CHAPTER SIX

SEBASTIAN

In typical Gage style, things go a little off the rails when we first settle into the house we rented, but once he and Stella return from the bedroom, we focus on the matter at hand. Meeting Lucy's damn parents. Don't get me wrong, I know we need to, but I also know that they already don't approve of her life choices, so they definitely won't approve of us. If not for her need to see them, and let them know she's okay, I'd definitely be arguing against going at all.

We can all see how our little Brit is affected by the knowledge that she has to see them, but that won't be until tomorrow, when we get the train across from London to Bristol to see them. Lucy's not fond of trains apparently, but she says it's the quickest way to get there from here.

"What do you mean we shouldn't all come with you?" Stella suddenly asks loudly, drawing my attention away from setting up the coffee machine, before we all lose our minds at the lack of caffeine.

"What?" I turn to see everyone staring at Lucy in shock. Did we all fly here with her, for her to try and ditch us the first chance she gets? Didn't Stella just get a full Gage reminder about trying to leave us?

Mav slams his fist down on the kitchen counter, and Lucy jumps.

"This is bullshit, Lucy. You know we're all fucking coming with you, because we're all a fucking family now."

Stella wraps an arm around Lucy's shoulders and leans close.

"Peanut, just talk to us, what's going on in that weird old writer brain of yours? You don't want us with you now? Remember how you said they'll make you feel like your decisions were bad ones, and that you should be home with them. You said they crush your confidence and look at you now. Look how you've grown since you've been with us. Don't you want to show them who you are now? So, they can be proud of you too?"

"Stop babying her, Stella. She doesn't need to be talked down to like that," Mav hisses, and I see Gage step in, and that means the shit's about to hit the fan again already. We all know I'm the only one who manages to calm down Gage when he's getting his rage on. Gage Rage is a thing, trust me.

I curse and slam down the mugs, and Gage's attention is immediately on me.

"Baby?" He comes to my rescue, because apparently, he thinks I need it, but that gets him out of Lucy's way for a moment, so the others can try talking some sense into her.

"This thing isn't working," I finally say, jabbing a finger at the coffee machine, smiling when Gage groans and takes over trying to work the damn thing. While he fusses with it, I turn to listen to the others, because if Lucy thinks we're not all going with her, she's out of her fucking mind. We're a family unit, and we stick together, and nobody gets away. Not now. It's too perfect as it is. We are.

Lucy's pleading her case, but while Stella's doing her best to listen and commiserate with her, Mav just looks even more pissed off than before.

"They've always assumed my writing is a fad, like a phase I'm going through, and I'll eventually quit it, and get a ‘real job' as they call it. They think I'm acting out or something, like a dumb teenager. I'm just saying, if I turn up with three boyfriends and a girlfriend, well, you know what I mean… they're just going to think I've fallen into some kind of depravity."

Stella's giggling and pointing at all of us. "Um… depravity pretty much sums it up, though."

Gage turns to Lucy with a growl that rattles through his chest. "Enough. We are all going, and we will handle this as a family. End of fucking discussion."

Lucy places her hands on her hips, which I love because she's adorable like this. "Don't be a bell-end, Gage. Should this not be my choice?"

Mav walks over to her and takes her face into his hands. "No. It's not your choice, not anymore. If you think you're going to hide us like some kind of embarrassing mistake, you're wrong. Is that what we are? Are you ashamed of us?"

She slides her hands up his chest, and stares at him with something that can only be defined as intense love. "No, Mav. I'm not ashamed of any of this. They won't understand. This is something my parents will never approve of. I don't regret anything with the four of you." She swallows hard. "I'm scared."

His shoulders relax in an instant, and I would've never imagined he'd be capable of this type of softness with either of our girls. "I've got you, baby. We've got you. Whatever your parents say, we will be there with you. I don't know what they will think of these two assholes, but your parents will love me. I'm a catch, baby. I'm fucking Prince Charming. "

Gage looks over at me with a grin on his face and we both end up chuckling, as do the girls, because Mav is anything but Prince Charming .

