Page 57

THEO

R achelle isn’t in the best mood today, and I think it’s fucking hysterical. It’s clear she’s horny, but is refusing to give us the time of day as she eats breakfast with us. Jared is getting a little high handed with his demands, however she needs to eat three meals a day.

“What are you doing today, Rachelle?” Elijah asks as we watch her eat.

Our schedules are still off in the morning because the guys and I ran this morning and then I dragged her out of bed to exercise in the pool. It may also be why she’s grumpy.

I told Elijah that he can’t hide from Rachelle. He needs to stay in her face until she cracks. She is well within her rights to be pissed at the three of us, but I refuse to allow it to last forever. We need her, and need to convince her she needs us in return.

Ignacio and Liliana are green flag partners to her. They both know what she needs almost before she needs it, putting us at a distinct disadvantage. While part of me knows it’s not a competition, I also know that we need to prove that we’re worthy of being loved.

Maybe it’s my fucked up family life. Love shouldn’t be transactional, yet I feel as if we need to be indispensable to Rachelle.

“I’m kind of crampy today,” she says with a light shrug as she pushes around her food. “I need to see if Liliana has any tampons or pads in her room.”

Oh. Well, that’s going to require some pivoting of our day.

“I’ll run out and get you what you need,” Elijah says immediately. “Are there any brands or specific, ah size I guess, that you need?”

The tips of his ears are bright red, a sure tell that he’s nervous about this conversation and a bit embarrassed. It’s not every day you ask a dead girl about her menstrual hygiene product preferences.

Rachelle glances up to gaze at Elijah, her lips rolling in to hide her smile as she sees how nervous he is.

“Regular and heavy tampons please. If you can find some panty liners, that would be really helpful,” she says gently.

She could give him shit for being so careful about what she may need, but I’m glad she’s choosing to give him some slack. I may have younger sisters, however, I still have no idea about menstrual cycles. I need to do some research so we can make sure she’s taken care of.

This almost makes me feel bad that we edged her last night. Almost.

“On it,” Elijah says, standing. “Do you need chocolate? Gummy bears so you can viciously bite their heads off?”

Rachelle laughs in surprise, and the three of us lean forward almost without realizing it to bask in the sound. She has different laughs I’m noticing. Some are tinkling and light, but this one is throaty and is making my cock thicken.

Down boy. While I’m not against period sex, I also don’t want to jump her at the breakfast nook. Calvin would fucking turn the hose on me like a damn dog.

“I’m all for biting the heads off of gummy bears, thank you,” she says.

Elijah, Jared, and I exchange glances for a moment, communicating silently. We have a really busy day, and even though Rachelle worked out this morning, she doesn’t seem very hungry. Together, we vote for a day to play hooky.

We work damn hard between school and work. Elijah has an exam the day after tomorrow, so it won’t hurt anything. Our managers are incredible and have gotten the hang of things really quickly. They can hold down the club while we take care of Rachelle.

“Good, I’ll be back then. Jared is going to set up a movie in the bedroom for us,” Elijah says decisively, walking out of the room.

“Wait, you have classes!” Rachelle calls after him. “What the hell was that?”

“We aren’t going,” I reply with a shrug, pulling out my phone to begin a series of communications that’ll allow us to stay home.

“My wife needs us more,” Jared says, glancing at his schedule to see if he has to move anything. I can see he’s emailing his advisor that he needs to reschedule a meeting with him, his face impassive and refusing to give anything away.

It’s not often, but we can use our evil for good things. We’ll never be the boys next door. It’s not who we are.

“Jared,” Rachelle breathes, sounding a bit exasperated.

I love that she doesn’t know what to think or feel when Jared calls her his wife. While this isn’t the first time I’ve wished that I’d been the one to marry her on paper, it had to be him. His pragmatic approach when he speaks to her works disgustingly well.

“Yes, that’s my name,” he says as his fingers continue to move. “Did you need something?”

Rubbing my bottom lip to keep from smiling, I enjoy the flush taking over Rachelle’s neck.

“You can’t just take the day off and neither can I. It’s possible that I won’t even get my period today,” she says. “I still have schoolwork to finish.”

She’s been working non-stop, so I doubt there’s much left for her to do.

I’ll check her laptop to see where she’s at in her work.

I obviously don’t give two shits about her privacy.

If I can help by finishing off her papers with a reference list, which is one of the more tedious parts of a research paper, I will.

