The Love You Give

To Give In or Not...That is the Question

Jace pulled his car into the garage and stepped out as Jackson got out of his Camaro. "Already done with Lady St. Germain," Jackson teased. Jace rolled his eyes. Jackson watched his brother as they entered their home. "You finally ended it with ole crazy," Jackson said shocked. "Shut up, Jackson!" Jace scowled as they made their way upstairs. "You really do like her, then." Jace turned back around to look at his brother. "Charlotte was getting clingy. It just made sense." Jackson scoffed. "Bullshit! That bitch was clingy from the first day of freshman year when she saw you. You ended it today of all days, because Ezra is here now and you want to see what could be." Jace looked at his brother crazily.

"There is no could be, Jackson. She's a foster living under the same roof as us thanks to Mom and Dad's delusions of trying anything to make us appear to be one big happy family for his voters." Jackson sighed at this. "Ezra means nothing to me and she shouldn't mean shit to you or Jacob either. We don't know her. She could have warrants or whatever." Jace offered up. "Don't be a fucking racist idiot. While you float on denial river, I'm going to work on spending some quality time with Ezra and getting to know her. If you think Jacob's not doing the same thing as we speak, you're sadly mistaken." Jace grabbed his arm before he could walk by. "So, what you two think she's just going to be with both of you?" Jackson looked at his older brother and chuckled. "The way she was looking at all three of us I think she'd be willing to be with all of us if you'd stop being such a fucking jackass." Jackson removed his arm and walked into his room, closing the door behind him.

Jace walked back into his room and sighed heavily as he plopped down on his couch. He flipped through the channels, but his mind wasn't there. He was focused on a dark-skinned Princess that he barely knew, but was somehow infatuated with. His thoughts brought him back to an image of her strumming his guitar. Jace looked over before getting up and picking it up. He strummed softly and hummed to himself as he began to relax. It had been years since he last touched the guitar and thanks to his Princess, he was back humming and strumming like he never stopped.

***

"Where are we going?" Ezra asked Jacob as he pulled into another part of the creek. "I want to show you something." Jacob said parking. "Stay in here until I come and get you." Ezra shook her head. "You know that Black people always die in horror films, right? I'm coming with you!" Jacob shook his head with a chuckle. "I'd never let anything happen to you, sweetheart. Trust me." Ezra folded her arms across her chest. "I don't know you enough to trust you." He smiled at her so bright that it took her breath away. "That's what I'm planning on changing." He closed the driver's door and moved to the bed of the truck. Ezra could hear shuffling, but it was too dark to really see what was going on. Jacob stopped moving and came over to open Ezra's door.

"Come on," Jacob said holding his hand out to help her down. They made their way to the back of the truck and Ezra noticed blankets and pillows. "This is so cute, Jacob." He picked her up by the waist and plopped her on the bed before climbing up himself. "Come lay down," Jacob said stretching out. Ezra lay beside him reveling in how close they were to one another. He smelt heavenly, like pine and lavender. Jacob pulled her closer and wrapped his arm around her. Ezra took the time to look above and gasped. "Beautiful." Jacob looked over to her and smiled. "Yeah, you are." Ezra looked at him and her breath hitched. They were inches from kissing and by the way he was looking at her, Ezra knew he knew that. Jacob made a move to lean in, but Ezra turned her head looking back at the stars.

"You can't do that, Jacob." He turned to lay on his back and sighed. "Can't do what, sweetheart?" Ezra played with a lock absentmindedly. "You can't look at me like that or try to kiss me." Jacob drew circles on her arm. "Why not? I'm not looking at you any differently than I was when I first saw you. I also have wanted to kiss you since then, so I don't see what the problem is." Ezra shook her head and sat up. "There are numerous problems, Jacob. For starters, I don't know you and you don't know me." He sat up beside her. "Then let's change that. I want to get to know you and I want you to know me." Ezra eyed him suspiciously before smiling and giving in. "What's your happiest memory?" She asked him studying his facial expression.

