Dobey hears the guys pull up before they even get to the door. I open the door and step back, letting in the three Michaelson brothers. North is currently camped out in the kitchen, making drinks for everyone.

“Ally Cat, are you okay? I can’t believe someone would vandalize your car like that,” Oren sweeps me up in a hug and whispers in my ear.

I’m lifted out of Oren’s arms by Cash. “Don’t scare us like that again, Pretty Girl. I’m too young to have a heart attack.”

“Put her down,” Ridge grumbles, then sweeps me up into his arms once Cash puts me down. “Hot Lips. You alright?” I nod at Ridge. “I knew you were. My Hot Lips is a badass.” Ridge winks then sets me back on my feet.

I lead them all into the kitchen and they come to a stop when they notice North standing at the counter, sans shirt. Actually, the only thing he does have on is his pants. I feel heat from my embarrassment running up my neck and across my face.

“Pretty Girl, is there a reason my little brother is in your kitchen almost naked?”

“Shut up, Cash.” North laughs as he starts to pass out the beers he had waiting. “Let’s go into the living room. Alice has a few things to tell you all, then we need to talk about a few things.”

North walks past me then halts, grabs my hand, and starts walking again. I glance over my shoulder and see Cash, Oren, and Ridge, all with smiles on their faces. I let out the breath I was holding. I can do this.

Everyone sits down and immediately looks at me. I guess I’m starting this conversation.

“The warehouse that I bought,” I wait until everyone acknowledges me, “all the ladies that live there used to be prostitutes, and I’m pretty sure it was one of their pimps that vandalized my car this morning.” I sit back and wait for the guys to stop shouting.

Ridge jumps up. “What the hell, Alice?”

“Are you freaking kidding us right now?” Cash exclaims, as he too, jumps up from his seat.

Oren drops his head and quietly speaks, “Why didn’t you tell us before, Alice? We would have helped. Gotten more security, something.”

“Sit down,” North demands. “I’ve already yelled at her and given her the third degree. She’s telling us now and that’s what is important. We need to move on and figure out how we can keep this from happening again.”

Cash sits back down, but Ridge turns his angry glare toward North. “What? You finally screw her and now you, Mr. Control Freak, are just going to let this go? He could have hurt her, North!” Ridge looks back to me again before he continues, “You’ve been lying to us for almost a month, Alice. Why? Is there a reason you didn’t think you could tell us what the hell was really going on over there?”

I stand up, livid that Ridge would dare to say something like that. “Enough! Jesus, Ridge, that’s enough! How dare you talk about me like that.”

“Alice…”

“No. You do not get to speak right now. For your information, the reason I didn’t tell you all about the ladies’ previous lives, is because it wasn’t my place to.” I sit back down, suddenly tired of everything that has happened today. “I saw Sally a while back when Zoe and I were out. She stayed the night at my house and we caught up. I hadn’t seen her since I left for boarding school years ago. I couldn’t let her continue on like she was, Ridge. She’s what gave me the idea. All of those women living at the warehouse are mothers, Ridge. Would you have preferred me to turn a blind eye and ignore what she and her friends were going through? I had to at least try to get them out. I did and I am not sorry at all for doing it.”

Ridge kneels in front of me and places his hands on my knees. “I’m so sorry, Alice. I just,” he lets out a huff, “I don’t know what we would do if something happened to you. I need, we need, you to be careful. If we had known, maybe we could have better prepared you or, hell I don’t know, done something to help.”

“Tomorrow I’m taking you to the gym with me and signing you up for self-defense classes.” I whip my head to look at Cash. “If you insist on doing this, then I want you to be able to take care of yourself with more than a can of mace that you may, or may not, spray in your own face.” Oren smacks Cash on the back of the head. “What? I’m just saying. The odds are not in her favor if she’s in a rough spot, and you know it.”

Oren shakes his head at his brother. “While my brother may be an idiot, he is right. You can take classes for yourself and for our sanity. Take Zoe with you. Both of you need to be better prepared.”

“I’ll go with you.” This is coming from Ridge, my giant teddy bear. “That way we can practice together here.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to Zoe after she gets home tomorrow from Ben’s house. She was supposed to come back home, but she changed her mind. I know she’ll agree to do it.” I grab Ridge’s hands that are still on my knees and squeeze them. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all before. I won’t keep something like this from you again.”

Ridge turns his hands over and grabs mine. “We just want you safe, Hot Lips.”

“Now that we have that taken care of, Alice wanted to talk to us all again about this relationship of ours.”

I hiss at North. He could have given me a second before jumping right into this conversation. The smirk on his face tells me he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

“Ally Cat, I thought we already talked about this. We want you, you want us. What more is there?”

I smile at Oren, my simple man.

“The problem is, she started feeling guilty after being with me today. She thought she should have talked to each of you first.”

I turn to glare at North. “Damn it, North. I can speak for myself. You sound like a proud peacock right now. It’s not pretty.”

“Here’s the thing, all of you are agreeing to just being with me. One person. I get all four of you and that doesn’t seem fair. I won’t share you though. I need to know that you all are absolutely sure about this before we go on.” I look at each of them before I continue on. “People are not going to understand this. Having this type of relationship will be hard enough with being judged, I couldn't deal with having jealousy and fighting between the four of you.”

Cash stands and walks over to me, sitting on the edge of the couch beside me. “Pretty Girl, the four of us have talked about this in great lengths. If we didn’t all want this, we never would have agreed to it.”

“He’s right.” North runs a hand down my cheek. “We know what we’re agreeing to and we all want to be here, with you. We just have to take it one day at a time. Maybe for now, we just rotate when we go out, instead of all five of us going somewhere together. Keep this private.”

I nod my head in agreement. “I like that idea. I’m not ashamed of being with all of you, I just don’t want our private life to come to light right now. I’m doing everything I can to keep hold of my position at Du-Kane, Inc. If Uncle Richie found out, he could destroy me and take my company from me. Do you understand?”

North answers first. “We understand exactly what you’re saying, Alice, and we don’t fault you for feeling this way.”

“He’s right,” Oren responds. “We understand. We wouldn’t do anything to cause you any grief, especially with Du-Kane, Inc.”

“Pretty Girl, you know we’re willing to do anything to help you. None of us would do anything to hurt you. Ever,” Cash says adamantly.

Ridge pats my knees. “Now that this topic is done and agreed on, can we get something for dinner? I haven’t eaten anything since lunch.”

I look around the room and the Michaelson brothers. My Michaelson brothers. I don’t know what I did to deserve these men, but I’m going to do whatever I have to to make sure they never leave.