Haru’s Love (A Stepbrothers BL Harem) - Chapter 105

I didn’t know what time everyone returned to the cottage last night, but I knew it was very late as none of them except Mason got up until well after ten in the morning. By then, it was too late for us to do any exploration of the island as a group.

Both Carter and Lucas looked like they had just woken up from hell, their hair a mess and their skin pale. Hangover. I bet they had drunk quite a bit last night. They could barely walk straight as we strolled through the beautiful pathway lined with cherry blossom trees that’d lead us to the Princeton Mansion. Honestly, they could have stayed back, but of course, they weren’t going to miss out on free food, and possibly, more alcohol.

The moment we came into view of the mansion, I widened my eyes in pleasant surprise. To say the place was astoundingly beautiful was an understatement. It looked picture-perfect with the massive castle-like building standing imposingly against the backdrop of a lush green lawn, flower beds, a grand water feature, and woodlands at the back. Michael was right. This was a castle, the only one on St. Joseph Island, and it looked like a setting in a historical movie.

“Holy shit!” Isaac uttered, his eyes large. “Just… Holy shit.”

“I’m glad I came,” Matt said. “This place looks awesome.”

Jason nodded. “Well, the Princetons are loaded so of course they can afford to live in a property this grand.”

A loud beep echoed from behind us, and I turned to see Katherine’s car coming in through the iron gate. Michael must have seen me because he rolled down the window and poked his head out as he waved. “Haru!”

I chuckled and waved back. Behind me, Isaac asked, “Who is that?”

Noah said, “Michael. Haru’s new friend.”

Once the car was parked, Michael eagerly got out and rushed over to us at the courtyard. The boy jumped with glee at seeing Aki on a leash.

“Aki! Aki!” the boy shrieked in delight.

Aki barked at Michael, sticking out his tongue and wagging his tail in greeting. Then Toby appeared in the distance from around the corner of the mansion. In an instant, the canine sprinted over to Aki and the two started barking and sniffing at each other.

Katherine, along with a man who looked to be in his late thirties, came toward us. When they got close to Aki, Katherine leaned down and patted the pup.

“Hi, Aki,” she said.

The pup nuzzled his head against Katherine, begging for more, which made her laugh. When she had enough petting the puppy, she stood and said, “By the way, this is my husband Jeff.”

The guy beside her waved his hand at us in greeting, and we waved back, along with a chorus of hellos.

The people inside the house must have heard the commotion outside because they emerged. Sakura was in the lead, and Sebastian and a middle-aged man who looked so much like Nicolas were behind her.

“Hi, everyone,” Sakura said, a cheerful smile on her lips.

“Sakura!” Michael squealed in excitement as he rushed over to the woman.

“Hey, Michael,” Sakura said, chuckling as she wrapped her arm around the boy. When she turned her attention to us again, she introduced the man behind her. “This is James Princeton, my adopted father and the Princeton brothers’ father.”

Blond hair with streaks of gray, a handsome face with fine lines that defined age and wisdom, and a pair of spectacles sitting atop the bridge of his fine nose, James said, “Hello, everyone.”

A chorus of hellos resonated from behind me again.

James said, “Come on inside.” He chuckled. “We’re having the barbeque outside, but coming into the house is a must.”

We eagerly followed James into the mansion, and my eyes were wide, just taking everything in. The interior was luxurious, a mixture of old and new with lots of charm and character.

“How old is this castle?” Jess asked.

“It’s actually a mansion, not a castle,” James said. “But since it’s so big, everybody always refers to it as a castle. It was built in the seventeenth century by our ancestor, so I’d say around three hundred years.”

“Whoa…” Isaac expressed. “That old? Nice.”

James led us into the main living area, or drawing room as they called it, and the moment we entered, the place was filled up. Some of the Princeton brothers were there: Nicolas, Hayden, Darcy, and Conrad as well as a middle-aged woman. I didn’t need to be told who she was to know she was James’ wife and the Princeton brothers’ mother. She had that elegance about her that was hard to miss. Not to mention her dark hair and cobalt-blue eyes which I had no doubt she had passed on to Hayden.

