5

THEO

I poured half a shot into one of Kash's abnormally-shaped drink glasses. He had mentioned something about it being a collector's item and the scotch in the accompanying cabinet flown from some exotic island. But fuck, I just needed a drink and gave two fucks how expensive it was or where it came from. I'd replace it before he even noticed. I stared at the amber liquid for a few seconds, sloshing in the bottle, before taking an unhealthy swig from the spout itself. The burn scorched my throat and I shuddered, relishing the painful warmth as it spread throughout my body.

This was my fifth year at Pleasant Grove Institute, having graduated from the undergraduate program two years ago. By this time next year, I'd be seated at the Shadow Ring table, one of the most exclusive societies in the state. I had no idea what my parents did for a living, just that it was a lot of shady shit and I'd inherit their seat once I graduated. Not that I cared. I saw the dollar signs and knew I'd be set for life. The only downfall to my future was that my parents required a fucking Engineer degree. I had no desire to be an Engineer, but if I didn't want to be disowned and thrown out on the street like a peasant, I had to comply.

I downed another gulp from the bottle before capping the top. No need for Kash to find out that I was skimming his alcohol. My eyes traveled the pictures littered across the hallway walls, sharing the history of Kash, Max, and I's academic pursuits and adventures. The three of us had grown up together, thick as thieves, knowing that one day we would all take our parents' seats. It was a first-born birthright that not one of us questioned. Despite, Kash being an entire year older than us, we entered the institute together.

We had our orders – I was the engineer, Max was the biochem major, and Kash was the fucking law student. I wasn't sure how any of that was going to pan out, seeing as how I couldn't fix shit (not that I ever studied), Max was a moody motherfucker who had dark tendencies to take unprecedented risks, and Kash only spoke when it was worth it. I had never even heard the man argue. He just shot you one of those 'don't fuck with me looks' and everyone got quiet. It helped that he was 6'7" and his shoulders were fucking massive. Funny thing was that unless he needed to, he wouldn't even hurt a fly. My personal gentle giant.

Apart from our academics, we shared everything. Our lives were intertwined in every way, our interests, our hobbies, our women. Once upon a time, we had shared my girl, Teresa Park, in more ways one than one, but she was too clingy for the both of them. I felt the same, but she was so fucking easy that I kept her around. She also kept all of the other unwanted attention away. She was the heir to some clothing line in France and my parents didn't hate her family's morals. So it worked. For now.

And behind closed doors, we shared… ourselves. I didn't question that either. It just felt so… right. Like their touch completed me. I didn't examine it too closely. I never wanted to. I didn't want to find out that all my feelings didn't mean anything.

Unconsciously, I popped the cork and downed another fifth. Fuck, Kash was going to be pissed. Alcohol and I were not friends. Mix in my tendency to pop off after anything particularly pissed me off and I was a fucking danger to even myself.

Like the fucking normie who had shown up today. Her lingering sweet sunflower scent was still swirling around in my head.

It wasn't unheard of that students came in at the last half of the semester, after all, we had eight-week courses, rather than the normal sixteen. But a fucking normie on our campus was a rare thing. The kid was either a bastard child or some charity case that one of our parents was trying to use to boost their campaign. She didn't seem to be any of those things and she stuck out like a fucking sore thumb, especially since I had seen her crawling out of the Edmundson's company car. It irked me.

To be honest, it wasn't really that a normie was on campus. I could have cared less. It was the way she was watching me, the heat in her gaze, the absolute distaste for the culture, and the way she didn't even flinch when Teresa threatened her with her claws. The normie had shown up to our campus in fucking peasant clothes, though I couldn't disagree that the tight leather hugging her curves and the way her midnight hair fell around her shoulders suited her figure.

Still, I was going to have to take her down a peg or two or a million.

She bothered me. In all the wrong fucking ways. I was supposed to be this easygoing guy, that didn't have a care in the world. I had my life laid out. I fucked around, partied, got drunk, and everyone loved me for it. The anger brimming beneath the surface was about to erupt like a volcano and if I wasn't careful, I was going to take it out on Teresa.

Right now, I needed something to help me forget the fucking normie from this morning. I palmed at my pants, angry at how much I wanted to touch her, bend her over backward and fuck her into oblivion. She just seemed so guarded and I wanted to break her over and over and over again until we both couldn't stand. I downed the glass of the expensive scotch, hissing as it burned on its way down again. Goddamn, Kash, this is some good shit.

I heard someone clear their throat, a chuckle on his lips. I whipped around as if I had been doing something wrong. I had been. I was. I wasn't supposed to be drinking. My gentle giant stalked over and removed the cup from my hand, his fingers gripping mine in the glass' absence. "How many?" I didn't answer as his arms slipped around my waist, pulling me flush against his chest. I breathed in his musky campfire scent like I was starved for the man. His touch completed the lost feeling in my stomach and I felt like I could finally breathe again as I snuggled into his embrace, angling my face up so that I could press my lips to the bare skin just above his v-neck. I still wasn't going to ask how this worked.

"How. Many." Kash punctuated his words and I shivered in his arms, curling into myself.

"Three," I muttered, not counting the swigs I had taken directly from the bottle. His hands dug into my waist with punishing strength. I yelped and bowed my head further, knowing exactly what he wanted to say. Alcohol always made things worse. The last time Teresa had pissed me off, I had set one of the sororities on fire. Childish? Sure. Dangerous? Absolutely. Fucking crazy? Check. But money and power went a long way. The damage was chalked up to a prank gone wrong or a hazing ritual, and now Kash kept an eye on his stash. I still had my ways of getting to it but I was usually better at hiding my talent.

