HUGE HOUSE HATES: AN ENEMIES TO LOVERS REVERSE HAREM ROMANCE (HUGE Series)

“We’re almost there,” Cora says, craning to look out the window at the passing houses. We’ve been driving for a while, and my legs are cramping up from lack of use. The thought of getting out and stretching has me flexing my fingers in anticipation.

“What does the house look like?” Tobias asks. He’s driving and relying on Cora for directions.

“It’s a really beautiful white wooden house with a wraparound porch. Think of a place big enough to house twelve adults.

“So we’re looking for a mansion,” Danny asks.

“We’re looking for an awesome normal-person house,” Cora says, shooting him a look. Cora is used to living like a normal person, and the insinuation is that we aren’t.

“Is it that one?” Danny asks.

“Yes…pull into the drive,” Cora screeches, and Tobias wrestles with the steering wheel, throwing the car into a large driveway in front of a very pretty house. Someone likes gardening, as the beds are filled with vibrant shrubs, and pots overflowing with colorful flowers that decorate the porch. There’s a scooter by the front door, and a swing with a colorful cushion seat set in front of a rattan table and a few chairs. Not enough for twelve adults, but I guess they don’t all use the area simultaneously.

“Gordon, Logan, and Daryl won’t be here. They’re training,” Cora says.

I know that Tobias will be as disappointed as I am that our visit is during preseason training. Logan and Gordon could tell us a whole lot about what it’s like to go pro. It’s something Tobias has dreamed of more than me, and not something our dad has ever been enthusiastic about. He wants his sons to work in reputable industries and worries about the injuries that can be inflicted when coming head-to-head with the brutes playing for the opposing team.

I like football, but it’s more of a hobby for me. Up until this year, it’s been a great way to get girls too, but I’ve gotten bored with the kinds of women who are into players for their hulking bodies and their potential paychecks. All they want is someone with ripped abs and notoriety. They’re never interested in the person behind the name and the six-pack.

“So that only leaves nine names to remember,” Mark says. Of course, he’d be worried about the details.

“Complicated by the set of twins and triplets,” Cora smiles. “Don’t worry. They’re used to people making mistakes. They’re never bothered by it.”

A woman with dark, long wavy hair and a broad smile appears in the doorway with a small child resting on her hip. “There’s Maggie,” Cora says happily. As soon as we begin to disembark, Cora’s off across the driveway, the gravel crunching beneath her feet and her long floral dress clutched in her fists so that she doesn’t trip over. I know that they were friends in college, but I didn’t realize how close. Cora filled us in on Maggie’s story on the way over, explaining the unusual relationship situation. I’ll admit to being absolutely stunned at the idea that eleven men could share just one woman. I spent most of the journey trying to imagine what kind of woman could keep eleven men satisfied, and I’ve got to admit that Maggie looks nothing like I expected her to.

She could be the girl next door with her mom jeans, white tee, and sneakers. Whatever she has that makes her so intoxicating must be well hidden. What’s the saying? A lady in the streets and a freak in the sheets?

But then I think about Cora and the sweet way her eyes crinkle at the sides when she smiles, or how she licks over her teeth when she’s thinking, and how those little things make me want to bend her over the table and slide deep inside her. The rules of attraction are certainly not scientific. More animalistic, if the truth be told.

Cora embraces them both, bending to kiss the child’s chubby cheek. Maggie beams, obviously happy to see her friend, and the warmth of the scene touches my heart. For the first time, I see how open and sweet Cora is with the people she loves, but before I get a chance to dwell too much in my sentimental thoughts, she’s waving us over, and a whole herd of men begin streaming out of the house.

A whole herd of huge men.

I don’t know what it is about the way men meet men that feels instinctively like everyone is on the edge of a confrontation. I stand shoulder to shoulder with my brothers as we take in the nine men in front of us. Fuck. These dudes seriously share that tiny woman.

Then one of them smiles broadly, and that’s all it takes for the ice to break. “Get in here,” the man says. “We’ve got meat on the grill and beers in the cooler.”

Tobias wastes no time, practically jogging up the steps as Cora introduces each of Maggie’s men. There’s no time for me to work out how to remember names, but I take comfort in the knowledge that it’s unlikely they’ll remember ours. We can always slip into an unofficial man-language where we refer to each other as bro and dude.

We make our way through the house, and Alden remarks on the period interior. Danny’s eyes are drawn to the wall of black-and-white photographs in the den, and Mark seems fascinated by the number of shoes by the front door. It’s tidy and clean, but definitely, a house that’s lived in by a lot of people.

