Monsters' Gift (Crude Hill High 2)

“I know,” Emily said. “But, I’m only me. I’m one person. I’m not some magical woman that you can split down into three or four of me. What if you grow tired of me?”

“Not going to happen, Em,” I said. My friends agreed.

“You say that now, but people change.”

“You’re right, people do change,” Caleb said. “But we’re not like other people. Sharing you is all we want to do. I’m not interested in any other woman.”

“Anyone else could have saved Gael,” she said.

I chuckled. “It’s not just about Gael.” I touched her ankle. “You feel that. The rush? We all get that by being near you. Seven years and I’m not going to lie to you, Em, we did shit that embarrasses us. Some of us did try to use other women in a way to forget you, but I speak for all of us when I say we weren’t able to go all the way. Kissing them, holding them, even thinking about fucking them, was a betrayal to you. All we want is you, and we’re willing to make this work. You as our woman. We don’t want lists, or charts, or schedules. We only want what is natural, which is you with us.”

“No jealousy?”

“None,” I said.

“We’re very good at sharing,” Gael said.

“However,” Caleb said.

I turned toward him, wondering what the fuck he was doing throwing a wrench in the works. We didn’t need a however, or any fucking but coming along.

“We all know you’ve experienced a life without us. Without being hit or scared for your life. We all get it and we know it’s a lot to ask for you to stay with us. To take a chance on us.” He sighed. “If you don’t want to live this life, be our queen, then you’ve got this one chance to tell us. When the danger is over, we’ll take you back to your life, far away from us, where you don’t even have to think about us. We’d make sure you want for nothing and live in peace and happiness.”

Okay, what the fuck? It was all right for Caleb to offer this, but I didn’t want that. I sure as fuck didn’t want to lose her.

We’d only just gotten her and now he was talking about letting her go. I didn’t see a future without her in it. I refused to see any kind of life without her in it.

“You’d let me go?”

“Yes.”

“But, doesn’t that go against your feelings?”

Hell, yeah! I kept it to myself. Caleb was clearly working on an idea, even if I did think it was completely stupid. Asshole.

“It does. I didn’t say it would be easy to let you go, Emily. I’m offering you a chance because the moment you agree to stay with us and make a life here with us, none of us are ever letting you go. I can’t let you go. I don’t want to.”

She licked her lips and I saw tears in her eyes once again. I was getting tired of us hurting her like this. It wasn’t exactly fair of us.

“So, er, what you’re saying is, if I stay, I’ll be by your side for the rest of my life?”

“Yes. You’ll marry one of us,” Caleb said. “Probably me, but you’d be married to all of us, Em.”

She smiled. “You know, I wondered about this. I thought I wanted my old life back in England. The peace and quiet, but while I was there, all I wanted was to be here.” She sank her teeth into her lip. “I could have died tonight and when he had his fingers wrapped around my neck, all I wanted to do was live.” She looked up. “All I want in my life is to be with you guys. I don’t know what it is you do to me, but I don’t want to be anywhere else. This is home. With you guys. I still don’t think it’s the perfect setup, but if you want me, then I want you all so much.”

“Then we’re going to make it work,” I said.

“Fuck, yeah,” Gael said.

“I like that Caleb gave you the illusion of having a choice,” Vadik said.

Emily laughed, resting her head on his shoulder. “I love you all. All of you crazy, stupid men.”

“We’re stupid, crazy in love with you,” Gael said.

She shook her head. “That’s not good. What do you guys think about kids?”

“Love them,” I said, and I did. I wanted a whole load of kids, but I had a feeling Caleb wasn’t so fond of the idea, especially after what happened to his mom.

“I want them,” Gael said.

“Me too,” Vadik said.

Caleb was silent.

“It’s a lot to take in,” she said.

“We’ll make it work,” Caleb said. “We all will make this work.”

Chapter Fourteen

Vadik

Ashley and Earl were due to arrive any time now. They didn’t exactly give us a time for when they would be here, just a day. Emily stood in the closet, a towel wrapped around her body as she fingered her way through the endless supply of dresses, skirts, pants, and shirts. We’d fully stocked her closet.