Haru’s Love (A Stepbrothers BL Harem) - Chapter 92

South Hampton was indeed as charming as people said, what with the seventh-century style buildings standing proudly along the main streets which were occupied by little shops and restaurants. I must admit the place felt a little bit like Europe, even though I had never been to a European country before.

A strong arm flung over my shoulders, and I turned to see Logan smiling cheekily at me. He just had to tag along, didn’t he? But I was glad Tristan had been dragged away by Sebastian and Conrad. Apparently, they had important work to do.

“So, you like this place?” Logan asked.

I nodded. “It’s nice.”

“You said you want to shop, right? I’ll accompany you.”

I shook my head as I moved out of his arm. “No, thanks.” I turned to Sakura and Darcy then and said, “Thanks for dropping me off. I have a few things to do. We’ll part here.”

Sakura said, “I have a few things to do, too. See you later then.”

I nodded, and before Logan could offer to come along with me, I rushed off down the road. Behind me, I heard Logan chuckle and say, “And there he goes.”

I hadn’t a clue where I was going, but I kept my pace quick and then turned the corner. Along here were little shops, selling anything that was unique and St. Joseph Island related, basically touristy stuff. I spent the next hour just window shopping, and then finally, I came to a store where I hunted around for some underwear, jeans, and a sweater, since I needed a change of clothing for tomorrow. After I had made my purchase, I headed out again and continued with my exploration. When I had enough, I took a break and sat on the bench, just gazing up at the beautiful fully bloomed cherry blossom trees that lined along the main streets, my mind wandering, thinking about Aiden and Noah.

Boyfriends.

I had two boyfriends. That reality hadn’t fully sunk in yet. Then there was last night when Noah and I had made love. Damn but Noah had been hot and sexy.

I sighed. Now that I thought about it, how did one manage a poly relationship? How did one share their time between two boyfriends? Surely evenly, right? Because I knew Noah would get jealous if I were to spend more time with Aiden. Of course, if it was the other way around and I were to spend more time and paid more attention to Noah, Aiden wouldn’t say anything, but I knew deep down he’d be jealous, too.

I scratched my head, my mind racing. How did Sakura even manage it? Maybe I should ask her for advice. Then again, it’d be embarrassing, right? Me, a guy asking Sakura, a girl, on how to manage two boyfriends.

Ugh! This was just too much for me to think about right now. My brain was beginning to hurt.

My phone rang, which jolted me in surprise. I picked it up to see Noah’s name displayed on the screen. I swiped to answer.

“Hey,” I said.

“I missed you,” Noah said. “Just hearing your voice already makes my day.”

Really, that was the first thing he’d say? That he missed me? And it had only been half a day. But of course, I had been thinking about him, too, so I shouldn’t judge.

“Are you on your lunch break?” I asked. “But it’s real late, isn’t it?”

“You little brat,” he said, chuckling. “Don’t you have a better reply than that?”

I smiled. “Well, okay, I missed you, too, a little.”

I missed Aiden, too, although we had only talked on the phone this morning. Come to think of it, I also missed Mason, Isaac, and Reo. Well, we were family, after all.

He laughed. “Fuck, I want to kiss you.”

I chuckled. “But you can’t. I’m not even there with you.”

“I should have brought you with me,” he said.

“To work?”

“Nicolas wouldn’t mind,” he said. “He’d understand.”

I shook my head. “Nope. Even if Nicolas allows it, I won’t come along. I’ll only disturb everyone working.”

He sighed. “It’s not really work. Everyone here is just enjoying their time like it was a fucking vacation.” He sighed. “Well, we were supposed to pretend we’re tourists and think like one so we could improve on our marketing strategies.”

“Sounds fun,” I said mildly.

“Is that sarcasm I hear?” he asked, chuckling. “Fuck, you sound so cute. If I was there with you, I’d be kissing you senseless already.”

“And I’m glad you’re not,” I said, though my heart was racing and a big grin was playing about my lips as I imagined him doing exactly that.

“I’ll do my best to hold off until this evening when I finish work,” he said.

“On kissing me?” I asked.

“That and more,” he said.

I felt heat rising within me and I had to clear my throat to keep myself composed. I changed the subject. “Oh yeah, Isaac called. We got accommodations, and apparently, fourteen people are coming.”

“Fourteen fucking people?” Noah said. “Who’s coming? Here I thought it’d just be our family. My time with you is already ruined just because Aiden is coming tomorrow and now…”

“But it’ll be fun,” I said. “I’m not sure who’s coming, but I imagine it’ll be the usual people.”

“So is Jess coming, too?” Noah asked.

“Yep. Aiden invited her. He’s so understanding, right? Making sure to invite my best friend along.”

