Under The Magnolia Read online

  We had told her she was being commissioned to paint a mural at the

  firehouse, and while that was technically true, it was also a way to coax her

  there so we could make her feel special. We even got our parents on board

  with it.

  None of us really gave them any room to try and talk us down from the

  poly engagement, we basically just told them how it was going to be and if

  they couldn’t support us then they didn’t have to be involved. I don’t think

  any of our parents could deny Amelia anything though after all she’s been

  through. My mom was just happy that I wasn’t seeing Sophie anymore, and

  that Amelia and I were reconnected.

  “Ok, Butterfly, we’re here.”

  “No one is going to like ask questions, right? I just get to go in and

  paint?”

  Is it mean to think about the fact I’m grateful she can’t see my horribly

  suppressed amusement?

  “I’m not sure. Let’s just get you in there.”

  I wheel her in, and all the bays are open, banners hung with our names on

  them. There had been plenty of jokes made that me and Theo were fucking

  each other, but whatever.

  There’s instantly music playing when we come into sight, and I had

  warned them that yelling any sort of congratulatory remark might freak her

  out since she can’t see, so I was fine with the music. She stiffens in her

  chair, snapping her head to glare at me.

  “Really? You’re not sure?? What the hell, you liar?”

  “Oh Amelia, it is so good to hear you well enough to tell off our son.”

  My mom smiles at us with tears in her eyes, my dad a bit more reluctant

  on the situation, but at least he was here. Amelia slides her ‘polite for

  company face’ on after another haughty glare sent my way, and I can’t help

  but enjoy how fucking adorable her indignation is.

  “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. West.”

  “Nonsense. Didn’t they tell you the best part of this whole arrangement?

  You get four new sets of parents to dote on you. You’re going to be the

  most beautiful bride.”

  I was shocked how well my mom was taking this actually, I thought for

  sure she’d be quoting the bible and telling me how I was twisted and sick

  for sharing my woman, but this was Amelia. She knew we were cut from

  the same cloth and that the lot of us couldn’t do anything without her.

  “Thank you. It’s all a bit crazy, isn’t it?”

  My mom kisses her on the cheek and gushes at ‘how cute we are’ before

  pulling my father over to get some punch. Plenty of co-workers come and

  introduce themselves, letting her get in their personal spaces and touching

  their faces so she can try and map them out. I hover like a psycho behind

  her, unwilling to let anybody near her I can’t visually warn off if they cross

  some line. She’s fucking mine and I’ve waited way too long to change

  anything now.

  The other guys take her eventually, prying my hands off her chair, and

  she spends time with the parents, then unabashedly dishes shit out to

  anyone that makes any unsatisfactory remarks, maintaining that she knows

  exactly what she’s getting into. She has become this whirlwind of a woman

  who takes no shit from anyone, and no one really gets mad at her because

  you kind of feel like a shitty person if you start yelling at someone that

  can’t see or walk.

  Maybe that makes me an asshole for saying that; I saw it in every single

  person’s face that got offended by what she said. Or, realized they were

  standing on a soap box they couldn’t defend, because Amelia well and truly

  loved all of us. More wholly and fiercely than many traditional marriages

  I’ve witnessed in my life.

  Finally, the party starts winding down, some of the guys, including Theo,

  have to go make a house call, and since it’s my day off I get her all to

  myself for a bit. Cam and Constantine have to get back to work as well, and

  it’s kind of nice to get this quiet time all to myself.

  “Come on, love, there actually is a mural. You don’t need to paint right

  now, but I want you to get a feel for the texture of the wall and the size of

  it.”

  We’re in the breakroom, and I told the guys not to bother us while she’s

  trying to get in the zone, so I don’t even feel bad when I lock the door

  behind us. The room feels too quiet after this afternoon’s noise, but there’s

  an intimacy building from it.

  I get her out of her chair, helping her to stand as she feels around the

  space we taped off already. I tried to keep it within feasible parameters for

  her, though I know she’ll need help reaching some of the edges. Rough job.

  Would it be totally inappropriate to suggest she go pants-free while she sits

  on my shoulders to reach that top border??

  I hold her body up in front of me, my hands gripping her hips as my hips

  pin her to the wall from behind, then I move my hands so I can wrap them

  over hers as I draw the outline for her. She’s shaking a little in my arms, and

  I can’t help but inhale the floral scent wrapped in her hair.

  “What do you think? Can you work with this?”

  She squirms against me, dropping her hands to her waist and holding on

  to my arms for support.

  “Alex…”

  Her breath comes out all breathy and affected, and shit that hits hard.

  “I love hearing you say my name. Wanna see if I can make you say it

  louder?”

  “HERE??”