“Take a break and watch a movie with us,” I say, finishing off various emails and texts. I’ll reply back to any messages later. Putting the phone down on the table after locking it, I shrug. “You can even choose the movie.”

“Really,” she says suspiciously.

Rachelle is moving a little sluggishly, and her eye lids are heavy. I doubt she’ll last through it.

“Yep. Whatever you want,” I say, standing to pocket my phone. “Are you done with your food?”

“Yeah. I was trying to eat more, but it’s just not happening,” she says, rubbing her stomach.

“What’s wrong with your stomach?” I ask, eyes narrowing.

“Nothing. It just kind of hurts,” she mutters.

Ugh, if I was Liliana, I bet she’d fucking tell me. Yes, I’m currently annoyed I have a cock and that she’s embarrassed to tell me.

“Go find some pajamas and then we’ll meet in Theo’s bedroom,” Jared suggests.

Rachelle gives him a pointed stare, making him bark out a laugh.

“I promise we will all be wearing clothes,” he swears.

Rachelle nods as she stands and leaves the room, and I blow out a breath.

“She looked really uncomfortable,” Jared grumbles. “I wish she’d just tell us how we can fix it.”

Calvin walks into the room, and stares at the plate of barely eaten food.

“Do I need to go back to smoothies?” he muses.

“She doesn’t feel well today,” Jared explains.

“Why?” he asks, folding his arms over his chest. He looks angry, and I know it’s because he likes Rachelle. Calvin makes sure we’re treating her well, even though she doesn’t know it.

There’s not a chance in hell we’d bring her into this house if we didn’t plan to repair what we’ve broken.

“Calvin, she has cramps,” Jared says pointedly. “I don’t know that she’ll be very hungry today, so I think a smoothie later might be a good idea.”

Calvin looks hard at us before it clicks for him.

“I know we have a heated blanket somewhere,” he mutters, picking up Rachelle’s plate and utensils. “There’s a tea for cramping and bloating I can make too.”

Did she not want to talk about bloating? In a world where girls are taught not to fart, I wouldn’t be surprised. I don’t give a shit about it. I want to know if she needs her belly rubbed or not when we cuddle.

There will be cuddling. I’ll just be wearing clothes this time.

“Thank you, Calvin,” Jared says. “Elijah went out for supplies. Do you need anything for the tea?”

“I’ll send him a message,” Calvin says with a nod, very much in his head as he begins to leave. “Oh, I suppose you need to leave soon for class, no?”

“We aren’t going,” I say. “We reorganized our day and are staying home. We’re meeting upstairs in my room to watch a movie.”

“Really?” Calvin asks, blinking as he gazes at us in surprise.

“Yes, she’s obviously masking that she’s in pain,” Jared says. “We want to help if we can.”

“I’ll text Elijah to also pick up pain medication for her period,” Calvin says, frowning. “If she’s already exhibiting signs of pain, then this may be a rough day for her.”

“That exists?” I ask, surprised. While I don’t know much about menstrual health, I have seen various threads on social media about how lacking the medical field is in pain management for women.

“It does,” Calvin says with a smirk, proud he knows something I don’t. To be fair, this happens often between us. “I’ll go make sure I catch Elijah while he’s at the store.”

Lips pursed, Jared and I cross the house to walk upstairs.

“I think we should divide and conquer,” he says.

“Always scheming,” I tease him. “Lay it on me.”

“You’re just as bad,” he grunts. “She’s going to be worried about schoolwork.

Keep her laptop as far away from her as possible.

We’ll help her relax during the movie until she falls asleep and then figure out what she’s still stressing about for school.

I figure she has to be almost done. All she does is write papers and read for classes. ”

“I was thinking the same thing. I need to see how many classes she’s taking. It’s insane that she’s still behind,” I say. “Also, just for the sake of saying it, we are relaxing her, not turning her on.”

Jared snorts as we walk into my room and begin to strip the sheets to change them out for ones that are softer. Once done, we begin to add soft blankets and pillows. If we’re doing a movie day, then it damn well better be the fluffiest cloud of a bed possible.

“She should be here by now, right? I’m not being impatient?” I ask.

“No, you’re not,” Jared agrees. “I wonder what’s wrong. Set up the projector and I’ll go see.”

Growling under my breath, I let him go. I’ll search for some ways to help her while he’s gone too. It couldn’t hurt.

JARED

I find Rachelle splashing cold water on her face in her bathroom as I track her down. Walking slowly, I lean against the door beside her.

“Want to talk about it?” I ask.