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Emily
One Year Later
I come downstairs,yawning. Aiden grins at me and offers me a mug of coffee, which I take, smiling.
“Morning,” he says. “You slept in.”
I give him a look. “So?”
He grins. “I don’t blame you. Not after last night.”
I grin back. Last night was the first night in a while that all five men have been home at once, and we took advantage of it.
“Why are you home?” I ask.
“Took the day off.” He shrugs. “How often are we all here?”
Over the last year, we’ve been all living in this house at the same time maybe four or five times, and never for very long. Someone always has to travel. I’m always here, and Aiden’s here most of the time, along with James and Carter now that he found a job teaching at Temple. Ryan and Daniel are always traveling for work, plus James spends a lot of time in his studio a few blocks away. Aiden still works in New York, which takes him away for long weekends a lot of the time.
But mostly, we just live together like it’s the most normal thing in the world. I thought it might be strange, but it’s incredible how easily we’ve melded our lives together. We built this home as a group, although I mainly took point on it and the guys just offered suggestions. Slowly over those first few months, this place became a home, and now I can’t imagine leaving it.
I graduated recently, but I still haven’t found a job. Aiden’s been encouraging me to take my time, and I’ve been listening. It’s hard not to, when everything’s provided for me, and I get to spend all my time in this beautiful house with these beautiful men. We venture out into the city as often as we can, going on dates whenever I feel like it. I could go on a new date with one of my five guys almost every night.
James appears from the hallway. His denim shirt is covered in paint, and there’s a smudge of black along his forehead. “Morning,” he says.
“Been working?” I ask him.
He nods. “Walked down early, got some work done.” He grins at me. “Some of us get up before eleven.”
I make a face. “I’m on vacation.”
“Sure you are.” He kisses me softly and I laugh.
“What’s the plan for later?” Aiden asks me
.I shrug. “I figure we’ll go out somewhere.”
“All five?” James asks.
“All five,” I confirm.
He grins and exchanges a look with Aiden. Over the last year, our relationship has really become defined, and it’s actually a pretty simple setup.
Basically, I’m in control. I choose who I want to be with and when, who I want to sleep with, go out with. The guys are surprisingly good at not getting jealous at each other, and I try to make it as fair and even as I possibly can. Even after all this time, I still don’t have a favorite, and I can’t get enough of them equally.
As the morning progresses, Daniel, Ryan, and Carter eventually join us. I find myself on the couch, sandwiched between them as we talk about what we feel like doing later in the day.
But as Carter strokes my leg and smirks at me, I have a feeling we’re not going to leave the house, which is fine by me.
This is our family now, and it’s the only family that matters. I could stay like this forever, with these gorgeous men, and I’m going to. I’ll get a job eventually, and I’m sure things will change, but the only thing that’ll stay the same is how I feel for these men. And based on the way they all look at me, I think they’ll always feel the same way, too.
“We should have a family,” I say suddenly.
Aiden raises an eyebrow. “I thought we already did.”
“She means kids,” Daniel says.
I nod. “I mean kids.”
