Chapter 8
Eight
Ethan
My muscles burned in a good way as I swung out towards Gabriel, hoping to make contact with one of my heavy, red boxing gloves.
I didn't have many releases for my pent-up frustrations, so whenever I got the opportunity, I liked to engage in my favourite pastime, boxing.
I was thrilled to learn that at least one of the other dads liked boxing as well, so Gabriel and I made it a point to get together to box once a week. I flattered myself as a better boxer than him, but I knew that, in reality, he could probably kick my ass.
My punch swung wide and Gabriel ducked out of the way, swinging his own fist down into my gut for a low blow.
"Fuck," I grunted.
"Come on," Gabriel huffed between breaths. "I know you can do better than that."
I stood upright and backed away from Gabriel. I sniffed in, recovering from the blow, and then went back in.
I was determined to land at least one solid hit against Gabriel before we ended our match for the day. He always got the best of me and I wanted the upper hand for once.
I swung out, but Gabriel threw up his forearm and blocked it with expertise. I threw my other fist, but he parried and stepped out to the side.
"Fuck. You move quick for a guy with a stick so far up his ass," I growled.
Gabriel relaxed his body and dropped his fists.
"What the fu–" I threw a punch and made hard contact with Gabriel's face. He stumbled back and dropped to his butt. He tilted his head back and then started laughing.
"Well played." Gabriel had one overarching weakness: his ego. I didn't like to exploit things like that unless I needed to, but I was getting tired and I wanted to take Gabriel down.
Mission accomplished.
I used my teeth to peel off the Velcro of my right glove and then reached out a hand and pulled Gabriel to his feet. We each pulled off our gloves and then climbed out of the ring.
"Fair match," Gabriel said with a smile, holding out his fist for a bump, "but you won't get me like that next time." I met his fist bump with my own.
"Sorry. I had to win."
Gabriel rolled his eyes and then we made our way over to our bags. I pulled out my phone and saw that I had a couple of missed calls from Liam. I looked over at Gabriel and saw that he had his head cocked to the side in confusion as well.
"Hey," I called over.
"Missed calls from Liam?"
"Yeah," Gabriel replied.
"That's weird. He never calls."
Liam was a religious texter. He did so much talking all day, every day at his job, so when he was off the clock, he preferred to save his voice and text.
"Get dressed and we'll call him from the car," Gabriel said.
I changed out of my workout clothes, and met Gabriel at his pristine, silver Lexus in front of our gym. I climbed into the passenger's side of his car, and then Gabriel got in and started his car.
He pressed the phone button and his car blinged to life.
"Call Liam," Gabriel told it, and a second later Liam answered.
"Where the hell have you been?" Liam barked.
"Whoa," Gabriel replied.
"Hey, Liam, it's me and Ethan. We were at the gym, boxing. I kicked his ass, obviously."
"If by 'kicked his ass,' you mean fell flat on yours, then I would say that's an accurate depiction of what happened today," I cut in.
"You cheated," Gabriel spat back.
I gasped.
"What? No, I–"
"Hey guys, fun fact, I don't give a shit who won your little means-nothing boxing match. Something happened with Aria last night," Liam said.
Gabriel's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "What do you mean, something happened?"
There was a pause on the other end. "She asked me about our dating lives. I tried to keep it vague, but she pushed. So I told her the truth about our arrangement."
My stomach dropped. "You told her? We agreed Noah would—"
"I know what we agreed," Liam interrupted. "But she was asking direct questions, and I wasn't going to lie to her face. She's not stupid, Ethan. She was already picking up on things."
Gabriel and I exchanged a look. He was right about that—Aria was perceptive. Still, this wasn't how we'd planned it.
"How did she react?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level.
"Better than I expected, honestly. She seemed... intrigued. We talked for a while about how it works, and then things got a little heated between us."
"How heated?" Gabriel's voice was tight.
"Heated enough that I had to make a choice about how far to take things. I didn't sleep with her—we agreed to wait on that. But we didn't exactly keep our hands to ourselves either."
I sat back in my seat, processing. Part of me felt a flash of something—not quite jealousy, but close. The bigger part of me was concerned about what this meant for all of us.