I smiled when I heard Noah groan. “And I’m not understanding just because I don’t want anybody to come and ruin our time together?”

“You’re too selfish, Noah,” I said. “You can’t hoard me to yourself, you know. It’s not just the two of us in this world.”

“Fuck, I know!” he growled out. “But just for a little while, I want you all to myself.” He paused. “Tonight, I’ll be having you all to myself, Haru.”

I felt my cheeks blushing hot at that proclamation. With my voice low so no one walking past would hear me, I said, “Noah, we just did it last night, you know.”

“I know,” he said. “But I still want more of you. Okay, I should end the call. My break is over. I have to return to the group and pretend to be a fucking tourist again.”

I laughed. “Okay,” I said. “See you this evening.”

“I love you,” he said.

I stammered, “I love you, too.”

I heard him chuckling, no doubt with a smug, satisfied smile on that handsome face of his.

Our call ended, and I relaxed back and sighed as I stared up at the thick pink cloud of cherry blossom against the backdrop of the spring sky. A moment later, I picked up the bags of my purchase and continued with touring the town.

It was around four in the afternoon when I found a cute café and decided to get a hot drink. It wasn’t busy since it wasn’t rush hour, and I found myself a nice seat that had a great view of the sea.

“What can I get you?” a young voice came my way.

I turned to see a boy, probably around ten or eleven, standing there before me. I was a little surprised and just kind of stared at him.

“Hey, girly-boy, you want something to drink or not?” the boy asked.

Girly-boy? Me?

A woman appeared behind him and said, “Speak to the customer politely. I thought you wanted to learn customer service, so do it properly.”

The boy pouted. “All right, I’ll do it properly,” he said. Back to me, he asked, “So what do you want to drink?”

I chuckled. “Hot chocolate and some cheesecake would be great.”

The boy turned to the woman and said, “Mom, she said she wants hot chocolate and some cheesecake.”

She? Did he just refer to me as a she?

The woman folded her arms across her chest and frowned at the boy. “What has gotten into you?” She turned to me then and said, “I’m sorry he’s being annoying. He’s not usually like that.”

I said, “It’s fine.”

“All right, one hot chocolate and a slice of cheesecake coming right up,” she said and then turned on her heel and left.

The boy, instead of following his mother, took a seat opposite me and rested his hands on the table as if he were some big shot from a company about to interview a potential employee.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

I cracked up, smiling. He was interviewing me, eh?

“Haru,” I said.

He tilted his head to one side and said, “Haru? Like Haruka? It’s a girl’s name, right? You are a girl? Because you really look like one, but you kind of look like a boy, too, ’cause I never saw no one like you, so pretty and stuff… Looks girly-boy.”

I asked, “You know Japanese?”

He shook his head. “No, but Sakura’s mother’s name is Haruka, and she’s Japanese. Sakura is only half-Japanese, apparently, and she’s mighty pretty, like you, but she doesn’t look girly-boy like you.”

I widened my eyes. “You know Sakura?” Then I added, “And the Princeton brothers?”

He nodded. “Sakura’s my mom’s friend, and I’ve known the Princeton brothers all my life.”

Well, I shouldn’t be surprised, since this was the Princetons’ hometown. I had no doubt everyone who lived here knew them and Sakura. The family probably own and ran the whole island, considering how wealthy they were.

I said, “I know Sakura and the Princeton brothers, too. My brother Noah, he works for Nicolas.”

The boy, whose name I had yet to know, widened his eyes. “Whoa! Your brother works for Nicolas? Awesome. When I grow up, I want to work for Nicolas, too, cause he’s cool.”

I chuckled. “That’s great. Study hard then.”

He nodded. “I am studying hard. You don’t have to tell me that. I have really good grades, you know.”

I asked, “So, what’s your name?”

The boy pointed at himself and said, “Michael. I’m eleven years old, and I go to the local elementary school. I’m currently in grade six. I’m switching over to a boarding school in New York City next year when I hit grade seven.”

Michael’s mother returned then and placed a cup of hot chocolate and a slice of cheesecake on a beautiful plate in front of me, along with a small fork. I noticed the latte art of a cute puppy made of cinnamon dusting on top of the hot chocolate, which reminded me of Aki.

“Thanks,” I said. “Looks good.”

“Mom,” Michael said. “He’s Haru and he knows Sakura.”

The woman looked pleasantly surprised and hastily pulled a chair from another table and took a seat next to me. I guessed since it wasn’t busy, she could chill. Besides, there were three more waitresses serving the other customers.

“I’m Katherine.” She extended her hand out to me, which I took and shook. “What a small world.”

I nodded and then took a sip of the hot chocolate. The warmth and sweetness made me sigh pleasantly. “Mmm. It’s nice.”

She chuckled. “Thanks. You’re here on a vacation?”