In the yard, a huge wooden table that seats fourteen is flanked by a smaller round table that has been set up to accommodate us. The grill is the biggest I’ve ever seen, and the amount of meat sizzling would make a butcher weep with joy. Someone has prepared a garden salad, coleslaw and some delicious-looking potato salad with scallions and corn.

There’s even a burger station with sliced onions and cheese, jalapenos and pickles, and five different sauces. I feel like I’ve dropped into my own personal slice of heaven.

While Cora helps Maggie bring out plates and glasses, a big guy called John hands out beers and told us about the great local butcher they get their meat from. Apparently, it’s all locally reared. None of that antibiotic and growth hormone-filled crap you get in the big stores. “That stuff messes with your body,” he says. “Kills all the good bacteria in your gut and messes with your hormones and metabolism.”

“His body is his temple,” another guy says. He has a twin. Is it Hunter or Harley? God, I’m terrible with names.

“Yeah, and your body is a temple by default,” John says. “What I buy for this house gets eaten by us all. I get especially worried about little Dale. I want him to grow up strong and healthy.”

“He sure looks like he is,” Alden says, looking over at the little boy currently running around the yard kicking a soccer ball.

“He wants to play ball like his daddies,” John says. “But Maggie’s not so sure.”

“Why? The concussion thing?” I ask because it plays on my mind too. How many minor head injuries have I suffered over the years? Too many to count.

“Yeah, and the fact that all of us who aren’t playing professionally are carrying around the injuries we sustained over the years.”

“I hear you,” Tobias says, rolling his right shoulder that’s always the one giving him trouble.

“Anyway, whatever Maggie decides, we’re with her,” Donovan says, or is it Dwayne? These identical twins and triplets are so hard to keep track of.

“Really? You wouldn’t argue about it?” Mark asks.

He shakes his head. “As far as I’m concerned, that woman grew that child inside her and went through hell to birth him. She has his best interests at heart in all things. We all would have loved a mom to care about us the way she cares about him, and none of us will interfere.”

“We lost our mom , too,” Danny says softly.

“So you know,” John says. He flips the burgers over one by one, and they all sizzle like crazy, emitting the most delicious scent.

“When Maggie moved in, all the feminine influence that was missing in this house was suddenly restored. She brought everything together.”

“Is that why you guy’s ended up…” I don’t really know how to label their relationship, so I pause, racking my brain for the best way to put it.

“Ended up with the same woman?” John asks.

I nod, my eyes drifting over to Cora, who’s laying silverware around the tables. In her denim shorts and a red retro sports shirt, she looks like a girl who’s been portaled in from a nineties music video. She bites her bottom lip, and I run my tongue over the seam of my own mouth, imagining what hers would taste like.

I get what John’s saying. I’ve felt the same since Cora moved in. It’s a subtle shift to have a woman in the house. A change in atmosphere that I can’t quite explain.

“None of us wanted to move out of this house. It’s been the only home most of us have ever truly felt loved in. Going out into the world separately to make our own families felt like a sacrifice of everything we’d built. When Maggie arrived, she just fit in perfectly.”

“And you don’t find sharing her difficult?” I ask, feeling the heat rising in my cheeks as I realize the implication of my question.

“What we lose in alone time, we gain in family connection. All relationships are a balancing act. But Maggie’s so good at being what we all need while remaining true to herself. It’s a skill, and not everyone would be good at it.”

“And none of you feel jealous?” Danny asks, gazing over at Cora too. I wonder if he’s thinking the same crazy thing as me.

“Nope,” they all say at the same time and then laugh, clinking their beer bottles. “Now, if only one of us got the chance to be with Maggie, the rest of us would be green with envy. But we are one unit. One big, perfect, messy, crazy unit,” John says.

“Are you done with those burgers yet?” Maggie calls from the deck.

“Yep,” John says. He grabs a platter and begins to flip all the burgers from the grill. “Food’s up!”

The afternoon passes so quickly. We eat and drink and enjoy the company. I watch Maggie and her men and how perfectly they all work together. There is always someone to take care of little Dale, and the chores are shared between them all. Rather than witnessing a lot of conflict, it’s like watching a well-oiled machine.

When we get into the car, my mind is whirring. John’s words dance in my mind. I’m on the cusp of leaving college, and then what? Do I go my own way and leave my brothers behind? Do I work to forge my individual life, or is now the time to push for something different?

Ever since Cora moved in with us, I’ve been attracted to her independent spirit and resilience. She didn’t bend when under pressure. She had the strength to stand up to all of us, and that’s what we need in our lives. A strong woman who can take all our different personalities and not crumble under the weight of our differences.

