“And it works? The three of you all being together?” Chase relaxed a bit and went back to spreading peanut butter on one slice of bread and jelly on the other.
“It does.” This was a question I expected we’d get a lot as we told more people we were together. Society said that people were supposed to fall in love with their one true match, but that wasn’t the way it always worked. Hell, I hadn’t imagined being in love with two guys at the same time without it causing issues, but now I couldn’t imagine being without either of them.
“I don't think I could do that. Does that make me a bad person?” Chase gave me a sidelong glance but didn’t actually lookatme. He lifted his hand to his mouth to chew on his nails and I swatted his hand away. Somehow, all of us, except Zach, had become caretakers of sorts to him. He pursed his lips together and his cheeks turned pink. “Thanks. Jay’s been on me about that. But seriously, is it bad that I couldn’t do what you guys are?”
“Absolutely not,” I reassured him. “Why would you think it would?”
“Because I want Jayden all to myself,” he clarified. “I couldn’t share him with anyone else. Even thinking about him sleeping with anyone before we met makes me grumpy.”
“A lot more people are the way you are than the way we are. And hell, I didn't realize this, being with both of them, was something I'd want either until your brother brought it up as a possibility.” I let out a content sigh as I thought about how much happier I was this year. I didn’t have to pretend anymore, and I didn’t have to watch Zach trying to fuck himself straight. “He gives both of us what we need. It's hard to believe he's the youngest sometimes.”
This time it was Chase who held up his hands to silence me. “I don't need to know what you two are doing to my brother.”
“More like what he's doing to us,” I clarified.
Chase's face twisted in a horrified, disgusted, expression. “Seriously, I don’t need to know. I’m not even sure I’m comfortable with how all of you guys know about me, I donotwant to know what he’s doing.”
“I won't say anything else,” I promised him. “Just know, Zach and I will both do everything in our power to make sure Chase doesn't get hurt.”
“Then I’ll try to be happy for the three of you. I'm not going to lie and say it will be easy,” he admitted. “I mean, Iamglad you’re all in a good place, but I can’t just stop worrying about my brother because you say you won’t hurt him. Colin tries to act like he's never needed anybody, but that's because he's constantly trying to be the strong one. He's always been the caretaker out of all of us kids, even though our parents didn't see it that way. College was supposed to be a chance at freedom for him. His time to only think about himself.”
“And it still is,” I replied. “We’re not trying to keep him locked away, so he won't realize how much better off he'd be without us but, most of the time, he's the one who wants to sit around and spend time together.” Hearing Chase talk about how his brother had fallen into a caretaker role at home, it made more sense that it came naturally to him here as well. But he also needed to be able to rely on us to care for him sometimes, even if that felt impossible to him.
Chase glanced down at the sandwich and chips I had unwrapped for C0lin's lunch. I pulled a small container of grapes out of the fridge. Tonight, there would be plenty of junk food, so we needed to eat healthier before then. I told myself it had nothing to do with wanting to prove to Chase that I would take good care of his little brother.
“Are we good?” I asked as I picked up the plates. I didn't want to waste any more time out here when I could be comforting my boyfriend.
“Yeah, we’re good,” Chase assured me. “I would tell you that if you hurt him, I’ll kick your ass, but we both know that that’d be laughable.”
I let my gaze travel the length of Chase's body and shrugged. “Oh, I don't know. I think that if any of your siblings were in trouble, you'd find some sort of superhuman strength long enough to kick some ass. You might be small, but you’d be scrappy as hell in a fight.”
“Luckily, I’ll never have to find out if you’re right.” Chase leaned against the counter and the corner of his mouth tipped up in the cutest, cockiest, little smirk. “All I have to know do is let Jayden know, and he'd beat you up for me. You know I'm right.”
“Yeah, you are,” I agreed. After all, Zach almost got his ass beat once already for talking shit about Jayden and Chase's relationship. As much as he was going to hate it, made a mental note that I needed to convince Zach to sit down with Jayden and Chase, so they'd understand where he was coming from. “Anyway, I'm going to take this to Colin. If we’re not out here, come knock on our door when it's time to go.”
Chase shuddered. “Again. I don't need to know what you're doing with my brother.”
“You have a dirty little mind, don't you? I just meant we might watch a movie and maybe take a nap. It's going to be a long night, and he hasn't been sleeping well because he's been stressing about keeping this from you.”
“I wish you wouldn't have,” he said, making it clear he blamed all three of us for sneaking around behind their backs.
“I know, but he had to tell you when he was ready.”
“All of you should have said something a lot sooner. You would think we'd all learned our lessons about keeping secrets,” he grumbled. The past year had been filled with plenty of them. First Jayden, then Matt and Brandon. At this point, Chase was the only one who’d been honest from the start, and even he had things he preferred to keep hidden.
“Yeah, you would, but we’re a stubborn bunch. Anyway, I’ll see you a bit later. And if you happen to see Zach when he gets home from work, let him know I'm in Colin’s room?” I was going to text him, but I figured giving Chase something to do would help him feel useful.
“Yeah. And maybe at some point you can convince him he doesn't have to hide from us? Now that I know what's going on, I'm not mad at him.”
I set down one of the plates and ruffled Chase's hair. “You’re a good guy, Chase. I don't think any of us would blame you if you held a grudge.”
“Nah, that's not my style.” He picked up my lunch and followed me to Colin’s bedroom door.
After so many weeks worrying about how Chase would take it when he found out that his brother was sleeping with both of us, it felt like a huge weight lifted off my chest as well. I hadn't truly taken the time to realize how much it had worn on me. I twisted the knob and popped the door open before turning back to grab the second plate from Chase.
“I know this isn’t easy for you but thank you for taking it as well as you did. I think it'll be easier for Colin now that he doesn't have to worry about you telling him he's making a huge mistake.”
“Oh, he probably is. I mean, have you seen the two of you? Seriously, my brother could do a hell of a lot better than you guys.” I bristled and Chase busted out laughing. This new, unguarded, version of him was going to take some getting used to. Either way, I was grateful that he was finally opening up a bit.
