Page 8 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

I pulled Otto closer. Before I knew that all five of them shared one women, I’d wanted Otto. He’d been enough for me. At one point, I’d had crushes on all of them individually. But now that I had all of them? How was I supposed to go back?

Bennett cleared his throat.

Otto pulled back, but kept his eyes on me.

“Huxley and I were going to help Zoey grab a few things from her house,” Bennett said. “Do you want to come too?”

Otto nodded.

Just Huxley, Bennett, and Otto? Couldn’t Ace come too?

Ace would probably talk to Titan if the two of them were left behind.

I needed to come clean about everything before that happened.

I didn’t want Titan to be mad at me again.

“Or you could all come,” I said. I’d show them the coin as soon as I got home. I owed them that.

Titan folded his arms across his chest as he stared at me. He could tell I was up to something .

“I want to get a head start on your bed,” Ace said.

I wasn’t sure if they’d want me here after they used the cure. So there probably wasn’t any reason for him to do that. “I can help you assemble it in the morning,” I said.

“Assemble it?” He smiled. “No, Zoey. I’m making you a bed.”

“Like…making it making it?”

He nodded.

I should have guessed that. He was so good with his hands. I stared at him. I was going to miss him taking care of me.

Going from being elated with them all asking me out to feeling like this? This wasn’t supposed to be how tonight went.

“It’s getting late,” Huxley said. “We should probably get going.”

I stared at him. Kebe had made it pretty clear that she was interested in him. What if they did know each other? Would Huxley be the first one to start dating someone else? Would Ace follow suit?

“Hey,” Otto said and grabbed my hand. “Is everything okay? Were you about to tell me something before the game ended?”

I shook my head. “I mean, yes, I’m good.” I’d tell Otto, Bennett, and Huxley about the cure first. Then catch Ace and Titan up when we got back. “Huxley’s right, it’s getting late.” I let my fingers fall from Otto’s and walked past the guys toward the front door.

I heard their hushed voices behind me.

I was probably worrying them. Or maybe they were worried about whatever ominous thing they felt with their sixth sense.

But they had nothing to worry about right now.

Callum wasn’t going to hurt them. And soon none of them would be able to hurt each other.

I opened the door and stepped out into the chilly fall night.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Otto said and lifted me over his shoulder.

I squealed as my world turned upside down. “Put me down,” I said with a laugh.

“There’s my girl,” he said, but didn’t put me down. “I hate it when you’re not smiling.”

Well I was certainly smiling now.

“We’re not seriously going to walk down Main Street like this,” I asked as he walked us through the gate of their white picket fence.

“I don’t see why not.” He lightly slapped my ass so I slapped his too.

“How is this going to work?” I asked.

“I’m plenty strong enough to carry you the whole way.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.” I slapped his butt again.

I lifted my head to see Bennett and Huxley smiling behind us.

“How does it work when I’m with you guys in public?

” I asked them. It seemed like a silly question, because everything was about to change.

But I wanted to know. Would they be ashamed to all be dating me at once?

Would we pretend I was just dating one of them?

“Put her down for a minute,” Bennett said.

Otto set me down on my feet and Bennett took my hand, pulling me close.

“How do you want it to work?” he asked.

I looked down at our intertwined fingers as we turned onto Main Street. He didn’t let go. And I had a feeling that if we were going to pretend I was just dating one of them, it was going to be him. That made sense. He was the one they all looked to for answers.

“I like dating all of you,” I said.

“And we like dating you.” He smiled down at me.

“I never saw you guys with anyone but Emma. And I actually only saw you with her.”

“We weren’t dating Emma.”

I looked up at him. “You were kind of dating Emma.”

He shook his head. “That wasn’t like this.” He squeezed my hand.

We walked past another couple on the sidewalk. I turned around and looked at Otto and Huxley. It just seemed like they were our friends and that Bennett and I were in a relationship.

“Is this what you want people to think?” I asked. “That I’m yours?”

“You are mine,” Bennett said.

The way he said it made my heartbeat quicken. “I’m all of yours.”

“You are,” he said.

“There’s rumors about me around town.” Emma had warned me. Bennett had confirmed it. All of it was ridiculous, but that’s what rumors were. “Are you worried about how that will affect your business?”

“We’re the only bank in town, Zoey.”

Fair. “So you’re not worried about what people will say if they knew I was dating all of you?”

“I’m not ashamed of what I like.”

“And what do you like?”

“I think you know what I like, baby. ”

I pictured myself standing in the middle of the bank the first time he’d ever touched me. His fingers buried deep inside my pussy as all his friends watched.

Yeah, I knew what he liked. It turned Bennett on to have me in front of his friends. His response put me at ease.

Bennett wanted to share me. Huxley and Ace definitely liked sharing me. I was pretty sure Titan loved watching. Otto didn’t seem to mind watching either. He’d been so hard the other night after seeing me give Bennett head.