  “Baby, I’ve shared you with the entire station all afternoon. It’s my time

  with you and I want to spend my time loving your body and kissing your

  smart mouth.”

  I spin her around and lift her up so her shaky legs can rest, holding her

  ass in my palms and keeping her torso pinned to the wall as she hooks her

  ankles behind me.

  “Wow, dirty much?”

  “Amelia, remember that summer when we were kids, and Constantine

  figured out that you were irreversibly in love with all of us?”

  She quirks an eyebrow up at me, daring me to push her buttons some

  more. Of course, I take the damn bait.

  “And I fucking panicked like a virgin on their wedding night, because the

  world seemed to tilt. You’d always been this untouchable thing before that.

  I always thought you were hot, pretty, whatever you want to call it. But you

  were one of us, you know?

  “I hadn’t really realized I had put you into this category of ‘don’t touch’

  because I somehow knew that once I opened that box, all hell would break

  loose. I kept trying to shove it closed, because even though I was dying to

  kiss you, it terrified me because I knew that you were the one that had the

  power to obliterate me.”

  She lays her head down on my shoulder, breathing me in, letting me

  ramble all my secrets.

  “We were so young; There was this voice in my head telling me that once

  I gave in, once I let myself kiss you, date you, that my life would never be

  the same. It was easy to date all those other girls because they never meant

  anything to me at all. They were cute, they killed the time, but they were

  just filler until I was man enough to accept what life
had planned for me.”

  “I hated all of them. I used to get so jealous, thinking about you taking

  girls out. And then I felt so stupid because Cameron was like the perfect

  boyfriend.”

  “I still can’t believe you two hid that for an entire year before we figured

  it out.”

  “Yeah, well, like you said- you were good at distracting yourself.”

  “You’re right. I always knew you were it for me, but it took me way too

  long to accept that I could share you with them. Seeing you with Cam, and

  then Constantine, was like this thick poison that shot through my veins

  every time I saw you together.

  “I know it’s irrational, but I wanted you to myself. And that made me

  angry too, because they’re my best friends, basically brothers, and I knew

  that if I insisted on you being mine alone, they’d eventually give in because

  we can’t willingly deny each other anything.

  “And with those thoughts I knew I would tear us all apart, so I just stayed

  away until I could get my head on straight. Eventually, as we got older, it

  got less and less satisfying to be with other girls because the connection was

  so fake, so forced. I saw the way you and Cam and Constantine were

  together, and I started realizing there was room for me, too.”

  “I never would have let you tear us apart, you know that? They might

  have tried stepping aside to save feelings, but I never would have let them.”

  “Yeah, I know. You’re way too good, way too strong for us. We’ve never

  deserved you.”

  “Even though I couldn’t talk to you guys anymore, and even though I

  eventually made myself stop thinking about you all, just the ghosts of your

  hands in mine were how I stayed sane most nights at that boarding school. I

  couldn’t outright imagine any of you because I was conditioned to believe

  that was wrong, but I realized, during the many hours of therapy since, that

  the deeper parts of my mind were still wrapped up around you, and that was

  my main comfort.”

  “I know she’s dead, but I fucking hate your Aunt for taking you from us.”

  “I know, she had no right.”

  “Amelia, I need you to know something. This is important, okay?”

  She blinks those gorgeous brown eyes at me, her pert little mouth sitting

  there, begging me for kisses. But I had to get this all off my chest before I

  lost myself to her.

  “My heart is so completely yours…forever. Even when I was too scared

  to claim you, even when I was fucking around with other girls…there

  wasn’t a damn single part of me that didn’t know I belonged to you. It’s like

  you were made specifically for us, and all these new parts of you?

  “So you can’t use your eyes to see what you’re doing. That’s okay,

  because the four of us will see everything for you, do anything for you. I

  don’t fucking care that there’s gadgets to pour hot water into a mug without

  overflowing, that devices exist for texting, reading, whatever. We’re your

  eyes. Tell us when we get overbearing, but babe, we’re responsible for you.

  “You’re going to be our wife, and maybe it’s scary, but we want you to

  depend on us completely, for every fucking basic need. It’s the penance we

  need to pay for missing out on so much, for not being there, but it’s how we

  can cope with you accepting that we love you. You’re way too good for any

  of us, and we worship at your altar.

  “So your legs are too weak to walk or stand on your own? Doesn’t make

  a damn bit of difference. It’s your heart that I want, your mind. I don’t see

  you as handicapped, or injured. I see you as this fucking goddess that

  transcends this life. If you need to push yourself around the house

  sometimes, I guess that’s okay, but I need to be where you are, or know one

  of the other guys is.

