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North tucked his head back at hearing this. “What the hell does it matter?”
“I want to know which one is going to try to hit me. It’s you, isn’t it?”
“Mr. Anderson,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Please?”
Henry frowned. He nodded toward the mantle. “See that?”
North snapped his head toward the fireplace. The white marble mantle had a collection of photographs on top of it. North stood, crossing the room, looking onto smiling faces. Four men with one woman. It was the same woman in every photograph, with blue eyes and blond hair, and a body only Sang rivaled. She had a harsh look to her face, her eyes were smiling but she’d been through a lot and it haunted every picture. The haunted smile was something she also shared with Sang. “There’s just pictures. Of you and her and I guess the rest of your team.”
Henry nodded. “Yes. Us. Our team. And no one else.”
North spun around, confused.
Mr. Blackbourne was still sitting on the couch, a curious look but also not amused. North knew this look. When it came to family business, their team reveled in frankness, not games. “Maybe you should tell us what we’re missing. This is why we’re here, after all. We want our bird to join our team.”
“Are you ready to make that commitment?” Henry asked. “You’re both really young. There’s lots of girls out there.”
“Not like her,” North muttered, unbidden.
Henry snapped his fingers, pointing at North. “I knew it. You do love her.” He motioned to the couch again. “Stand behind that thing so I know you’re not going to hit me.”
North frowned and was tempted to hit him anyway but Mr. Blackbourne shot him a wordless command. Obey so maybe he’d shut up and get on with it.
North circled the sofa, crossing his arms over his chest. This had better be good.
Henry beamed. “But notice how it’s always her. No other girls.”
“So you’re saying if we’re a bunch of dogs and we adopt a bird, we can’t bring another bird in?” Mr. Blackbourne asked.
“That’s half right. Yes. One bird.” Henry leaned in, sitting on the edge of the couch. He pointed a finger at his knee in a repeated motion to make his point. “One girl. Not more. Everyone in your group has to agree. No more birds.”
“You mean brought into the group?” Mr. Blackbourne asked. “Officially?”
Henry grinned, glancing back at North. “I mean in any capacity. In or out of the group.”
North shoved a couple of fingers over his eyebrow, rubbing. “What are we supposed to do? Become monks?"
Henry shook his head, smirking. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe you can clear that up for us,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “What are we missing here?”
Henry twisted his lips, he pointed to a spot beyond North’s shoulder. “Look over there.”
North spun, ready to bellow at the guy for playing another game. Was Henry worried he was going to stare at him too hard?
The bookshelf behind him also contained pictures. These were different, in silver frames instead of lacquered wood. It was the same woman, the same blue eyes, the same haunted smile. They were wedding photos.
And in each one was one of the different dogs in the tuxedo. He checked and rechecked the different ones, the dots not connecting for several minutes.
They weren’t the same wedding. They were separate weddings.
Their bird had married all the dogs.
“What is this shit?” North barked before he could stop himself. He turned on Henry, gesturing toward the photos. “What are you saying? We all have to marry her?”
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. Our bird wanted to.”
North’s mouth popped open. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Henry leaned forward again, the gleefulness gone. “The only way to keep a bird in an all dog group is if all the dogs are happy with her. When they all love her, that’s when she can be official without a problem.”
North blanked out, staring off at the fireplace. He was full of shit. That doesn’t happen. That can’t be the way it works.
“You mean it’s the way your team decided to handle it. It’s the way it worked for you,” Mr. Blackbourne said.
“I’m telling you, it’s the only way it works.”
“You couldn't have all married her,” North said, calling on his bullshit. “It’s not legal.”
“She didn’t care about that,” Henry said, shaking his head. “She just wanted the show. We did it for our families. We never officially did anything. The state still knows her by her maiden name.”
North pushed his fingers together at the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache building. “So your answer is everyone in your group agrees to ...” He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t say the words.
“Love her or lose her,” Henry said. “It’s all or nothing. Everyone falls in love with her and she falls in love with everyone.” Henry leaned in again. “How strong is your bond with your team? Are you really willing to share everything you have? Even if it includes her?”
North felt the start of a growl in his throat. It wasn’t what he was saying, it was the way he was saying it. Challenge dripped from his words not only about how he felt about Sang, but how he felt about his family. “We share her now.”
“But not like this, I bet. And you still have to make sure she loves all of you. A couple of dog groups got close, but when she figured out what was going on and what they were trying to do to her, she flipped out on them. Said it wasn’t normal. Said she was in love with one and not the others.” He laughed, shaking his head. “No, it’s a once in a million years thing. The Academy fought us every step. They tested us for ages. They were sure we were simply young and stupid and we’d eventually get jealous of each other.”
“How did it happen? Were you told to do this? Did you know what you were doing?”
Henry shook his head. “Of course not. We were an all dog team trying to bring in a girl from a broken home. We requested adoption and put in a request for extra time with her. She was hurt bad by her family. We didn’t want to scar her. It was unusual circumstances.”
“But how did you realize that was the right way?”
Henry’s slight grin reappeared. “It was all of our mistakes. What we thought of later how we had been mistaken. We told ourselves we wouldn’t touch her. No one goes near her. Not in that way. That was the rule.”
North swallowed. That sounded familiar.
“Murphy’s Law I guess. Tell someone not to fall in love with someone else, and they do it anyway. Only by the time we figured out the others were in love with her, we were neck deep in an assignment we couldn’t get out of. And she was at the heart of it.”
“What did you do?” Mr. Blackbourne asked.
He couldn’t be serious. North was sure he was asking to humor the man. He couldn’t really be considering this.
“We had to come to an agreement. At first we’d all vie for her attention. Whichever one she said she loved, that one would run off with her. What we didn’t know was she already loved us. All of us.” He frowned. “And it tore her apart to tell us. She kept it to herself. She thought we wouldn’t believe her. She was sure we’d kick her out for daring to suggest it. She tried to encourage us to date other girls. Of course we weren’t listening, but sometimes we said we did just to make her happy. Only she wasn’t happy.”
“And now?” Mr. Blackbourne asked. “You’re all still together.”
Henry nodded. “Yes. We’re still together. We still work for the Academy. She’s still here. She’ll never leave us and we’ll never leave her. And that’s the only way it works. Share her or lose her.” He gazed over the back of the couch at North. “How much do you love your bird, Mr. Taylor? What happens when Mr. Blackbourne here tells you one day he loves her, too? Do you care enough about him and her to not let it bother you? Knowing she loves you both?”
“Did anything else help?” Mr. Bla
ckbourne asked, cutting North off before he could open his mouth with a response. “
Henry grinned. “You’re talking like you’re already okay with this and you can’t wait to get started.” He sighed, his shoulders shifting up. “I can tell you how to avoid problems. Rule one, split your time equally. I don’t mean when you’re together and with the others. I mean if you’re dating her, Monday, let someone else date her Tuesday. It creates bad vibes when you take her over for a week. I mean sometimes that’s okay but don’t think you can keep her to yourself for too long. And in a way, it’s a good thing with us. When she comes back to me, she’s missed me and it grows our relationship.”
“So schedules are important.”
“Right. And don’t let her neglect the others, either. It’s easy for her to get cozy with one or two and forget to pay attention to the others. Whoever she’s with, she’ll try to make that one happy.”
“What else?”
Henry sat back again, rubbing at his chin. “Let’s see. I think it would be easier if everyone agreed from it right from the start. Right when you find out someone else loves her. Bring that one in on your plan. That way there’s no hurt feelings ahead of time when someone discovers her kissing one of the others somewhere.” He smiled. “We were real idiots back then. Oh, the fights we had about that.”
“Should we tell her?”
