Page 19 of Honey, I'm Home

Except it’s not a ring that lands on my finger, it’s a wet, slimy mouth.

“Ew!” I snap my eyes open and glare at Hawthorne.

“Sorry, is that not what you were asking for?”

None of the other guys are even chastising him.

“We need words, Aster,” Arbor demands.

This is not a spur-of-the-moment decision. This is a promise to remain faithful for a lifetime, to join our entire lives together and become true partners. They’re asking me to give up my soloidentity and become a permanent part of their trio, and it’s just… a lot.

Teenage me would be freaking out right now, crying and blubbering something fierce, throwing her arms around them and telling them how happy she was.

So why aren’t I doing that?

Why am I hesitating at all?

“I…”

“Come on,Asster,” My brother calls from my driveway. Where my parents are standing, filming the whole exchange. Awesome. “Stop trying to be stoic. We all know you’ve been in love with them forever. You’re going to say yes, so just do us all a favor and do it already. We got places to be.”

“Apologies, Aster. Would you excuse us for a minute? Perhaps wait inside for us? Oh, and make sure the blinds are all down, would you?”

Arbor helps himself back up to his feet, stashing the ring in his pocket as he does. After gently thrusting the flowers at me and kissing me on the cheek, the other two follow him along. I stay to watch long enough for them to grab my dumbass brother by the shoulder and then punch him in the face.

ThenI run.

Chapter 9

Aster

My first instinct is to run away, I can’t lie about that, but this place is now my home for however long, and these guys aren’t just going to disappear from my life because I’m embarrassed.

It’s kind of funny though that my parents didn’t defend my brother. Arbor, Hawthorne, and Dev are very nearly their sons as much as Anderson is, and talking like that after what was a pretty nice proposal was a pretty shit move.

I’m not sure what I was expecting once I crossed into Arbor’s house, but mostly, I was expecting it to look exactly as it did the last time I was here; it seems this was their backup plan.

They’ve gone the classic romantic route, filling the space with candles and rose petals, and oddly enough that relaxes me a little bit. It proves this wasn’t some afterthought, not that it could have been with a rock like Arbor presented to me, but that thiswas in fact something that these three guys put some serious thought into.

I think I just need to know if they put as much thought into the relationship aspect as they did the proposal itself.

I tell myself I’m not going to have a meltdown over the fact that Arbor, Hawthorne, and Dev just proposed to me, because that’s not what responsible, mature adults do. Not that I’m really either of those things, but fuck, can they just get inside already so I can stop spiraling alone, please?

I help myself to the bottle of white on the counter, gulping a healthy amount to steady my nerves before topping off my glass and walking through the rose petals again. Next thing I know, the guys are walking in, somewhat subdued, taking care to lock the front door.

The anxiousness on all their faces is further proof that the offer was real, but it still feels surreal to me. “Did you mean all that?”

“What, punching your asshole brother? Hell yeah. You have any idea how long we’ve dreamt of this day? I am so sorry, Aster. We wanted a better moment for you,” Hawthorne says as he rushes to me.

“No, not punching Anderson. I quite enjoyed that part. It feels like…I just moved back here, just reconnected with you guys and got over the shock of seeing you again, and then you up and proposed. Doesn’t that feel a bit…sudden to any of you?”

Hawthorne scoops me into his arms and…sniffs me…burying his face into my neck. This is probably the most intimate hold he’s ever given me, and once I relax into it, all those giddy feelings I was wondering about earlier come rushing to the surface.

Arbor walks up as well, hand on my lower back as he presses a gentle kiss to my shoulder. “Sudden? Nah. This isyearsin themaking. We’re just ending up where we always knew we would. As far as Anderson goes, we wouldn’t have done that outside if we knew it would be interrupted. Can we please get a do over?”

I look to Dev, too, to make sure all of us are on the same page, but they mean it. “The thing is, it feels very…sudden to me. I know—” I rush to say when it’s clear one or all of them want to interrupt me, “we’ve known each other forever, and we’ve sort of danced around us being together, and I don’t want to say no—”

“Then don’t,” Dev says firmly.