“This is my wife, Brenna,” James said, his arm wrapped around the woman’s shoulders.

A chorus of hellos echoed in the room, and Brenna said, “Nice to meet everyone. It’s lovely to have people over.” She chuckled.

Conrad said, “Right, who’s keen on a tour of the first floor?”

Jess eagerly put up her hands. “Don’t forget to show us where the bathrooms are, please.” She chuckled. “Some people might need to use them.” She meaningfully eyed Carter and Lucas who looked embarrassed as hell.

“All right, follow me,” Conrad said, heading toward the door.

I was about to follow Conrad, along with Jess, Isaac, and his friends, but Michael stepped in front of me and said, “Haru, let’s go outside.”

He looked so eager, I didn’t have the heart to refuse him.

“Okay,” I said.

“Yay!” He clapped his hands in excitement. To Aki and Toby, he said, “Come on, you two.”

Before leaving the room, I turned to search for Aiden and Noah. I saw them talking earnestly to James and Nicolas, and I knew they were deep in their business discussion. Close by, Mason, once again with Elizabeth next to him, was chatting with Brenna and Sakura.

Would that woman ever leave Mason alone? I wondered. Then again, it was none of my business, right? So I shouldn’t feel so irritated on Mason’s behalf.

Dismissing them from my mind, I followed Michael out the door, with Aki and Toby trotting along and barking excitedly at the prospect of going outside.

It was nice out here, with the lawn perfectly manicured and the cherry and magnolia trees in full bloom, a bright mass of pinks all around.

Michael took me for a tour of the grounds of the estate, from the massive back garden with an endless green lawn to the side where there was a pond with a bridge that ran across it. Farther to the north were more woods and wild flowers that ran all the way to the main road and the cottage where we stayed and to the south was more green field and then woods. To say Princeton Estate was large was an understatement.

“You can walk for hours,” Michael said. “And you can get lost, too, you know? I did a few times, but because I’m smart, I found my way back, and now I don’t get lost anymore.”

“Really,” I said. “You must know this place like the back of your hand, then?”

Michael tilted his head to one side. “Know this place like the back of my hand? What’s that mean?”

I chuckled. I guessed something like that was still too complex for a kid to understand.

“It means you know this place very well,” I said.

Michael widened his eyes and then flashed me a big grin, like he was damn proud of himself. “Yeah, I do know this place like the back of my hand. It’s like my second home.” We came to a stop and the boy pointed to the east. “You walk that way to St. Helena Beach. That’s the Princetons’ private beach. Have you been there?” The boy looked at me.

I nodded. “Yeah, I kind of got there without knowing. I saw Darcy surfing, too.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah, he’s really good. Nicolas is the best; he takes me surfing sometimes. I get to ride on his surfboard with him, you know.”

“Sounds fun,” I said, not missing the fact that Nicolas was undoubtedly Michael’s favorites person out of all the Princeton brothers.

We returned to the main garden sitting at the back of the mansion a bit later, and Michael and I played with Aki and Toby, throwing the two canines balls Michael had brought along.

A breeze gently swirled in the air, and suddenly, petals rained down onto the lawn. Some even got on me and I chuckled, raising my hands in the air, working on catching a few. Michael was running around me, trying to catch some of the petals as well while both Toby and Aki were barking hyperactively as they chased each other.

“That looks fun,” a female voice said. I turned to see a plump woman watching me, her hands on her hips. “And you remind me of Sakura. Are you half-Japanese, too?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m Haru.”

“Haru… That’s a nice name,” she said. Signaling to me, she asked, “Want to help me bring the food out?”

Seeing that Michael had run off to the other side of the lawn and was playing with Toby and Aki, I nodded. “Sure.”

As I followed her into the house, I wondered who this woman was. She wasn’t wearing a uniform like the other girls I had seen, so that meant she wasn’t a maid. A relative of the Princetons perhaps?