Can I imagine a life where I’m not living with my brothers?

Not really. When Mom passed, we became so much closer, relying on each other for everything that was missing from our lives. Leaving that behind doesn’t seem right, and watching my brothers walk away from our home would feel like losing too much all over again.

I have to talk to them, at least to try and explain what I’m thinking. I’ve seen the way they all look at Cora, with both approving and intrigued expression, but this is something different. Imagining being with a woman as an individual is one thing, but contemplating sharing her with your brothers is another level.

When we’re home, Cora heads up to her room to shower, and I tell my brothers that I need to talk to them. We gather in the den, each of them looking at me with concerned eyes. I guess this is an unusual approach for me. Usually, if I have something to say, I just spit it right out.

“What is it, River?” Alden asks.

I lean forward, resting my forearms on my thighs, knowing that I don’t have long to convey what I want. I look at each of my brothers individually, feeling so much love for them. We’ll always be a team, even if things don’t work out. I know this. But it will be so much better if they’ll just hear me out.

“What do you think of what Maggie has with her men?”

“I think that house must have the most ridiculous food bill ever,” Tobias says, shaking his head. He isn’t wrong. With eleven huge men to feed, and Maggie and Dale , it’s a good thing there are eleven paychecks coming in.

“You mean so many men sharing one woman?” Danny asks. Unusually, he’s the one who’s most focused on me and most in tune with what I’m thinking. Out of all of us, he had the biggest issue with Cora when she arrived. Will he be the one most opposed to this idea or the one most for it?

“Yes.”

“I think it has its benefits,” Mark says. “Financial security, physical security, emotional unity. From what they were saying, they wouldn’t want to live any other way.”

I nod, taking a deep breath and leaning back into the comfort of the couch. “Is it a kind of lifestyle you’d want?”

“Are you seriously asking that?” Tobias asks. “I mean, you sounded pretty serious when you said you wanted to talk to us about something. It’s not a philosophical question, is it?”

“No. I’m really asking.”

“Do you have someone in mind?” Danny asks, cocking his head to one side as he scans me with interest.

“Yeah. Cora,” I say.

“You want to date Cora?” he asks.

“I want us all to date Cora.”

The room descends into silence for one beat, two beats, three beats. I look around, waiting for someone to comment, tell me I’m crazy, tell me they feel the same, anything.

For a moment, I wonder if I’m going crazy. Has being shut in this house with a woman made me feel things that aren’t real? Am I so starved of female affection that isn’t sexual that I’ve built it up into something it isn’t?

No.

I know what I feel. Ever since she sobbed her heart out in front of me, I’ve known. Even before, when she looked at me with those pretty eyes with her mouth set in a determined line, I knew. The fire I felt inside me to protect her is something totally new.

“I’ve seen how you all look at her,” I say. “I’ve seen with my own eyes how great it could be. None of us are dating right now. There couldn’t be a more perfect time to start something with her.”

“It isn’t always going to be like Maggie and her men. You know that, right? What they have is the exception to the rule.” Alden is doing the sensible big-brother thing, but the way he’s rubbing his beard indicates he’s thinking.

“Cora is special,” I say. “You know that. She’s sweet and fiery, sexy but with a girl-next-door kind of innocence. She’s clever and creative, warm but with a sharp edge that will keep us all in our place. She can handle us.”

“She can,” Danny agrees with a small smile on his face. “If there’s one girl in the world who has enough backbone to handle us, it’s Cora.”

“Handle you, you mean?” Mark says.

“Exactly.” Danny’s full-on grinning now, my idea settling into his mind.

“All of us have been trying our best to be the kind of men she’d want to date. I’ve watched you guys and the way you are with her. I’ve felt the way I am when she’s around, and it’s different.”

“Cora’s a beautiful girl,” Mark says, shifting forward in his seat. “And she only deserves the best. What you’re describing…asking her to start a relationship with all of us…well, I just don’t think she’ll go for it. Not after what happened when she moved in. You’re expecting the pendulum to swing back too fast.”

“Maybe we need to go slow,” Tobias says. “Take it one at a time.”

“No,” I say. “That would only be confusing and not fair on Cora. We’d have an ulterior motive, and she’ll feel betrayed when she finds out. We have to be upfront. We have to tell Cora that we all want to date her.”

The room is silent, and for a moment, I think it’s because my brothers are thinking about what I said, but then I follow Tobias’s line of sight and find Cora standing in the doorway, staring at us like we grew multiple heads in the time she went to shower.

Then, as though she’s come to her senses, she dashes out of the room, and I’m left sitting with my mouth open, wondering if I just fucked everything up.