I nodded. “Yes, with one of my brothers. The others will be here in the next couple of days, and Sakura invited us to lunch on Saturday, so that’ll be fun.”

“Huh? Really?” Michael asked. He looked a little shocked at hearing that. “How come we didn’t get invited, Mom?”

The woman chuckled. “We got invited,” she said, patting the boy’s head. “Sakura called an hour ago.”

Michael was all smiley again. “Cool.” Turning back to me, he said, “You know they live up at the big mansion, right? Have you been there?”

I shook my head.

Michael puffed out his chest and said, “You’ll like it there, the only castle on St. Joseph Island. It’s massive and you can get lost, you know. I’ll introduce you to James and Brenda and everyone else.”

“James and Brenda?” I asked.

Katherine said, “The Princeton brothers’ parents.”

“Okay. That’d be great,” I said.

While I was sipping on my hot chocolate and munching on the delicious cheesecake, Michael and Katherine continued to tell me about the Princetons and their vast estate. Time flew by since I found it all very interesting, and by then, it was well past five and I said, “I better hurry back to the hotel.”

“You staying at the Princeton hotel?” Katherine asked.

I nodded. “I got a bit lost coming into town, and I don’t want to do that again going back.” I chuckled.

“Why don’t you wait a bit? I’ll drop you off after we’ve cleaned the place up.”

I raised a brow. “You’re not opening for dinner?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I like it as a nine to five opening. I want to spend time with my family in the evening.”

I could understand that. There was nothing more important than family.

Michael and I chatted while Katherine and the waitresses were busy cleaning up the café for the day.

“You have any pets?” Michael asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, a puppy. His name is Aki.”

“Is he coming here with your other brothers, too? ’Cause I’d like to meet him. I mean Toby is so cute. You know Toby, right?” At me nodding, he continued, “I have a pet cat at home, but he’s always too lazy to do anything fun with me, you know.”

I chuckled. “Well, dogs and cats are different.”

Speaking of Aki, I didn’t ask Isaac whether the pup was coming or not. The thought of leaving Aki home alone for four days just didn’t sit well with me. Unless Aiden decided to leave Aki with Tina and Peter.

“I’m going to ask,” I said.

“About what?”

“Aki, whether he’s coming or not.”

The boy nodded. “Do that ’cause I really want to meet him.”

I took out my phone and chose Mason’s name displayed on the screen since I knew he’d be free at this time of the day. It was picked up in an instant, and Mason’s voice came through, “Haru?”

“Mason, hi,” I said.

“You okay?” he asked.

I chuckled. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Good to hear.”

“I’m just wondering about Aki,” I said. “Is the pup coming?”

I heard a chuckle. “Of course he’s coming. We won’t leave him behind. He’s been missing you. Isaac confirmed with Tristan moments ago that bringing a pet while we stay at the cottage is fine.”

“Awesome.” I chuckled. “And I missed Aki, too.”

“And do you miss me?” the man asked.

I felt my cheeks turning hot. Suddenly, his handsome face flashed in my mind’s eye, and I remembered that time when he had hotly kissed me and bit the side of my neck.

I cleared my throat and said hesitantly, “Of course I missed you.”

He chuckled. “Glad to hear.” He was silent for a moment and then asked, “Tristan didn’t do anything weird to you, did he?”

I chuckled. “You’re worried about him doing weird things to me?”

“Of course,” he said.

“No, he didn’t do anything weird to me,” I said. “By the way, I just made some new friends.”

“Oh?” Mason said. “You seem to be doing that quite a bit lately. There’s Sakura and the Princeton brothers. Not to mentioned that Sean guy, and now more people?”

I chuckled. “You make it sound bad, Mason.”

“It’s not that. I just don’t want you to get involved with the wrong type of people.”

“I know, but you also know me, right? I won’t do anything like that,” I said.

Michael leaned forward and said loudly into the phone, “Hey, Haru’s brother over there, are you saying my mom and I are weird people?”

“That sounds like a kid,” Mason said.

“I am a kid,” Michael said loudly. “And me and my mom know Sakura.”

“Is that so?” Mason said. “Glad to hear.”

“Hey, Haru told me about Aki.” Michael leaned closer over the table. “Can I see him?”

“Hmm, then how about we end the call and do a video chat instead?”

I chuckled. “Good idea.”

We ended the call, and the next moment, I logged into a video chat app and saw Mason on the screen.

“Hey,” I said, smiling.

“Hey,” Mason replied. Damn, but he looked happy to see me face-to-face. Well, I must admit I was damn happy to see him, too.

We kind of just gazed at each other for a moment, until Michael pulled at my arm to get my attention. He said, “Hey, let me see Aki.”

I turned the screen of the phone toward him and the boy just stared. “That’s your brother?”