After walking through what seemed like a maze of hallways, we approached the kitchen where I heard a chorus of laughter. As we came through the door, I saw Sakura, Katherine, and Brenna preparing the food. When they saw me, I said, “I’m coming to help.”

“Yes, he’s here to help,” the plump woman said.

Sakura said, “Beth, you didn’t bully him into helping, did you?”

The woman snorted. “Like I’d do anything like that.” She handed me a tray of club sandwiches. “Take this, and make sure no one snaffles them off you.”

“Sure,” I said and then headed out, carrying the tray.

Apparently, I wasn’t good at my job at protecting the club sandwiches from thieves because the moment I was out in the hallway, familiar loud voices came, and I groaned inwardly. Tristan and Logan appeared on the second floor, and when they caught sight of me, they came bustling down the stairs.

“Haru!” Tristan said, chuckling at the sight of me.

I kept on walking, hoping to avoid them, but I didn’t get far. Tristan was beside me in an instant and wrapped his arm around my shoulders at the same time snaffling a sandwich from the tray. He popped it into his mouth. After chewing, he said, “Hmm… Delicious.”

Logan was on the other side of me. He was greedy and took two without permission.

I said, “I was told to protect this tray of food. You’re not allowed to eat until everything is ready.”

Tristan said, “Don’t tell me you got roped into helping and being ordered around by Beth.”

I said, “I didn’t.” At least, I didn’t think so anyway.

We were outside now, and I placed the tray on the table. Behind me, Sakura and Katherine brought out more food while the maids carried jars of juices and cans of beer and even bottles of expensive wine. I bet Lucas and Carter were going to drink themselves silly again.

James, Nicolas, and Sebastian were sporting aprons as they carried out trays of raw meat. Then they started barbequing—meat, sausages, seafood, and vegetable kebabs went onto the grill, and it wasn’t long when the air was filled with the delicious smell of cooked food. The tantalizing, mouthwatering scent must have traveled into the house and triggered everyone’s hunger because suddenly, they all piled out.

Aiden and Noah joined James, Nicolas, and Sebastian, looking as at ease as hell, as if they belonged right with the Princetons, going about helping with the cooking. They chatted, and now and again, a burst of laughter erupted. Those two could fit into any group, couldn’t they?

When we started eating, Jess joined me, along with Isaac and his friends. Aki was on my lap, and now and again, I’d give him some of my meat. Not far away were Mason and his friends, and Elizabeth once again was sitting intimately close to him.

Did that girl not understand personal space?

Shit! Why was I getting irritated again so suddenly?

I shifted my gaze away from them and concentrated on my food, wondering why that sickly, achy feeling had surfaced again.

Maybe I was drinking too much juice, but it wasn’t long when I needed to excuse myself. Inside the mansion, I found myself lost, wondering where the bathrooms were. I jumped at the chance when I saw two maids coming along the hallway.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I was just wondering where the bathroom is.”

The two girls, who looked to be around their early twenties, glanced at each other for a moment and smiled that secret smile I had seen Jess sometimes did to her female friends. It must be a girl thing, I thought.

One said, “Just go down the hallway. It’s the third door down.”

“Thanks,” I said, my cheeks hot in embarrassment.

As I shut the door of the bathroom behind me, I heard them giggling, followed by one saying to another, “He’s so beautiful and so freakin’ cute. I just want to pinch his cheeks, like seriously.”

The other said, “I bet most girls are envious of him, and his brothers are all so hot, like seriously.”

I was cute, huh? And the other brothers were hot. But of course, I had heard that hundreds of times, so no surprise there.

A few moments later, I was done and headed out. Along the hallway, my attention was drawn to the paintings hung on the walls. Some of them looked antique, and they were portraits of people wearing olden days clothing. They were probably the Princetons’ ancestors because most of them had the typical Princeton looks like Nicolas and Sebastian, that blond hair and blue or gray eyes type. Some of the other ones were newer, which were mostly of landscapes and flowers, and they were very well done.

