The Bucket List (A REVERSE HAREM ROMANCE)

27. ALBANY

"We're going to talk and you're going to listen or I'm going tie you to a chair and make you listen."

I could still feel his hand wrapped around my neck. Nobody had ever touched me in that way and by hell I fucking liked it. I loved the way his fingers dug into my skin. It made me feel hot an achy, but a different ach than the one Severide causes.

Shifting in my seat, I raised my head slightly and glanced at them from beneath my lashes. Severide and Kieran shared a couch while the twins had taken a seat on the single couches. It felt strange having all of them in my apartment at the same time.

But it wasn't something I disliked.

If I had to be honest, I loved the fact that all four of them were in my apartment. I fucking liked having them together and I really didn't want them to leave.

"Albany."

My eyes snapped over to Severide. He sat forward with a sigh and slightly shook his head. For a moment he silently stared at me before he spoke.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase. Albany, we all like you. We all met you in different circumstances and it came as a big shock to realize that the four of us are interested in the same woman."

"It was my fault for this mess in the first place," Steven said. "I suggested the bet. The first man, who you admit to having feelings for, is the man who gets you."

I nibbled on my bottom lip as I debated what to tell them. Since we were all being honest with each other it was a good time to tell them how I felt but before I could, Severide spoke again.

"Why are you packing?"

Unease gripped me as four pairs of eyes locked onto me. I sat up and uncurled my legs. Unable to sit still under their stares, I got up and walked over to the kitchen.

"Kieran and I were talking the other day and I realized that what he said was right. I've lost the bakery and without a job I know I'm going to lose my apartment." I turned towards them. "I decided to do what Crystal made me promise too. I've going to do everything on that bucket list."

"The new one you made?"

"New one?" Thomas exclaimed. "You wrote a new list?"

"It's not exactly a new one," I told him. "I just added a few of the things I wanted to do along with the things Crystal wanted me to do."

"What about the bet then?" Thomas stood.

"What about it?" I asked him. "I don't understand why you would do something like that. Besides, I'd rather end things now before anyone got hurt."

"So that's it?" Thomas asked, throwing his hands up in the air. "You're going to—"

"I like all of you!" I yelled. "There's no way I can choose between the four of you."

Stunned silence hung in the air between us. My eyes darted between the four of them. Shame filled me, along with a little guilt when I saw the hurt flashing through Kieran's eyes before he masked it.

A lump suddenly formed in my throat. Turning my back on them, I stared down at the box on the island as I tried to get a hold of my emotions. There was so much I wanted to say, but the words just would come.

I shouldn't have agreed on going on all those dates with them.

"What is it Steven?" Severide asked, drawing my attention.

I slowly turned around to find Steven leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes intently focused on something behind me. A glance over my shoulder made me aware of exactly what he was staring at.

When I started packing my things into the boxes, I had placed my bucket list on the fridge so I couldn't misplace it. He was too far away to read anything written on it, so why was he staring at it?

"Have you ever heard of a harem?" Steven questioned.

My brows dipped. A harem? What the hell was he talking about?

Steven straightened and walked over to the couch I had been sitting on moments before and gripped the back of it. His eyes darted between the men before locking on me.

"You don't want to choose between the four of us?"

I shook my head.

"We all figure that we could use your bucket list to make you fall in love with us, but we never expected you to change it. I certainly didn't expect you to not want to choose." He blew out a breath. "We can try something. It might not be what everybody wants and it might make things worse but it's the only solution I can think of at the moment."

"Spill it out will you?"

"What the hell does a harem have to do with this?"

Steven smirked at Severide. "You're familiar with the term, eh? Does that mean you have a harem hidden away somewhere?"

"Why? Have a special kink we don't know about?" Severide gave Steven a smirk of his own. "Elaborate, Steven. You're brother is about ready to explode."

"In some cultures the men are allowed to have more than one wife. They usually have around four or five, maybe more." He paused and reached up to rub a finger across his lip. "A reverse harem is the opposite of a harem. It's were the woman has a relationship with more than two men."

"Oh!" Thomas suddenly exclaimed. "Now I get it."

My lips twitched at the look on his face. He had a strange expression on his face as his eyes darted between all of us.

Questions filled my head but it was Severide who voiced them.

"So instead of having Albany choose between us, we all. . ." He shook his head. "All of us together in a relationship?"

"Yes." Steven looked at me. "We can try it out and see how it goes. If you don't like it then we can all walk away."

He made it sound so easy. Spending more time with them was just going to make it harder to walk away when things didn't work out. I wanted to tell them that it was best to end things while we still could. But there was a part of me that wanted to take a leap and see where it would lead us. I wanted to give it a try but I was scared.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Thomas muttered. "In simpler terms we'd all be dating Albany at the same time."

Steven nodded.

"How's it even going to work?" Kieran spoke up for the first time since to conversation started. "We make appointments when we want to go out with Albany?"

Severide stood and walked over to the fridge. He pulled the list from the door and then turned to face us with the list held up. Severide was smiling for some reason.

"We wanted to use the bucket list in the first place and I think that we can still use it but only in a different way." Walking over to me, he slipped an arm around my waist and led me over to the couches. "Albany can decide what she wants to do with whom. This way we can all spend time with her."

"You can't be serious," I scoffed. "This will never work out."

"We'll never know unless we give it a try." Severide looked down at the paper. "Let's start with number eight; take an epic road trip."