. Can I fall even more in love? At this moment, hearing the words I know he wrote just for me, I think I can. As the song ends, I look for them. Keegan’s at the bar talking to Doyle. Dante’s still standing on stage, and for a moment I think his eyes lock with mine, but it’s hard to tell through my tears. Logan’s staring at his phone like its the answer to something and it hurts to see him appear so lost.

  My mind flashes back to that weekend and how much it meant to me, beyond the sex. It seems we’ve all had deeper feelings than we let on but we somehow managed to be honest about our feelings and wants that night. I’m curious and a bit apprehensive about what they have to say.

  We settle down at the same table where it all started that fateful night. Keegan and Dante on either side of me with Logan next to Keegan.

  “It’s good to see you, sugar.” God, how I’ve missed Keegan’s deep rasp. His eyes have such tenderness in them as he looks at me.

  “I’ve missed you, Chloe.” Even telling me he missed me, Logan’s dominant vibe seeps through in his tone and makes me shiver. His eyes lock onto mine but instead of tenderness, I see a wariness that I didn’t expect and it saddens me.

  Finally, I turn to Dante. With a light red tint to his cheeks, he tells me, “You know how I feel, Bella.” His eyes are like a fire to my soul they shine with so much love. The words of the new song that he just sang to me float through my head and I know I can do this.

  These men own me, body, heart, and soul. I can only hope they want to keep what I am offering as much as I want to give it.

  I clear my throat to begin. “Well, I want to hear what you all have to say first. That night was eye-opening for all of us. I want, need, to know all of your feelings before I tell you how I feel. Please.”

  The men glance at each other communicating in a way of silent talking they’ve perfected over the years but that I’ve never understood. But I’m patient because I have made them wait for weeks before I even agreed to talk to them. It's only fair. Especially because of the surprise I have for them. After the silent debate, it seems Dante is going first.

  Dante reaches for my hand. “Bella, it’s pretty clear how I feel about you. How I’ve always cared about you. That weekend I told you how I’ve always felt, and my music exposes me to you. To my feelings. I want to make a life with you. A life that includes us all. I have the band, but you have two guys here that I trust to take care of you while I’m gone or you can’t come with me. Please, say you’ll be ours.” I open my mouth to answer but he leans over and gives me a light kiss. “Not yet. It’s not your turn.”

  Keegan reaches for my other hand. “Sugar, you’re mine. Always have been, always will be. I claimed you the first moment I saw you. We all did. But we didn’t want you to choose. I ran away all those years to get some space. To try and stop loving you, but it didn’t work. My heart was always yours. Our night together showed me we don’t have to make it a choice. Please say you’ll be ours.” Then he puts his other hand on the back of my neck and pulls me into him to kiss me thoroughly. When he lets go I’m too stunned to say anything before Logan begins to speak.

  Instead of touching me like the others, Logan manages to touch me and hold me in place with his intense but adoring gaze. The wariness is still there, but I can see the fire and heat now as well. I wonder how much of it is for me and how much of it is for Keegan as I’ve seen the looks they’ve tried to hide. I’m not jealous of the thought. It’s more joyful anticipation.

  “You gave us everything, then left. You broke our hearts. Even if for just a moment, you made everything complete. These feelings are something we avoided for a long time. You have a lot of power over
us, you might think it’s me but you are the one with all the control. Even more so now than before because we know what’s it like to love you fully. Please. Say you’ll be ours.” He radiates hurt as he talks and I can’t believe he’s saying please to me. I never thought about how they would feel, especially with the guys experiencing new things and pushing the limits of their own ideas of sexuality.

  I squeeze my guys’ hands for strength and they squeeze back without hesitation. “I’m sorry. I panicked. I thought… Well, it was just mind-blowing when we all realized what we had done. Together. I didn’t handle it as well as I could have. But I needed time. I was afraid of losing my best friends. The men I loved.”

  I stop to sip my water before I begin again. “I’ve loved you all for so long but have conditioned myself to believe it either couldn’t or shouldn’t happen. I thought I had to choose, but I would never hurt any of you or myself by letting someone go. I’m mad at myself for giving up so easily. Why didn’t you give up on me?” I didn’t mean to ask that question but it has been running through my mind on repeat these lost weeks.

  Logan confesses, “Three reasons. The first is that we know you and figured you freaked. It stunned us too, but after you left, we talked and realized it’s what all of us wanted but never acknowledged. We figured out it could work if we all want it bad enough. The second is because you have an amazing friend in Shannon and she called us, reamed us out one by one, then demanded we better not give up on you. She did that even as she told us to stop calling for a bit to give you breathing room, but she let us know the moment you were ready.”

  The others chuckle at my loud gasp. “I swear she’s a little devil in disguise.” The men snicker at my comment and I think I hear Keegan mutter, “In disguise my ass.” Just wait until they know her smartass self better, they’ll really know what a control freak is. I turn my focus back to Logan. “And the third reason?”