by Nikki Chase
Ava drops her head, making my heart drop, too. She starts to sniffle.
“Are you okay, Ava?” Noah asks.
When Ava lifts up her face and meets our eyes, her cheeks are already damp. “I’m sorry for crying at Thanksgiving dinner . . . but that’s the best idea I’ve ever heard,” Ava says softly.
Our collective relief is palpable. The tension in the room melts as one by one, we get up, approach Ava, and wrap our arms around her until we’ve formed a protective circle—an impenetrable shell—around Ava.
“Aww . . . You’re having a group hug and didn’t invite me?” Mom’s voice drifts into the dining room from the kitchen, along with the sweet smell of freshly-baked pecan pie.
“What are you talking about?” Noah asks as he gestures for both our parents to come over. “You have an open invitation.”
And there, in our parents’ kitchen, all our arms are linked together, sharing love and strength to prepare one another for all the challenges that lay in front of us.
It doesn’t matter what people say about us. As long as we have one another, that’s enough. We have enough love to last us a lifetime.
Epilogue
Ava—Six Months Later
“Lift your phone so I can see your entire office, Ava,” Jessica says as she peers closer to her screen, probably not realizing that means the camera’s zooming in on her, too.
I watch as giant strands of red hair fill my phone screen. Even up close, she looks great. Her scalp and hair are amazingly healthy.
“Nice.” I hear Tony’s voice, although Jessica’s still blocking the webcam so I can’t see him on my Skype app.
“I really like the view,” Sarah says. “You must be, like, right by the ocean.”
“I am, actually. Wait, let me crack open a window for you. I can hear the ocean from my office while I’m working. Here, listen.” I feel stupid as I hold the phone just outside the window, the salty ocean breeze caressing my hand.
“Oh, right. I can hear it.” Jessica appears to be sticking her ear to a speaker right now because her hair has disappeared from the screen, and I can see Tony and Sarah again.
They’re all at Sunny Side Up, Tony and Jessica grading some assignments while Sarah’s doing the bookkeeping for her animal clinic.
I miss them, and I miss Ashbourne sometimes, but I can’t deny I’m much, much happier here.
And by “here,” I mean in San Francisco. I feel like I need to clarify that these days because it seems like I’m always either on a business trip or preparing for one. I’m seriously loving my new life.
“I can’t hear anything,” Sarah complains.
“Yeah, me neither. Probably because Jessie’s covering the speaker,” Tony says. “But big deal; I hear the ocean every night because Greg plays this compilation of soothing nature sounds. You know, like ocean breeze, waterfall, rustling leaves. I tell him it’s stupid because we hear natural sounds all the time here. It’s not like we live in the big city.”
“To make it more realistic and different from your recordings, you should inhale some smog when you listen to these live ocean sounds.” I pull the phone back into my office. I’m on the seventh floor, which is not terribly high up, but I don’t think my phone will stand that big of a fall so it's probably not a good idea to dangle it outside where it could catch the attention of some seagulls.
“Eh, it’s going to take years until my youngest turns eighteen. I’ll start making vacation plans when they’re all out of the house,” Tony says. “Say, have you heard the news about Joseph?”
Both Jessica and Sarah turn to look at Tony in shock.
“What? We weren’t supposed to talk about that?” Tony asks innocently. “I’m sure Ava wants to hear about the dumpster fire that Joseph’s life has turned into.”
“Ooh, I like the sound of ‘dumpster fire.’” To be honest, I haven’t even thought about Joseph in months.
As soon as I moved to San Francisco, there was nothing left in my daily life to remind me of him. Besides, the Hunters have filled up my life so completely that I don’t really have much space left for anything else—much less Joseph.
“Okay, so,” Tony drops his voice to a conspiratorial tone, “you know how everyone in town knows what he did to you and how nobody wants to use him as their lawyer anymore because he’s scum?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, finally, the law firm he worked at realized he was a liability,” Tony says, emphasizing the past tense as he raises his eyebrows. “So they fired him.”
“Oh. Wow,” I say, taken aback. I should get more details. The Hunters will definitely want to hear this, especially the twins. I can already see Nathan gloating at dinner, happy with how well his plan’s worked so far. “You really think it has something to do with the lawsuit?”
“Of course.”
“Yeah.”
“Definitely.”
Unanimous. Looks like Joseph’s really unpopular in Ashbourne now.
“He used to drive some fancy car, right, Ava?” Jessica asks.
“Yeah.”
“We saw him driving some junk, scrapyard car yesterday.” Tony laughs maniacally.
“Probably spent too much on credit, and now he can’t make the monthly payments,” Sarah says.
The door to my office opens and the twins enter. Grinning with a mischievous glint in their eyes, they pull out the chairs across the desk from me and sit down.
“Hey, I’ll call you guys again another time, okay?” I ask distractedly, my attention absorbed by the gorgeous twins stripping me naked with their eyes. “I have a meeting to go to.”
