“Besides, there is something I want to talk to you guys about, and I think it’s important.”
“Is this about Ashley?” Vadik asked.
“No. I’m looking forward to seeing her.”
I sat up and she smiled at all of us. “I should probably just get this over with and you know, just deal.” She breathed out a sigh. “Okay, so, we all have a history together. We’ve been through a lot.”
“Em, where are you going with this?” Caleb asked.
“Seriously, let her fucking speak,” Gael shot back.
I chuckled at the sudden death glare Caleb sent Gael. If we all shut up, Emily could get to whatever was on her mind.
“You all speak about me being your woman. I don’t know how this is going to work. If this even can work. There are four of you, and I’ve told you all that I love you.”
We all spoke at the same time, telling her how we felt that we loved her as well. I did, more than anything in the world. I loved her so damn much it scared me.
“I know,” Emily said. “But, I’m only me. I’m one person. I’m not some magical woman that you can split down into three or four of me. What if you grow tired of me?”
“Not going to happen, Em,” I said. My friends agreed.
“You say that now, but people change.”
“You’re right, people do change,” Caleb said. “But we’re not like other people. Sharing you is all we want to do. I’m not interested in any other woman.”
“Anyone else could have saved Gael,” she said.
I chuckled. “It’s not just about Gael.” I touched her ankle. “You feel that. The rush? We all get that by being near you. Seven years and I’m not going to lie to you, Em, we did shit that embarrasses us. Some of us did try to use other women in a way to forget you, but I speak for all of us when I say we weren’t able to go all the way. Kissing them, holding them, even thinking about fucking them, was a betrayal to you. All we want is you, and we’re willing to make this work. You as our woman. We don’t want lists, or charts, or schedules. We only want what is natural, which is you with us.”
“No jealousy?”
“None,” I said.
“We’re very good at sharing,” Gael said.
“However,” Caleb said.
I turned toward him, wondering what the fuck he was doing throwing a wrench in the works. We didn’t need a however, or any fucking but coming along.
“We all know you’ve experienced a life without us. Without being hit or scared for your life. We all get it and we know it’s a lot to ask for you to stay with us. To take a chance on us.” He sighed. “If you don’t want to live this life, be our queen, then you’ve got this one chance to tell us. When the danger is over, we’ll take you back to your life, far away from us, where you don’t even have to think about us. We’d make sure you want for nothing and live in peace and happiness.”
Okay, what the fuck? It was all right for Caleb to offer this, but I didn’t want that. I sure as fuck didn’t want to lose her.
We’d only just gotten her and now he was talking about letting her go. I didn’t see a future without her in it. I refused to see any kind of life without her in it.
“You’d let me go?”
“Yes.”
“But, doesn’t that go against your feelings?”
Hell, yeah! I kept it to myself. Caleb was clearly working on an idea, even if I did think it was completely stupid. Asshole.
“It does. I didn’t say it would be easy to let you go, Emily. I’m offering you a chance because the moment you agree to stay with us and make a life here with us, none of us are ever letting you go. I can’t let you go. I don’t want to.”
She licked her lips and I saw tears in her eyes once again. I was getting tired of us hurting her like this. It wasn’t exactly fair of us.
“So, er, what you’re saying is, if I stay, I’ll be by your side for the rest of my life?”
“Yes. You’ll marry one of us,” Caleb said. “Probably me, but you’d be married to all of us, Em.”
She smiled. “You know, I wondered about this. I thought I wanted my old life back in England. The peace and quiet, but while I was