Not today though. That fucking normie had gotten under my skin and I had been caught drinking mid-day, skipping whatever goddamn class I had scheduled for after lunch. I could feel Kash still waiting for an explanation as his even breathing calmed the thoughts swirling in my head. "There's a normie on campus." His eyebrow raised in jest, a smile playing on his lips. I snuggled further into his arms, wrapping my arms around his back. "She… she's not like the others."

Normies saw 'prestigious academy' and thought they'd be receiving the best education on the planet as they tried to worm their way in here using faulty connections. In reality, this was a prison for rich people's kids. It was a way to tap extra credentials to our name without really having to work for it and then we'd settle into whatever birthright our parents were going to give us anyway. Kash released me and locked up the cabinet. He sighed and turned back to me, disappointment in his eyes.

"I'm sorry… she just got under my skin." The fucking understatement of the year. The bulge in between my thighs wasn't entirely for Kash and I think he knew it. The last of our group, Max, hopped over the threshold, after throwing the front door wide open, walking in with his uneven signature gait, his hands in his pockets, eyes dark, his earthy wood and cinnamon scent mixing in with ours. His eyes dropped to the liquor cabinet, then the glass on top of it, and lastly – me. I groaned, not ready for another lecture.

He placed a hand on Kash's arm, before wrapping an arm around my waist, no extra thoughts to his actions. To anyone else, it would be fucking unnatural the way we embraced and touched each other. But to us? It was as natural as waking up in the morning. I leaned into his touch, my heart swelling with happiness. If I ever lost these two men, I would fall apart and no one would be able to put me back together. I wouldn't call it love, but fuck I needed them.

Max gave my waist a little squeeze before dropping his arm to his side. "You were all getting down and dirty without me? I feel hurt." Despite his usually broody expression, he was the most accepting of this strange relationship we shared. It made it easier to not think about how wrong society thought it was or the things they'd say if they ever found out about our polyamorous activities. A knowing smirk played on his lips. "I thought ya'll would be out combing for fresh meat. Besides, the plebs are trying to organize the next party and I think they could use some help." He directed his attention to me for that one. If there was one thing I could do right, it was throw a fucking party. And as one of the heads of Phi Beta Gamma, the king of fraternities on campus, it was my god-given duty to make sure that all parties were up to par. I could only imagine what some of the freshmen's ideas were.

Kash shook his head. He wasn't much of a people person, but I blamed that on the fact that people just didn't give him a chance. Then again, the blank expression that almost always accompanied him and his uncanny ability to read people might have also explained the lack of friends.

I threw Max a half-hearted smile, "I've got a girlfriend." I didn't even believe my own fucking words, especially since I would have rather just spent my time here, in our apartment, together with them. But fuck if I would ever tell them that. They would never hear about my feelings from my mouth. Feelings complicated things.

Max threw his head back and laughed, "You're full of shit. Teresa's a leech and you fucking know it. Besides, you're going to drop her like a sack of potatoes in a few weeks anyway." He wasn't wrong. Fuck if I was going to keep her in my back pocket over the holidays. Girls always demanded shit, parties, presents, attention during December. I didn't have the time or energy for that. For some reason, I was pretty sure the normie wouldn't ask for anything. I mentally smacked myself. I was going to stay fucking far away from that girl. Nothing good would come of sharing the same air. Not even if her scent was fucking delicious. My last year here was supposed to be a breeze.

"You got into Kash's cabinet again?" I jerked up at Max's voice as one of his eyebrows rose in jest. The fucker had just sold me out to the big guy, "I'm surprised he hasn't tried to kill you."

Kash looked down at his locked cabinet before growling at me, his hand wrapping around my wrist, his eyes flashing in anger. I probably should have trembled or acted scared, but his touch made me want to pull his head down into one of those blindingly passionate kisses that made my dick twitch. I bowed my head instead of playing out my desires. Max huffed in my general direction, sliding into one of the armchairs, "What's the excuse this time?"

Kash interjected before I could even open my mouth, "A normie." His fingers loosened and slid to thread through mine. I kept my expression neutral but inside everything was at peace. Didn't make a lick of fucking sense, but nope, not thinking about it. Not going to question it.

Max whipped out his phone, most likely checking on Phi Beta Gamma's main board for any information we needed to watch out for, "They're all a bunch of waste of space." His lip curled up and his eyes lit up, as he scrolled, searching through the fresh meat posted on the main page. One of Phi Beta Gamma's girls was in charge of listing every newbie, sort of a who's who on campus. The posts were updated periodically with new information as the year dragged on. Max had a reputation for checking out all the who's who women and sometimes men that suited his fancy. People lined up to be with him, which I found strange. I grew up with him and knew for a fact that he wasn't all that… likable.

I almost asked him to look up the normie, but I had no idea who she was and I didn't want to give either of the guys any idea that I had a fucking hard-on for her. With a heavy sigh, I ran my hands through my hair as I wobbled on my feet. Okay, so maybe I had had too much. But no one had gotten hurt, all buildings were still standing, and I hadn't ended up in a ditch. "This one is different. She… smells different." Well, fuck. I clamped my lips shut, but it was too late as I reached their gaze.

Kash froze beside me and Max sat up in his chair, his eyes trained on me and my words, his phone dangling dangerously from his fingers. I hadn't meant to say that, but I had and now there was going to be a problem. We had a strange sense of smell and for some reason, we could smell each other from a mile away. Natural scents. These two men were my ride-or-die. Fuck the system.

Their natural scents calmed me. Loved me. Enveloped me. And got me hard.

That normie from earlier? She did too.

And the thought fucking terrified me.

By the looks of it, Max and Kash were a little concerned. Well… more than a little.

I guess it was a good thing I told Teresa she had free reign to terrorize the normie. If the girl was still around after a week, maybe I'd revisit this whole issue. If not, then I'd just put it behind me. Because that was a totally healthy thing to do.

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