Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
A few days have gone by as Melody figures out her routine here with us. She spends most of the day on her tablet and phone, working our socials, and then every night she rotates bedrooms, spending a night with each of us.
“So it’s fair,” she announced with a megawatt smile so bright that we all agreed straight away because she was so happy.
Every morning she comes out of one of our rooms looking refreshed and satisfied, and starts cooking breakfast before Markus takes over with a kiss to her neck and a loving pat on the ass.
I love Melody to pieces, but she can only make toast.
And she can barely make that.
None of us have spoken up about her lack of cooking skills just yet. Whoever brings that up is going to break our honeymoon-type bubble, and none of us are ready for that to happen just yet.
Last night was Kai’s night with Mel. He comes out looking happier than I’ve seen him in a long time as he makes his way to the bathroom across the hall. We’re all happier since we got our shit together and begged her to stay with us.
The relationship dynamic isn’t as crazy as I think we all thought it would be.
Aside from having to watch my friends kissing Melody, or worse, hearing the rhythmic thud of a headboard against the wall and knowing one of them is fucking her, nothing has changed really on a group level.
We still have rehearsals all together, work out together, shoot the shit together, and relax together.
On an individual level, we all have our own relationship with Mel and we respect the other’s relationships too. It’s really been amazing.
And that’s why I’m fucking worried about this tour.
We tell Louis today about Melody, and how she’s coming with us.
Something’s not right with him. I can’t explain it, but I just have a bad feeling.
He disregarded Melody pretty quickly, treating her poorly even after we’ve told him not to, and then he sent that shitty message to Reis about her.
He’s more replaceable than she is, and it’s time for him to learn that.
Speaking of Melody, two warm arms wrap around my waist as I sit at the marble countertop drinking my coffee and scrolling my phone.
“Adam,” she says as a greeting, breathing heavily against my back.
“Hey Echo, good morning,” I chuckle, holding her hands against my stomach.
“Coffee, I need coffee,” she mutters, moving around to the front of me so I can hold her while the little minx steals my drink.
“Hey!”
“I need it more than you do,” she says with zero empathy.
“I beg to differ. Today’s a big day,” I pull her in so she’s standing in between my legs and I kiss her head.
“Oh yeah? What’s today?”
“Just a boundary-setting conversation we have to have with our manager.” I shrug. I don’t want to tell her that Louis' probably just a jealous tool, but I’m also not going to lie to her.
“That guy from the dressing room, right?” She furrows her eyebrows, disgust coloring her tone.
“Yeah, that asshole.”
“But he’s a necessary asshole.” Melody chuckles. “What do you guys have to tell him?”
“Just laying down the law. Louis likes to think he’s tougher shit than he is, and there are some things the guys and I aren’t willing to compromise on.” Her head tilts to the side as she looks at me.
“Me?”
“Exactly.”
“Does he not want me there or something?” She asks, and I bite my tongue. “Maybe… Maybe he has a point. I don’t think the world would be very understanding of this kind of relationship. And your world is very big. Maybe…”
“No. Nope. We aren’t even going down that train of thought, Echo,” I say strongly, pulling her in closer. “You're ours, and we’re yours. End of story.”
“I can’t ruin your careers–” she tries to explain, but I cut her off. But what did she think was going to happen? Explain that our careers might be affected and somehow we’d drop her? No. Not happening. Not now, not ever.
“You won’t.”
“That’s what Louis is so scared of. Me ruining your careers,” she says and I don’t want to lie to her, but she’s right.
“That’s not it,” Kai says boisterously as he walks in, shirtless with a chest scattered with small hickeys. Lucky fucker. “And even if it was his problem, we wouldn’t care at all. Louis' got a lot of opinions about work. But personally? Most of the time we ignore him.”
“Then why pay him?”
“Because we signed on with him three years ago and signed a five year contract.” Shaking my head, resting my forehead against her shoulder.
We had thought it was a good idea. But honestly, we signed on pretty instantaneously because someone wanted to represent us.
Louis hasn’t been a bad manager, on the contrary.
He’s been great for our career. But, he’s pretty narrow-minded and sometimes does shady stuff that we don’t necessarily agree with.
Prime example; his shitty attitude to Melody. We aren’t going to stand for that.
The four of us have let a lot of things go in the past, not really caring enough to ruffle any feathers. But not anymore.
“Good morning again, baby.” Kai dips to give Melody a quick kiss while I keep a tight grip on her. He had her all to himself last night, I want to hold her today.
“Good morning again,” she says with an easy smile.
“I still… I feel guilty. I just come into your lives–even if you did kidnap me–and I could potentially bring it crashing to the ground? That’s…
” She stops talking before shaking her head.
“I should get breakfast started.” Melody starts to pull away, but I’m saved from having to give her up because a shirtless, messy-haired Markus walks in.
“Oh, no, Songbird. Let me do that,” he says kindly, brushing his messy curls back while walking faster to stop her from reaching for where he keeps the pans.
I whisper against her cheek, voice low, just for her, “You do nothing but make our lives better.” Melody looks down with a shy smile before squeezing my thigh and turning to Markus.
“No, it’s okay. Let me cook for you guys,” she tries to insist, and the guys and I share a look of terror.
“Really, Mel, just let him.” I scramble to try to find a reason that wouldn’t make her upset. “He, uh, he really likes to cook. Don’t you, Markus?”
“Yeah, I do actually.” He nods, going to the fridge and pulling the eggs out. “Just relax, babe. Call it a perk of having four boyfriends.” He winks at her, and Melody’s cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink.
