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Neighbors With Benefits
Bonus Chapter

Jazz
Many Years Later

“Is this about their grades?” I asked. “I thought their test scores were great…”

The grandmotherly teacher across the desk smiled patiently. “The twins have exemplary grades. Ariana excels at mathematics, while Cynthia is the most gifted writer I have seen in my thirty years of teaching. They are thriving in their first year of high school.” Her smile flickered. “The issue for which you are here is regarding their… social behavior.”

Next to me, Bash tensed. “Are they not getting along with the other students?”

On the other side of me, Aiden nodded thoughtfully.

“They are indeed getting along,” the teacher said. “In fact, that is the root of the problem. They get along too well. They are constantly talking during class, distracting the other students.”

A weight lifted in my heart. “Oh.”

“They’re good at making friends,” Aiden said judiciously. “Sometimes they can get carried away.”

“Carried away is one way to put it.” The teacher folded her hands on the desk. “I have given them several warnings, but unfortunately the behavior has continued. Which is why I have brought you here tonight. If things do not change, we may need to resort to more drastic actions, such as suspending them from their extra-curricular activities.”

Suspend them from soccer? That was never going to fly.

Aiden opened his mouth to say something, but I squeezed his thigh to stop him. Thank goodness Dante wasn’t here, or things might have escalated. “I appreciate you bringing this to our attention,” I said with measured seriousness. “We will sit down with them tonight and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“See that you do.”

Aiden waited until we were halfway down the hall before looking over his shoulder and then letting out an exasperated sigh. “Suspending them from rugby? That’s their only other social outlet. That would just make them want to chat more in class.”

“I agree,” I said.

“Good thing Dante wasn’t there,” Aiden continued. “He might have flipped the table.”

“I agree with that, too,” I said, glancing over at Bash. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“Are you… smiling?” Aiden demanded.

Bash was indeed beaming from ear to ear. “I thought that went well.”

“In what world did that go well?” I asked.

“The twins are acing their classes. And they’re popular.” He began to sing. “Popular. You’re going to be pop-YOU-HOO-lar.”

“Stop it,” I giggled. “You’re going to get it stuck in my head, and then I’m going to have to rewatch Wicked tonight.”

“The new version?” Aiden asked. “Or the original with Ariana Grande?”

“Um, neither. The actual original version with Kristin Chenoweth, you uncultured ass.”

“Ariana Grande is better,” Bash said. “Nobody can toss their hair like her.”

I rounded on him and jabbed a finger under his nose. “We’ll discuss this later.”

“So we’re not worried about the twins anymore?” Aiden insisted.

“We’re medium worried. We’ll discuss it with them tonight. The threat of losing rugby should get through to them.”

“Dante is still going to lose his shit,” Bash muttered.

He was right. I would need to defuse Dante before talking to the girls. He was fiercely protective of them.

It’s what made me love him so much.

Well, one of the many reasons.

We left the high school and walked across the parking lot to the athletic field. The bleachers were half-full, a pretty good crowd for Girl’s Rugby. Dante had spent the last three years lobbying the school district to add the sport, just in time for the twins to reach high school.

And then, based on his dissatisfaction with the previous coach, Dante took over the team.

“LET’S GO ARIANA,” she boomed in a voice that was made for giving orders. “HIT THE OUTSIDE. GO GO GO.”

“Looks like he’s already at a ten,” Aiden said. “Hopefully they win, or we may have to postpone the talk about the twins.”

“Have we considered not telling him about their academic life?” Bash suggested. “What’s the point of having three fathers if we can’t partition out aspects of their lives?”

“I know you’re joking, but no,” I said firmly.

It had never been an issue raising the girls as a four-parent unit. For the most part, it made everything a lot easier. Changing diapers was twice as easy when you had twice as many people to do it.

But sometimes we butted heads about how to raise them. Nothing major of course, just slight disagreements. For example, when Cynthia was bullied by a schoolmate two years ago, I wanted to sit down with the bully’s parents and find a way to peacefully end their rivalry. Bash believed we shouldn’t intervene at all, that it would only lead to more bullying if Cynthia’s parents came to the rescue. Aiden wanted to get the school involved.

Dante wanted to throw a Molotov cocktail through the bully’s window.

Yet even when we disagreed about certain parenting techniques, we shared one important thing: our unwavering love for our two daughters. With that core value, everything else became easy.

“Jazz, Sebastian, Aiden!” called one of the other parents with a wave. “Up here!”

Everyone smiled and greeted us as we walked up the bleachers. Even though this was Ariana’s and Cynthia’s first year at high school, we knew most of the parents from middle school. After years of soccer tournaments and school events, I considered many of them friends. And they were wonderfully supportive of our weird little polycule family.

“How’s the game going?” I asked as we sat down.

Erica, one of the other moms, shook her head. “Game just started, but the other team is pushing us around.

“Hey, Jazz,” another mom reached over and tugged on my shirt. “Ariana’s hamstring is back to normal?”

“Just about!” I replied. “She’s wearing athletic tape, but she’s almost at a hundred percent.”

“She looks like it!” another father said.

Bash leaned in close to whisper. “Remember when you were worried people wouldn’t accept us at these things?”

“I don’t remember that.”

Aiden nodded in agreement. “You were afraid of parent teacher conference and PTA meetings and softball games. You thought we would get made fun of.”

“The only thing I’m worried about right now,” I said, “is that their fathers convinced them to play a contact sport. I would be much happier if they played softball.”

“Dante is the one who convinced them,” Bash pointed out.

“But you allowed it!” I winced as Cynthia lowered her shoulder and tackled another player.

“He’s their coach,” Aiden said carefully. “He’s making sure they’re safe.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Suddenly, the ball squirted out of the other player’s hands. Cynthia scooped it up, then passed it behind her to Ariana. The crowd stood up and roared as Ariana sprinted down the field, avoiding the other players and then gliding across the try line, scoring five points. In the bleachers, other parents patted us on the back and shouted our daughter’s name.

“Admit it,” Bash said with a big grin. “You like it a little bit.”

“Okay,” I said. “I like it when they do well and don’t get injured.”

Down on the field, Dante twisted to look up at the bleachers. His gaze immediately found me, and we shared a smile.

Yeah. I did like our happy little family. We were perfect.

I couldn’t believe I was ever afraid of this.

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New Release:
Neighbors With Benefits

It’s a bad idea to hook up with the three guys next door.
No matter how tall, handsome, and charismatic they might be.
But when I move in next to Aiden, Sebastian, and Dante?
Nobody’s willpower is that strong.

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