“Right. ‘Meeting.’” Tony draws air quotes with his fingers.
I laugh. “Talk to you guys later.”
“Send us pictures when you travel, Ava. We like to travel vicariously through you,” Sarah says.
“Yeah. I like those bikini pictures you sent us last month,” Jessica says. “I’m so jelly of your curves. You’re so cute and petite, too.”
“I can totally see why five smoking-hot men wouldn’t be able to take their hands off you,” Sarah adds.
My face heats up with embarrassment as “smoking-hot” Nathan and Noah grin even wider.
“You know what, guys? I really need to go right now.” I give them a quick smile, and before they can say anything else, I end the call. “Bye! Love you!”
I tap the red End Call button and turn my attention to the boys.
“How can I help you today?” I flash them my sweetest customer-service smile to hide my embarrassment.
I’m getting better at that lately because I spend so much time dealing with important clients and customers. I need to look poised and put together.
Still, nothing can crack my cool exterior like the Hunters can.
“We have a lot of things to celebrate today, Miss Green,” Nathan says as he spreads his arms and leans back in his comfortable leather chair with the gorgeous gold accents—I picked all the furniture in my new office myself.
“That’s right. I believe we have some wild plans for tonight,” Noah says.
The corners of my lips pull up into a smile. “We definitely do.”
Even though we closed on our apartment and got the keys last month, it was only yesterday that we finally moved the last box into the apartment.
My things are relatively easy because I haven’t been here long, and I don’t have much stuff. But packing up everything in five different primary residences and moving multiple truckfuls of boxes into one apartment takes time, especially when all of us work our asses off at the office most days.
Even with the help of moving crews, it’s taken us all month. Meanwhile, the rents on all five of the Hunters’ apartments still need to be paid—not to mention the penalties they have to pay for breaking their leases early.
The Hunters don’t care about those extra expenses because it’s not much money for them. To be honest, with what I’m making right now, it’s not a lot for me either, but I can�
��t stand to just watch the waste happen.
That’s why I’d set yesterday as the last day for moving, knowing fixed deadlines were a great tool for motivating the Hunters.
By some coincidence, my makeover of this new office was finally complete yesterday.
Now, this is a cozy, elegant place for both difficult business partners and priority customers to chat with me. I think the serene blue-and-green color theme will work great for calming people down.
On top of that, Ollie and I will be taking a vacation in a few days. We’ll be spending about two weeks in India and Tibet, and I’m super excited to go.
For some reason, Ollie didn’t believe me when I told him I’d always wanted to see India for myself until he saw me immediately jumping online to buy some travel gear.
I can’t blame him, though. None of his brothers want to come with us. Poor Ollie; he’s probably used to just going places on his own.
“Are you ready to go, beautiful?” Mason asks as he swings the door open and pops his head in through the gap. He takes one look inside and sees the twins at my desk. “Ah, damn it. You guys beat me here. I thought I’d be the first one.”
“Not a chance,” Nathan says.
“Stop blocking the door, Mason.” I hear Liam’s voice from outside. He’s probably standing just behind the door right now.
Mason turns around until all I can see through the gap in the doorway is the dark hair on the back of his head. “Aw, shit. You’re here, too?”
“I have to say, Ava, you’re a good influence on us. We never finished work at this time of day before.” Noah pays no mind to the little argument between Mason and Liam at the door.
Living with these five men, I have to ignore things sometimes. Otherwise, I’d go crazy from the amount of information I need to process. No wonder their parents could only handle them one week at a time. They must've been a handful as teenagers.
“Have you made the dinner reservation?” Liam asks Noah as soon as Mason lets him into my office.
“Of course.”
“Good.” Liam approaches my desk, carrying a pretty little box in his hands. With a suave smile and his deep, sexy voice, he says, “This is for you, Ava.”
“Seriously?” I smile. “You shouldn’t have. I’m dying of happiness already.”
“That’s fine,” Nathan says jokingly. “Still a better way to die than having Ollie get you killed in India.”
“Oh, it won’t be so bad.” Looking up at Liam, I ask, “Can I open it here?”
“Of course.”
“It won’t be so bad,” I repeat to Nathan as my fingers tease open the ribbon wrapped around the box. “We’ll stay safe. Ollie travels a lot. I’m sure he knows what to do.”
“Did someone mention my name?” Ollie asks as the door opens once again.
It’s only the first day of my office being fully operational, and it’s already the place to be.
“Yeah. They say you’re going to get me killed in India.” I keep my attention on the box as Nathan and Ollie start to bicker among themselves. When I pull the lid off and move the tissue paper aside, I see fine, delicate, black lace fabric and squeal, jumping up to my feet.
“You like it?” Liam asks, although he knows for sure that I do because I told him when I saw the dress at the mall last week.
“Yes. Very much. Thank you.”
“Put it on,” Noah says.