LUCY

I don't think any of them realise just how intense and stern my parents are, and just how certain they'll be that I've been kidnapped or dragged into some kind of devil worship situation. Let's be honest, they'd be half right. Maybe even more than half. I guess I thought the others might listen, and understand that I'm trying to make this easier, and not go through hell when my parents choose not to understand my new life. I suppose, if I'm really honest, I'd wanted to try and sell it as something normal. As in, I'm not the sexual partner of three men who mostly view consent as a ‘nice to have' or something meant for others, and in a weird sisterhood with a woman, who also shares those men. I mean, it's not normal, and it's bizarre, and even though it's perfect for me, they just won't get it.

I figured, maybe I'd be able to just take Mav with me, since they'd met him in our video chat, and we could pretend it's a nice, normal relationship that might lead to marriage one day. I don't know how to play this, and I don't know how to make them understand that this isn't only what I want, but what I need . That these four people are my everything now. Maybe part of the problem is that I know they don't trust me to make good decisions, and think they still have to take over and do that for me.

The evening had been fairly relaxed after Mav and Gage pretty much declared that we'll all do as we're told, and now, wrapped in Mav's arms in bed, while the other three are in another bed in another room, I feel I can try again, because maybe Mav will understand when he doesn't have to fit into Gage's way of thinking. Gage can be overbearing and possessive, and although I love those things about him, it means he's often unreasonable.

"Mav?" I lift my head from his chest to look at him, barely able to see him in the dim light. Somehow, he still finds my nose and boops it.

"Knew you'd wanna talk again. Don't I know my little writer slut well?"

Ugh. See this is another part of the problem. I sigh heavily, pushing his hand away.

"You can't call me stuff like that in front of my parents, Mav!"

"You think I don't know how to behave around them? Is this about being ashamed of us? Of me? I thought we were past all that weird shit, and you get that you fucking belong to me now, to all of us."

"That's really not what I'm saying, Mav. I'm so fucking proud of our life together, all five of us, even though it's weird, and people won't understand-"

"You mean your parents won't. You want us to hide our group relationship." He's not asking, and he's not wrong. I just don't know how to make him or any of them understand.

I sit up, and he flicks the lamp on so we can see each other. It's not anger or frustration on his face though, it's hurt. He's hurting because he thinks I'm rejecting him, or ashamed of him, or something, and nothing could be further from the truth.

"Mav, I'm proud to show my parents who I've become, and even more than that, the man I love. If just the two of us were going there, I'd be able to just focus on that, and not have to hide everything, or worry about one of the others saying something that gives it all away. My parents are conservative, and prone to assuming the worst about me, and they already half believed I'd been abducted by aliens or something. If we weren't making this visit now, I'm pretty sure they'd have been reporting me missing, or kidnapped, and trying to reach the FBI or something to look for me."

Mav shrugged, pulling me back to sit beside him against the headboard.

"You don't have any choice here, baby. You know we all have to go, because we do everything together now. Maybe we can ask the others to keep quiet about the fact that we're all together, but I won't be surprised if they're unwilling. It's like saying you aren't really invested in what we've built together. Gage has major abandonment issues, as you know, and Stella and Sebastian have been hurt too many times for you to be the next one doing that to them, don't you think?"

Ugh. Why does this have to be so fucking hard? I don't want to hurt any of them, but I know my parents and they don't. What could be a pleasant, fairly short visit, while I collect a few things I want to take back home with me, could go so wrong. The wrong word, or them getting the wrong impression, will send them off into fucking la la land, and the next thing you know, the police will be on the doorstep, while they declare that I've been taken captive. And again? They won't exactly be wrong. I don't see it that way anymore, but that's literally how we all got together. What if I can't hide that fact, or I accidentally let something slip and get them into trouble? Is that what's really bothering me? The fear of them being taken from me, because of this visit?

"Just don't let them take you away from me, Mav. Please don't let them."

"They'd have to pry you from my cold dead fingers, baby." Comforting .