Chapter 84

Ollie’s POV

After what feels like forever, the day for Ella and her mother to finally come back home arrives. At the first sight of her car, I rush to the driveway to await my best friend. Gods, I missed her so much. There is so much to tell her about what’s happened, and I want to hear about her adventures to.

She’s been so busy on her trip, I can only imagine the kinds of things she got into.

She sees me through the window and starts waving. The driver parks the car close to where I’m standing and she hops out to hug me.

“I’m so sorry,” she says. “I wanted to call you so much more, but I –”

“It’s okay,” I tell her. Truthfully, I’ve just been lonely, without anyone to talk to. I never want to be a burden to her, especially while she’s on her trip. Now that she’s back, I can already feel the strain of her being gone start to mend inside of me.

Her absence was difficult, but now that she’s back, it’s so easy to go back to how things were. It’s almost like she’s never really been gone at all.

I help Ella and her mom take the bags out of the car, and then help carry one of Ella’s bags with her to her room, where she starts to unpack. She has a gift for me, a seashell necklace from the beach.

“They say if you hold a shell to your ear, you can hear the ocean,” Ella says. “These shells are too small, but… I thought maybe… if we pretend…”

“I can practically hear the waves,” I tell her as I affix the necklace around my neck.

She smiles, and I smile too. Just like that, our friendship is healed.

She leaves most of her things still packed on the bed as she turns to me. “Okay. So. Tell me everything.”

So I do, launching into the entire story about how I tried to get a part-time job, and then everything with Jake, including how Sylvia twisted him so he wouldn’t accept my rejection, and about how the brothers became irate.

Then, just as she was recovering from the shock of that story, I told her about how I met with Wes as his secret fated mate, and then with Declan.

“And now Conrad knows, so I’ve been hiding from all of them.”

Ella has to sit down from the shock. She looks at me. “And how do you feel about all of this?”

“It’s too much,” I say. “I just wanted to fool around with Hugh, and now I have the whole set. I… It’s too much.”

This was supposed to be easy. A mutual no strings attached temporary situation with Hugh somehow has turned into seeing and sleeping with all the brothers. Well, except Conrad. If I don’t put my foot down now and refuse to see Conrad… If I accept all the brothers into my life…

Will I really be able to let them go when the time came to do so?

I’m strong, and the brothers treat me poorly when I’m just Ollie. So I should be able to just walk away.

Yet… The pull to each individual brother is so strong. I worry when I am tethered to all of them, that it will only be more difficult to break those bonds and leave them.

But it’s something that I have to do. I can’t afford to be bound to them. I can’t lose my future and my own hopes and dreams to stay here. Even if there would be pleasure involved.

Ella appears thoughtful for a long moment, but then she says, “Why not, though? You aren’t gone yet. Shouldn’t you have your fun while you still can?”

I look at her with surprise.

She shrugs. “You aren’t marrying them. You aren’t exchanging mating bites. You are just having sex. Or, whatever you are doing with Wes. As long as they understand that this is all it is, then I don’t see what the problem is.”

The problem is my own foolish heart.

But, maybe she’s right. As long as they understand this is only for the sex, and that it’s only temporary, maybe it doesn’t matter if I’m with one or all of them.

I just have to remember that it’s only for the sex too.

If I can keep that straight, there’s no reason that I should deny myself. Even if it hurts more later, the pleasure I could be experiencing now would be worth it.

Inside of me, Scarlet grows more excited at the prospect, and I can feel her happily pace within me. She’s eager to be reunited with our mates.

I am too, though I don’t want to admit it. Being with them is a thrill, and Conrad…

He’s so strong. I can only imagine how that strength could be used during sex…

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find out?

Not wanting to leave my burner phone behind, even with it turned off, I have it tucked in my pocket. I retrieve it now and look at it.

“Is it off?” Ella asks.

I nod.

“Turn it on!” she says, eager and encouraging.

I turn it on, then wait a while as the onslaught of missed text messages comes through.

Most of them are from Wes, checking in and making sure I’m okay. There’s a handful from Hugh, too, telling me he’s thinking of my body, or hoping we can meet again soon. There’s only one from Declan, and it’s the most recent, sent only this morning.

My brothers and I will be waiting for you at the cabin tonight 7pm. We will wait one hour. We want to talk.

Immediately, my heart leaps up into my throat. This is for tonight. They’ll be there… All of them? Even Conrad.

“What is it?” Ella asks, likely seeing how pale I’ve gotten.

I don’t know how to even express what I’m feeling so I turn the phone to her and show her instead. She reads the text, then looks back up at me.

“Well?”

“I don’t know…” I say. “They say they just want to talk, but…” What could there really be to talk about? We are only supposed to be having sex, not discussions!

“Maybe they want to negotiate, or make some kind of schedule,” Ella suggests.

“I don’t know. None of that feels right.”

Ella hums for a moment. “The only way to find out might be to just go.”

Yeah, I’m thinking that too. “But is that really such a good idea?”

The brothers are my mates, and I’m not afraid of them. I know that if Declan says they want to talk, then that is all that will happen in that cabin tonight.

But it’s precisely the talking that I’m nervous about. Do they want to end things? How would I even handle that?

But by permanently avoiding them, aren’t I the one ending things instead?

Ug! Why does any of this have to be this complicated? It was only ever supposed to be a quick an easy hookup?

“What should I do?” I ask Ella, at a total and utter loss.

She gives me a pitying sort of smile, like she can clearly read the pain I’m feeling.

“I think you should follow your heart,” she says.

I wish it was that easy.