LOGINZuriDinner had never felt this quiet in this house before, not the tense kind of quiet from the last few days, but something softer. Plates clinked. Wine got poured. My mum sat across from me, and for the first time since everything came out, she wasn't avoiding my eyes.Alexander stood first, tapping his glass with a fork."Before we eat, I think there's something that needs to be said properly, instead of shouted across a living room." He glanced at Diane, then at my parents. "So I'm going to let the person who actually deserves to say it first."He sat back down, and my mum set her fork aside, folding her hands in front of her."I owe all of you an apology." Her voice was steady, but I could hear what it cost her to keep it that way. "I reacted badly when I found out. I said things I regret, and I spent the last few hours looking at my daughter like she'd done something wrong, instead of asking her why she was happy.""Mum, you don't have to—""Let me finish, baby." She reached ac
ZuriDiane had me chopping vegetables while she stirred something on the stove, the kitchen warm with the smell of garlic and butter, the two of us falling into an easy rhythm we’d built over years of exactly this.“Can I tell you something?” She didn’t look up from the pot.“Always.”“I like you.” She said it simply, like it was a fact she’d been sitting on and finally decided to hand over. “I don’t have a single problem with you being with my sons. If all three of them wanted to marry you tomorrow, I’d bless that union without hesitating.”My knife stilled against the cutting board. “Thank you, Diane. That means more than you know.” I glanced at her, throat tight. “I just wish my mum was as open-minded about it.”“Don’t worry about that.” She reached over, squeezing my hand once before going back to the stove. “I’ll talk to her. Mother to mother. She’ll come around eventually. Rhea loves you too much not to.”Her phone rang before I could answer. She wiped her hands on a towel, glan
EthanThe basketball court sat at the far end of the compound, something our dad had built years ago back when he still played on weekends with his old college friends. None of us had much use for it these days. Hockey was where our heads were, where our hands were, where every free hour we had actually went. But Brandon and Jackson had asked if the court still worked, and there was no way any of us were saying no to that.I found out fast why they'd asked."Pass it here." Jackson called for the ball, and the second it hit his hands he was gone, weaving past Chris like he wasn't even there, sinking it clean through the hoop without so much as slowing down."Again?" Chris bent over, hands on his knees, already out of breath. "How are you doing that?""Years of practice." Brandon grinned, stealing the rebound from Audric before he could even set his feet. "Give or take."We'd been out there almost half an hour, and between the two of them, I don't think our side had touched the ball mor
ZuriI found Maya waiting in my room when I finally made it upstairs, curled up on the bed like she'd been sitting there for a while already, patient in a way that wasn't usually her style."Come here." She patted the mattress beside her.I sank down next to her, exhaustion finally catching up with everything from the last twenty-four hours, and let my head drop onto her shoulder."Okay, I have to say something." Maya's voice held that particular tone she got right before she said something wildly inappropriate. "I think it's genuinely so cool that you're dating three insanely hot guys. All three of them. Meanwhile I've been out here manifesting one halfway decent guy who texts back, and you just casually collected an entire matching set."A laugh escaped me, cracked and wet, tangled up with the tears still threatening to spill over again. "It's not that simple, Maya.""I know, I know, big feelings, complicated family drama, I'm getting there." She bumped her shoulder against mine. "B
ZuriBreakfast was quiet in the worst possible way, forks scraping plates, nobody quite meeting anyone else's eyes across the table."We've booked our flight for this evening." My mum set her coffee down, voice steady but final. "We won't be staying until Monday after all.""If this is about what happened," Alexander said carefully, "we're sorry. We didn't raise these boys to behave this way. We don't know what came over any of them last night. You were meant to stay until Monday. Why rush off over one little altercation? This family has come a long way, Rhea. We've shared dinners, celebrations, years of friendship. One night shouldn't be enough to break that.""One little altercation." My mum's voice sharpened instantly. "You're calling what your sons did to my daughter a little thing?""It was consensual. My sons didn't force themselves on her.” Diane's voice cut in, clipped. "Don't put all of this on my sons, Rhea. Your daughter is equally responsible for whatever this arrangement
ZuriI found the three of them in Ethan's room, still dressed down from the party, the tension of the night still hanging heavy in the air between them. The second I walked in and shut the door behind me, all three went quiet, like they already knew this wasn't going to be a good conversation."I need to talk to you. All of you."Chris sat up straighter on the edge of the bed. "That doesn't sound good.""It's not." I forced myself to keep going before I lost my nerve entirely. "I think we need to end this. Whatever this is, between the four of us."Nobody said anything for a long moment."Because of your mum." Audric said it quietly, not a question."Because of my mum." My voice cracked despite everything I'd rehearsed on the walk over. "She's pregnant, and she's terrified for me, and tonight already nearly tore this entire family apart. I can't keep hurting her over this. I won't.""Zuri—""Let me finish." I pressed my hands together to stop them shaking. "I love all three of you. Th
RheaJackson dropped to his knees between my legs so fast I barely had time to register the movement. He slapped my hand away from my pussy and replaced it with his mouth.The first touch of his tongue against my clit sent electricity shooting through my entire body. I gasped, my hips jerking up i
RHEAThe ride to the hospital was tense and silent except for my labored breathing. Brandon drove like a man possessed, weaving through traffic with single-minded focus. Jackson sat in the back with me, his hand wrapped around my wrist, fingers pressed against my pulse point.“You’re okay,” he kep
RHEAThe discharge nurse handed me a stack of papers I barely glanced at before shoving them in my bag. Instructions about monitoring symptoms, when to seek emergency care again, and medications to pick up. None of it mattered. All I wanted was to get out of this sterile white prison.Brandon’s han
RheaI slide into Elora’s car and slumped against the seat, my whole body feeling like it had been wrung out and left to dry.“Okay, spill,” Elora said, pulling out of the parking lot. “You’ve been weird all day and I want to know why.”I stared out the window, watching the school disappear behind







