Page 59 of Boys Like You

The plan changes. Levi decides to go see his aunt; Rory and Maximus wait for the girls while Mercer will drive Rocky and I to Beth’s. Rocky brags that by Monday he will be able to drive me around.

Once we’re dropped home, Mercer was reluctant to leave but I insisted for this to work we all need to have some time to ourselves, Rocky promised he would call if anything else happened. Beth and the kids were in bed when we got in, perfect for my plan. With the heater on, I excuse myself to “get dressed for bed.” Rocky tells me he will set up his sleeping bag. In the bathroom I strip off my clothes, my gift all wrapped, my hair and makeup still look fine. When I exit the bathroom and switch off the light, Rocky is in only his boxer briefs, bending over to straighten the sleeping bag. I appreciate the muscles in his back.

When he finishes, he turns in my direction, his mouth falls open, for the first time since I have met Rocky he is speechless.

“Happy Birthday, Rocky.” His smile is so big as he closes the distance between us.

“Best birthday present ever.” I take his hand and lead him to my bed, we spend the next few hours touching, grinding and kissing, the bow comes off but the panties stay on, he worships my body and makes sure he tells me over and over that it’s the best birthday ever. I wish he could sleep in the bed with me, but after he gets my sleeping pills he tucks me in with one last kiss and goes to sleep on the floor like a perfect gentleman.

My head rests on Mercer’s chest, his legs wrapped around each side of my body.

“What are you thinking about?”

I lift my head backwards looking up at him. “How crazy it seems to be dating five guys. You all seem to get the short end of the stick.”

He frowns. “How so?”

“I get all five of you, but you have to share a girl with four other people.”

His large hands grasp each side of my jaw, his thumbs caressing behind my ears. “It’s four of my best friends. Maybe it’s time you know my story, to put it into perspective.”

I watch the sadness in his eyes, I hate that he has a past so bad he almost wants to cry. “You don’t have to; I wasn’t trying to force information.”

He looks down at me and forces a smile. “I want to.” He looks up at the roof and takes a deep breath. “My story isn’t as bad as some of the others. I was six when child services took me. My only memory of my mum is of her being a drug user. Towards the end, she would vanish for days, leaving me home alone. We barely had food in the house, my clothes were either way too big or way too small. I remember having to wash my own school uniform every night, but I didn’t mind because school was my saving grace. That was when I got to leave the house.

“When she had new boyfriends, which was all the time, it was bad. The last one especially. The drugs made them paranoid, which led to beatings. Pay days were the only good days because they remembered to feed me.

“The day they came to get me, they were fighting with each other instead of hitting me. The police were at the door. I knew I wasn’t meant to answer it, but I did anyway. I made a run for it knowing that if they caught me I was toast. I flipped out when they tried removing me. They took me straight to the hospital. I had fractured ribs, a cracked sternum, a spiral fracture in my arm, and they said around forty percent of my body was covered in bruises. I was the size of a four-year-old. Child services were called by the school after they noticed I had no food most of the time and how small I was for my age. That was when I went to Mumma B’s.

I had an issue with women in authority, so I didn’t listen to her at first. Rocky, Levi and I would fight all the time. I would call Maximus names until Levi stood up to me and told me that no matter how angry I got, we were now brothers, and brothers stick together. I still tried to push them away but nothing I did changed that. When I started going to school with them, our roles reversed, and I became their protectors. To get to them, people had to come through me.

“Mumma B started me in self-defence classes with the other boys so we had an outlet. Knowing how to fight made us feel safe.” He pauses, planting a kiss on my forehead. “So, I don’t feel like I have the short end of the stick. These are my brothers. We have so many issues between us that we need someone who gets us, and that’s you. If that means you date one of us or all of us until we figure this out, we’re good with it.”

He lightly presses his lips to mine before pulling back.

“What happens if I pick one of you?” I move from between his legs to straddling him. “I don’t want to come between you all.”

“Then the rest of us respectfully back off, no matter what, even if it kills us.” I want to believe it will be that easy, but the more time I spend with each of them alone, the more I realise it will tear us apart if it came down to choosing.

“Thank you for sharing your story with me,” I whisper into his neck. His head drops back as I pepper kisses up and along his jaw.

“Did you finish your present for Rocky?” he says through moans. I stop and look at him, trying to read his eyes. Did Rocky tell him about my gift or does he mean the ‘other gift’ I told them about?

I figured after I gave Rocky his gift everyone would ask what it was, so I’ve been busy all morning making him another gift, one he can tell people about. Beth took me to print out a photo and get some supplies. With a hot glue gun, I glued a big spoon and little spoon together and attached it to the bottom of a photo frame. On the top it says ‘Big Spoon’, (a picture of a heart) ‘little spoon’. The picture is one someone else took of us spooning.

“It’s finished. Do you want to see it?”

His hands have a tight grip on my waist. “Yes please. Just give me a minute.” He adjusts himself with a grin.

I slide off his lap and I jump to my feet. “You know it’s only sex that’s off the table for now. There is plenty more we can do.” I haven’t pushed any of them to do anything they haven’t felt comfortable doing. Maximus is still learning to just touch me and he is getting so much more confident, Rocky is more adventurous than the rest, his hands bee line for my pants every time, Levi is a boobs man and spends most of his time there. Rory seems to be holding back the most. He keeps me busy every time we’re alone and our make out sessions are very tame, but if that is the pace he needs to set, I am fine with it.

Mercer swallows hard. “Damn it, JD, you can’t say things like that when we have to leave.”

I giggle as I bounce to the bathroom to grab the frame that’s been drying. “Now you know, and next time you don’t have to be so afraid to touch me.”

The only thing making out with all of them is accomplishing, is me falling for them all. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around how it will all work in the long run. I don’t want people thinking they’re taking advantage of me, when really, it’s more the other way around.

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