“Then what’s up, Kay?”
I took a deep breath. “I’m uh... in a weird... I guess weird to you, maybe? Let’s say non-traditional arrangement with um... the four men here.”
“Arrangement?” The parents exchanged confused glances with one another.
“Are you talking about a business deal?” Dad looked at me and then across at Ty.
“So, uh...”
“She’s fucking all of us,” Tyler said outright, cutting right to the meat of the matter. “All four of us. Including me, the dude who would be her stepbrother if you two get round to tying the knot.”
Again, they glanced at one another, utterly confused by Tyler’s incredible bluntness.
“I wouldn’t put it like that,” Lewis objected.
“But it’s true,” Tyler mumbled, but Ethan spoke over him.
“It’s the four of us in a relationship with your daughter. We are all dating her and her alone,” Ethan decided to clarify. “We’re not into one another. None of us is gay.”
A bit of silence followed. It was maybe an actual thirty seconds later before my father spoke up. “So... it’s only her... and uh... all of you. In a relationship?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Lewis agreed. “It’s not how Ty makes it sound. It is a relationship.”
“Hey, that’s what I said,” Ty objected.
His mom shook her head. “It isn’t, dear. You made it sound like you made porn videos and had orgies. Although, I’m still not sure what all of you in a relationship means.”
Ty’s face turned into one big wicked grin. “It means we all fuck her.” And he locked eyes with my dad, and the silly look fell from his face. “Sorry, Barry. It means we all spend a lot of time with her, and she has free tickets for every single football game she can ever attend, and she can bring a couple of guests.”
“Oh, well, when you put it like that, it sounds okay,” Dad replied because he has a great sense of humor. “And for a minute, I thought it was going to be all about sex.”
“Well, you know, Dad,” I snapped. “If it was, I wouldn’t be telling you about it because parents don’t like to hear things like that about their kids.”
“You’re right.” He scratched the back of his head, bewildered by it all. “A relationship and tickets to the game. Do I want to know any more than that?”
His fiancée was a bit more observant, pointing between Tyler and I. “Are you sure you don’t want a woman of your own, Ty? I always thought you were a one-woman man.”
“I am, Mom. This woman is also with a few other guys. Guys who I can trust with her explicitly, guys who are my true brothers.”
“Aren’t you worried about confusing people?”
“Ms. Reed,” Ethan said. “We’ve considered everything. And we’re willing to face it all down. We’ll stand up to whatever nonsense the world throws at us. Together. Our strength and support for one another is unbreakable.”
“Even if she’s going to be Tyler’s stepsister?”
“If some dumb fuck can’t tell the difference,” Tyler explained. “We don’t have to explain ourselves to them. We got something real good going on, and that’s what matters, no matter how dumb it is.”
More murmuring among the parents, speaking in that hushed voice, yet carrying on a full conversation. It was a skill unique to old couples, and I wondered how it would carry on to the boys and me. If we ever got that far.
Hope. I believed in them. They believed in me. Relationships weren’t easy, but it’d be curious to discover where our lives would take us together or if the pressures from the outside would break us, no matter what we said to one another.
“Well then,” my future stepmother said. “If it’s what all of you want and if it’s what all of you agree to, I don’t have it in me to object.”
“I don’t mind,” My dad said, in his uniquely Dad way. “Well, I don’t mind what you do, Kayla. It’s your life. I do care if any of them hurt you. If any of them do you wrong or hurt you, I’ll care a lot, and I’ll. I’ll...”
Dad proceeded to look over at my suitors and saw each of them physically outmatched him by an incredible margin. He was trying to be that heroic father figure who would stand up and take down all problems before me.
“Don’t you worry, old man,” Lewis chimed in, patting me on the shoulder. “If any of these fuckwits hurt her, believe me, I’ll be doing the ass whipping for you.”
“Oh, and if it’s him,” Jake added, “I’ll whip his ass too. This isn’t one on four. We are each on her side.”
“Well, that’s good to hear.” Dad sighed. “Here I was hoping any partner Kayla had would be one I could take on in a fight.”
“Instead, she now has four boyfriends all willing to stand in her corner,” Ethan assured him.