Page 17

O ne. Two. Three.

Jump.

One. Two. Three.

Dodge.

"If you break my nose, I'm going to be pissed," Roxi said as she backed up a step, holding her hands up in a defensive maneuver.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going to break your nose," I assured her, ducking again as she threw a right hook.

"Yeah, well, you look like you're in a foul mood. Forgive me if I'm not taking any chances," she said. "I thought you'd chill out after you got engaged, but all it’s done is seem to put you in constant PMS." She paused and took on an astonished, slightly horrified look. “You’re not pregnant, are you? You can’t be sparring if you’re fucking pregnant!”

I huffed and kicked out, but she leapt over my foot and shot me an incredulous look. "Seriously?!" she snapped. "I’m being for real here and you tried to kick me!”

“I’m not pregnant,” I snapped.

“No, just under the dark cloud of being engaged to four deliciously handsome men who would do anything to make you happy.” The sarcasm in her sharp tone was heavy. I spun and swung my foot up, performing a halfway decent roundhouse—that she oh so narrowly avoided missing. She glared at me as she straightened and ducked back into a defensive stance. “I thought you said you were fine,” she said, quirking a brow.

"I was until you brought it up again," I said, turning and dodging her next jab.

“Oh my god.” She stopped and gaped at me. “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?” I watched as Roxi’s face went even paler than normal. “Please say you’re not. The guys might cry—well, Dex and Darren probably won’t, but Cody seems like the sensitive type, and Taylor’s hard to read. He might cry. He might not. Either way, I can’t deal with crying. So, I’m going to need you to buck up and not have cold feet. ‘Kay?”

As quite literally one of my only female friends—Roxi could be such a pain in the ass. “Ugh,” I snapped. “Shut up!”

"I appreciate you coming all the way to New York City, but couldn't you have come when you weren't pissed at the guys? You’re kind of scary like this. You’ve never been much good in the gym, but really, this mood has brought a new badass in you."

I rolled my eyes and put my arms down, causing her to do the same. "It's not that I'm mad at them," I admitted. "I'm just nervous."

“So, it is cold feet!” she exclaimed.

“I mean … no.” I shook my head. “Not exactly.”

"Why are you nervous?" she asked as we began stripping off the boxing gloves. She tossed hers to the side of the mat and then started to untape her knuckles and fingers, watching me as she did so.

"We already got married," I winced as the admission came out.

"What?!" Her shocked and horrified reaction was exactly what I was expecting. All of a sudden a flushed Roxi was in my face, glaring at me. "How could you?" she hissed. "I was supposed to be your maid of honor, you whore! Why all the planning to get married in New York if you were just going to do it back home all along? I thought you guys were moving here?"

"We just wanted to get the actual ceremony out of the way," I assured her. "We're still doing the family and friend gathering here. We're still moving."

"So..." Roxi's glare lessened as she backed up, keeping her narrowed eyes on me as though she were waiting for me to spring something else on her. "What does that mean exactly? Why are you nervous if you're already married? You did the deed. It's over, isn't it?"

"Not exactly." I untaped my fingers and laid my own gloves down next to hers. "I'm still meeting all of their families, and I don't know … I mean, you know how … unusual our relationship is."

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "You're actually telling them all?"

I shrugged. "I'm not. I mean … it's complicated. Taylor—Donovan—has been introducing me to his parents as his girlfriend for the last few years. Cody and Dare did the same with their families. Then there's Dex..."

Roxi growled. "His perv of a brother isn't coming, is he?" she demanded.

I shook my head. "Of course not. I'm pretty sure if Stephan showed up Dex would lose it and kill him."

"I don't blame him. After what you told me happened on the cruise, I'd kill him too. He shouldn't be allowed within a mile of you after that."

"I appreciate the show of friendly support," I said with a chuckle.

She sniffed and tipped her nose up. "Just doing my duty."

"Yeah, well..." I nudged her shoulder with mine as we took a seat on one of the many rows of plastic chairs set around Julio's Boxing Gym, "you do it well."

She waved that away and turned to look at me. "So, you're nervous about meeting all of their families and coming clean," she concluded.

I nodded.

"Damn girl, that just sucks to suck, doesn't it?"

I gaped at her. "You bitch! You're supposed to console me or give me advice or something!"

She laughed, a full bodied, hand on her stomach, head thrown back laugh. Tears of amusement filled her eyes as she peeked them open and looked at me only to have her laughing hysteria overtake her once more. "Babe," she finally said as she calmed, "what do you want me to say? I'm not the one in a relationship with multiple guys."

I pouted. "No, but you want to be."

She stiffened and then rolled her eyes. "That's beside the point."

"Oh really? How's being Oliver and Bastian's roommate? Their completely platonic roommate?"

She glared at me. "Now you're just being mean."

"Payback is a bitch, ain't it?"

She swatted my arm. "Oh shut it," she said. "Come on, let's get a shower and if you're nice, I'll take you to this new coffee shop I found down the street. We can talk more about your impending doom and maybe even figure out a way to stop World War III from happening."

I grimaced as I got up, stretching the sore muscles we'd worked out today. "You don't really think it'll be that bad, do you?" I wondered aloud as I followed her.

She shrugged. "Who knows? Come on, hurry it up!"

I sighed and followed after her, hurrying into the women's locker room where we rushed through a shower and dressing. My hair hung in wet strings down my back, soaking into the dark fabric of the extra t-shirt I'd packed for this side trip. I wrung it out as we strode along the sidewalk, avoiding tourists and cars that drove far too close to the sides of the road. The noise level of the city was obnoxious, but there was also a sort of comforting note about it. The lights were always on. Someone was always awake. You were never alone.

