Fuck, was I in trouble.
There was a fresh, clean scent to the room, which was decorated in what my mom would call “neutral tones.” There was a lot of gray and white, and while that sounds boring as hell, I have to tell you, it was real soothing. I ran my hand over the down comforter on her bed, imagining she was in here with me.
God, I was turning into a pussy.
When I was coming out of the room, I ran smack into Carter. I must have looked embarrassed as hell.
“Dude,” he said, “I did the same thing yesterday. I went in her room just to…feel close to her for a moment.”
So I wasn’t the only one.
“Yeah…” I didn’t know what else to say.
Carter put his hand on my shoulder. “What do you say we head out? We gotta get showered up before Jayma comes over.”
“Yeah. It’s been a long day. We got a shitload done,” I said, looking around the place. I loved that everyone saw the potential in the house. With a bit of polishing, it would be quite the gem.
The challenge now was our race against the clock.
We guys were in the living room, trying to relax, but the conversation was light. The doorbell rang, and Dig jumped up to answer it.
“You don’t have to ring the bell, sweetie,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.
I wanted to kiss her, too, but it was time to be patient. If it was meant to be, that would come later. That, and more.
After hellos were said and Jayma had a glass of wine in her hand, Carter took the lead. It was his house and his idea to have her back over.
He stood for the occasion.
“Jayma, we have a proposition for you, all four of us do.” He looked around the room, and we nodded at him to continue.
She sat with her legs crossed, her back ramrod straight. There was no hiding that she was just as nervous as we were.
Carter continued, “As you have probably noticed, none of us is thrilled about the idea of your moving to Chicago. We’re happy about your promotion—the move, not so much.” He took a sip of his scotch.
“We understand why you want to leave us, and that you feel you can’t move forward without hurting someone. That’s very decent of you. Wouldn’t you agree, guys?” He looked around. Our nodding heads answered his question.
Jayma’s face was deathly white, and her wine glass was shaking in her hand.
“So what we want to say to you, darling, is that you don’t have to choose.”
As she let the news sink in, confusion crossed her face in a furrowed brow. “Huh? What do you mean? I don’t get it.”
“We love you, Jayma.”
There was a chorus of yes, we do, as her eyes widened.
“And we all want to be with you. We don’t want you to choose. We want to share you. All four of us.”
“I don’t get it,” she said. Her eyes were filling with tears. Shit, mine were, too.
“If you’ll have us, we’d like you to move back in. Come live with us.”
“Like, be with all of you?” she asked, looking at each of us.
“Speaking for myself, I think it would be hot as shit,” Dig said with his usual big smile.
“Yeah? What about you, Wyatt, and you, Tanner?”