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“You’re not even Catholic,” I say with an eye roll.
Zane ignores me. “…protect Ryker from the demon in his bed. Blessed be…”
I grab the phone from the cupholder and place it closer to my mouth, hoping to drown out the sound of Zane praying for a deity to smite down Ellie’s pet dog.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“I figured this was as good a time as any to discuss something that’s been weighing on me the last few days. And I’m sure you guys have been thinking about this too,” Landon begins.
“Umm…” I say, unsure of where he’s going with this.
“Ellie,” he responds simply, and even Zane goes quiet at the mention of her name.
There’s a beat of silence, and then Ryker says, “Ellie?” His tone is a hushed, almost husky, breath of air. I can’t quite read the inflection in his tone. He could be curious. He could be planning to murder us all. He could be constipated.
The world may never know.
“I know relationships with her have…progressed over the weeks?—”
Ryker cuts Landon off with a sharp, acerbic, “Fucking hell, Land!”
I can’t help but agree, but not for the same reasons. “Shouldn’t we wait to have this conversation when Ellie and Dom are around?” Dom is as in love with her as we are, after all, and Ellie is the focal point of this entire…thing. Whatever this thing is.
“I already talked to Dom about it,” Landon says. “We’re on the same page, and he gave me permission to speak to you guys on his behalf.”
“And Ellie?” Ryker rasps, something violent threaded in his voice. A chill skates down my spine at the sound of it, like the Grim Reaper himself is caressing my skin.
“We can’t talk to her about this until we decide how we want to move forward.” Landon pauses, and I just know he’s waiting to see if anyone else plans to interrupt. No one does. “Good. Okay, so, it’s obvious that all of us have feelings for Ellie, feelings that go beyond mere friendship.”
“No shit,” Ryker snaps.
“And it’s also obvious that Ellie feels the same way for us…for all of us.” Once again, he waits to see if anyone has anything to add, but we remain silent. “Dom and I talked about this extensively a few times, and we both agreed that we’re not willing to let Ellie go. She already made it clear time and time again that she has enough love in her heart for all of us at once. She has never shown favoritism between the five of us.” Another pause. Another heavy breath. “I want to be in a relationship with her…even if that relationship also includes you guys. Dominic is in agreement.”
I’m not surprised when it’s Ryker who speaks first. He’s always been the most possessive when it comes to Ellie. The most volatile. “What the fuck are you suggesting, Landon? Spit it out like a normal human being. Are you saying that we should all fuck her and each other?—-?”
“Fuck, no.” Landon actually barks out a surprised laugh at that. “I don’t want your dick anywhere near mine.”
“That’s what you just said,” Zane mouths to me, and I snicker silently.
“The five of us would be in a committed relationship with Ellie, and she’d be in a relationship with all of us. Only us.” The last two words are said on an almost primitive growl. “It would be like any other normal boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, only she’ll have five boyfriends.”
“Like an open relationship?” Zane cuts in. “What’s it called? Poly-something?”
“Yeah, like that,” Landon agrees. “We’d have rules, of course, that we can decide on later, but I think the main one would be…only us. We won’t add any girls to the group, and she won’t add any guys to the group.”
“Are you suggesting we fucking share her? Like a goddamn toy—” Ryker begins, but Landon interrupts before he can continue, his tone as venomous as I ever remember hearing it.
“You’re lucky you’re not near me right now, Ryker,” Landon says in a low, threatening voice. “Because I would probably stab you for that comment if you were.”
“We would never treat Ellie like an object or a toy,” I snap at Ryker. “You know that.”
“You’re okay with this? With sharing her?” Ryker sounds incredulous, and I can’t really blame him. What Landon’s suggesting is an insane idea, but… Isn’t it what we decided years ago when we created Mania? When we discovered that we all love her? There has never been any other option. Either we love her as a group…or we don’t love her at all.
And I, for one, refuse to let fear ruin the best thing that has ever happened to me.
These men are my best friends, my brothers, and I can’t begrudge them their happiness any more than they could my own. Do I secretly wish that they didn’t love the same girl as me? Of course. But there’s nothing I can do about it. The fact of the matter remains—we all love Ellie more than life itself.
And she loves us.