  “I love that you love to create art, that you’ve incorporated that passion

  into your life. I just have this innate need to provide every damn thing I can

  for you, or make sure one of the other guys is, because I love you so

  fucking much that it physically hurts me to think you’re struggling with

  anything. I know it’s harder for you to do just about anything, and I don’t

  want you frustrated trying to figure shit out.

  “We’re your hands, your legs, your eyes, whatever you need.”

  “Wow. Um…” She starts fanning herself, her cheeks pinkening this

  gorgeous shade as she squirms a little in my arms.

  “So I thought I was this badass, independent woman that could do

  anything she wanted to do.”

  “Oh, you’re definitely that, but I’m also a caveman and have this basal

  need to do everything for you.”

  “I feel like I should be super offended right now, and insist that I can do

  shit on my own. I mean, I’ve spent the last two years learning how to do

  everything on my own.”

  “That’s great, but-”

  She puts her hand over my mouth, making me shut the hell up.

  “I’m talking. I knew you always felt the weird connection we had, and

  even though I hated seeing you date all those other girls, I let it slide

  because I knew you needed to come to me on your own, when you were

  truly ready. Anything else would have just meant fighting and tears and

  other ugly things. You needed the time to grow up and get your life

  together. That’s why I was patient, why I allowed myself to just focus on

  Cam and Constantine.

  “I knew you’d get there, I never ever doubted it. At some point, I

  convinced myself that I really didn’t deserve any of you, that you were so

  much better off without me. No, I’m still talking. Hold the comments.”

  Against my better judgement, I smile behind her hand, because she’s so

  damn bossy and I love it.

  “Anyway. All that shit is in the past. You’re here now, and that’s honestly

  all I care about, okay?”

  I just stare at her, afraid to make a noise. “Am I allowed to talk yet?”

  “A yes or no will do.”

  I suppress a laugh and tell her okay. And then she rolls those eyes at me

  so hard it looks painful.

  “As far as you being all caveman- not going to lie, it’s making me pretty

  hot. All that talk about being my hands and eyes and legs, well, that’s pretty

  romantic and heavy. It’s going to take me awhile to give up the reigns,

  because I’ve been forced to become so independent. But I will try to not

  protest too much when you try and make sweet gestures by taking care of

  me, okay?”

  “Mils, that’s all I want to do. I want to take care of you and spoil the shit

  out of you and-”

  “I know. I’ll probably yell at you a lot, telling you I can do shit on my

  own, and I’ll probably still try to anyway, but we’ll figure it out. I know

  part of you was always a little nervous about the idea of sharing me with

  them, but there’s enough of me to go around. There may be five people in

  this relationship, but what you and I have? That’s its own thing.

  “You’re my man, and I want to take care of you too, build a life with you.

  It just so happens that there are a few extras I get to love and be with as

  well.
But this relationship is as big as it would be if it were just us and no

  one else. So please tell me when you need something, if you ever feel…

  neglected, or like you need more of me, okay? Because I know I’ll mess

  things up a lot; it’s terrifying to be the sole person responsible for four

  guys’ happiness. That’s a lot of pressure. And my poor vagina will probably

  have to toughen up a bit so she can keep up with all of you, but all we can

  do is try our best, okay?”

  And I give up fighting, kissing her because I can’t just hold her and not

  devour her any longer. We’re too close together, her breath washing over

  my face, her body held within the confines of my own. Plus, she’s talking

  about her vagina and my dick more than noticed.

  I carry her to the sofa and lay her down, peeling off her shirt and my

  own. Her hands instantly go to my chest, brushing across my nipples and

  combing through the chest hair. She’s barely breathing, but her legs are

  locked around me like vice grips.

  “God, I love your body. These muscles…they’re fucking delicious.” She

  sits up and wraps her lips around my nipple, her tongue swiping against it

  and making me shudder. I lean forward, kissing her neck and returning the

  favor, peeling off her bra and diving right in. Her breasts are so so soft,

  almost small enough for me to take their entirety into my mouth but they fit

  her body so damn well and they’re the most perfect breasts I’ve ever seen.

  I kiss over her sternum, down do her belly button, unfastening her jeans

  and pulling them off with her cotton panties that have no right to be as sexy

  as they are.

  “Alex, is this really the best place for this? Won’t someone need to get in

  here?”

  “The door is locked, there are no cameras, they think you’re painting and

  aren’t to be bothered. Half the station just left on a call, so the ones still here

  are probably resting or something. We’ve got a little time. So fucking

  beautiful.”

  I kiss all across her pubic bone, between her thighs, finally letting myself

  taste her and taste her well. She immediately grabs onto my hair and arches

  her back, her little whimpers making it the most exciting thing I’ve ever

  done.

  Claiming her with all of her men had been hot and fun, but this, this was

  just for us. Maybe the location wasn’t ideal, but I selfishly wanted this