Page 19 of Room Six

Are they talking about love? Can you love someone so entirely in such a short amount of time? I’ve been hung up on that question for weeks and they are all nodding like I am the last one to jump on the train.

“Yes.” They answer in unison.

“This is all too fast. I don’t know what to say.” My brain wars with my heart. But my soul is telling them both to shut up and believe in soul mates for the first time in my life.

Rune lifts my hand and kisses the inside of my palms. The desire in his eye sends arrows into my heart.

This is madness. Chaos. And I want it all to be true.

“This is all a show. I know how the clubs work. They pull in people who are comfortable to perform together and deliver on kinks the members request. What they are demonstrating isn’t real.”

Danika cups the back of my head as he holds me to him. “She’s their wife, our beautiful flower. There’s nothing fake between them just like there’s nothing fake between us.”

I’m not one who usually falls into tears or let emotions take over, but I want to ugly cry right now and throw myself at them. They do not know how much I want to belong and have a tribe of my own. I always day dreamed of finding that one perfect man. And now I have three.

They don’t know what it is like to wake up in the morning and wonder if they’ll have a home to come back to after school or if their guardians have returned them to the state. At least I don’t think they do. I don’t know enough about them to say. All I know is that growing up in foster care ripped my soul out and kept it hostage for a long time. And right now it’s in limbo once again and in danger of these three men crushing it if I let them get close enough to hurt me.

Trembling fear rushes through me. Rune and Oliver make room for Danika. He moves me off his lap to place me on the sofa before lowering his massive weight to one knee in front of me.

I’m surrounded. Rune on my left. His black on black suit is nothing more than shadows encasing beautiful muscles.

Oliver is on my right. He opted for a deep red tie to wear with his flawless black ensemble. Like a hint of his inner light among all the shadows he walks among.

Fine tailored material of Danika’s suit jacket strains over his broad shoulders. He unhooks the front button and the sway of the silk gray tie draws my hand. I finger the soft material before hooking my attention on him. When our eyes connect I feel like I’ve dived into an Olympic sized pool filled with emotions.

“You’ve only just met me. How do you know I would make a good mother?” I hear my words and want to slap a hand over my mouth. I want this. I want them and the family they are offering. And their babies. All of it. And here I am mentally throwing on the brakes.

“I could be anyone or anything. And yet if I am reading this right you want me to carry your children.”

Oliver looks to Danika, and they exchange an entire conversation in a three second glance.

“Do you want us?” Danika asks me directly, his hands on either of my knees. The fine lines at the edges of his eyes offer hints of his age. If I had to guess mid-thirties. But I know he’s closer to his mid-forties. They all are. Everything is on the internet.

His suit moves and molds to the broad form of his shoulders and the thickness of his arms. Around us, sensual music is nothing more than white noise. It’s the sighs of the women and the men’s groans of pleasure that play havoc with my libido.

“Come here, beautiful.” Oliver’s fingers twine through mine and he pulls me down the sofa until I’m sitting directly in front of him. He traces the outer edge of my face with the tips of his fingers. “You’ve stayed with us, shown us the heart you have and we hope we have done the same. Something in you keeps us at our sides.” Soft lips meet mine and the world fades to only this man.

I shut out my surroundings and fuse all the emotions the three of them have stirred inside me into our kiss.

Fear and excitement merge inside me.

Possessive hands come to rest on my hips when he takes the kiss deeper. I open for him and give the man what he’s searching for.

They always tell me the truth, otherwise, I would have ditched them after one night. I’m like a walking lie detector. It’s one thing I am good at. Knowing a liar when I hear one speak. I will not disrespect them by lying to them. Or myself.

He breaks the kiss and repeats Danika’s former question. “Do you want this? Want us? You can be honest.”

“I do. But I’m scared.” And that is the truth. “You know nothing of me or my past and I know enough about you three to understand you should come with warning labels. Your lifestyle is not accepted in modern day society. And I’m not talking about three men and one woman.”

“The guns, the late night meetings.” Rune nods in understanding. He strokes the back of my hand with his thumb. He comes to sit beside me and raises an arm over the back of the sofa, opening himself to me. I can’t read lips worth a damn, but body language is a second language to me. Reading when a man is about to attack has kept my virginity intact.

Rune wants me to know he is an open book. If anything, I am the one who can hurt him.

I can appreciate that. But the same is not true for Oliver. He’s staring at my hand and the monsters raging in his brown eyes are heartbreaking. He’s gone from open to distant in the span of a few seconds.

“Oliver?” I ask tentatively and turn my hand over to where our fingers interlock.

He raises his gaze to mine and the impact of his emotions are fierce. I almost fall into his arms and wonder who hurt him so deeply to make him so quiet.

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