“Those are Sakura’s.” I heard Noah’s voice behind me. I turned to look at him, and he continued. “They have her initials on them.”

I leaned closer and noted the initials S.T at the bottom of the painting. “S.T?”

“Sakura Tanaka,” Noah said. “Her biological mother’s last name, apparently. There are similar paintings back at the office in New York, so I recognized them. She’s talented.”

“Yeah,” I said in agreement. “By the way, what are you doing here? I thought you were busy enjoying yourself rubbing shoulders with the Princetons.”

He moved in close until our faces were inches apart, and then he grabbed ahold of my chin, his hand firm.

I widened my eyes when he grinned darkly at me.

“Teasing me now, are we?”

“I’m not. Just stating facts,” I said.

He released my face and then caught my wrist. “Come with me for a second.”

I had no choice but to follow him, since his grip was tight on me. I asked, “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere secluded.”

I suspected he wanted alone time with me, and I said, “It’s not like we haven’t seen each other for a while, you know.”

He opened a door and led me inside, and I realized that it was a sitting room. When he shut the door again, he turned me around so that I stood back against it, with him in front of me, his arms flanking on either side of me.

“I know it’s not like we haven’t seen each other for a while, but fuck…” He inhaled a deep breath and then looked at me long and hard. “The way you’re behaving is really pissing me off.”

I frowned, having no clue what he was going on about now. Noah seemed to be good at doing that.

“What are you going on about?”

“Haru, if a girl were to cling on to me in front of you, would you act the way you act when you see Elizabeth clinging on to Mason?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Noah raked his fingers through his hair as if he was frustrated. “Look, Aiden and I, we love you, but fuck, Haru, don’t go ogling at another guy like that.”

Even more confused now, I said, “Noah, you’re not making any sense.”

He chuckled darkly. “Fuck, but you are an airhead.” He leaned in close, and before I knew it, his lips claimed mine in a scorching kiss, which made me gasp in surprise.

His kiss was hot and passionate and demanding, and as usual, I felt heat rise within me, not to mention my head was going more than a bit dazed.

When he eased the intense kissing, he stuck his tongue out and licked across the line of my lips erotically, sending a delicious sensation down my body. Then he moved back a little, our lips an inch apart and our noses touching.

He said, “You acting jealous when you see Elizabeth clinging to Mason is driving me crazy.”

Jealous? Me? Mason?

He must have noticed me looking confused because he chuckled. “You have no damn clue yourself, huh?”

I stammered, “Mason? Why would I be jealous?”

He looked at me with a raised brow, challenging me. “Oh? The fact that you keep staring at him and Elizabeth while looking so fucking gloomy isn’t the act of jealousy?”

I felt heat rush to my face.

Was it jealousy that I felt when I saw Elizabeth clinging on to Mason? Could that explain the achy feeling and the irritation?

I widened my eyes and gasped as realization hit me smack in the face.

Holy fuck! Wasn’t that the same feeling I had when I saw other women clinging to Aiden? Shit!

I felt Noah cupping my face, and I shifted my eyes to him. I said, my voice weak and shaky, “Noah… What should I do?” I licked my lips, my heart racing. “I already have you and Aiden. Why am I feeling this way toward Mason? There must be something wrong with me, right?”

Noah sighed deeply. “So you just realized, huh? And now you’re freaking out.” He kissed me on the forehead, his breath warm on my skin. When he moved back, he said, “There’s nothing wrong with you, Haru. Love is love.”

I shook my head. “But I don’t want to cheat on you and Aiden. No way, and having feelings for another guy is cheating.”

He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. “Yeah, don’t go cheating on us. Definitely don’t do that because it’ll really fuck me up. Aiden, too.”

We stayed like this for a moment, and once I had calmed down a little, Noah said, “Let’s get back. Otherwise, everyone will wonder where we are.”

I nodded, and as we walked out the door, I was resolved to avoid Mason and stop myself from falling in love with him no matter what because I wasn’t ever going to cheat on Aiden and Noah.