Page 132 of Three Bossy Boyfriends
I should textIvy or Caroline. Or IvyandCaroline. But when I type inHelp! Are you up for giving me some relationship advice?It’s my brother I send it to.
Ford responds only one minute later.
Sure. Want to come over? I have the house to myself for a change.
I’m relieved. I love my new relationship with my sisters, but they’re both madly in love withoneperson each. No contracts needed. Ivy and Caroline are in exactly my situation, but…not really. They are living with all three of their men, and the three guys are all fine with that. My guys aren’t. At least, one of them isn’t. And as the straight guy in his foursome, I’m hoping my brother can give me some perspective into what Tucker might be feeling.
Ford is seemingly very happy in his relationship even though he is in love with a woman who is in love with two other men. Maybe he can help me figure out how to make this work for Tucker. Because the truth is, I cannot choose Christopher andEvan over Tucker. But I can’t choose Tucker over them either. I need all three of them.
And maybe I can take a look at Ford’s contract with Ivy, Liam, and Harrison.
God. A contract. It’s not like I’m leasing a car from them.
I pull up at Ford’s house fifteen minutes later. It’s actually Harrison‘s house. Well, he built it and lived there alone until they all got together. Even though they’ve been best friends since grade school, Harrison and Ford didn’t live together until Liam and Ivy came along. But maybe they’re now all on the mortgage. I don’t know. Maybe that’s part oftheircontract. I roll my eyes on my way up to the front door. Obviously, I’m still pissed about that piece of paper.
Ford clearly saw me pull in and opens the door before I even knock.
“Hey. It’s good to see you.” He pulls me into a hug, and I let him. I’m not the huggiest of Ford’s sisters, but that has never stopped him from trying.
“So what’s going on?” he asks.
“Foursomes run in our family, I guess,” I say against his shirt. “Unfortunately.”
He laughs and lets me go, then steers me toward the kitchen. He gestures to one of the stools at their breakfast bar and heads to the fridge. Without asking, he grabs me a bottle of water and one for himself. He twists both caps off and slides one across the counter to me, then leans onto his forearms on the marble across from me. “Well, I think you and I are the lucky ones. Frannie and Fiona have only one person. We each have three.”
“Well, I have two and one.” I take a long drink of water. “Tucker doesn’t want to be a foursome.”
“Ah.” He doesn’t seem surprised by this.
“Yeah. He’s not weird about sharing, or even me dating Evan. He just wants to date me separately. He doesn’t want to live withEvan and Christopher, or to call ourselves a foursome, or refer to it as a polycule.” It’s still weird and cool that my family not only accepts this situation for what it is, but knows the terminology.
“And Christopher and Evan?” Ford asks.
“They’re fine with whatever,” I say. “The three of us, I guess. Just the two of them. Or the four of us.”
Ford pauses to drink and thinks about that. “Well, at least you’re not fighting with all three of them.”
I nod. “But I want all three of them. I feel like they all give me something different. Like I wouldn’t be fully happy if any one of them was missing. Does that make sense?”
“Completely,” he assures me. “Ivy is my wife. I love her with everything I have. I’d do anything for her. We have friendship and trust and passion. But Liam is her best friend. He gets her in a way, on a level, I don’t. He can just read her sometimes, knows what she needs even before she knows. And Harrison can always make her laugh. Always. Even when she’s pissed at me or Liam, or sick of us, Harrison can break through. We all have a different… function. It makes sense to me.”
I’m nodding by the time he’s done. “Exactly. Evan is like Liam for me. He’s so easy to be with. He’s my happy place. He makes me feel warm and comfortable and safe. Tucker pushes me. He doesn’t let me bullshit him…or myself. He fights with me, but only when he thinks I need it. He’ll always believe I can do more, be more. And I admire Christopher. His passion for the law is addictive. I feel energized when I’m with him. I could talk to him for hours. I feel differently about each of them, but it’s like with all three of them, I feel…whole.”
“That makes sense to me. Ivy’s said similar things.”
“So, I need to figure out what to do with Tucker.”
“You’re completely against having a V relationship?”
“A what?”
Ford grins. “You’re going to need to do some reading. A V relationship. It’s different from a polycule like what we have. We’re all in the relationship together. We live together, spend time as a foursome, identify as a family. A V means there’s one person who’s the hinge and two people, or I guess in your case, two people and then one person who are not romantically or sexually involved with each other. You’re the hinge, and Tucker is one side of the V and Christopher and Evan are the other.”
He’s right about me needing to do some reading. I try to visualize that. “Oh. But not a W?”
“Well, would you and Christopher be together without Evan?”
I don’t have to think about that for long. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, we are together,” I say, feeling my cheeks get pink. This is my big brother after all. “But I don’t really see it happening without Evan involved. Maybe down the line? But Evan is the one I actually feel reallyin lovewith.”