I raised a brow. “Yeah, he’s Mason.”

“Hey,” I heard Mason say in greeting to Michael.

“But he looks nothing like you,” Michael said, flicking his gaze to me.

I chuckled. “We’re stepbrothers.”

“I see,” Michael said. “He looks really cool.” Turning back to Mason, he said, “You look so cool.”

I heard Mason chuckling. “Thanks. And here’s Aki.”

Michael’s eyes brightened up immediately at seeing the pup. “He’s so cute,” he gushed out.

I leaned over to look at the screen as well and saw Aki right there. I broke into a bright smile as I said, “Hey, Aki.”

The pup must have noticed me through the screen on the other side because he barked excitedly, his tongue sticking out.

“What are you two up to?” Katherine came up to us, hovering to see what was on the screen of my smartphone.

“It’s my brother Mason and our puppy Aki,” I said.

Katherine leaned in and gazed at the puppy. “Oh my, he’s really adorable. And your brother is…”

In case she was going to say Mason and I looked nothing alike, I said, “We’re stepbrothers.”

Katherine shook her head. “No, that wasn’t what I was going to say.” She leaned toward me and whispered, “He’s gorgeous.”

I nodded. Yes, Mason was gorgeous, wasn’t he? In fact, all the Davis brothers were.

Katherine turned back to the screen of the phone and said, “I’m Katherine, this one’s stepmother. I’m Sakura’s friend since high school.”

“Hi,” Mason said from the other side.

“So you’re bringing Aki, right?” Michael asked.

Mason nodded. “Yep.”

“Yeah!” Michael shouted. “Then I can’t wait to hold him.”

I said, “All right, Katherine is finished. We better go. She’s dropping me off at the hotel.”

Mason said, “Then I’ll see you on Friday.”

I nodded, and before we ended the chat, I said, “By the way, Sakura invited all of us for lunch on Saturday.”

Mason nodded. “Okay, I’ll tell everyone. Isaac is going to be over the moon, I have no doubt.”

I chuckled. “Yeah. Okay, bye now.”

Mason nodded.

“Bye, Mason,” Michael said, and then the screen blanked out.

A few minutes later, we were out of the café and Katherine locked the door. As we headed over to Katherine’s car, Michael said, “Mason is so cool. I can’t wait to hang out with him.”

“I’m glad you like him,” I said. “He’s an honor student, top grades in every class.”

“Whoa! He’s super smart then?” Michael asked as we got into the car.

I nodded. “He’ll be graduating this year, so he’ll be hunting for jobs soon.”

Michael was sitting in the back seat with me, and after Katherine had put on her seat belt, she asked, “What is he graduating in?”

“International business and finance,” I said.

Michael continued to ask me various questions about Mason and Aki. It felt like only a short time later when Katherine parked the car in front of the Princeton Resort and Hotel. I was just getting out when a bus came to a stop behind Katherine’s car, and the moment the door of that bus opened, there was a loud hustle and bustle as people came rushing out and headed into the hotel. Of course, I didn’t expect Noah to be amongst those people.

I widened my eyes as he hurried over to me and, without any warning, roughly grabbed me into his arms and pressed his lips on mine, surprising me.

His lips felt warm and firm, and I melted against him in an instant. When he moved back, he chuckled and said, “Hello.”

I rubbed the backs of my hand against my lips and said, my face flushing hot, “There are people around, you know.”

He cupped my face as he teased, “Are you embarrassed?”

Michael poked his head out the side window of the car and said, “Did you guys just like kiss?”

Noah turned to see Michael watching us. “Oh, a kid.”

The boy said, “The name’s Michael. I’m Haru’s new friend. And you guys just kissed, right? I saw it with my very own eyes. You guys kissed. Like really kissed!”

Nicolas seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and strolled over to us. He said, “Hey, Michael,” which thank God turned the boy’s attention away from Noah and me.

“Nicolas!” Michael greeted loudly. He looked damn excited to see the man.

Nicolas glanced over at Katherine in the driver’s seat and gave her a greeting. “Katherine.”

“Hey, Nicolas,” Katherine replied.

A big grin on his face, Michael asked, “Where did you just come from?”

“Touring around the island,” Nicolas said. “I’m just about to hang out with Noah and Haru. You want to join us?”

“Really?” Michael jumped at the chance. He turned to Katherine and asked, “Can I?”

The woman chuckled. “Yes, you can. I’ll pick you up when you’re ready.”

Nicolas said, “Don’t worry about it, Katherine. You spend the evening with Jeff. I’ll bring Michael around when we’re done with dinner.”

“Okay,” Katherine said. “Thanks, Nicolas.”

Michael eagerly got out of the car, and after waving goodbye to Katherine, we went into the hotel.