Maybe I was just overthinking all of it. Maybe I was enough for all of them.

“So you wouldn’t care if I did something like this…” I kept holding his hand as I turned around and kissed Huxley.

Huxley’s fingers tightened on my hips.

I heard someone across the street gasp at the sight of my hand in Bennett’s and my tongue in Huxley’s mouth. This would definitely not help the rumors swirling about me. At least now the rumors might have more truth to them.

I pulled back from the kiss with a smile.

“We’ve never been with someone who was okay with this,” Bennett said from behind me.

Wait, what? I turned to look at him over my shoulder. “But you said you’ve shared women before.”

He pulled me into his chest. “We have. Briefly.”

“How briefly?”

“For a night,” Otto said from behind me. “Maybe two.”

“A week tops,” Huxley said. “It wasn’t like this. ”

“So you’ve never actually shared a girlfriend before? Just a woman here and there?”

“I told you we don’t share our secret with just anyone,” Bennett said.

“You shared it with Emma.”

Bennett frowned. “We’ve been looking for something more serious for a while. I jumped the gun with that.”

So they had little flings with women. Without telling them the truth.

It should have made me happy that I was their first shared girlfriend.

But all I could think about was the fact that they’d never shared someone long term before.

And soon they wouldn’t have to. Yes, they were serious about what this could be.

But would they be serious about it when they didn’t need to be?

I tried to shake the thought away. I hated that Kebe had put doubts in my head.

This confession was a good thing. They were serious about me and I was serious about them.

And I wanted to keep the mood light. I wanted to enjoy this walk down Main Street for the first and possibly last time with my boyfriends.

God, fucking Kebe get out of my head! “So this is new for all of you?”

Bennett nodded.

“I’m your first girlfriend?”

“I’m not five,” Bennett said with a laugh. “But yes, you’re our first girlfriend.”

“Well, I don’t feel the need to pretend I’m only with one of you when I love all of you.”

Bennett raised his eyebrow at me.

Fuck, what did I just say? I cleared my throat. “Like. I meant like all of you.” I laughed.

“If you say so,” Bennett said. And this time he lifted me over his shoulder and started carrying me .

I laughed. I’d never seen Bennett so playful before.

Yes, Kebe’s concerns were valid. But what if all five men still chose to be with me? We’d be living a perfect life without any fear. And that was worth the risk. Especially if it made all of them happy.

Bennett set me down on my feet in front of my door.

I took a deep breath and pulled out my key. Maybe I had nothing to worry about. Maybe I did. But I wasn’t going to withhold the cure from them. Kebe had messed with my head in the moment, but I was thinking clearly now. My boyfriends wanted the cure. I’d gotten it for them. End of story.

I unlocked the door and was greeted by light snoring. I stared at Emma, fast asleep in a chair.

Shit. I thought she was keeping an eye on Kebe?

I walked over to Emma. She was still fully dressed in her leathers and had tons of blankets piled on top of her. Why did she have so many blankets? It wasn’t even cold in here. And she clearly wasn’t that cold, because there was a sheen of sweat on her forehead. “Emma.” I shook her awake.

She sat up with a start. “Did I fall asleep?” She wiped off her forehead and seemed confused about why she was so sweaty.

“Where’s Kebe?” I whispered.

She looked at the clock on the wall and her eyes grew round. “You said twenty minutes! It’s been almost an hour!” She pushed off the blankets piled on top of her and ran toward the stairs.

“What’s wrong with her?” Otto asked .

“Nothing,” I said. “I’ll be right back.” I ran after her up the stairs. “Where are you going…” my voice trailed off as Emma threw open Kebe’s door.

“Kebe?” Emma said as she stepped inside and turned around in a circle. “Fuck.” She looked at me. “Kebe’s gone.”

“What do you mean she’s gone?” I walked around the bed and opened the closet door, as if she’d be hiding in there. But the closet was empty. And all her things were gone, including her suitcase.

“I must have fallen asleep.” Emma put her hand on her forehead. “She probably snuck right past me.”

“Please tell me you convinced her to give you the coin back?”

Emma shook her head before I even finished the sentence.

I felt my shoulders slump. How could we have let this happen?

“No, she refused to give me the coin. I knew something was off about her. I knew it. God, what were we thinking listening to her?”

I know. Shit!

“We had the cure right in our grasp, Zoey. What are we going to do now?”

Actually, I knew exactly what to do. I had a client that had hacked all the security cameras in my house. Hell, probably all the cameras in town. And he just so happened to be really good at finding out everything about people. “I’ll talk to Grudge. You go distract my boyfriends for a minute.”

“What? How? ”

“I don’t know. Figure it out!” I pushed her out of the room as I called Grudge. Kebe couldn’t have gotten far. And I was going to find her.