Eight Brothers Fiancee (Love by Numbers 7)

“No, no, no. Naked. Naked is good,” I whined.

Harley let out a joyous laugh. “Naked is good, but my dad just texts, and he wants all the boys to meet at the main house.” I couldn’t shake the feeling that once Harley walked out of the bedroom, I was going to lose him forever. I wanted to just pull him back down with me and never let him go. “What’s that sad face about?”

“We could all run,” I said. “All of us, you included.”

Harley’s eyes looked into mine sadly. “I can’t run anymore.” He rubbed my face with his thumb. “I’m glad I got to be with you one more time though.” He guided my face to kiss him and then stood up, set my phone on the edge of the bed, and walked out of the bedroom.

My throat burned with sadness and before I could stop them, tears were sliding down my cheek. I navigated through my phone until I got to Axel’s number and then I hit the button to Facetime him. When his face appeared on the screen, I started to cry harder.

His eyes widened. “What? What is it? What’s wrong? I’ll get the guys. Where are you?”

I shook my head. “I’m in Italy.”

“Italy?! You left the country without telling me?” He sighed. “I’ll get a ticket.”

“No,” I whimpered. “Just…” I sniffled in. “I need your help.”

“Of course,” Axel responded, his concern not fading. “What’s wrong?”

“Um, I might have fallen in love.”

Axel’s shoulder relaxed. “Is that it? Jesus Lex. I thought you were dying or something. Fucking lead with that next time.”

“Axel!”

“Right, I’m sorry. Well, what? Did you guys break up or something?”

I shook my head. “Arranged marriage.”

“Whoa,” he replied. “Who is it?”

“Harley Foxx?” I thought of the rest of the brothers. Rogan’s deep concern when Jett pushed me in the pool, or Huxley’s rage when Delvin tried to hit on me, or Quentin hugging me to comfort me when I thought something had happened to me. They all cared about me. I cared about them too. “Well… among others.”

“Among others?” Axel repeated. “What does that mean?”

“Um… I may or may not be falling for all of the Foxxes.”

“Uh, okay,” Axel said, skeptical. “So you have to choose between them and that’s why you’re all upset?” Then he shook his head. “No, wait, where does the arranged marriage come in? What’s going on?”

“They want to be with me, but Harley is supposed to get married tomorrow to a woman he doesn’t love. She just wants to take over his company and this guy she knows is threatening to kill them if they don’t go through with it. They’re mafia.”

Axel stared back at me for a really long time before opening his mouth again. “Are you on drugs?”

“No I’m not on drugs.”

“What do you mean they want to be with you?”

Suddenly, I was second-guessing calling my brother. He was just always who I went to when I was upset. “The Foxx brothers, um, share. They share women. More specifically, they want me to be that woman.”

“Absolutely not,” Axel spat back without a second thought. “No, my sister is not going to be the next tabloid sex scandal for the Foxxes. Tell them to fuck off, buy a plane ticket, and come home. Right now.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes you can. Right now, Alexa. I’m serious.”

“Axel, calm down.”

“Calm down? I’m supposed to just let you be the Foxxes plaything? No.”

“I’m not a plaything. They love me and I love them!” I went silent in a second. It was the first time I’d felt it with such conviction. The words came out without my approval, but they weren’t untrue. “They take care of me and they make sure I’m safe and happy. It’s not just sex. It’s a relationship.”

Axel still seemed unconvinced. “What, like you date all of them?”

“I mean, it’s still new, but I think so.”

“What about marriage? What about kids?”

“I’d marry them and have kids with them.” I thought back to Sadie explaining her relationship to me. Back when she’d told me about it, I thought it was crazy, but now I understood.

“That’s crazy,” Axel said.

“We’re happier together,” I said. “I mean, you’re telling me about you and your friends. Don’t you guys always struggle with women? You tell me all the time how it feels like whenever one of you gets a girlfriend she wants to sleep with another one of you. What if that was okay?”

“It’s okay for her to cheat on one of us?” Axel asked.

“It’s not cheating if you’re okay with it. Some stuff you do together with the other guys, some stuff is just the two of you. It works.” I remembered Sadie telling me that it wasn’t for everyone and pulled back. “It may not be your thing, but it works for us.” I smiled thinking about how she’d said something similar. We had something pretty big in common now, and I was hoping that was enough to push her needle just a little.