"Is she okay with everything?" I asked. "With the arrangement, I mean?"
"She seemed to be. More than okay, actually. But that's why I'm calling. We need to meet and figure out what we're doing here. If she's genuinely interested in moving forward with this, we need to be clear about expectations. For her sake and ours."
"And the kids," I added. That was the part that worried me most. Leo had already gotten attached to Aria. If this went sideways, it wouldn't just affect us.
"Exactly," Liam said. "Can you two come to Noah's? We need to talk this through before Aria gets back with the kids."
"Yeah. Let us go home and change, and we'll be over," Gabriel said.
"Okay. Don't take too long," Liam said.
"Bye."
"Bye," Gabriel and I both responded, and then the line went dead.
I started to climb out of Gabriel's car, but he grabbed my arm and stopped me.
I looked over my shoulder, and his face was stone serious. "What?" I asked.
"I just think, before we do this, I want you to know…" Gabriel began, and I'd never seen him look so serious before.
"That last shot you got off."
"Yeah?" I said.
"It only brought you up to eight. I still won with ten points," Gabriel said, then he flashed a dumb smile.
I flipped him off, climbed out of the car, and slammed the door. Moron. I actually thought he had something serious to say. I probably should have known better. I made my way to my own car and expeditiously returned to my home.
I took a quick shower, dressed myself in something comfortable, and then made my way over to Noah's house. Everyone had already gathered, and once drinks were poured and everyone was comfortable in the den, Noah checked his watch.
"Alright, we don't have much time. Aria is picking the kids up from school and bringing them here, so we gotta talk and talk fast," he said.
"Tell us everything," Gabriel said.
"It happened really quickly," Liam said.
"I asked her to hang out while I tucked Mila in, and when I came back, she was making herself an ice cream and coffee liqueur bowl.
I got one myself, and once we were both a little tipsy, she asked me about our dating lives.
I tried to keep it vague, but I think she could tell I was lying and pushed. "
"I'm sure she could tell you were lying. You're a horrible liar," I said.
"Anyway," Liam continued.
"Once she pushed me enough, I told her the truth about us sharing a woman, usually the nanny.
I thought she was going to freak out, but she really just looked intrigued.
We started talking about arrangements; twosomes, threesomes; and I think she got turned on.
She climbed onto my lap, kissed me, and things escalated from there.
I knew what we'd decided, so I didn't want to sleep with her just yet, even though she would have let me. But we didn't exactly stop at talking."
Gabriel leaned forward. "So she's interested. Actually interested."
"It seems that way," Liam said. "But that's the thing—I don't know if she fully understands what she's getting into. This isn't just about attraction. It's about seven kids, five men, and a very unconventional situation."
"Which is exactly why we need to handle this carefully," Ronan said, speaking up for the first time. "Aria is caring for our children. More than that, they all seem to adore her. We can't afford to rush into something without being absolutely certain she understands what this means."
I nodded. "Ronan's right. My ex left because she couldn't handle the pressure of being a cop's wife. If Aria's going to be part of this, she needs to know what she's signing up for. All of it."
"So what do we do?" Julian asked. "Just... wait and see?"
"No," Noah said. "We need to have a real conversation with her. Lay everything out clearly. Make sure she knows this isn't just about physical attraction—it's about building something together. A family."
"The question is who has that conversation," Gabriel said, looking around the room.
Liam raised his hand. "I'll do it."
Gabriel raised his hand higher.
"No! I'll do it."
"Okay, so clearly we can't trust either of those two," Julian said. He looked over at me with a raised eyebrow, then shifted his gaze to Ronan.
"Ronan, you should do it."
"Me?" He questioned.
I knew where Julian was going with it. It made sense to have the most calm, cool, and collected of us to have the official conversation with Aria.
"Yeah, you should do it," I added.
"She respects you a lot, and you're the most mature one of us. You can make sure she understands what this really means—not just the physical side, but the emotional complexity. The kids. All of it."
Ronan sat there in silence for a moment, but then a coy smile curled across his face. "Okay. I'll do it."