“That’s right,” Kai says with a loud laugh. “We’re boyfriends now.”
“Not we’re boyfriends,” I jump in quickly.
“We are. We are boyfriends.”
“No, we’re her boyfriends. There’s a difference.” I point out, cocking an eyebrow with a pointed expression to Kai.
“Potato, poh-tat-toe.” Kai waves his hand at me like it’s not a big difference, before getting his own coffee mug and pouring himself a cup.
“Well, one makes it sound like we’re all fucking each other, when really, we’re all fucking her, and only her.” Melody stiffens in my hold at my bluntness. The guys laugh, all agreeing and high-fiveing each other, but all my attention is on Mel.
“Did I say something wrong?” I whisper against her skin. That must shake her out of whatever funk she’s in because she jolts and turns to me with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.
“No, no,” she says, patting my hand resting on her hip. “I just…It’s the first time I’ve heard you call yourselves my boyfriends.”
“Better get used to it, love. For now, it’s boyfriends. Next, it’ll be fiancés. Then, husbands. Then, baby daddies.”
Melody laughs, the sound giving my soul life.
“Glad to know you’ve thought this through.” She rolls her eyes, but the way she doesn’t meet my eyeline makes me think that she doesn’t quite believe me.
I spin her in my arms so her front is flush with mine and her back is against the counter. Holding her chin in between my thumb and forefinger, I wait for her to look me in the eyes.
“If you think that the four of us haven’t thought about locking you down with both a ring and a baby, you’re sorely mistaken.” I don’t mince my words, telling her exactly where this relationship is heading.
She will be the mother of our brood of children. She will somehow be married to us all. It’s just a matter of time.
“Oh my god, I’m not ready for today.” Reis comes in groaning, holding his head and carrying a red flannel.
“When’s the meeting?” Kai asks, sliding a mug of coffee over to Melody who holds the warm cup in her hands before blowing him a kiss in thanks.
“Ten, so if you’re going to eat, hurry up, and let’s head out,” he orders, slipping right into work mode. Reaching over, he grabs ahold of Mel’s waist, leans in to kiss her good morning, and goes to get his own caffeine fix.
“What are you going to do today, love?” Markus asks, sliding a plate of scrambled eggs over to Melody.
None of us say anything about the order in which food is dolled out. It’s ladies first. Always, our lady first.
“Probably just sort through my four massive boxes.” She gestures with her head over to our foyer where her stuff had been delivered late last night. Much later than Louis had promised. Reis wasn’t happy, and made his anger be known, but Louis just metaphorically shrugged and brushed us off.
“Well, make yourself at home,” Reis says quickly, walking back towards her and kissing her temple before grabbing a pen out of the drawer to write something down in the notebook he’s been carrying around a lot recently.
“If you want to unpack all your panties and bras in my drawers, I’d be cool with that.” Markus says with a fucking cheeky shrug and winks at her. Melody laughs, covering her full mouth with her hand.
“Unpack wherever you feel comfortable. That first room is yours, but no one will be upset if you choose to keep things in each of our rooms,” Reis announces, his words holding weight.
There’s an unspoken order there, that we are not to pressure her.
We all decided that the spare room was no longer our guest room, but instead hers.
I handed her our joint credit card and told her to order whatever she wanted to decorate her room, or any room of the apartment. We want her to feel at home.
Based on the credit card statement, she hasn’t ordered anything yet and I’m dying to ask her about it.
We all nod in agreement, understanding what Reis' saying.
“I wouldn’t mind some panties to keep under my pillow on nights where you’re with the others,” Kai says, looking out of the corner of his eye and pursing his lips into an upside down grin.
“If you’re just giving them out…” I tack on.
Markus starts to chuckle and so does Reis, their laughter making Kai and I start.
But we all stop when Melody’s laugh fills the room.
She’s laughing fully, giving us a full-body laugh that makes us all pause.
She realizes it though, because when she can calm herself a little, she looks around.
Her eyes flitting over us all, going from happy to worried.
“What?” She wipes the corners of her lips. “Do I have something on my face?”
“No, no, Songbird,” Markus shakes his head, answering for us all. “Your laugh. I wish I could bottle it up.”
“I haven’t gotten to hear it nearly enough,” Reis agrees. “It’s like the best chorus ever, always in my head making me want to listen to the song over and over.”
“That’s honestly, the best way to describe it. Addictive.” Kai nods.
“Enough to make grown men obsessed, ” I whisper in her ear. “Among other things.”
Melody’s eyes darken, and she bites her lip.
I can see where her mind is going as she makes eye contact with each of us through her eyelashes.
We’re all under her spell, and the others slowly start to gravitate toward where Mel stands in my arms. My hands roam down her hips, over the outsides of her thighs and slowly trail up her inner thighs, tickling the soft skin there.
Melody’s head drops back against my shoulder, and I hear her breathing catch.
I don’t dare move higher. I don’t want to tease her, and I know I don’t have enough time to give her the proper attention she deserves.
“Don’t you look at us like that, baby.” Reis rolls his lower lip between his teeth. “We do not have time to explore group sex today.”
“But there will be time?” Melody says quickly, so quickly I want to laugh. But I don’t. None of us do. Because we know that the moment we do, she won’t bring it up again.
And from the looks of it, it’s something we all are very, very interested in.
“Yeah, baby. There will definitely be a time,” Reis says gruffly, his eyes dark.
I don’t mind taking turns.
Not one bit.