"What happened to starting lite? Don't you want to know my favorite color?" Ezra shook her head. "I already know that it's red." He quirked an eyebrow and chuckled. "You're an observant one, aren't ya? Like Jackson. It's annoying." Ezra laughed a little before pointing at him. "Stop deflecting and answer the question." Jacob rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "My brothers and I were around 7 or 8 and Dad was still just a lawyer advising then Governor McClain on various policies that were getting him some publicity. Then, we didn't know he'd go on to become the Associate Deputy Attorney General or the Senator. All we knew was he was Dad and we were all happy."

Ezra took in the whimsical look on his face and committed it to memory. "Mom wanted us to do Christmas photos yet again and it was snowing, so she felt it was perfect. We all lined up in our red sweaters and posed for pictures. Jace was getting antsy and Jackson and I both knew that was not good. One second we were taking a photo and the next my Dad was getting hit with a snowball to the face." Ezra laughed heartily as Jacob told the story in such an animated fashion. "We were ducking and dodging! My mom was screaming and laughing! It was literally by far the best day I've ever had." Jacob laughed some more before Ezra watched him come down from the high of the memory. "But that was a long time ago. I can't even remember the last time we took Christmas photos." She moved to hold his hand and gave him a small smile.

"Thanks for sharing that with me. It sounded amazing." He nodded before he pulled her into him and lay back down. They stared at the stars in one another's arms as nature moved around them. "Why don't you want me to kiss you?" Jacob asked still stroking her arm. Ezra turned to look at his profile before sighing and placing her arm over his chest. "When you're a foster you know within the first five minutes if a placement is going to be good, bad or horrid. Your family, your home, it's unlike anything I've dealt with. I don't want to lose that. I can't lose that." Jacob pulled her in closer, intertwining their legs. "Do you like me?" Ezra shook her head. "Don't think just answer." Ezra huffed. "I don't know you, Jacob." He finally turned to face her and outlined her jaw.

"No, we don't know everything about one another, but we know how we feel. You're an observant little shit, so I know you've noticed things about me that you like or don't like. These are all data fed to your brain to decipher whether you like me or not, so I'll ask again, do you like me?" Ezra bit her bottom lip and Jacob wanted to take it and nibble on it himself. "I like you, but it's not that simple." She blew out looking down. Jacob nodded pulling her chin up. "Because you like my brothers too." Her eyes were the size of saucers. "How did you know?" Jacob chuckled and shrugged. "You're observant, sweetheart, but you're not subtle."

"Oh, my goodness, do you think they know?" Jacob thought on it. "Jackson, absolutely. Jace, no way. He's an idiot." Ezra couldn't help but chuckle at that. "That doesn't bother you? That I like you and your brothers." He shook his head no. "Do you like me?" She asked nervously. He leveled her with a look. "Now what kind of stupid question is that?" She shrugged looking back at the stars. "I saw you with Nicholas earlier. I guess I wasn't sure if I was your type." Jacob exhaled loudly. "I'm sure Sean filled you in on the fact that I'm pansexual. I like the person, sweetheart, not the label." He turned her back towards him. "You are most definitely my type. Beautiful. Funny. Charismatic. My family likes you." He winked at that. "You're the whole fucking package and polyamorous relationships are nothing new. We can do this, sweetheart."

He traced her bottom lip with his thumb and everything felt like it was on fire. He had never wanted to kiss someone so much in his life. "We can't." Ezra breathed out sitting up and putting some distance in between them. "Ezra, we can." She shook her head vehemently. "Your parents. They are so kind and generous. They're opening their home to me and I repay them by getting with not one or two but all three of their sons?! I highly doubt your Dad would appreciate that with his career and all." Jacob knew she was right and it pissed him off. His Dad was always ruining things. Jacob sat up and tried to pull her close, but she wouldn't budge. He could see it in her eyes she was done for the night. "Let's get you home, then." Ezra nodded as she let him help her off the bed and onto the gravelly floor.