Stern Men Always Finish Last

Chapter 11

Does she regret kissing me? Did I do something wrong? Why would she run?

I had to step away from Sang for a few minutes. When we arrived back at the house, I left Sang to speak with Sean. We had silently decided that he would take the first stab at speaking with her as my emotions were not in control for such a discussion. In short, I was hurting. I hurt that she ran, I hurt that she broke her promise, and I hurt at the thought that she may regret kissing me.

Almost on autopilot I made my way back to Sean's bedroom. Walking in the door I was hit with memories of last night. I could still feel her pressed between me and the bed, I could still hear her soft moans, and I could still taste her on my lips. Why did she run? Fuck! I hear the door open behind me and Sean enters. "I don't know what to say, Owen. She doesn't trust us." Sean states after he has closed the door. I sigh in response. "How are we going to convince the Academy to let us keep her if she won't trust us?"

"We can't, Sean. You know that. They will test her and us. We just have to keep at her. Keep telling her that she is our world. Remind her that the sun rises and sets with her for us. And remember that she has no experience with relationships. Fuck! This is such a mess." I slump down so I'm sitting on the edge of the bed and hang my head. I've failed her and the boys. I've failed everyone.

"Don't do that, Owen. You cannot blame yourself for this. This is all a matter of time. Time that we, unfortunately, do not have. We are going to have to talk to Kota. He's the last person who isn't in on the plan and until he is we cannot convince her we really do know what we want. At the end of the day that is what this is about. Her self-esteem is so low that she cannot believe that we want this. That any of us, let alone all of us, want her. You know that's what this is, Owen. You know it and I know it. We just have to hope that Sang knows it." Sean is almost pleading with me to believe him on his assessment of the situation. He knows that if it really is more than her low self-esteem that our battleship will have been metaphorically sunk.

"I know, Sean. But how do we prove it to her? How do we make her see what she means to us? Hell, how do we make her see her own self-worth? That's the fundamental problem here. She does trust us to an extent. She trusts us to care for her and to comfort her. She doesn't trust that we think she's worth it and that really boils down to she doesn't trust herself. She has to believe she is worth the effort." Despite my best efforts, I audibly groan before continuing. "You know what this means, Sean. We have to wait for her to come to us. She has to realize that she is worth it on her own. We don't have that kind of time!"

"You're right. This is a mess." Sean slumps down next to me. "We don't have years to wait for Sang to come to this realization on her own, so what do we do to push this along?"

Think, Owen. Everyone is counting on you. Think. "You are partly correct, Sean. We have to talk to Kota. We'll need to do that before we call the family meeting later this week. We'll need to call another family meeting as well. One without Sang and that will have to happen before the big family meeting. We're going to loosen the rules, Sean."

"Owen, are you serious? You want 9 horny teenage boys to pursue one sheltered girl with no rules? Are you crazy?" Well, well Dr. Green. Who would have thought you the conservative one?

"I didn't say that I wanted no rules, Dr. Green. I merely said that we will have to loosen them. We'll let the boys initiate intimacy and we'll let them take her on individual dates. Sang still has final say. We've gone over the basics with her regarding sex education and her own body, but we will remind the boys that non-verbal cues will be key with her. She won't say no with words, but she will with her eyes and her gestures. If we are going to prove to her that we all want her, we're going to have to take the lead a little. You know as well as I do that if we left everything up to Sang, we'll be here for centuries." Sean snorts in response. "I don't want to overwhelm her so we will come up with a dating schedule that still gives her time to herself. Sang has always needed time alone to process how she feels." My revelation hits suddenly and smack my own forehead. "I should have known, Sean. She ran away to process everything. She has always had quiet time without us before she has had to speak to me about any intimate encounters with you and the boys. She hasn't been alone since we kissed, finds you and me already calmly discussing her love life, panics, and bolts. I should have anticipated this!"

"Owen, calm down. Despite your best efforts, you are not omnipotent." He gives me a cheeky grin. "And Sang is just as responsible. She could have talked it out with us. Or just told us that she needed time alone, but she ran away. While it is a defense mechanism for her, it is one that we need to break. She needs to run to us not away from us. As for the change in rules, if we can get Kota on board with the love her or lose her plan, I say we go for it. We'll make sure that the boys understand the consequences of pushing her too far. So, tonight you are going to take Sang out and tomorrow you and I will talk with her individually and together. I still want to fully understand what was going through her head. Sunday evening we should talk with Kota – he will need time to process this on his own before we bring it up to the group. Tuesday evening we hold the boys only family meeting to formally vote on the plan, and if it goes as we hope we will loosen the rules. Thursday, we have the all family meeting to discuss the change in rules, and Sang's Houdini act from this morning. Sound good?"

"Yes, that time frame is acceptable. I'd like to talk with Kota before tomorrow, but you will need to be there and you have a shift tonight."

"So we stick with tomorrow. For tonight you are still under orders to rest and relax. That means no big conversations or revelations. You'll need to be Owen Blackbourne teenager on a date. And then you need to come home and rest." I nod in understanding. Sean gets up from the bed and heads to the door.

Once he leaves, I pull out my phone and call in reinforcements. Thankfully he answers on the first ring.

"Oy! Mr. B, you are not supposed to be working!"

"I assure you Mr. Colman this is not a work call."

"Ok... Uh, what can I do for you, Mr. B.?"

"I need you to prepare and drop off an outfit for Ms. Sorenson. I'm taking her dancing."

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A/N: I know it is short. I just wanted to get something out before The Healing Power of Sugar is released tomorrow. Between that and Thanksgiving, I probably won't have anything else out until next week. I've decided to include guys a bit more. But Owen and Sean will still be the main drivers of the story. It just seems like the boys are needed to complete the wooing of Sang.

To all of you out there:May you and yours have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!