“Yeah. Take off your blouse and pencil skirt first.” Standing by my desk, Mason leans closer and cocks an eyebrow.
I laugh. “No way. I’ll go get changed in the bathroom and meet you guys here.”
A chorus of disappointed noises fill my office as my heels make muted click-clack sounds on the carpet.
It takes me no time to slip out of my work clothes and into the elegant dress Liam’s bought for me. It fits me like a dream.
I smile as I look at myself in the mirror. I’m still not the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, but I’m okay with that now.
The Hunters have a lot to do with why I have better self-esteem these days, and the work that I do also gives me a lot of confidence—I like that I get to work with important people and solve interesting problems.
But above all, I think getting away from my mom has helped by removing her toxic ideas from my thoughts.
I’m still sad and disappointed that she won’t put aside our differences to fix our relationship, but I don’t know what I expected from her. Instead of trying to see things from my perspective, she’s just been ranting about how everybody’s talking about “us” now—as in me, her, and my dad.
I let out a big sigh and re-touch my make-up.
I try not to think about Ashbourne. I’m a lot happier that way. I see that life’s so much bigger than Ashbourne now, and I’m excited to see what else my future holds.
I don’t worry about what people think of me or about living normally.
I don’t think it would be fair to give the Hunters all the credit for helping me grow as a person. At the same time, I wouldn’t have gotten here without them.
When I first saw them, just outside the restaurant in Ashbourne, I never would’ve thought that accidental, brief meeting would somehow lead me here, but life’s funny that way. You never know what’s going to happen next.
That kind of scares me because I grew up with the idea that life should be lived a certain way and milestones need to be reached at certain points in life—like getting my first real job at twenty-one, getting married at twenty-three, and having two kids by twenty-five.
I don’t care anymore about those things, and that gives me a lot of freedom but a lot of uncertainty, as well.
No matter what happens, though, I know the Hunters will always be with me, supporting me in everything I do. And honestly, that’s all I need to face the future with no fear.
I run my fingers through my hair to fluff it up and check my reflection again as I put my lipstick and my compact back in my bag.
I think I look as good as I can, considering this is the end of a long work week. And not that I’m using this as an excuse to ignore my appearance, but the Hunters have seen me at my worst (read: hunched over the toilet bowl with puke stains on my sweatpants after eating some questionable shellfish) and they still look at me like I’m the only woman in the world.
I walk out of the bathroom and across the office floor. There are about twenty employees on this floor, and many of them are still seated at their desks, their monitors casting an eerie glow on their faces.
“It’s 5:15,” I announce to everyone in the open-plan office space. “You’re not being paid nearly enough to give up having a life.”
Most of the office workers grin at me and tell me they’re leaving soon.
Nobody—and I mean nobody—has been rude enough to pry into the nature of my relationship with the Hunters, much less try to separate us. Put simply, nobody cares. And that’s the way I like it.
Moving here has been the right decision.
As I open the door leading into my shiny, new office, the Hunters turn around to stare. Mason whistles in appreciation, and I can’t help but giggle. These men still know how to make me lose my composure.
The way they look at me—sweet and sinful, serious and playful, protective and predatory—drives me crazy. They’re such a delicious blend of contradictions, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Growing up as an only child, I always wanted a big family. I just never expected that it would come in the form of five gorgeous, sexy, loving, protective men. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I’d live such an unusual life.
I’ve come to realize that being normal’s overrated. What’s so good about a life where everything’s neat and certain?
I’d rather live an interesting life. And with the Hunters in my life, I know that’s pretty much a given.
What can I say? I’m a lucky, lucky girl.
“Are you guys ready to go, or do you want to sit there all night?” I ask.
I smile. “I know. I put a lot of thought into my furniture choices.”
“He lies,” Nathan says softly in my ear as he slings his arm around my shoulders. “He just couldn’t stop thinking about taking you home and peeling that dress off your body.”
“I should’ve ‘forgotten’ to make the reservation,” Noah says. “That way we could take you home right away.”
“Guys, this dress needs to be taken out to dinner. I can feel it,” I say.
“I guess I should’ve ‘forgotten’ to get you the dress, too,” Liam teases as he pulls the door open for me.
I giggle.
Seriously, I get to spend all day at work and all night a home with these men. This may not be what most girls want, but it’s perfect for me. There’s just the right amount of chaos to keep things interesting.
I love my life, and I love every single one of these five men. They’ve made my life way more interesting than it’s ever been, and we’re only just getting started.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the story of Ava and her five Hunter men.
Want more?
How about Sarah’s story? A tragedy abruptly forced her back home to Ashbourne, where she found another damaged soul who gave her something she didn’t even know she needed. Click here to read My Brother’s Friend, the Dom.
Or Jessica’s story? She may pass as a normal high school teacher these days, but she used to be a stripper. Besides Tony, only one other person in Ashbourne knew her secret: her hot, Navy SEAL neighbor. Click here to instantly download Stripped from Amazon.
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