"There it is!" Roxi's hand closed around mine, and she dragged me along behind her with such force I had to wonder if she'd been going to the gym more than she'd claimed since she moved here.

Expresso Lane? I looked up at the wooden sign dangling in front of the small coffee shop that Roxi had stopped us in front of and read the intricate wording of the coffee shop's name. "There!" she called out, pointing to a table on the sidewalk at the very end of the patio. "Grab it!" She rushed forward, releasing me from her grip, and slid into a seat, peering around as if she had narrowly managed to snag it when, in fact, there was no one else rushing to get a seat. Several patrons were actually eyeing her with a mixture of confusion and irritation. I sighed and moved forward as my cheeks heated.

"You're ridiculous," I said with a sigh as I plopped into the free seat across from her.

Roxi shrugged, brushing her ponytail behind her as she propped her elbows up on the table and leaned forward. Before she could say anything more, a waiter came out and took down our coffee orders—something I hadn't experienced back home—and then disappeared inside.

"Now," Roxi said, reclaiming my attention, "what's your game plan with the guys and their families?"

"I don't really have one," I said. "I'm meeting them tomorrow night."

She frowned. "That's cutting it close to the ceremony, isn't it?"

I shrugged. "We don't really have time for any other preparations," I replied. "After this, I'm meeting up with them to go apartment hunting again. I think we've found the place we're going to be moving into—at least, that’s what the guys have assured me—but I wanted all of us to go take a look at it before anyone signs a lease. Then I have to pick up my dress tomorrow morning. My parents are flying in after that..." I trailed off. Just thinking about all of the things I would have to do in the next 24-48 hours really had my head spinning.

"Jesus," Roxi stared at me as the waiter came back and delivered our coffees. I sipped mine thoughtfully as Roxi lifted her eyebrows and poured half of the sugar container on the table into her cup along with a considerable amount of milk.

"Are you drinking coffee or milk?" I asked with a quirk of my brow.

She shrugged, swirling her spoon in the mixture. "You really one to judge?" she asked, glancing meaningfully at my vanilla frappuccino. "Can you even consider that coffee?"

I sipped it thoughtfully. "Point taken," I conceded.

"I know you said you wanted advice on what to do about the guys' families," she said, resting her spoon on her napkin and lifting the cup to her lips. She took a long sip and sighed in pleasure as she settled the cup back down. "But I don't know what to tell you, Babe. The guys love you, right?"

I frowned. "Of course they do. I don't doubt that for a moment."

She nodded. "Then it doesn't matter what happens. They'll stick with you. Besides, like you said, it's too late. You've already sealed the deal. You got married—which I'm still irked at you about, by the way. Don't think I won't hold that over your head for a while."

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "We didn't do the ceremony," I said. "We just went to the courthouse and signed the papers."

She harrumphed. "Doesn't matter." She put the cup to her lips again. "I'm your best friend and I was supposed to be there." She sipped her milky-sugar-coffee flavored liquid.

"Uh huh, next time, I'll make sure to remember that."

"Is there going to be a next time?" she asked.

"What?" I blinked as she set the cup down and leaned over the table, eyeing me.

"You heard me," she said. "Is there going to be a next time? Are you going to get married to each of them?"

"Uh..." I looked around awkwardly before resettling my face on hers. "That's kind of illegal," I pointed out.

She shrugged, her eyes closing with a blasé expression before she reopened them and leveled me with a meaningful look. "You could always do some sort of unofficial marriage ceremony," she said.

Huh. I'd never thought of that. I mean, I guess I should have considered it, but none of the guys had mentioned it either. They'd all actually agreed that I'd be marrying one of them officially, while the other guys would be the groomsmen. In the private ceremony between just the five of us, we'd known that we were dedicating ourselves to each other. Me to all of them. All of them to me. And them to each other, in a way, as friends and fellow husbands. I'd kissed all of them for that ceremony. In my heart, I was married to all of them.

"Not this time," I finally said. "Officially, I'll just be marrying Dex. My parents have met him. They like him. They've met all of them, but as far as they know, I'll just be married to him. Tomorrow night, I'll come clean. We all will."

Roxi gave me a pitying look. “Ahhh, so that’s what you’re nervous about,” she said. “telling your parents that you’ve been seeing four guys instead of just the one.”

I nodded, and hearing her say it made me feel even worse for keeping it all a secret not just from my family but from all of our families. How would I have explained having multiple boyfriends to my parents, though? Oh, hey, Mom and Dad, meet my boyfriend, Dex. Oh and his friends, Dare, Cody, and Taylor. I've been fucking all of them rather regularly for the last few years and we're all in a relationship together.

Pretty sure my mom would have tried to box me up and ship me to church camp in the middle of nowhere with no hope of returning or perhaps she might’ve gone easy on me and sent me off to a convent or even a psych ward instead.

"It'll be okay," Roxi said, reaching forward and patting the top of my hand. I turned my palm over and let her grasp it. "I'll be here if you need me. You know I'm only a phone call away."

I sniffed, forcing back the tears of anxiety that had been building at the back of my eyes for the last few minutes. "Thanks," I managed to choke out.

"Hey, with you moving to New York City, we'll be even closer than a phone call," she said with a sensitive smile. “And whenever one of the guys pisses you off, you can come over to my apartment and rant about them.”

I clutched her hand and nodded. "You're the best," I whispered.

She laughed, squeezing me right back. "I know I am, Babe."

I snorted. "Bitch."

"Whore," she replied playfully.

God, I loved her.